" Do you know the American ambassador?" - Montoya
" Everybody knows the American ambassador." - Jake
"I've just had a message from them at the Grand Hotel that they want Pedro Romero and Marcial Lalanda to come over for coffee to-night after dinner." - Montoya
"Don't give Romero the message," I said. - Jake
"You think so?" - Montoya
"Absolutely." - Jake (pg. 175)
Here Jake, who is an American himself, tells Montoya to keep this message given to him by the American ambassador. Jake just thinks that foreigners will get in the way of Romero's career. If Hemingway just wanted to emphasize that any "foreigners" would corrupt Romero, he could've picked any country. He chose America. Ernest was raised in America, so I am not sure why he used this example. Hemingway just practically threw his home country under a bus.
Hemingway must have not really enjoyed his days in America or maybe he was just trying to make a point. I think that even today America is looked down upon. It's the land of the free where people can do whatever they want whenever they want. This all sounds wonderful, but I truly think that our country is going downhill. People have begun to put more emphasis on material items and money than what is really important in life. The whole "family aspect" is being lost. When people acquire more money, families seem to get spread apart. Even though this part of the book makes America look bad, I probably would have told Montoya the same thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment