Gatsby: Some Help from Google

". . . I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands.

'Beauty and the Best . . . Loneliness . . . Old Grocery Horse . . . Brook'n Bridge . . .'" (The Great Gatsby, 38).

Fitzgerald adds quite a few allusions that gracefully place this novel in the Jazz Age. There are references to powerful figures like Morgan and Rockefeller. In Tom's apartment, copies of Town Tattle are on the table at a time when tabloids were becoming very popular (29). The orchestra at Gatsby's mansion plays a song called Jazz History of the World (49). My "things I learned in APUSH" label is slowly but surely climbing up my list of labels.

But what the crap is this at the end of chapter two? Is it even an allusion? I realize that at this point, Nick is completely wasted.  He says that this was the second and final time he ever got drunk, which I think just makes his character more sympathetic (29). But I'd still like to know what he's talking about here. Ready? I'm going to google this quote and see what comes up; hopefully, I can find enough information to do my blog justice.

Oh, I see -- most people seem to think that Nick put Mr. McKee to bed, and the "great portfolio" has pictures in it. Likely, the titles of the pictures are "Beauty and the Beast," "Loneliness," "Old Grocery Horse," and "Brook'n Bridge." That's not very exciting, and if they're allusions, I don't get them. "Brook'n Bridge" kind of sounds like "broken bridge," which could refer to Myrtle's nose.

Google Autocomplete: Always Proving That People Are Weird

"'Why does she come here at all -- who wants her? Why doesn't she keep her silly old mug at home?'

'It's her fu-fur which is so funny,' giggled the girl. 'It's exactly like a fried whiting'" ("Miss Brill," 13-14).

This post is dedicated to my small group. Think of this as a position blog -- I'm here to prove you wrong. (That sounds like a good, Christian life motto for me!) My position: Miss Brill is a dynamic character.

"Every Sunday," Miss Brill spent her afternoon eavesdropping on the lives of other people, and she never failed to show up to "her part" as "an actress" (9). Additionally, "she usually bought a slice of honeycake at the bakers" afterward (17). As usual, Miss Brill showed up for the "play" on this Sunday; however, she "passed the baker's by" this time (18). Something about what the boy and girl said to Miss Brill caused a change in her character.

That final paragraph goes on to describe how she entered her little "cupboard" of a room, quickly put away her fur, and "thought she heard something crying." What could possibly have been crying in her bedroom? No, Jimmy -- not a cat, not Miss Brill's ghost, and not the ghost of Miss Brill who was actually a cat the whole time (though that would be an excellent plot twist). I think it was Miss Brill who was crying.

Maybe she was still suppressing part of the truth of her depressing lifestyle, but she could no longer suppress it entirely. She has a life with no real communication, and no real friends; during the story, she came to some sort of realization, so she is dynamic. Therefore:

Yes, yes, dynamic, yes, no, yes, that's not a question, yes, and that's also not a question.