Thursday, July 8, 2010

In this chapter, Cohn's discontent with his life became clear. It seemed to me that he was having a midlife crisis. I am getting the feeling that Robert Cohn is one of those people who is never truly happy, so they spend their entire life trying to find something that will "complete" them or make them better. People like that, unfortunately, can never attain true happiness. Happiness cannot be found through something else. An individual has to be accepting of themselves to find it first. I also think it is important for a person to think for himself. The fact that Cohn got all of his ideas through another book sort of bothered me. I wish he would think for himself instead. His friend Jake appears to think the same way I do.
"'The Purple Land' is a very sinister book if read too late in life," he warned. "For a man to take it at thirty-four as a guide-book to what life holds is about as safe as it would be for a man of the same age to enter Wall Street direct from a French convent, equipped with a complete set of the more practical Alger books." (page 17)
Clearly, Jake is the more practical and realistic of the two characters. Cohn is filled with too many daydreams.

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