The Split

In preparation for my panel presentation, I read a lot about Romero and Brett’s split. As was stated during our presentation, Donald Daiker believes that, contrary to what Brett says, Romero leaves Brett. In a way, it makes sense. Brett seems like she was dumped when she is talking to Jake. She is truly devastated by the end of the relationship, which seems to run contrary to her other flings. Her self esteem is at an all time low, and she even wants to get back together with Mike, who made a spectacular ass of himself in Pamplona. I find this interpretation of the scene really interesting, but I don’t really agree with it. I understand where Daiker is coming from, but there is no solid textual evidence. Also, Brett is usually open with Jake; when they are alone, she tells him the truth. I believe that she really needed to let off steam about her situation to someone, in this case Jake, so she vented about what actually happened to get it off her chest.

Instead of Daiker’s interpretation of this scene, I firmly believe that Romero left Brett, although he did this because he had no other choice. He saw that she would always be a free spirit, which is not what he wanted. He wanted a lot of her, he wanted her to grow out her hair and to settle down, which she did not want to do. She has no intention of settling down, enjoying the life of bumping around Europe that her clique engages in. She is not going to compromise who she is for this kid, even if she does love him. She is who she wants to be, at least for the moment. Her edgy style and raucous lifestyle keeps her going. She isn’t necessarily happy, but she still wants to live the way she has been.

I do believe she is not entirely truthful in the end with Jake, trying to paint herself in a better light in regards to her split with Romero. Instead of admitting that she doesn’t want to settled down into a conventional lifestyle, she says she doesn’t want to ruin Romero. This still shows why they didn’t work out. In this statement, she admits that she would not change for Romero. However, she somewhat distorts this, but it is still quite obvious what the situation was to Jake.