Brett's Relationship with Jake
Brett and Jake have an extremely complicated relationship. Jake is in love with Brett, often asking to go on dates or to move in together. He seems pretty clingy, being extremely mad at Cohn for even showing the slightest interest in Brett. Brett on the other hand treats their relationship very flippant about their relationship almost treating the whole thing as a joke. She ignores his advances and avoids his important questions about their relationship. She even forgets about their date and just glances over it next time they talk. Then she goes and spends time out with Cohn despite both being engaged and being in a relationship with Jake. She even just doesn't tell Jake, because she seemingly doesn't want to hurt his feelings, which perhaps means she does have some feelings for Jake.
The biggest reason for this complicated relationship is likely because of Jake's injury, which is implied to mean Jake cannot have sex. It seems like Jake is holding onto Brett because he is afraid that he will be unable to get anyone else to love him because of his injury. Brett on the other hand seems to not take Jake seriously because of this injury. She seems to believe sex is very important in a relationship, and since Jake is incapable of that they cannot have a serious relationship, even though she says that Jake is her true love. This causes their relationship to be extremely weird as they both seem to be in love, but the relationship isn't serious.
The other main reason for their complicated relationship is that Brett is engaged. Although neither seems to really care about this fact, it does have significant implications for their relationship. Despite how hard they try to get together in the end it won't matter since Brett has a commitment to her fiance Mike, despite how she seems to not carer about their relationship at all. To me, it almost seems as if this relationship is an excuse for Brett to not get serious with Jake. These reasons cause their relationship to be very complicated.
I agree that they have a very complicated relationship. I feel that both sides want a relationship, but due to the circumstances in which they are forced into, neither can truly advance. Also, I see Jake's injuries as a representation of any soldier that comes back from war feeling a "loss of masculinity". Jake's injuries being visible only emphasizes this effect
ReplyDeleteI don't love Brett as a character, but I do like how straightforward she (usually) is with the men she's been with and how even though her future-husband is in the picture, she still somewhat strings Jake along. Or Jake allows himself to be strung along despite the knowledge that they will never be able to be together (on Brett's current terms). Either way, both things definitely complicate their relationship and cause an interesting dynamic between the two.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I agree that Brett doesn't necessarily have bad intentions regarding how she treats Jake (not telling him about San Sebastian), but Jake gets hurt because he wants their relationship to be much more than Brett does. They constantly avoid this topic, which is a factor of the emotion pain that Jake endures.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard not to say that there is a certain level of uncaring and manipulative behavior on Brett's part. She chooses to not tell Jake about going with Cohn and it can be argued that she is just leading him on. However, I do kind of give some "benefit of the doubt" you could say to Brett just because this is also a very hard, conflicted situation for her too. If we're all against Brett in this situation, you could even look at it as sort of "Devil's Advocate". She has this relationship with Jake that she is pretty involved in but at the same time, she knows it just cannot meet her desires which seem to be pretty prominent. I mean, we had a discussion in class about if Brett was justified for not telling Jake about going to San Sebastian with Cohn - should she be out rightly shamed for her decision or did she give into her temptations to fulfill some of her desires and think it was easier just not tell him because she still holds Jake close to her heart? Great post Kiran!
ReplyDeleteI took Brett's "flippant" treatment of the relationship as a reflection of her conflicting feelings. Because she cannot have a fulfilling relationship with Jake, she keeps trying to distance herself from him and move on from their relationship. But ultimately she keeps coming back to him due to her love for him and dependence on him for emotional support. While she doesn't seem to have bad intentions, this is what hurts Jake. Every time Brett comes back to Jake, it gives him false hope about their relationship.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Jake and Brett simply need to separate. He is too dependent on her (ironic considering he trashes Cohn for being led around by women), and she does not have strong enough committed feelings for him. This relationship is clearly causing more stress than is necessary to both of them, and I strongly believe that they need time apart so they can move on from each other and find something new that actually works.
ReplyDelete