Jake is unable to live the life that he wants with Brett, because of the injury he incurred during the War. This in turn sends him into a deeply r!.
ooted depression, "I was thinking about Brett and my mind stopped jumping around and started to go in sort of smooth waves. Then all of a sudden I started to cry (39)-. But because he is so hidden with his feelings he never even tells his supposed friends, what is really going on in his life, " I never used to realize it, I guess. I try and play it along and just not make trouble for people (39)-. Because he doesn't have a handle on himself, he can't be considered a hero. .
The lady of the story, Brett, is probably the second worst human being in the story. Besides the fact that she is basically kind and a good person, therereally isnt anything positive you can say about her. Although she has in fact led a pretty rough life, one would think she would not want to emotionally distress others, but she does. She is very vain and she does not seem to care about anyone but herself. She toys with several people's emotions throughout the story without any regard for their feelings. She professes her love to Jake on several occasions in the story, "Love you? I simply turn all to jelly when you touch me (34)-, but because she is so shallow she refuses to build a relationship with him, mostly due to his handicap. She engages herself to Mike, and at the same time is unfaithful to him with both Cohn and Romero, both of whom she expresses feelings to at some point throughout the story. She is very charming and flirtatious, and she feeds off of other people. She has no idea what it is she wants in a relationship and no idea what she wants out of life. She is the subject of many arguments throughout the story and does nothing really to resolve these conflicts, except to inadvertently make them worse. She did however, in Romero's best interests, set aside her own true feelings for him, and tells him to go, "He only left yesterday.
