Ardennes enters the narrative as one of Jake Barnes’s possible alternatives to Strasbourg, a destination invoked during a strained social exchange involving Robert Cohn and Frances. Its decisive significance lies less in any described landscape than in the way its name redirects the conversation: it offers an escape route from an embarrassing subject while exposing the jealousy and miscommunication shaping the table.

A Proposed Alternative

Jake Barnes mentions Ardennes after Robert Cohn’s discussion of Strasbourg has produced discomfort. Rather than continue toward Strasbourg, Jake suggests going to Bruges or to the Ardennes. The proposal is practical on its surface, presenting travel as an easy way to shift the evening toward another destination, but it also functions as a conversational diversion. Ardennes is therefore introduced not through geography or description, but through the immediate social pressure surrounding the choice of where to go.

The Dinner Conversation

The suggestion occurs while Jake is speaking about an American girl living in Strasbourg. Frances, Robert Cohn’s lady, reacts visibly: after kicking Jake under the table twice, she lifts her chin and hardens her face. Jake initially treats the first kick as accidental and continues praising the woman as someone who has lived in Strasbourg for two years and knows everything about the town. The mention of Ardennes follows this failed attempt to continue speaking innocently about Strasbourg, making the destination part of a chain of gestures, misunderstanding, and escalating discomfort.

Cohn’s Retreat

Robert Cohn appears relieved when Jake names Ardennes as an alternative, and Jake is not kicked again. After Jake says good-night and leaves, Cohn walks with him to the corner under the pretext of buying a paper. Cohn then questions why Jake mentioned the girl in Strasbourg when Frances was present. The exchange reveals that Ardennes has served its immediate purpose: it has helped end the uncomfortable discussion and allowed Cohn to withdraw from the table without directly confronting Frances’s reaction.

Narrative Significance

Ardennes remains an unrealized possibility rather than a developed setting in this passage. Its narrative function is relational and structural. Alongside Bruges, it forms a pair of substitute destinations that Jake can offer when Strasbourg becomes socially dangerous. The place name thus becomes a marker of avoidance: travel appears to promise movement, but the real problem is not the route. It is the inability of Jake, Robert Cohn, and Frances to interpret one another without jealousy, embarrassment, or reproach intruding into ordinary conversation.