Thus far, Jake is the only character that loves even when he is rejected. Count Mippipopolous, despite being undoubtedly a warm and friendly soul, has not quite been put to the test. Most likely, he, like the average human, looks for give and take in most sorts of relationships. Cohn and Brett belong to the opposite end of the scale as Jake, with Brett being the more extreme. Jake and Robert are for better or worse friends, and have a fairly healthy relationship. Robert's personal problems begin to undermine their relationship, but ultimately Robert commits to fill his own emptiness. This decision draws Cohn away to other fantasies.
I imagine Cohn looked somewhat like this in his boxing prime. Yet he never liked the sport, only the feeling of superiority. As if the moustache couldn't do that on its own.
Lady Brett is far from the controlled and reserved English lady. Never faithful, she seems to double cross all of her husbands or lovers. Yet Jake is faithful and loving to her always. I can understand why Brett would feel so uncomfortable with committment, but its strange that she so closes herself off to love. To her, marriage does not mean a relationship based on love, rather it smells of earthier things and necessity. Towards the end of chapter seven when she, Jake, and the count go out for the night reveals her. She does not enjoy dancing. Dance channels the vitality of life, and serves as a metaphor for the way humans live as a whole. We make rules to protect us from the overly powerful and electric energy of the supernatural. Brett seems to reject these rules that society passes along, even if it is to her and others' disadvantage. Jake always wishes her well, even as she rejects him, that is the most beautiful love.
The bullfighting motif runs beneath the surface of the piece, popping in and out of consciousness. Jake says that the only people that live their lives to the full are bull fighters. Jake seems to take some chances himself. In some ways Jake parallels the bull. He is stabbed at by others like Cohn, although he does not mean harm. The real dance is between him and Brett, the matador. They criss cross and circle close and far, but it's pretty clear Jake's going to get burned. Even so he does this with love. Thus far he hasn't changed, although a vaccuum around him is tempting him to spill apart.
