One of Brett’s lines towards the end of book one really stood out to me as defining all of the characters, and the state the war left them in: “You haven’t any values. You’re dead, that’s all (67)”. The war seems to have stripped them of all the values and desires that any earlier generation would have had. Love, marriage, children, a stable life—the magnitude and destruction of the war has made all of these seem insubstantial or naïve. They’re all adults in their mid-thirties, divorced or never married, and childless (Cohn’s children don’t even seem to be a factor in his life). They go to parties and drink heavily, and live entirely day-to-day, with no thought to the future.

Another effect the war had was on people’s relationships with each other. The characters don’t seem to have any more connection to each other than they do to ideals or values. Jake’s interactions with all characters but perhaps Brett are incredibly detached. During Frances’ confrontation with Cohn, though he feels vaguely sorry for the other man and seems to want it to end, Jake merely gets up and leaves his (apparent) friend and doesn’t seem to spare a thought to him. People drift in and out of Jake’s life, and don’t affect him in any way. Brett has a similar attitude, and only seems to feel anything substantial for Jake. All the other characters in her life—the original group at the party, the count—are just people that she happens to be using at the time.