Preview
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this opening chapter in sequence: how Jake builds his portrait of Robert Cohn — the Princeton boxing championship and the flattened nose, the early marriage and divorce, the failed review of the Arts on the Coast, and the arrival of Frances. Then name the central tension Hemingway develops in this first chapter and judge whether Jake presents Cohn honestly.
Discussion Questions
- Hemingway introduces Cohn through other people's memories and Jake's judgments before Jake fully steps forward as narrator. Consider what that choice makes us notice about Cohn and what it makes us question about Jake, and why Hemingway might want both at once. Use the chapter's details to explain your reading.
- Cohn took up a sport he 'cared nothing for' and even 'disliked,' and learned it 'painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority' he felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton. Consider why Cohn would master something he dislikes rather than walk away from it, and what that choice tells us about him. Use the chapter's details to explain.
+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 7 more questions in the complete study guide
Get the complete study guide — free
Sign up and get your first book with every chapter included. Copywork, discussion questions, vocabulary, and critical thinking.
Sign up free