Similarities Between Jake And Cohn

In Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, one can make a comparison between Jake and Cohn. Aside from sharing certain hobbies they share the same woman as the target of their affection as well as both being outsiders of the group they pretend to form. As similar as they are in some aspects, they both are considered outsiders but under different terms. Jake has the privilege to become an outsider at his whim meanwhile Cohn was not even able to get inside from the start. Both Jake and Cohn are writers but they both have different reasons to write. Cohn did it for leisure and found time to write his book when one winter “Robert Cohn went over to America with his novel” (16). Cohn, already a wealthy individual, did not need the money. Jake wrote because he needed the money. Jake was in the newspaper business
and writing was his job. Jake does reveal that “an important part of the ethics that you should never seem to be working” (19). While the character seems not to be working he in fact was unlike Cohn that did it aside from his work. While it seems that Jake did enjoy his job in a similar matter that Cohn did, Jake actually needed it. Another hobby that Jake and Cohn enjoyed was tennis. Jake reveals that he and Cohn were friends because they played it together as Jake “was his tennis friend” (13). If the only reason that they were friends was the sport, it shows that their interest in it was in par with one another but other than that their other link was writing. Another aspect that Jake and Cohn share is their love for Brett.
While both of them share Brett, they share her in different ways. Jake had a connection to Brett as Brett was in love with Jake. While driving out of the club, Brett talks about a conversation she previously had with another man attempting to woo her and she “…told him that I [Brett] was in love with you [Jake]” (41). As the story progresses, the reader finds out that Jake and Brett had a dysfunctional relationship because something about Jake was also “dysfunctional”. Continuing the story, Cohn is found to be love struck by Brett, although she does not feel the same way towards him, he manages to bed her. During the trip to Spain, Mike confirms Cohn’s deed by rhetorically asking “What if Brett did sleep with you?” (146). While it is true that an argument could be made that Cohn might have gotten farther in his relationship with Brett, their relationship was not going to necessarily work out. The biggest dilemma in their relationship was that Brett began to find Cohn annoying. In this love triangle it is clear that Jake and Cohn have Brett in common, they have shared very distinct relationships with
her. A final comparison between the two characters can be made at their status as outsiders of their group. The two characters give different definitions to what an outsider truly is. Jake is allowed to enter and exit the group as he pleases at times isolating himself if he deemed it convenient. He chooses when he wants “to get rid of friends” (19) or when he wants to be around his group long enough to go on a trip. While possibly the most influential character for the group and the most liked by the group as well as those outside of it.
Jake’s reason for being an outsider is choice while Cohn is not given that same opportunity. Cohn is an outsider for being the runt of the pack. On many occasions he is reminded of the fact that people do not want him around. A clear example would be during the trip when a questionably drunk Mike shouted at Cohn questioning if Cohn knew “when you’re not wanted” (146). Although Cohn usually kept to himself and did very minimal in comparison to Jake, he was still the true outcast of the group for continuously staring at Brett.