Quote 4
Cohn smiled again and sat down. He seemed glad to sit down. What the hell would he have done if he hadn’t sat down? "You say such damned insulting things, Jake." "I’m sorry. I’ve got a nasty tongue. I never mean it when I say nasty things."
"I know it," Cohn said. "You’re really about the best friend I have, Jake."
God help you, I thought. (5.10)
Cohn’s guileless admission of friendship sets the scene for a man-to-man moment of honest affection—but instead, we (like Jake) just feel embarrassed that Cohn has put himself out there.
Quote 5
"You’re awfully funny, Harvey," Cohn said. "Some day somebody will push your face in." (6.8)
The violent tension that runs just below the surface of all of these male relationships slips out here, in Cohn’s obvious dislike for Harvey Stone.
Quote 6
"It’s no life being a steer," Robert Cohn said.
"Don’t you think so?" Mike said. "I would have thought you’d loved being a steer, Robert." "What do you mean, Mike?"
"They lead such a quiet life. They never say anything and they’re always hanging about so." […] "Is Robert Cohn going to follow Brett around like a steer all the time?" (13.48)
Mike uses one of the oldest insults in the book here. His taunt that Cohn is like a steer (a castrated bull), implies that Cohn has no… well, you know.