"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

 

 

It took me a little while to write up something on Gatsby because I really wanted to do it justice. For those who have not had the chance to read it should do so and those who have read it in elementary or high school but have not since then should because I guarantee you will not view it the same way you once did. It felt really good to revisit this book and upon reading it after five years of forgetting its existence I felt that I saw these characters with fresh new eyes. I had remembered this book being about change in the American lifestyles that could have resulted in something more progressive. Oh how wrong I was, this is not a novel about hope. This is about the crumbling American Dream and the world that Fitzgerald portrays to us is filled with deception. The very things in the novel that were considered admirable are tainted by greed and corruption.

 
SPOILERS!
 

I have always thought this novel was written in an interesting way because the narrator is not the main character. Nick Carraway is the most redeeming character of the novel but there is no perfect person here. The story itself is centered on Mr. Gatsby and his absence during the beginning of the book helps build up his character in such a way that and the unraveling of his perfectly glamorous life, but behind closed doors he is a bootlegger, a home wrecker, and rumored to be a murder; but he is charming so I suppose in Nick’s eyes that allows a pardon. His love interest, Daisy, was completely different than I remembered her. Five years ago I read her dialogue without reading the subtext. She is not a ditzy socialite…oh no no no. Beneath those blonde curls of hers is a manipulative and deceitful degenerate. She may even be the worst of them all being an adulteress, murderer, is estranged from her child, and she eventually abandons Gatsby and lets him take the blame for her mishaps. In reality, the only thing that Daisy really loved in life was wealth and herself. Yet, I couldn’t help but love them both and their dynamic is very sweet. I cannot wait to see it put to screen.

 

Oh Leo you're looking a little yellow these days!

 

 

Stylistically speaking, Fitzgerald threw in so much symbolism that one could write a book about the book. The color yellow seems to symbolize deceit or corruption, we have the eyes on the billbored (the eyes of God are upon us), and so many references to the American Dream. I know that some people may find such frills uninteresting but one of my favorite professors in college always told me to look for the small things. It may tell you a little history about the author when he or she did not intend to place it in there. In this case Fitz places the symbolism to provoke thought for the current state of America in the 1920s. He was feeling disillusioned with the state of America and with his own wife Zelda. So, this novel is all about the subtext but I wont talk about everything since some of you will probably stop reading after the first 750 pages.

 

At the surface, everything seems perfect and put together lined in silver and gold. The rich sit on their lawns and throw glamorous parties and live in expensive lavished homes but the insides are all fake and shallow. One character is even surprised when he drunkenly stumbles into Gatsby’s library to find that his books were all real! I would venture the books were probably the most real thing in all the novel. Underneath it all Gatsby is tainted by his over eagerness to win his dream, Daisy has all she ever wanted but she has grown so completely bored with life, her husband Tom is just as bored as she is so he becomes a woman beater and takes up a mistress. What a sad love triangle, or technically square with Wilson and his wife…wait polygon? I’ve never been good with math.

 

Anyhow, so you ask “what’s the deal with the green light?”

 

I am so glad you asked! One of the first scenes in which we are introduced to the great Mr. Gatsby he stands alone on a dock reaching for a green light across the way. Since the major theme of this novel is the American Dream, Gatsby represents those who were reaching for it. In turn, the light and the light’s owner (Daisy) represents his unattained dream. The saddest part of the novel is really when he attains it, or so he thinks.  It was very touching when I read the reunion between Daisy and Gatsby, but you are left with a subtle tone that suggests that perhaps the yearning for something might be more powerful than actually getting all that you ask for. Fitzgerald experienced this for himself with wealth and fame with his golden haired beauty by his side. Daisy is the crux of the whole book, she is why there are giant parties at Gatsby’s house, she is why Myrtle kicks the bucket, and she is why our great American anti-hero gets killed in the end. Jay got a little too greedy in attaining his dream and paid the ultimate price.

All in all this was an excellent read, even more so than I had remembered. The complexities of the characters really expanded for me this time and I was sad when it ended. Frankly there is way too much to talk about with this novel to place in one post. Take a gander for yourself but next I will see you in the theatres!

P.S. Any suggestions for my next read?

"In two weeks it'll be the longest day in the year. Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it."

 

So I started The Great Gatsby last night and realized I would finish much sooner than anticipated so to fill my time I decided to read a little about Scottie and Zelda.  

 

Interesting facts about the Fitzgerald’s:

1. F. Scott Fitzgerald is a distant relative of Francis Scott Key who wrote The Star-Spangled Banner. He was named after him so his full name is Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. He also passed down the “F. Scott” tradition to his daughter Frances Scott Fitzgerald.

2. This Side of Paradise was the novel that put Scott on the map. Essentially Zelda wouldn’t marry a man who was unsuccessful in his career so she broke off her engagement to him. Heartbroken and (presumably from his reputation) fueled with belly full of alcohol, he returns home to finish the novel with the ultimate goal of winning Zelda back. Oh the things we do for love but was it worth it Scottie?

3. Zelda suffered from two breakdowns which ultimately landed her in a mental hospital. From what I have read and understand about Zelda, she was a force to be reckoned with but she did not know how to slow down which is perhaps why her last days were spent in the sanitarium. Here she wrote her only publish novel Save Me the Waltz and not long after, is also where she perished from a fire.

Salutations!

Hello all! Welcome to my humble little blog. I am new to this new set up here and I seem to be a little behind the times for the new technology. I hope to catch up once I play around a bit. Anyhow, I am starting this blog to both explore new books as well as to return to my old favorites that made me fall in love with Literature. So, I welcome you to join in a discussion or merely just to share in my love for reading by listening.

I would like to start with a book that most people probably know. For my first entry I will begin with a classic which can be noted as one of the most iconic time pieces of the 1920s era. In honor of the upcoming film that will be adapted from this book, I thought it would be neat to revisit it after letting it sit on the shelves for so long (for shame!). So without further ado the first book I will be reading will be The Great Gatsby.

A little background for this novel for those who may not have read it or even heard of it. This was written by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940). Fitzgerald is from Minnesota and was married to Zelda Sayre.  The book was first published in 1925 during some of the most tumultuous times of his marriage (Zelda was a handful). What I find so fundamentally interesting about the book is although it may be fiction, there are elements that mirror the issues that erupted in the 1920s, prohibition, gangsters, and women were trading in their traditional roles for bobbed hair, fringed dresses,  and a flask hidden in their guarders. Everything was on the brink of change and this was a time for people to break away from the oppressiveness of their former models of living. Gotta love The Roaring Twenties!  All of these little topics are rolled up into one little time capsule of 174 pages just for our enjoyment. What amazes me most is that this novel gained its success almost entirely posthumously. Go figure.

Anyhow, looking forward to discussing it next week.