Jake and Irony

       A couple days ago, the question of Jake and his use of irony was brought up in class. More specifically, would it have been better if Jake was as ironic as Bill or Brett? Personally, I like Jake's language as is. Although vague and simple, it is very common place and straightforward. You don't expect to hear anything special, and don't leave your mind to sit and scrutinize the text that it reads, judging the input for its quality. The few things that Jake says are like little islands in an ocean of irony; completely separate but tied in all the same. Jake is the main character through the eyes of which we see the world of the novel, and his language is like a grounding point, we always return to it, and it brings us back to reality. It is through his language that we can get a sense of what is going on, even though most of the time he provides it through the smallest gesture. It is as if this is Hemingway's way of opening the rode to Jake's mind. Virginia Woolf described the mind, making thought flow onto the page with a seeming absence of borders and limits, where Hemingway provides us with a straightforward this-is-what-it-is report of Jake's thoughts. And that is nice once in a while (another point of importance, we do not hear that much of Jake, and those moments come almost paced, as if Hemingway is providing us reminders of reality just so that we don't go too far into the world of irony.) So no, Jake's lack of irony creates a good balance for the other characters.