I wonder...

" 'I can't do it,' he said, and put his head deeper into his arms. 'I can't do it. Nothing will make me do it.' " Page 20

I'm curious about Hemingway's purpose for this scene. When sleeping, a person in a way enters their subconscious. The frustration Robert shows during his sleep-talking episode interested me. I honestly really want to know what he was dreaming about. Was he reliving persecution he faced at Princeton? I want to know the meaning of it! I think in a way this was Hemingway's purpose, he wanted to spark the reader's interest.

However, I think he also used this passage to show the readers a couple more of Robert's characteristics. It shows that he is timid. The physical motion of putting his head deeper into his arms made me picture him cowering in fear. I believe he feels inferior. But he is also stubborn. On page 18, Jake refers to his Jewish stubbornness. Hemingway uses this passage to illustrate this. It seems to me that Robert is being threatened in his dream, thus the cowering. However, he shows stubbornness by refusing what he is being ordered to do.