The Sun also Rises... the beginning

"I mistrust all frank and simple people, especially when their stories hold together, and I always had a suspicion that perhaps Robert Cohn had never been middleweight boxing champion, and that perhaps a horse had stepped on his face, or that maybe his mother had been frightened or seen something, or that he had, maybe, bumped into something as a young child, but I finally had somebody verify the story from Spider Kelly, Spider Kelly not only remembered Cohn. He had often wondered what had become of him." (pg. 12)

Already Hemingway begins the book in a very vague way. He describes the events of another character's life and then adds the main character's input. It makes me wonder if it FORESHADOWS that the main character will just be a bystander in the life of Robert Cohn. Cohn seems to be a man of noble morals but also seems like he could be easily corruptible. I see him as a not very confident man and being accosted by ladies like Frances to dominate him. ALso in the quote I was struck by the cynicism in what seems to be the main character's words. He has distrust for people who are frank and simple which will likely allude to a past event that made this mindset so. The main character also seems to be very flippant about Robert Cohn's problems and life. He describes it indifferently which makes me think that they are not really close buddies.