Passive Aggressive Jake

In class, we discussed the last interaction of Brett and Jake in the novel:

"'Oh, Jake,' Brett said, 'we could have had such a damned good time together.'

Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. he raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me. 

'Yes,' I said. 'Isn't it pretty to think so?'"

To me, this passage is a summary of how Jake feels towards Brett's mistreatment of him. His "Isn't it pretty to think so" comes off as sarcastic, as he is saying that he has been feeling this all along and that it's about time that she comes to this conclusion also. He seems to have come to terms with the fact that he will never be in a relationship with her, and is a little annoyed by Brett's delayed reaction. This also has to do with Brett's constant manipulation of Jake, and his realization of this. When he decides to come all the way to Madrid to help her, he makes the statement: "That seemed to handle it. That was it. Send a girl off with one man. Introduce her to another to go off with him. Now go and bring her back. And sign the wire with love. That was it all right. I went in to lunch." He realizes how much he is being manipulated by her, but carries on anyways, like he always does. At the end, he has had enough and gets annoyed that she hasn't understood this whole time.

This was how I understood this last line, but I'm sure there are many other ways to see it.

Comments

  1. locally locayleeNovember 8, 2020 at 8:24 PM

    I completely agree with your interpretation of this statement. I also thought that it came off as a summary of all his feelings and torment throughout the book. Of course, now, she realizes it. In the quote, she uses the word "could," which is still leading him on, in my opinion. However, I think you're right that he realizes it's never going to happen and is finally getting over it--or at least on the path to getting over it.

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  2. Aakash V.November 29, 2020 at 9:28 PM

    That's a great interpretation of the last lines of the story, but of course as you mentioned there are many other interpretations and ways of viewing the final scenes between Jake and Brett. I think that stems from that fact that we are left on a cliffhanger without too much info to look to besides what we have already read - we can't get to the bottom of the iceberg so we must look at the prior formations to understand the end, if I may. I do think that that specific line where Jake tells himself that this is always going to be his role is really important to understanding their relationship at the end of the novel, but I think that Jake kind of accepts that he will always have this role and just tries to move on without bringing it up to himself again. Of course, will he ever truly get over not being able to get with Brett? Most likely not right, and I think that's what leads to the interpretation you speak of, but I think Jake may be a bit more neutral than we see it. That's just my viewing of the final scenes.

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