The art of being unbothered

In The Sun Also Rises, almost everyone seems to have mastered some version of unbothered-ness. They drink, go out, travel, and push aside their problems. Seems like if they stay busy enough, they won't have to think about what's actually going on.

Jake and Brett are probably the clearest example of this, especially when it comes to their relationship. They both know they love each other, but neither seems to know what to do with that. Jake tends to act like he's okay with their situation, even when Brett's relationships with other men clearly affect him. Brett, meanwhile, is more open about her feelings toward Jake, but she continues seeing other men and keeping herself occupied. For example, when Brett tells Jake she's in love with him but also says they can't be together because of his injury, they both seem to accept the situation without actually moving on from it. Jake acts like he can handle being her friend, while Brett keeps coming back to him for comfort. they're both feeding into this ambiguous relationship by not expressing themselves honestly. 

And I want to mention Brett’s issue of being an alcoholic as another example of her not expressing her feelings and putting on this mask of being unbothered. But I honestly don’t know where to go from there, so I’ll leave that up for debate. 

I think most people have pretended something didn’t affect them as much as it did. Maybe it was a next you never received , or acting like you were having a great time when all you really wanted was to go home. Sometimes it feels like unbothered is less about genuinely not caring and more about not wanting everyone to know that you do. Jake and Brett seem to have their own versions of this, but they also keep pulling each other back into the same situation.