Gatsby: Stuck in the Past

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded 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" (The Great Gatsby, 180).

Thus ends The Great Gatsby . . . (in your pants).

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." What I wouldn't give to be able to write sentences like that.

The most recent AP prompt asks about the "illuminating incident" of a novel. In Gatsby, it's difficult for me to choose just one illuminating moment, because there are tons of them. You've got the fact that Gatsby is a bootlegger, the death of Myrtle Wilson, the revelation that every single freaking thing that Gatsby does is for Daisy, the moment when Gatsby decides to take the blame for Myrtle's death, and of course, the twin deaths of Gatsby and Wilson. But I'm going to choose just one, and it's going to be . . . wait for it . . .

Gatsby's death. Shocking, I know.

We can't repeat the past. I think that's the major theme of the novel, and Gatsby never gets the hang of that idea. For Gatsby, his passion -- his entire life -- is for that green light, for Daisy Buchanan. But that passion destroys his entire life. Wilson believes (with a little help from the lovely Tom Buchanan) that Gatsby both had an affair with Myrtle AND ran over her with his car. The big irony here is that Gatsby actually didn't do either of those things, but he's dead anyway. And Wilson, too. And also Myrtle.

I want to say more, but everything I say pales in comparison to what Fitzgerald says. That last chapter in which nobody showed up to Gatsby's funeral seriously got to me. Anyway, here's a creepy picture of the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg:

Gatsby: Always Watching

"'I spoke to her,' he muttered, after a long silence. 'I told her she might fool me but she couldn't fool God. I took her to the window' -- with an effort he got up and walked to the rear window and leaned with his face pressed against it -- 'and I said "God knows what you've been doing, everything you've been doing. You may fool me, but you can't fool God!"'

Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, which had just emerged, pale and enormous, from the dissolving night.

'God sees everything,' repeated Wilson" (The Great Gatsby, 159-160).

Honest to God, this part made me tear up almost as much as the last few pages of the book. In my humble opinion, Wilson is the most sympathetic character in the whole novel. Poor guy.

Back at the beginning of chapter two, I knew that the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg would be an important symbol. After I read page 23, I wrote in my notebook, "symbolic of being observed constantly?"

At this point, we know that the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg stand for God. These huge eyes witness some of the most crucial points within the story, including the death of Myrtle Wilson. These huge eyes watch the characters engage in adulterous affairs with one another. But all those eyes can do is watch -- they don't step in and interfere with the characters' free will. They're just watching -- always watching.

Reminds me of a certain character from Monsters Inc. Ah, yes:

Gatsby: A Feel-Good Story

"'Wreck!' said Tom. 'That's good. Wilson'll have a little business at last'" (The Great Gatsby, 137).

It's one of those books that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling once you've finished. Okay, maybe not.

But there's plenty of humor! I'm into dark humor that makes me laugh and writhe around simultaneously, and this quote is an excellent example of what I like to read. Wilson's wife has just been hit by a car, but all that Tom knows is that there's a crowd of people and cars around his gas station. Here, Fitzgerald achieves dark humor through dramatic irony. The audience knows that Myrtle has died, and Tom has no idea that he has just said one of the most insensitive things that could have come out of his mouth.

But that's certainly not the only time I got the giggles! I particularly enjoy when Nick realizes, "'No . . . I just remembered that today's my birthday'" (135). At first, it seems like a juxtaposition of a celebratory event with the catastrophic events of the day. So I laughed when I read that part. But once Nick starts to follow up on his birthday comment, I start to realize that to him, turning thirty just adds to the list of catastrophic events. He has a little mid-life crisis: "Thirty -- the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair" (135). At that point, it isn't really all that funny anymore -- it just ends up being really sad.

Gatsby: New York, New York

"Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (The Great Gatsby, 176).

Earlier, I briefly described West Egg and East Egg as foil settings. But there's another pair of settings that I also think is noteworthy: the "West" (referring to the Midwest) and the "East" (referring to New York).

The East is a place of opportunity. Gatsby's father mentions that "'Jimmy always liked it better down East. He rose up to his position in the East'" (168). The East is also where Nick goes to learn the bond business. For the novel's main characters, the East is a destination, a place where anything can happen. One of the greatest songs ever:

The West is a place of memories (specifically for Nick, Daisy, and Gatsby). Nick recalls blissfully "the thrilling returning trains of [his] youth" (176). The West is where Daisy and Gatbsy fell in love for the first time. For the novel's main characters, the West is a place of the past.

The quote at the beginning of my post refers to a "deficiency" that Tom, Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan, and Nick have in common. I believe that deficiency is their tendency to cling to the past, a tendency that pretty much everyone in the world shares. The novel's main conflict, the love between Gatsby and Daisy, is based completely on the past. A primary theme in the novel is that everyone tends to hold on to their past, and in the novel, the West seems to stand for the past.

Gatsby: Money, Money, Money

"'She's got an indiscreet voice,' I remarked. 'It's full of --' I hesitated.

'Her voice is full of money,' he said suddenly" (The Great Gatsby, 120).

That's definitely one of my favorite lines of the novel: "her voice is full of money."

Matthew commented on one of my earlier posts to suggest that The Great Gatsby satirizes the attitudes of the wealthy. To some extent, I think that's true. The mentality and behavior of the wealthy characters in the novel are certainly . . . strange. Take the above quote. We know that Gatsby stole Daisy's heart under false pretenses -- he pretended to be someone he wasn't -- but why was Gatsby so attracted to Daisy? I don't think we can attribute their relationship entirely to money, but I can't help but think that if Daisy weren't so rich, Gatsby wouldn't have gone for her.

Gatsby places high value on wealth. "To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world" (100). And Gatsby isn't alone -- Daisy, Tom, Jordan, Wolfsheim, and many other minor characters center their lives around money. Nick's tone throughout the story is occasionally sarcastic, and in general, he's critical of the rich mentality. "I disapproved of him [Gatsby] from beginning to end" (154). I agree with Matthew; to a certain extent, this novel is satirical, and the author wants to steer us away from the mentality of the wealthy.