Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Cougars and Bulls: Brett and Romero's Relationship
In the second half of the book The Sun Also Rises, we were introduced to the character Romero, a young and successful Spanish bullfighter (with extreme emphasis on young). Later on, Romero catches Brett's attention, and he becomes one of her many lovers. While I had no objections to Brett's previous lovers and marriages, I did have an objection to her chasing after Romero. Before Brett meets Romero, we are introduced to him through Jake, who meets him before a bullfight and remarks on that Romero is the "best looking boy he had ever seen" (page 167). He is indeed still a boy, at the age of nineteen, and both Montoya and Jake refer to him as "boy" and "kid". My issue with Romero and Brett's relationship is the significant age difference. Romero is still a teenager, and Brett is a middle-aged woman in her mid-thirties. In anyone's terms, this seems pretty creepy. While we don't normally consider this age difference because Brett desperately tries too seem younger than she actually is, you can't deny that Brett is "robbing the cradle". While Jake, Mike, and Bill seem to have no issue with Romero and Brett, all of the aficionados clearly disapprove of this relationship. They cut out Jake from their inner circle because he introduced Brett to Romero. While the reason for their disgust goes unnamed, they clearly think Brett is awful for Romero and will ruin him. While the relationship between the two of them was very short-lived and didn't work out well, I can't deny the fact that even starting it was very strange. In today's terms, Brett would be referred to as a "cougar" for chasing after men much younger than her. This age difference would not be as significant if both were older, say Romero was 25 and Brett 46, but Romero is still a teenager, no matter how old he may seem or how young Brett seems. In discussion with a classmate about this, it was brought up that it would be even stranger if the genders were reversed, and instead of an older woman and a younger man, it was an older man and a younger woman. Both are very strange indeed, but the latter is almost preying. In conclusion, I found Brett and Romero's relationship very disconcerting, and was relieved when it only lasted a few days.
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Brett and Romero's relationship is certainly strange. I also found their age difference to be off putting. In addition to this, when I was reading the book I (falsely) predicted that Brett's relationship would have a much more destructive effect on Romero-- I expected him to be killed by a bull as a result of distraction, fatigue from staying out all night with Brett, and wounds inflicted by Robert Cohn. While I am glad that the novel did not end in this fashion, I think it could have perhaps produced a more powerful ending where Brett faces the consequences of her actions.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't really occur to me that their age was so different while I was reading, but looking back I can totally see why their relationship is even more off putting than it already was. You also touched on the point that the aficionados disapproved of their relationship, and that also ties into the fact that Romero is an artist, which (if all the aficionados have the same beliefs as Jake), is a very prized characteristic, which Brett would be ruining.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Romero and Brett's relationship was just a tad bit creepy. In this day and age, the age difference is definitely something that would’ve have caught people’s attention. And even now, many people have forgotten, but there was that whole Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher thing. I also think that it's interesting how no one was really concerned or fazed by their age difference. It makes me wonder if it was somewhat common either before or after the war. And also if it was "normal" for older women to go after younger men or the other way around. But at the same time the significant concern about this relationship was the 46 year old notorious woman who could have a terrible influence on the poor, innocent, and lovable Romero so I can understand why the age gap wasn't as potent.
ReplyDeleteI'd forget sometimes while reading that Romero was nineteen--not even into his twenties yet. With the way Jake describes him as being so accomplished at bullfighting he sounded at least a bit older. However, it is true that he refers to him as a boy and I think Romero's being a "boy" ties into the aficionados' disapproval of Brett being with him. Since he's so young there's a purity to him because he hasn't been around long enough to be affected by people like Brett. I use the word purity because it correlates to Jake's descriptions of Romero's actual bullfighting, where says he doesn't use tricks to pretend he's in danger and instead performs in a "pure" way.
ReplyDeleteThe bullfight crowd (Montoya and crew) don't seem upset by the age difference per se (but who knows?)--more the fact that it's *Brett*, who is British (an outsider/foreigner) and clearly likes to party. There is a sense of innocence being corrupted, which isn't unrelated to age, but it seems more closely connected to the idea of decadent Paris corrupting pastoral/traditional Spain.
ReplyDeleteIronically, it's this age difference (and experience difference) that leads to Brett's crisis of conscience as she "calls it off," not wanting to "ruin children." Unfortunately, damage has already been done to Romero's standing in the bullfighters' community (and to his face, thanks to Cohn's fists).