# I explained — The Sun Also Rises > Chapter companion for The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. ## What happens The chapter introduces Robert Cohn's background, his time at Princeton where he became middleweight boxing champion to combat anti-Semitic treatment, his failed marriage, his venture into publishing a literary review, and his current relationship with Frances Clyne in Paris. It also establishes the narrator Jake Barnes's friendship with Cohn and Frances's possessive control over him. ## Themes in this chapter ### The Lost Generation Cohn and his circle represent the displaced, searching expatriates in Europe after the war. ### Masculinity and Identity Cohn's boxing and his struggle with being Jewish at Princeton reflect his quest for masculine identity. ## Character check-ins ### Robert Cohn Introduced as a former Princeton boxing champion, now a writer in Paris, dominated by Frances Clyne. ### Jake Barnes The narrator and Cohn's tennis friend, who observes Cohn's relationship with Frances. ### Frances Clyne Cohn's possessive partner, determined to marry him as her looks fade. ### Braddocks Cohn's literary friend in Paris. ## Key lines > I mistrust all frank and simple people, especially when their stories hold together Jake is skeptical of people who seem too straightforward and whose narratives are too consistent. _Reveals Jake's cynical worldview and narrative voice._ > He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton. Cohn took up boxing despite hating it, to overcome the shame and insecurity caused by anti-Semitism at Princeton. _Highlights Cohn's internal conflict and the theme of identity._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_sun_also_rises_se/chapters/i - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_sun_also_rises_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_sun_also_rises_se/chapters