Many characters in the novel find Brett not only attractive but also sexually alluring. Brett’s desire for various men (and their competing desires for her) makes her perhaps the chief character in the book other than Jake. She is the novel’s catalyst. In her self-indulgence, her concern with mere physical pleasures, her self-centeredness, and her tendency to take advantage of others, she can be seen as a symbol of much that is wrong with the society depicted in the book.  She can be seen as symbolizing its superficiality and its quickly fading charms.