Brett AND Jake, Never Just Brett
The star-crossed relationship between Lady Brett Ashley and Jake Barnes is arguably the most important in The Sun Also Rises, and its course throughout the novel is similarly important for character development analysis. However, in focusing very narrowly on the characters in this relationship only in terms of their role in it and not their individual personas, we have ignored the character development of them individually, Brett in particular. An important side to Brett Ashley is indeed analyzing her character through her treatment of Jake and the nature of their relationship, but equally as important to shaping Brett’s character is her individual development, her feelings, how her past and experiences have influenced her. Therefore, we need to holistically understand Brett through both her interactions with others important to her life, which is the more common understanding of Brett, and also through the minimal reflection we get to experience Brett having in the novel.
Lady Brett Ashley is not to be taken lightly. Her character is a deep and complex one, and she is one of the very few females in this novel that we get a chance to actually interact with. However, a majority of our opinions of Brett are centered around her treatment of Jake, and we barely interact with Brett’s human feelings the way her character deserves. She is a character understandably scarred by her experiences in the war, her inability to completely be with the man she loves (supposedly loves, but no need to get into that more in this post), and as we learn later in the novel, has narrowly escaped a violent relationship with her former husband. She is spontaneous, exciting, albeit flawed in many ways. But often we struggle to see past her treatment of Jake in their relationship, and we think of her as unfair, selfish, and afraid of commitment. For instance, in her conversation with Jake about how she has broken up with Pedro Romero, much of the attention during analysis is on how Jake feels about this and deals with it, and what it means for the relationship’s future. Has she finally figured out that being with Jake is all she wants? Is Jake still in love with her? Though these questions are indeed important, it is equally important to think about Brett’s reflection on her own character, how she has felt she has grown independent of Jake’s or other men’s opinions of her. In this conversation, Brett says that “it makes [her] feel rather good deciding not to be a (choice word)” (misplaced book, parenthetical citation to come). Though it is easy to believe that Brett is being rather manipulative and being utterly inconsiderate of Jake’s feelings, we can also understand that she seems to believe that she has improved as a person by stepping up and sending Pedro away. Brett is trying to become a better person, and tries to acknowledge her own efforts to do so, and her character cannot be reduced to a simplistic heartbreaker when she is much more and herself believes she is much more.
In a novel that centers around a main character absorbed in his own feelings, it is easy to sympathize with them and narrow down our view of the surrounding characters to the perspective we are introduced to through the narrator. However, it is important to pick up clues from the few real pieces of dialogue we get from the supporting characters in question to make new deductions about the character and their development independent of the main character’s views. Lady Brett Ashley has done much more than break Jake’s heart and many others, and it’s not as easy to look past that reputation to the more complex persona within. However, it is crucial to our understanding of these characters and their self-views.
Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest, The Sun Also Rises, New York: Scribner, 2006.
Great blog, this puts good perspective on Brett's character, highlighting depths beyond her relationship with men. I completely agree she is a very complex character throughout the novel.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting! You are definitely right that the perspective of the novel makes us quick to judge Brett and just see her as having poor character. I also took note of the fact that she's the only important female character in the entire novel. I think it's important to look back on The Sun Also Rises (almost 100 years after its publishing) and speculate whether the lack of female characters and narrow view we get of Brett are a result of the time period, Hemmingway's style, or the circumstances that the narrative takes place. In any case, you did a good job taking a closer look at Lady Brett Ashley.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Kruthi! As we are always in Jake's POV, we always view Brett and her actions through Jake's eyes. Thus, instead of an objective view of Brett's personal growth, we only know of her personal growth through analyzing Jake's biased, unreliable narration. Brett is definitely a complex and dynamic character, but her personal growth is shrouded by Jake's biased narration.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting take! While we are quick to judge Brett while looking through Jake's eyes, I agree with you that it is equally important to be empathetic towards Brett. From her point of view, many of her actions may be a result of her unresolved trauma, and she is actively working to be a better person, as you suggest. I think this post really emphasizes the importance of looking past the main character's perspective when analyzing a supporting character. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is definitely easy to write Brett off as being one-sided and manipulative, as the novel is told from Jake's point of view. He mentions her struggles in passing, and he never does reflect on the circumstances that may have made her how she is. His day-to-day narrations of her actions are dry and emotionless. Even though we only get a few glimpses of the Brett that Jake fell in love with -- the girl who took care of him after the war and who seems to understand him more than anyone else -- those fleeting moments are enough to understand Brett's character beneath everything Jake portrays her to be.
ReplyDeleteWhen making my judgments of Brett's character, I failed to fully consider the context of her past experiences. Perhaps readers (such as myself) are too quick to perceive Brett negatively based on her actions in the novel---we should consider the few details of about her past as extenuating circumstances for her overtly self-centered behavior. That said, it is difficult to do so without extensive knowledge of her personal history, which is not provided in the scope of the novel.
ReplyDeleteI think your initial sentiment about the book having minimal reflection on Brett is a really important thing to mention, even across all blog topics. I honestly never though about this, and it makes me question my interpretation of Brett. As Violet mentioned, Hemingway's depiction of Brett could've been influenced by so many factors of the time, and I wonder how the book would present her if it were written in the modern day. I think you did a really good job at picking apart who she was, and her complicated story. Great post!!
ReplyDeleteI really like this character analysis! I appreciate you standing up for Brett who is often judged harshly without any consideration of her past experiences or her current feelings/hardships. I like that you made her character development clear, and I think the important part of her character development is that during the end of the novel when we see her talking about how she wants to change, she's talking about how she WANTS to change, not how she already has changed. I think this is a really important detail to understand while assessing her character and more specifically her character development, because it shows that she is still trying and recognizes that she isn't perfect. This was a great post!
ReplyDeleteReally great blog post! I really like how you analyze Brett and Jake's relationship! It is easy to forget that the book is being told through Jake's unreliable and biased POV which can easily cloud the judgement and perceptions of the reader. This is why the reader should always take a step back and try to look at the full picture. Great read!
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I do think that it's interesting that we don't consider Brett's personality outside of how she treats Jake. I think Brett is a very complex character that is difficult to understand and we don't take the time to think about why Brett is the way she is.
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