I've decided that Bill is a flat character, who really doesn't change much of the story line. He is pretty laid back, unless Robert is around. Finding Robert annoying is Bill's only purpose. Jake has to have someone to relate to. If he was on the trip with just Robert, waiting for Brett and Michael-he would blow up. Because Bill was there, they were able to leave Robert behind and move on together, without having to listen to Cohn's "superiority".
Additionally, I think Bill adds to the dialogue. Like I said in my "Statement", Hemingway adds a lot of nonsense to the book. A lot of that comes form Bill. My favorite: "A horse cab passed us. Bill looked at it. 'See that horse-cab? Going to have that horse-cab stuffed for you for Christmas.' " (page 79). It's so random and adds nothing to the story line (which I really haven't figured out yet).
So, Bill's purpose is to: 1) dislike Robert and 2) take away the serious tone of the story
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