Bullfights and the Soon-to-be-created Joe Nelson

At this point I think I’m about halfway through the novel. I’ll probably finish it in the next few days, as it’s a pretty fast read (Disclaimer: easy to read does not necessarily mean easy to understand). I’m starting to get a lot more material for my project. One important passage I’ve found explains the connection in his mind between the war and Brett, the woman he loves.

While reminiscing about being in a war hospital in Italy, he begins to think about how he met Brett soon after. He explains that “I try and play it along and just not make trouble for people. Probably I never would have had any trouble 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” (31). Although their relationship definitely has other dynamics, I feel like Jake doesn’t realize the extent to which his experience in the war affected his relationship with Brett. He met her just after the war, when he definitely must have been emotionally damaged. Brett must have been traumatized, too, as I’m pretty sure they met while Brett was working some sort of war job, as a nurse or something (I can’t find the exact passage at the moment, but I’ll keep looking). This shows one of the primary psychological effects of the war: it compromised many people’s abilities to form healthy relationships (thus, Hemingway’s string of unsuccessful marriages).  

I’m also very interested in the role of the bullfights in the story. Jake has a sort of obsession with them, going down to Spain to watch them every year and reading bullfighting papers. I think Hemingway is going to say more about them, but at this point I see them as a sort of coping mechanism. Not as if the war made people enjoy violence or anything like that, but war does rewire your brain in a way, and I think seeing the controlled violence of a bullfight might help Jake sort out his own psychological mess. Still, I’ll have to gather more evidence for this as I continue to read.

In other news, I’m starting to think seriously about my genres. I think I’ve come up with a pretty good idea, pre-made with a “golden thread” (if a common character counts). I’m creating a WWI veteran named Joe Nelson, complete with his own story (the name is very generic for a reason). He went to a mental hospital after the war for PTSD (though of course it was known as such at the time), and my first genre will be his final psychological evaluation from the hospital, complete with an interview from when he first arrived. My second genre, I think, will be a painting (abstract-ish, 20s style; think Picasso) of Joe to represent his mind. The third genre I’m not sure about, but I might do a letter from Joe to his wife, Edith. The fourth I haven't decided either. Maybe a eulogy to one of his comrades who died in the war? I'll figure it out later this week. I’m actually really excited to do the genres!