10. Cruel Humor

It is only day one, and the tension between Mike and Cohn could be cut by a knife. Example:

"'It's no life being a steer,' Robert Cohn said. 'Don't you think so?' Mike said. 'I would have thought you'd loved being a steer, Robert.' 'What do you mean, Mike?' 'They lead such a quiet life. They never say anything and they're always hanging about so'" (pg 145-146, Hemingway). Going back to the gradeschool days, does anyone notice the connection between the words bull, and bully? Mike is like the bull in that he is attacking the steer, Cohn. Mike's reasons for bullying Cohn come from the fact that ever since he stayed in San Sebastian with Brett, he's been following her like a little puppy. Which seems reasonable because Brett is Mike's fiance. However, he's not scolding Brett for her actions. No one seems able to tie down this woman, which shows an overall shift from the subservient housewife to a liberated woman.
Back to Cohn, the reason this joke seems so cruel is because throughout the novel already Cohn carries a stereotype because he is Jewish. What makes it even worse between Cohn and Jake's group is that he is a nonveteran. However, no one except Mike has verbally attacked Cohn. Jake will share that he 'hates' Robert, but expresses no negative action towards him. As a future prediction, I feel as if the anecdote about Cohn at Princeton at the beginning of the novel is going to come into the picture very soon.