The End...

Every year I read this book and love the ending. Not that I love the fact that the book is ending. Rather, I love the drama, meloncholy, glim hope, and questions that the ending produces. Just like Gatsby's parties, Gatsby's death is a spectacle soon to be forgotten. Some of you have written about the disappointment apparent in Fitz's voice, and I can't help but agree with you. No one knows the real Gatsby, not even his father! He, too, is enamored with Gatsby's house and wealth, thinking of Gatsby as "'a great man. A man like James J. Hill. He'd of helped build up the country'" (176). Little does he know that Gatsby's money - obtained illegally, by the way - is really all a ploy to win over a girl. Not that Gatsby's dream is anything to scoff at; it just isn't about altruism or philanthropy. Wolfsheim won't come to the funeral, neither will Tom or Daisy (obviously, but let's talk about this in class), Klipspringer, Jordan, or any of his myriad partygoers who used him time and time again. I know I've said this before, but I love the way Fitz distances his readers from Gatsby, almost as if we were his partygoers way back when. Through Nick's eyes, we think we know Gatsby, but how much do we really know? How much does Nick really know? And why does Owl Eyes come to the funeral? What does he think he knows to compel him to tag along? I think we do have an idea of what Nick said in Chapter one: "Gatsby turned out all right in the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby...that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men" (6 - 7). Obviously, dying is not "all right." What Nick means instead is that Gatsby had a dream and he stuck to it until the bitter end, which is more than can be said for most characters in this book. Fitz ends the book talking too of the American Dream: the Dutch sailors seeing Long Island for the first time, Gatsby's green light. I'd like to discuss this last line in class. Does Fitz think the dream is now impossible, like "boats against the current" (189), or does Fitz believe the dream still is possible, only hard to obtain, needing honesty, integrity, and wisdom to win over? Either way, we cannot fight against the past. It makes us who we are, whether we like it or not. And if we get so lucky as to be successful in this world, we cannot forget or erase the memories of our past. Gatsby tried it, and his dream was irrevocably shattered. I want to thank you all for participating in this blog project with me. I always have fun with a forum on which I can let me true thoughts be known with time and space - stuff that I don't always get around to in class. I hope you've been reading, and I hope to see some more posts out of the rest of you. When writing on the final chapter, wrap up with a few thoughts on the nature of this project. What did or didn't you like about it? Any suggestions for the future? Finish strong!!

Holding On...

We find Gatsby's mansion at the beginning of chapter eight not the lively, vivacious, rowdy palace full of interesting and amoral individuals; no, we find it bare, empty, and desolate, much like Gatsby's heart. He tells Nick a story of how he met Daisy and found himself surprised to fall in love with her. Nick says that he "took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously - eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand" (156). Daisy represents to Gatsby something impossible, a lifestyle of wealth and innocence, protection and ignorance. She represents all that he saw in Dan Cody and more - money, grace, but without the hang-ups. Fitzgerald calls her Gatsby's "grail" (156). It's the idea of wanting what he cannot have. She is "out of his league," but he becomes obsessed with her, on a number of different levels. One, she is beautiful and young and fresh, but more importantly, she represents everything that he did not have growing up, a lifestyle that he longs to be a part of. And if we have learned anything from this book, it's the fact that different classes don't mix. Daisy stays with Tom - as empty as that marriage is - because they are cut from the same cloth. She cannot ever be with Gatsby because he isn't one of her kind, even if he does have the money now. When I introduced the book earlier, I told you that Fitzgerald is critiquing the American Dream in his novel. We see that critique at work in chapter eight. As individuals, we have the ability to educate ourselves, make money, and become success stories, but we cannot ever change where we come from, and unfortunately, among these upper-classes, that seems to be all that matters. That is why the idea of being an "Oxford Man" is so important to these rich people. An Oxford graduate is more than rich and successful, he has class! Gatsby is caught in the trap of thinking he can transcend social classes with money. Yeah, he went to Oxford, but he isn't an "Oxford Man." In fact, we find out in chapter eight that he didn't even want to go there. He really wanted to be back home with Daisy. He doesn't realize that he came from poor roots, and will remain there, at least in the eyes of the East Eggers. He is hanging on to a dream that no longer exists. Poor guy. I'd like to hear your opinion on this matter. Do you think that Fitzgerald believes the American Dream is dead? Or is it only dead for those out East with so much money that dreaming isn't even on their radar anymore? How about life today? Does the dream still exist through hard work and perseverance, or does Fitzgerald's assertion that one cannot transcend class still ring true? Chime in!!

Gatsby's Reality

Daisy didn't like the party, so Gatsby doesn't do parties anymore. Anything to please her, and it seems to be working. We now know - our suspicions confirmed - that they are having an affair, but I'm not quite sure it's everything we had chalked it up to be: true love, romance, real companionship. Frankly, it seems as if Gatsby is hanging on for dear life. He meets Daisy and Tom's daughter, and Nick says of Gatsby: "I don't believe he had ever really believed in its existence before" (123), proving that maybe this world that Gatsby envisioned himself livingin  with Daisy is utopian, a figment of his imagination. He is trying to do everything to reverse time, take him back five years when life with Daisy was brand new. Only this time he would have all the money in the world. If he could only recreate that, then life would be perfect. The presence of Daisy's daugher then becomes a major reality check. Daisy has a life beyond Gatsby. She hasn't waited around for the past five years, and although Gatsby has her again temporarily, she is be no means "his." We have to ask ourselves if Daisy is really going to give up her family for a man whom she loved in the past. Is true love all that important to her? Better yet, does she even have true love with Gatsby? For now though, he has her, although with everything that happens in this chapter it looks like his chances are diminishing with each passing hour. Let's see what happens...any comments on Tom and Gatsby's row (argument)? What does Tom do to undermine Gatsby's credibility? Who wins the argument in the end, and how?

Can't Repeat the Past!

In chapter six we finally come to find out the true origins of Gatsby, although we still are unsure of his source of money. Many questions still linger with him, and I will attempt to address some of those, but I want to focus for a minute on Nick; specifically a quote I found of his concerning Gatsby's newest party, the one thrown to please Daisy:

...There were the same people, or at least the same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored, many-keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading harshness that hadn't been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it, grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy's eyes. It is invariable saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment (104).

Nick has fallen so deep into this new lifestyle that looking at the party through Daisy's eyes is the only way he can see it for it what it truly is: debaucherous, messy,  and irresponsible. Nick's enamored with the idea of Gatsby and West Egg so much so that he fails in his one true virtue of honesty. It's funny because we, as a class, have made this observation, but I believe it is the first time in the story that Nick has come to a similar realization. Daisy, with all her privilages and wealth, suddenly represents a new degree of morality. She wants all of the luxuries of aristocratic living without any of the drudgery. Fitzgerald always associates her with the color white, representative of purity and innocence (a daisy itself is a white flower). In fact, at Gatsby's party, the only scene she enjoys is a couple - one described also as an orchid flower - sitting under a white plum tree talking and kissing. This perturbs Gatsby because he has obsessively obtained all of his wealth to impress her, and she is not at all impressed!! Nick, back to his usual objective and rational self, tries to plead with Gatsby: "'You can't repeat the past,'", to which Gatsby replies: "'Why of course you can!'" (110).  The idea of time is again introduced. It was suspended before - symbolic of the stopped clock - and now, at least in Gatsby's eyes, he wants it turn back. Obviously, he is immersed in a new time and place, with a new, married Daisy, but he cannot seem to understand that fact. In his mind, he had it all planned out: get the money = get the girl. Not so fast...I cannot wait to keep reading and find out what exactly happens between them. Will Daisy come around, or will she remain satisfied with her superficial, yet protected, world? How will Gatsby respond if that does happen?

Gatsby in Love

I hear what some of you are saying about Gatsby using Nick to get closer to Daisy, but for some reason I find Gatsby to be endearing and a romantic. I think he turns to Nick not to force Nick into the middle of another affair - although Nick is now involved in some scandalous stuff - but rather because Gatsby doesn't have anyone else he can turn to. All of his party-goers do not even know he exists. Nick is trustworthy and seems to care about the condition and well-being of others. He wants to see Gatsby happy, even if he might not agree with the circumstances under which Gatsby pursues Daisy. Simply reading of Gatsby's nervousness, attention-to-detail, and restless nature make me instantly like him. I think we can all relate to this anticipatory anxiety in some way, shape, or form, analogous to the feelings we get when we like someone else and don't quite know exactly how to act around that person. To think that he's been separated from his love for five years and is finally about to see her again for the first time...even if you think he's kind of stalkerish, only the coldest heart would say he isn't sweet. His embarrassment after initially meeting with Daisy reminds of a little kid's. He is shy and nervous, so much so that Nick has to talk him back into the room, almost like a parent must console a child at times. It's funny though, as soon as the weather turns and he is back on good terms with Daisy, he resumes his old, mysterious self. He lets slip that he earned the money to buy his house, and when Nick questions the source of his money (remember before that Gatsby said he inherited his money), Gatsby runs through a litany of thin excuses: oil, drug stores, the war. He is evidently stumbling to fix the error. It's so hard to read this guy! Daisy, too, changes her act when she reconciles with Gatsby. Instead of putting up her usual cynical act, she breaks down crying, showing seemingly real emotion that she has tried to hide before. Her tears at the sight of Gatsby's beautiful shirts are kind of ridiculous, but I think it means she can finally be happy with him. With Gatsby’s wealth, both her desires - Gatsby and money - now are fulfilled. The happiness is beautiful, the materialism pathetic, but I guess love should be love no matter the circumstances. Gatsby seems to realize that; I'm not so sure Daisy does. And maybe the fact that Gatsby had to earn so much money and have so many material goods in order to please Daisy means that she is not the right girl after all. Anyone in agreement? I can say one thing though, already their short affair seems to be the most genuine relationship we have seen in the book, more genuine than Tom and Daisy, Myrtle and Tom, or Myrtle and George. I'm not sure where it's to lead though. Nick is now in way over his head. Tom certainly isn't going to approve of this fling - or whatever we choose to call it - and he certainly won't be happy that Nick has taken part. Things are happening...

Gatsby's Antecedents

We come to find a great deal more about Gatsby in chapter four, although the truth still seems veiled and watered-down. Gatsby really is a fascinating character - part of why this book has endured in popularity so long. I found the names of his party guests, recorded by Nick at the beginning of the chapter, to be quite funny: Leeches, Cheadles, Dancies, Whitebait, Hammerheads, Belugas, Bull, Duckweed, etc. They all suggest a superficial and bloodsucking nature; the best part though is that Gatsby doesn't seem to mind being used by them. Either he has so much money that he doesn't care, he wants to fit in, or he is simply too nice to shoo them away. I'm not sure. It seems funny for a man with that much wealth to want to please everyone. It almost seems as if he's hiding something. When he begins to tell Nick of his origins, Nick almost instantly thinks that something is wrong: a lie, a fabrication, a degree of hyperbole. But then Gatsby shows him an authentic medal from the tiny country of Montenegro. This shakes Nick's honest core. If you remember back to the first chapter, the very beginning of the book, Nick says that he tends to reserve judgment, which has "opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores" (5). Well, now Gatsby has recognized the honesty within Nick and wants to open himself up to his new neighbor. Nick is now not only an accomplice to Tom's infidelity, but he is entering into Gatsby's mysterious world as well. He first meets Gatsby's friend Wolfsheim, an apparent business partner of Gatsby's, but more than that, a shrewd businessman who fixed the 1919 World Series and whose friends have been brutally murdered in violent mob fashion. Now this is a world completely foreign to Nick, but surprisingly casual to Gatsby. I'm starting to think that perhaps Gatsby's wealth doesn't come from a middle-west inheritance, but rather some shady, illegal dealings. I could be wrong, but there just seems too much mystery to think otherwise. Finally, at the end of the chapter (via Jordan Baker) Gatsby's insular nature, or at least one of his mysteries, is revealed, but I'll let one of you hash out the details...Let's see some responses and posts. Some of you already are getting behind!

Ideas on Nick's Character...

 
Much happens in chapter three, so I decided to narrow my focus solely to our narrator, Nick Carraway. As readers, we've been drawn into this upper-class world of materialism, fancy cars, parties, and loose morals, and it becomes easy to forget about our humble - yet gradually corrupted - narrator. Nick is one of the few guests to be invited to Gatsby's immaculate party. He tells us that the other guests, "...were not invited - they went there" (45), adding to our view of the east as a corrupt society full of users and swindlers. He later says that this relationship of user and used is sort of an understood social hierarchy: "East Egg condescending to West Egg" (49). So where does Nick fit into all of it? For one, he seems to enjoy these drunken excursions. If the party illustrated in the second chapter was Nick's second time being drunk, then his welcome approach to getting "roaring drunk" (46) at Gatsby's party proves to us his complicity in the whole scene. At times, he seems almost disgusted with the riotous nature of the party: husbands flirting with women who are not their wives, drunk drivers so drunk they do not even know they've crashed, and a mild obsession with Gatsby's origins, but deep down, I think Nick is fascinated with the whole scene. While no one at the party knows who Gatsby really is, everyone has an idea, and Nick is lured into this world of gossip and facade. When Jordan meets with Gatsby - the nature of that conversation is very mysterious - she comes out and almost taunts Nick with her secret knowledge about what he will never know. I almost feel a little sorry for Nick...he seems in way over his head. Not that he cannot handle it; he just seems too "nice" for it all. He even says that he is the "few honest people I have ever known" (64). I believe that he is in for a major disappointment. Even though he is reserved, he seems a little too gullible, and either Jordan, Gatsby, Tom, or Daisy will disappoint or break his heart somehow. Someone talk about Owl Eyes....what's he all about?