Jake's Life in Paris v. Spain

In The Sun Also Rises, Jake spends the entirety of the book in either Spain or France. Although he resides in Paris, much of the plot occurs in his vacation spots of the fishing lake and Pamplona. Jake lives very differently in Spain than in Paris, which is reflected in both Hemingway's choice of words and Jake's actions.

In Paris, Jake seems very stressed. Although he and his friends seem to party every night in clubs, Jake is troubled by various things, especially Brett. Although the two of them share a special emotional connection which they interpret as love, they are unable to be with each other as they are unable to satisfy all of the other's needs. Furthermore, Jake seems rather put off by Cohn. There's the entire scene at lunch where Jake tells Cohn to "go to hell" offhandedly but Cohn takes it too seriously, annoying Jake. Adding on to the details and style of speech in the first chapter telling Cohn's backstory, it is clear that Jake does not like Cohn too much. Furthermore, as a narrator, Jake spends a lot of time talking about the actions of his friends and the world around him rather than his role and actions in the novel while he resides in Paris, perhaps another sign of his stress.

His stress in Paris is especially obvious after he comes to Spain. During his fishing trip with Bill, Bill tries to teach Jake 'irony.' It takes Jake quite a while to figure out how this new coping mechanism works, but eventually we see that Jake manages to loosen up in his speech. In addition to that, how Jake describes his surroundings changes. There is more of a focus on himself and less on the others like the Paris section of the novel, perhaps an indication of Jake opening up more. A second cause of Jake relaxing is probably that Brett is not present (at least until Pamplona), and that he can have casual and heart-to-heart chats with Bill, who he clearly considers a close friend, unlike Cohn.

Did you all notice any other differences in Jake's behavior?

Lucrezia: Cause of Septimus’ Death?

In the article we used for panel presentations, the author asks if Rezia’s name was significant, as it was “resonant with past murders.” As I was unsure of what the author was referring to, I did a bit of research on famous Lucrezias. The only Lucrezia that I found connected with murder was Lucrezia Borgia, an Italian Renaissance noblewoman. She was famous as a sister of Cesare Borgia (remember him from Mr. Butler's class?) and for possibly being behind her first husband's death. In popular portrayals, she is a femme fatale. 

I saw very few similarities between our Rezia Warren Smith and Lucrezia Borgia. For one, they are both Italian. However, Rezia is really not that beautiful - she is described as having a "sallow pointed face" and "large eyes," and therefore cannot be described as a femme fatale. Furthermore, she is completely dedicated to Septimus, unlike Borgia, who reportedly had several affairs. But it is true that our Rezia and Lucrezia Borgia both may have had a hand in the death of their husbands.

I am not saying that Holmes was not the trigger of Septimus' suicide or denying that shell-shock was the base cause, but I think Rezia may have contributed to the onset of Septimus' depression and other shell-shock symptoms. Septimus married Rezia as Septimus wanted to be able to feel again, but he was still unable to feel anything although Rezia seemingly loves him. This is especially significant when Rezia cries when Septimus tells her that he does not want children. It is at this moment that Septimus really notices that he still cannot feel anything although his wife is sobbing, which pushes him further down the pit. In short, shell-shock is the illness that robs Septimus of his emotions, Rezia is the self-prescribed cure that ultimately fails to work and in fact hastens the illness, and Holmes is the immediate cause of death.

Thoughts?