18. Jake's Generalizations

"'Barmen and jockeys are the only people who are polite anymore'"(pg 248, Hemingway).

Haven't we heard something like this before? Like to the extent of "'Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters'"(pg 18, Hemingway). I would not exactly call it parallelism, but Jake has his way of putting the spotlight on different people. Maybe, he wishes to attain these qualities that others seem to possess. The bullfighter seems to possess all these attributes along with 'machismo'. According to dictionary.com machismo is defined as a strong or exaggerated sense of manliness; an assumptive attitude that virility, courage, strength, and entitlement to dominate are attributes or concomitants of masculinity.
Because of the war, Jake lacks the up most prominence of masculinity, and maybe in his aimless, wandering lifestyle, he feels he lacks the other qualities as well. Or maybe Jake wants his next adventure to lead him to the Kentucky Derby. =)