CHAPTER SUMMARY AND NOTES

CHAPTER 9

Summary

Jake, the true sportsman, begins the chapter by saying the Ledoux- Kid Francis fight was on the 20th of June and was a good fight. The morning after the fight, Jake receives a letter from Cohn who 2reminds him that he wants to go fishing. Cohn asks him to buy him some fishing line, a very inexpensive item, and Jake is offended that Cohn makes a point of saying that he will pay Jake for the purchase. Cohn does not understand that true friendship does not keep a balance sheet. From his office, Jake writes Cohn and tells him to met Gorton and him at Bayonne, and they will proceed together to Pamplona.

That evening, he stops to see Brett and Mike at the Select. Not finding them there, he locates them at the Dingo. Mike is again "tight" and asks if he and Brett can join the party in Spain. After Jake agrees to meet them on June 25, Mike keeps repeating, "I hope you don't mind." Brett begs him to stop his foolish ways. Mike leaves to get his hair cut, and Jake walks Brett to her hotel, which Mike has decided is a brothel. Brett inquires if Cohn is going on the trip and worries that it would be hard on him being around her and Mike. She then casually tells Jake that she went to San Sebastian with Cohn. Jake sarcastically responds, "Congratulations." He then suggests she write to Cohn to let him know she will be there with her fiance so Cohn can decide whether he wants to come. When Jake sees Brett on the 24th of June, a day before they are to meet in Spain, she tells him Cohn has responded that he very much wants to meet them in Spain despite the fact that she will be with Michael. Jake arranges to meet Brett and Mike in Pamplona and writes an itinerary for them.

Jake and Bill take the morning train through the beautiful countryside, and Jake notices that the grain is just beginning to ripen. Bill cannot enjoy the countryside, for he is too busy complaining about the many inconveniences of the trip. The train is very crowded, for seven cars are filled with a group of Catholic "pilgrims" from Dayton, Ohio, and lunch is delayed until late afternoon, which is a real irritation to Gorton. In their train compartment is a "salt of the earth" American family, a man and his wife and their young son. Jake and Gorton avoid a long conversation with them and get off the train at every stop. At nine o'clock they arrive at Bayonne, and Robert Cohn is waiting for them. Jake notices that Cohn is near-sighted and shy. They all take a cab to Cohn's hotel.

Notes

In this chapter, the hectic atmosphere of Paris, all the conflicts and distortions, are left behind. The sentences get longer and the characters stop their frenetic talk to watch the countryside in silence. The only interruption in their serene experience is the obtrusive tourists from Ohio, who Jake and Gorton both criticize loudly. The expatriate Americans seem very interested in avoiding any connection to the tourist Americans. The family that rides in Jake and Bill's train car is very conventional and middle class and provides a sharp contrast to the expatriate American crowd who all seem to have rejected middle-class proprieties.

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