Gene And CohnAlike And Apart
...written by John Knowles, both have something in common among the characters. All the characters have hidden sides to them, which they immensely want to reveal to those with whom they communicate and occupy themselves; nonetheless, something within them holds them back, which almost causes severe destruction of their inner selves and those they love and cherish. Two focal characters from each bookRobert Cohn from The Sun Also Rises and Gene Forrester from A Separate Peaceare very much influenced by their companions and surroundings and they both have certain characteristics that are common in many aspects but also drastically different in other features.
The first thing known about Robert Cohn is that he is a boxer. He takes up boxing at the university not because he enjoys it as a sport but only to "counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton (Hemingway 11)" and pretty, soon he becomes the middleweight boxing champion, but no one from his class remembers him. "They did not even remember that he was middleweight boxing champion" (Hemingway 11). Cohn has had an unlucky life and his best friend Jake Barnes, the protagonist and main character of the story, doesn't do much to help him improve it either. After his marriage, he had lost most of the money he had inherited from his father and "just when he had made up his mind to leave his wife she left him
" (Hemingway 12). Later Cohn moves away to California and writes a novel, which, after its publication, brings out an arrogance in him that makes him less shy and gentle. He annoys his friends so much that they soon start bantering him, but Cohn doesn't know when to take a hint and realize that he isn't wanted. He is the only one in the group who hasn't had a firsthand experience with World War I, therefore, he still believes in the pre-war traditional values and...
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