The Sun Also Rises: Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis

The next day is rainy, foggy, and dull. Jake is in his room when Montoya enters and asks for some advice – Romero has been asked to have dinner with the American ambassador. Jake understands immediately that Montoya believes that Romero will be ruined by getting involved with America. He advises Montoya not to give Romero the message, and they agree that such a boy shouldn't "mix with that stuff."

Jake finds his friends eating dinner. They are too drunk now for him to catch up, and so he goes over instead to Romero, who's eating with a bullfighting critic. They all speak a little bit of different languages and translate back and forth. Romero tells his life story, how he learned bullfighting in Malaga. Romero is anxious not to seem arrogant, but is also passionate and proud: he says he will show them both how good he is during his fight tomorrow.

Brett and Mike shout to Jake from across the room. Mike wants him to tell Romero that "bulls have no balls," while Brett asks to be introduced. Jake apologizes for his friends' drunkenness, but does introduce them, explaining that two of them are writers while Mike is waiting to marry Brett. Mike, meanwhile, tells Romero in English, which Romero doesn't understand, about Brett's crush. The others quiet him. They all toast to Pedro Romero, then Pedro moves on and Brett exclaims again how lovely he looks.

Mike now once again starts to insult Cohn, shouting at him to go away, begging him to see when he isn't wanted, and asking Jake to back him up in his assessment of Cohn. Mike and Cohn are on the brink of fighting, until Jake finally drags Mike out.

As the last day of the fiesta approaches, English and American tourists pour into the town. Bill runs into a friend of his named Edna, and he and Mike decide to go off and make fun of the English tourists. Brett decides to stay behind. Cohn tries to stay with her, but she snaps at him to get going because she wants to talk alone with Jake.

When they're alone, Brett complains to Jake about Mike and Cohn's behaviors, both of which she finds disgusting. Jake defends Mike, saying how hard it's been on Mike to have Cohn around, but she begs him not to "be difficult."

Brett and Jake take a walk to the old fortifications around the town. Brett asks Jake if he still loves her. When he says he does, she then tells him that she is "mad about the Romero boy." She apologizes for being a "bitch," but says "I've got to do something I really want to do. I've lost my self-respect."

Jake agrees to help, and they go to a café where Romero is sitting with other bullfighters and critics. Jake predicts that Romero will come over to see them, and sure enough he does. He accepts Jake's invitation to sit. The attraction between Romero and Brett is immediately obvious: Brett playfully holds his hand and reads his fortune. Jake then translates as they talk about bullfighting. Romero says the bulls are his best friends. When Brett asks if he kills his friends, he says he does, so they don't kill him.

Jake leaves Brett and Romero at the table, and as he does so he notices that bullfighters and critics with whom Romero was speaking earlier look at him disapprovingly. When Jake returns a little later, Romero and Brett are gone.