i'm jealous of the students who are taking the hemingway seminar at bsu this semester. to ease my jealousy, i decided to read "the sun also rises" solo.
sometimes i think there's something somewhat like divinity that directs me to works of literature that vibrate to that iron string in my chest at the perfect time. instead of musing and reflecting endlessly like i normally do in these blog posts, i'll simply transcribe the passage from hemingway's novel with scant background information for context.
the protagonist jake had been and still is in love with the beautiful brett ashley. she dated and lived with his friend robert cohn and is currently attached to michael at this point in the novel. jake hears brett and michael laughing (who are in bed in the room next to jake), and he can't sleep. jake realizes that he's been given a metaphorical "bill" for his relationship with brett and realizes he's been the one taking (acting on expectations, &c.).
"I thought I had paid for everything. Not like the woman pays and pays and pays. No idea of retribution or punishment. Just exchange of values. You gave up something and got something else. Or you worked for something. You paid some way for everything that was any good. I paid my way into things that I liked, so that I had a good time. Either you paid by learning about them, or by experience, or by taking chances, or by money. Enjoying living was learning to get your money's worth and knowing when you had it. You could get your money's worth. The world was a good place to buy in. It seemed like a fine philosophy. In five years, I thought, it will seem just as silly as all the other fine philosophies I've had."
word.
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