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Thursday, March 7, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
"'What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?' cried Daisy, ' and the day after that, and the next thirty years?'
'Don't be morbid,' Jordan said. 'Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.'" (118)
I started reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" not knowing why the novel was written. I knew the novel is considered a classic deemed by the literary establishment and modern canon, knew the work is assigned to countless high school English students the country over, knew many readers see this among the great American novels. I started reading "Gatsby" partly out of a sense of duty; to read one of those books I should read, because it is one of those books that everyone should read. To check another one off my list-- and what better time than the present.
Not until I was almost a hundred pages into the short novel did I understood why this work has the reputation it does. After finishing the later half of the novel in about a day, I still do not know why this is commonly assigned high school reading. Yes, I am sure there are high schoolers who may have been through certain experiences that help in understanding the novel-- but I believe they must be few and far between. "Gatsby" seems to be one of the major American novels for its themes-- for it's explorations of the personal, of love found, lost and never able to be gotten over; for its documenting of the act of the American dream, the desire, the longing; for all it comments on understanding the timelessness of American society, class. And how all of those experiences are linked together, seamlessly.
"The Great Gatsby" is, on it's plain, beautiful, crafted face a simple story. A story people have such a variety of reaction to; a painfully simple story. If any one selection from the novel speaks to its heart, I believe the quote I have opened with-- "'Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall'" -- is truest. "The Great Gatsby" is immediately a novel about people who are living a cycle, constantly repeating. Though Jordan in this passage seems to convey that the start of autumn promises a new beginning, the characters in Gatsby's world experience the emotions of their lives and situations as intensely and as steadily as the seasons. After finishing the novel, I read many comments, reviews and others' thoughts that seemed to think no character in these pages is sympathetic. At times, I thought Daisy Buchanan-- trapped in her mansion with her children and her unfaithful husband, yearning for the romance of her younger years, her truer romance with Jay Gatsby-- was the most sympathetic. But in the end, Daisy does not come off so well; succumbing to her situation, and giving into the life she has in the safety of her marriage over the possibilities of Jay Gatsby, forever; after Gatsby, unable to help himself, has given up everything to her.
I don't believe there are no sympathetic characters in the novel. Yes, there are many pathetic characters, who just cannot find the strength to rise above and out of their situations. But I believe Jay Gatsby warrants sympathy, as does Nick Carraway by extension, of whom we see Gatsby through his eyes. Jay Gatsby-- forever, truly, homeless. Drifting through the classes and places and people and sights of America; dreaming his own dream, dreaming the American dream of this young country. Jay finds love, or what he believes to be, in his youth with Daisy, and he can never recover. He feels somehow ashamed of his place in society, because he believes that is what kept him from Daisy-- and perhaps, because of who Daisy is inside, it was-- and he spends his life after Daisy creating a world, a person and a life that she could-- for all her class snobbery-- accept and be with. When, in the end, this all comes crashing down, proving not to work as intended, and for all her suffering Daisy cannot will herself to be anything other than who she is and what she has become-- Jay has been left without a purpose. Without an identity, without a life. Without, even, more than a ghostly memory of what Nick has experienced, seen.
Yes, I feel sorry for the great Gatsby. There is something so timeless, so tragic, so literary to this failed love, this failed life, these failed dreams. And that, I believe, is why the novel endures as a classic, remains as truthful and current today as it was when published.
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eldued us then, but that's no matter-- to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (180)
'Don't be morbid,' Jordan said. 'Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.'" (118)
I started reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" not knowing why the novel was written. I knew the novel is considered a classic deemed by the literary establishment and modern canon, knew the work is assigned to countless high school English students the country over, knew many readers see this among the great American novels. I started reading "Gatsby" partly out of a sense of duty; to read one of those books I should read, because it is one of those books that everyone should read. To check another one off my list-- and what better time than the present.Not until I was almost a hundred pages into the short novel did I understood why this work has the reputation it does. After finishing the later half of the novel in about a day, I still do not know why this is commonly assigned high school reading. Yes, I am sure there are high schoolers who may have been through certain experiences that help in understanding the novel-- but I believe they must be few and far between. "Gatsby" seems to be one of the major American novels for its themes-- for it's explorations of the personal, of love found, lost and never able to be gotten over; for its documenting of the act of the American dream, the desire, the longing; for all it comments on understanding the timelessness of American society, class. And how all of those experiences are linked together, seamlessly.
I don't believe there are no sympathetic characters in the novel. Yes, there are many pathetic characters, who just cannot find the strength to rise above and out of their situations. But I believe Jay Gatsby warrants sympathy, as does Nick Carraway by extension, of whom we see Gatsby through his eyes. Jay Gatsby-- forever, truly, homeless. Drifting through the classes and places and people and sights of America; dreaming his own dream, dreaming the American dream of this young country. Jay finds love, or what he believes to be, in his youth with Daisy, and he can never recover. He feels somehow ashamed of his place in society, because he believes that is what kept him from Daisy-- and perhaps, because of who Daisy is inside, it was-- and he spends his life after Daisy creating a world, a person and a life that she could-- for all her class snobbery-- accept and be with. When, in the end, this all comes crashing down, proving not to work as intended, and for all her suffering Daisy cannot will herself to be anything other than who she is and what she has become-- Jay has been left without a purpose. Without an identity, without a life. Without, even, more than a ghostly memory of what Nick has experienced, seen.Yes, I feel sorry for the great Gatsby. There is something so timeless, so tragic, so literary to this failed love, this failed life, these failed dreams. And that, I believe, is why the novel endures as a classic, remains as truthful and current today as it was when published.
"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eldued us then, but that's no matter-- to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." (180)
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