I identify completely with what Jake Barnes says in the book. Here are some quotes from this novel that I find morosely insightful and witty in a very melancholic manner.
“I never used to realize it, I guess. I try and play it along and just not make trouble for people. Probably I never would have had any trouble at all if I hadn't run into Brett when they shipped me to England. I suppose she only wanted what she couldn't have. Well, people were that way. To hell with people. The Catholic Church had an awfully good way of handling all that. Good advice, anyway. Not to think about it. Oh, it was swell advice. Try and take it sometime. Try and take it.”
--- Jake's comment about how people like to say, "Hey, it'll be fine. Things will be fine as long as you don't think about it," strikes a chord with me. Oh, please, come on! When something, usually bad, happens to a person, how can he not think about it? I hate to hear such 'advice' as well. Why did I put the word 'advice' in quotation marks? Well, it's basically not advice after all! If the negative thing happened to you, you think about it. You think about it day and night and somewhere in between as well. For example, if you get hurt physically (like Jake), you will definitely think about your pain and your injury! It's only natural and well, your injury will remind you to think about it, even if you didn't want to!!
Yeah, "not to think about it"? You want my honest opinion? It's a whole lot of nonsense! Yeah, "try and take it sometime. Try and take it." I bet you a million bucks that you can't not think about it
“Everyone behaves badly--given the chance.”
--- Oh, most definitely isn't it? Come on! Don't pretend to be the saint that you ain't! (Rhymes!) Imagine, if there was no one looking, what would you be doing? ;)
"At one time or another I had probably considered it from most of its various angles, including the one that certain injuries or imperfections are a subject of merriment while remaining quite serious for the person possessing them."
--- Oh, so true! For instance, a kid with 'rabbit-teeth' that protrude has to endure snide remarks about looking like Bugs-Bunny; a kid with freckles has to endure being called 'Spotty'. People love making fun of other people's imperfections. Why? Perhaps to feel a sense of superiority and to feel better about themselves? Think about it - when was the last time your imperfection, which brought severe pain to you, brought such perverse joy and entertainment to others?
The person who possesses the imperfection already feels lousy to the core! Come on, people. Give the poor person a break! There's no need to be mean - intentionally or otherwise!
“It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing.”
--- Yes, totally.It is easier to be all business and tough in the day time but at night, it's a different ball game altogether. At night, when it's all dark and quieter, and you're all by your lonesome self, it's hard, very hard to be hard-boiled about everything. The evils, various pains and worries that you've suppressed in the day time, come out and overwhelm you as though Pandora's Box is opened once more... At night, the tough exterior exhausts itself and dissolves to reveal all one's true self and one's inner issues.
“I can't stand it to think my life is going so fast and I'm not really living it.”
--- Oh, yes, yes and yes! Seconds turn to minutes and minutes to hours and hours to days and days to months and months to years... and years to many, many years...
Carpe Diem! Got to do that! Get that dream going and live the life that you want to live.
“Going to another country doesn’t make any difference. I’ve tried all that.You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another. There’s nothing to that.”
--- Kind of sad isn't? We just can't get away from ourselves. No matter how hard we try to make things better sometimes, things just do not get better. Worse, we don't have the means to get away from ourselves.
Imagine, if you have a debilitating physical condition, you can't just leave yourself behind and continue life afresh somewhere else.
You can't leave your problems because you are the problem. So? Sadly, you have to live with yourself, whatever that self may be.
{Other than quotes (which are from Ernest Hemingway's novel called "The Sun Also Rises", content is original. Please do not publish without quoting this blog or getting permission from the author, i.e., Me.} :)
