Does Jake's preconceived notions and alcoholism make him an unreliable narrator

Does Jake's preconceived notions and alcoholism make him an unreliable narrator
The book starts off with Jake introducing Cohn in a very rude and often antisemitic manner. Later we find out why Jake may have has some issues with Cohn and why he would introduce him so negatively despite how they seem to have had somewhat of a good friendship. There is almost never a moment where Jake and all the other characters aren’t heavily drinking. A panel presentation in our class brought up the evidence of alcoholism in the book and how it explains a lot of the characters behaviors. Therefore maybe Jake wasn’t a very reliable narrator because his opinions of people are often based on their interest in Brett and their masculinities, he is also, in theory, wasted all the time. An easy connection to make for why Jake doesn’t like Cohn and is so rude to him is because Cohn was pretty annoying about Brett for a long time. First of all Cohn didn't pick up the obvious hint that Jake and Brett had a special connection when Jake got very defensive when Cohn asked about Brett. Also after Cohn and Brett slept together Cohn didn’t take about it and acted like their relationship was much more serious. Jake’s opinion of Mike is pretty nice and chill except when he gets drunk and made at Cohn. This is because Mike has the same understanding as Jake, it is ok if Brett sleeps with others as long as there is no emotional connection. Jake also realizes that Brett is marrying Mike for the money. Therefore, because of Jake’s defensiveness, he hates people like Cohn.
Jake also has a problem with his masculinity whether it is because of his war injury or other things Jake constantly judges others on their masculinity. Jake’s definition of masculinity is also very skewed, he sees things like fishing, boxing, and bullfighting as proof of masculinity. The final aspect of Jake’s unreliability as a narrator is the constant drinking. It was brought up in class that Jake and all his friends are what are known as high-functioning alcoholics, they are able to drink a lot and seem functional despite the amount of alcohol. A trait of high-functioning alcoholics is denial. Jake seems to deny he has an issue. When we see him cry it is only for one short sentence he also continually drinks to no have to think or feel, this is why he hates night so much. I don’t think any of this makes the book worse if anything it makes it better. It is just important to keep it in mind when reading Jake’s picture of Brett, Cohn and all the other characters in the book.

Comments

  1. MaddieOctober 14, 2018 at 6:10 AM

    I never really thought about this until I read your blog, and it makes a lot of sense. How COULD jake be a reliable character if he is drinking all the time. Would you trust someone’s word if you knew they were an alcoholic. I wish i knew this while I was reading the book so I could have tried to understand the characters better.

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