The Sun Also Rises(Chapters 12 & 13)

Chapters 12 & 13 Summaries

Chapter 12 opens with Jake waking up early in the hotel. He gets dressed, and decides to go outside. He goes for a walk when he sees a stream. He starts to dig for worms in the dirt, but instead of finding worms he finds 2 tobacco tins that are both full. Jake takes the tins and empties the tobacco and fills the tins with worms for there fishing trip. When he got back up to his room, Bill begins to joke with him about irony and pity. He tells Jake to only say things that are ironic and pitiful to him. Jake tired of Bills games, tells him he does not want to talk right now. Bill says that Jake doesn't know about how popular talking to someone in ironic or pitiful ways is. Jake now getting very irritated by Bill says that he does not care. Bill then teases Jake, calling him an expatriate. Jake now wondering where Bill is going with all of this, asks Bill what an expatriate is. Bill tells him that expatriates are drunks who are obsessed with sex and who write nothing worth publishing. Bill also tells Jake that some people think women support Jake while others think that he is impotent. Jake then got very angry and told Bill that he is not impotent that he had a accident during the war. After a moment of silence, they traded many jokes about another man who had the same accident as Jake, but he had gotten from riding a horse. Then after having a great laugh together, Bill then tells Jake that he is very fond of him and that he is fonder of Jake than anyone else on earth. After their deep conversations, Bill and Jake both pack a lunch and bottle of wine, and head to the river. They walk through beautiful meadows, fields, and woods, and, after a long hike, arrive at the river that they want to fish at. They place the wine in a spring up the road in order to keep it cold. Jake fishes with the worms that he had found, but Bill tries fly-fishing. They both catch many fish, but Bill's fish are much bigger. Over their lunch, they joke about the friends they met in the war. Bill then asks Jake if he was ever in love with Brett, and Jake tells him that he was in love with Brett for a long time, but that was ages ago. They spend five days in Burguete, fishing, eating, drinking, and playing cards. They get no word from Robert, Brett, or Mike. Though at the beginning of chapter 13 Jake receives a letter from Mike telling him that Brett had fainted on the train and that they stayed in San Sebastian for three days and won't arrive in Pamplona until Wednesday. Robert also sends Jake a telegram announcing that he will arrive on Thursday. Bill and Jake then reply to Robert's telegram, stating that they are going to return to Pamplona that night (Wednesday), so he does not have to bother going to Burguete to see them. Then right before Jake and Bill decide to leave Burguete they go and visit a dear war friend of both of theirs named Harris. They go out and get drinks together and have many laughs and memories of the old times together. Jake offers Harris to come along with them, but Harris denies the offer. When Jake and Bill arrive in Pamplona the next day, the owner of the inn informers them that Mike and Brett both have arrived. Jake and Bill then go and find Brett, Mike, and Robert in a cafe nearby. After seeing each other again, they head toward the fiesta together to watch the amazing bullfighting occur. Bill, Robert, Mike, and Brett all watch the unloading of the bulls and asks Jake what the purpose is of bullfighting. Jake explains that the shining muscular beasts charge out of the cages toward the bullfighter. The bullfighter then works at calming the bull down so that they do not kill one another. The bullfighters Jake explains are often gored in the process. When the first bullfight goes off, Jake tells Brett not to look, but being so fascinated by it, she watches anyway. Afterward, they went to a cafe and got drunk. Mike makes a few cutting remarks about Robert following Brett around like a bullfighter does with the bull, referring to the fact that Robert went to San Sebastian after Bill and Jake left Pamplona. Mike berates Robert for not knowing when he isn't wanted. Bill leads Robert away from Mike so things would calm down. Mike remarks that Brett has had affairs before, but not with Jews or with men who kept hanging around on her.

Chapters 12 & 13 Personal Comments

I feel that chapters 12 & 13 were a lot better than chapters 10 & 11. I felt that they had way more detail and the book started to finally make sense to me. I actually loved chapter 13 because I felt that all of the major characters were together and let out the secrets that were inside of each one. I also feel that these chapters made me keep on reading and made the story juicy with information. I think that when Mike told Robert that he is like the bull chasing Brett who is the bullfighter, he was absolutely right. I also believe that Robert has no right to follow her around and like the bull hurting the fighter, Robert is going to hurt Brett by breaking her relationship with Mike. I fell that these two chapters were the best chapters in the book so far and that they made me like the book a lot more than I already did.