Re: Irony in West Egg
Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Mon, 14 Jun 1999 15:22:07 -0400
On Mon, Jun 14, 1999 at 02:21:59PM -0400, Pierrot65@aol.com wrote:
> "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly
> into the past."
>
> That, for my money, is certainly one of the most beautiful things ever set to
> paper.
Absolutely.
Pierrot, this was a wonderful post, and it shows how we can read things
so differently. I grant Scotty's point about hindsight (and Scotty, I
loved your post as well), but in my frequent reading of "Gatsby," I
know the hindsight is there ("my younger and more vulnerable days"), but
I have always felt that Fitzgerald introduces us to a Nick who relays a
story through the eyes of that younger and more vulnerable person. I
don't get the feeling that the later Nick -- the one who knows all the
facts at the end of the book -- is speaking to us in an "I knew it all
along" tone.
I concede your interpretation, though.
I've always thought that "Gatsby" is told in a way that is analogous to
those sunglasses that are dark at the top and light at the bottom, with
a gradation between the two extremes. I have felt that Nick is telling
us in the beginning a story as seen through the eyes of an innocent, and
that as the story progresses, he becomes less so. And that is why I
have considered him a less-than-reliable narrator; he holds his cards a
bit too close to his chest. (And if I mix another metaphor in this
paragraph, I shall fine myself 500 francs.)
> By the end of the story, Nick believes in what Gatsby believed
> -- but he is also made aware of the consequences of that philosophy, through
> Gatsby's tragic "sacrifice," if we can call it that, and I certainly think we
> can.
Ah, but what DOES Gatsby believe? He's a shining archetype of the
American who can remake himself in a form that pleases him. But I
don't know about beliefs as much as I know about motivation (get all
you can get; smile pretty and watch your back). Gatsby, in my reading
of him, is hollow inside. When you peel back the layers, you see ...
nothing. Which is, I think, a big difference between Gatsby and Nick.
> I think maybe what is more
> important is whether or not the narrator is being reliable to himself, and
> that, of course, is where Holden comes in.
Yes, precisely. That's one key to this discussion.
> Let me also add that, after tons and gobs of Hemingway talk in these
> hallowed halls, it is personally satisfying to me that the talk has, even if
> just momentarily, turned to Fitzgerald.
Agreed. It amazes me that he is so little appreciated, and that reading
"Gatsby" is seen as a school chore rather than approached as the gem
it is. The first time I read it, I read it straight through, and then
stayed there on the bed, very quiet and very awed by what I had just
read.
--tim