13. Mike's Anecdote

In Chapter 13, Bill and Jake finally meet up with Brett, Mike, and Robert. They all meet at a cafe and Mike shares an anecdote about the war, found on pages 140-141. It is not a typical war story sharing scenes from a battle, rather it is meant to be a somewhat comical story about a rather insignificant part of Michael's time serving in the war: "Don't you think that was funny? It was. I swear it was." I find it interesting that no one ever mentions anything of substance about the war really. This anecdote from Michael told us nothing of what he actually witnessed in the war. Everyone just seems as if they are trying to forget what happened, usually with the help of alcohol it seems. The characters in this novel continually run from their thoughts and feelings by becoming consumed in other activities like drinking or sexual endeavors.

Something from this chapter confused me as well. When Jake arrived at the hotel, he had a discussion with Montoya about the bull fights. On page 136 it says, "He always smiled as though bull-fighting were a very special secret between the two of us; a rather shocking but really very deep secret that we knew about." I am slightly confused by all this talk of secrets. Is there really a secret or is this just some type of metaphor? If it is a secret, am I supposed to know what it is and kind of pick up on it? If so I most definitely am not.