"Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think that I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton." Page 11
I found this passage as a very intriguing way to start the book. It begins with the direct characterization of a character without introducing the character in any other way. It shows many things about Robert that the reader may not have observed if Hemingway had used indirect characterization. Just on the first page, the reader learns that Robert is part of a minority that is often discriminated against: Jews. The novel was published in 1926. This was only a couple decades before the Holocaust. The prejudices experienced in this period were already forming in the 1920s and therefore readers would understand the persecution Robert faced immediately. His strive to find self worth because of his inferior place in society tells the reader a great deal about his character. He is timid and relies heavily on others' approval of him.
I also found it interesting that this direct characterization was from another character in the story. I thought it was a little odd that Jake describes his friend before he describes himself. I'm still a little confused by it. Through the whole first chapter Jake never really describes himself. All that he really reveals is that he is one of Robert's two friends in Paris. I thought this was extremely odd.
I found this passage as a very intriguing way to start the book. It begins with the direct characterization of a character without introducing the character in any other way. It shows many things about Robert that the reader may not have observed if Hemingway had used indirect characterization. Just on the first page, the reader learns that Robert is part of a minority that is often discriminated against: Jews. The novel was published in 1926. This was only a couple decades before the Holocaust. The prejudices experienced in this period were already forming in the 1920s and therefore readers would understand the persecution Robert faced immediately. His strive to find self worth because of his inferior place in society tells the reader a great deal about his character. He is timid and relies heavily on others' approval of him.
I also found it interesting that this direct characterization was from another character in the story. I thought it was a little odd that Jake describes his friend before he describes himself. I'm still a little confused by it. Through the whole first chapter Jake never really describes himself. All that he really reveals is that he is one of Robert's two friends in Paris. I thought this was extremely odd.
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