Brett and Jake

I think that it's very easy to dislike Brett as the novel progresses. Although Jake rarely blatantly criticizes her, he makes it very clear that he is frustrated with her. This subtle bias can easily be picked up and unquestioned by readers. Jake never seems to speculate on how things are from Brett's position; there are a few times when he mentions some details about her past in passing, but for the most part, he focuses on what she is doing in the present. The few things that we know about Brett's past, when removed from Jake's narrative, show that she is much more complicated character than she may initially appear to be.

I think that if this novel were written from Brett's point of view, we would see Brett with a similar level of sympathy that we have for Jake. Jake's injury from the war caused him to lose Brett, but the war also caused a huge loss in Brett's life, when her true love died. Her behavior in the novel my very well come directly from this loss, but since Jake is so infuriated by the fact that he can't be with Brett, he doesn't try and see the situation from her point of view.

The relationship between Brett and Jake is probably equally painful for both of them. But because we never get to see the relationship through Brett's eyes, it is easy to assume that all the problems in it come from her. Brett fell in love with a man who died, then when she fell in love with Jake, she found out that she would never be able to be with him. Jake is obviously hurt when he sees Brett with other men, but this probably hurts her too. Whenever she's with Jake and someone else in a group, she's probably hurting just as much as him because she knows that whoever she's with isn't someone that she loves. Early in the novel, there is a reference to them trying to work things out, but it ended badly, and they decided to not try again. She remains close friends with Jake, and is constantly reminded that they can never be together.