The Bitter End

"Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away" (Fitzgerald, 177)

Just reading the quote above, I feel like it could come from any of Fitzgerald's male characters at the end of the The Great Gatsby (before two of them die).  In the end, no one was truly happy.  Gatsby did not have Daisy and neither did George.  Mr. Wilson lost his wife, and Nick was exactly where he used to be where he was never happy with in the beginning.  Additional, all of them were in love or at least half in love, but this love would not progress any further, for things had become to bizarre.  I predict that Daisy ends up leaving Tom when she learns of the death of Gatsby, but I could be wrong.  She may find safety in him.  Also, all the men had reason to be sorry.  Gatsby stole a man's wife as did Tom.  Mr. Wilson killed Gatsby, and Nick was not what Jordan expected him to be as a man.  Finally, at the end, they all leave never to return to the life they once knew.

Meaningless Chatter

Fitzgerald uncovers one of the underlying themes in The Great Gatsby in one of the final scenes with Mr. Wilson.  Michaelis attempts to distract Mr. Wilson from the awful accident by getting him to talk and demanding his attention.  "'Come on there, try and sit still a minute and answer my question...Come on, George, sit still--I asked you a question'" (Fitzgerald, 157)  If George is talking, then he won't be thinking about the accident.  This may be the reason why Gatsby's parties were always so full.  People distract themselves and go to parties, drink, dance, and talk in order that they do not have to think about their problems.  Daisy probably talked so often and so erratically in order to not have her thoughts dwell on her poor marriage.  Everyone does this; we all look for escape.  Not necessarily an easy way out, but an escape for a few hours.  People come together to forget their problems and enjoy themselves in the company of their friends.  This time is obviously needed.  For George could not escape the thoughts of Myrtle and drove himself mad thinking about her. 

Wharton vs. Fitzgerald: Round II

While the writing styles of Fitzgerald and Wharton differ drastically, there are similarities between The House of Mirth and The Great Gatsby.  The character development of the two novelists are nearly the same in that there is none.  No one truly changes.  Nick's life changes for three months, but he never changes as a person.  Gatsby continues to chase Daisy until the bitter end.  If any character develops drastically in The Great Gatsby, I would say it was Tom Buchanan.  His losing Myrtle and nearly losing Daisy showed him how he was barely hanging on a thread.  If he did not change for his wife, then he would be left bitter and alone.  I think Fitzgerald intended to convey this change in Tom in his last scene with Daisy.  "He was talking intently across the table at her, and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own" (Fitzgerald, 145).  Overall, the protagonists in both novels never change.  In the end, I believe they end up causing their own demise.  

How the Time Flies

After reading the bulk of The Great Gatsby, I felt as if Nick had been in the company of Mr. Gatsby for at least a year.  I was shocked to learn that it had barely been three months.  Nick gets tangled into this world.  At one point, he is able to name nearly every person attending one of Gatsby's party which could only result from celebrating many parties with Gatsby.  He is completely taken from his reality and placed into another man's reality.  He becomes a key player in a game that he did not even know existed until he met Gatsby.  At one point, he completely loses touch with all sense of time when he says, "'...I just remembered that today's my birthday'" (Fitzgerald, 135).  Once one gets tangled up in this fantasy-like world, it is hard to bring oneself back to reality.  For Nick, the only realistic way of doing this was to move back home.  He finds tranquility in that he will not return to the East side suggesting how deceptive it may have been. 

Tom & Mr. Wilson

The last person Tom Buchanan would claim to have similarities with in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby would be Mr. Wilson.  Tom always thought himself way above his mistress' husband.  He was a coward, but so was Tom.  Cowards hit women, but Tom did not think this way.  In reality, very few men of this time thought this way.  However, as the story develops, parallelism between the two characters is easily found.  Both of them lose their spouses, though one figuratively and one literally, they both lose the person they once loved.  Now, they join Gatsby's company and are completely alone in life.  Tom lost everybody: Daisy and Myrtle.  Mr. Wilson loses the only thing he seemed to care for.  The juxtaposition of these two men's lives is made obvious when Tom confesses to Nick, "'I told him the truth'" (Fitzgerald, 178)  I feel as if he would not have said this if he did not believe he owed something to or could empathize with Mr. Wilson. 

Driving Miss Daisy

Daisy could be viewed as the root of all problem's in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.  She drives Gatsby crazy in his quest to find her.  This, in turn, creates a whole new chapter of life for Nick for the time he was Gatsby's partner in crime.  I think she lets things overwhelm her too easily.  This feeling of being overwhelmed manifests itself in her speech and apparently her driving as well.  Both become more erratic as she experiences an influx of emotion whether it be happiness, sadness, or confusion.  This distracts her so much that she cannot even create sensible thoughts.  This--the inability to think clearly--ultimately destroys her relationship with Gatsby but possibly restores her marriage.  She chose Tom at the end, in my opinion.  She knew that life would Gatsby would be an adventure and that would be to much for her to take at this point in her life.  There was always a part of her, even when she was with Gatsby, that knew of the comfort found in life with Tom: it was predictable.  Life with him wasn't necessarily good or bad, but it was what she needed.  "They weren't happy, and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale--and yet they weren't unhappy either" (Fitzgerald, 145). 

Lonely at the Top

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" (Fitzgerald, 180).

Another repetitive theme in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is the "fake popularity" of Jay Gatsby.  The money, cars, clothes, and houses seem to create a very fulfilling lifestyle.  However, until Nick, I do not think Gatsby had friends that truly cared about him.  The people that came to his party were either people he was trying to impress or glitzy, glamorous representations of his wealth.  After gaining all the money, he found himself alone and began searching for the life he used to know and attempted to re-create it, but this time he had money.  I think everyone during the twenties and even now believes that money solves not all, but most problems.  Money obviously creates problems too.  In Gatsby's case, wealth takes him away from the happiness he once knew.  In attempt to recreate this happiness with money, Gatsby loses himself.  I think, given the choice, Gatsby would have rather been happy and impoverished than wealthy and alone.  

Gatsby's "Old Sport"

At first, I thought Fitgerald's use of the nickname "Old Sport" in The Great Gatsby was really annoying.  However, I have a theory for what the phrase may signify.  He only uses "old sport" when referring to Nick and Tom.  Gatsby looks at his dealings with these men as a game.  He befriends Nick just to get to Daisy.  Tom, to Gatsby, is simply a joke because, in his mind, Daisy never loved Tom.  Gatsby has the role of navigator which allows him to manipulate in order to get exactly what he wants.  He uses the infamous smile and his endless resources to shield people from his real intentions.  Unfortunately for Gatsby, he has not experienced failure in quite some time; therefore, he does not expect it, especially from Daisy.  However, when she says, "' I love you now--isn't that enough?  I can't help what's past...I did love him once--but I loved you too'" (Fitzgerald, 132), Gatsby has now failed, not completely, but enough.  I think this chaotic point in the novel could destroy every ongoing development.  

The Idea of Daisy

“No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald, 96).

Gatsby, in my opinion, is in love with an idea.  Was he at one point in love with Daisy?  Yes. However,  now, he has built her up too much in his mind.  So much so, that the girl he is actually in love with never existed.  Upon seeing her again, of course he will be completely taken with the mere sight of her.  Even so, I think within only a short period of time, Gatsby will realize that life with her may not be the fairytale he has imagined.  For one, she’s married and, morally, he should not love her which, overall, makes him love her more.  However, this presents a major problem.  She moved on after he left.  Obviously, he did not.  Fitzgerald utilizes this to make The Great Gatsby a shade darker and more heartbreaking.  Additionally, she is now a mother which I think always changes a woman and makes her stronger.  This gives her a strong connection to this family she has created making it difficult for Gatsby to get her to break apart.   
      

The Beginning of the End

“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired” (Fitzgerald, 79).

I think with this quote Fitzgerald points out a major theme in The Great Gatsby.  This absolute can be applied to particular characters from the novel.  Daisy Buchanan represents the pursued, who, in most cases, have no idea they are being pursued.  There is the pursuing, Jay Gatsby who appears like Daisy’s stalker in various sections of the novel.  A life of pursuit also presents a depressing characteristic to Fitzgerald’s novel that has quite a sense of weight behind it.  Tom and Myrtle are the “tired” who have given up on being happy with life which is also gives a darker aspect to the novel.  Then, there are the “busy” who do not have time to do anything which sounds paradoxical and confusing.  Additionally, I am not positive this group is represented well in Fitzgerald’s novel.  Gatsby is busy; however, much of that busy aspect constitutes making everyone believe a lie which, to me, is also a paradox.

Alone in a Crowded Room

Solely based on the title, The Great Gatsby paints a very grand, almost royal scene.  However, Fitzgerald’s development of Gatsby paints a different image that the one I had in mind.  With the background knowledge and amount of people who recognize the name Gatsby,  I half expected people to be bowing at his feet during the party.  Yet, this was not the case.  Jordan Baker point out, “He’s just a man named Gatsby” (Fitzgerald, 48).  No one seems to even attempt to make their way towards Gatsby during the festivities either, with the exception of “the new guy”, Nick Carraway.  This could put Gatsby in one of two places.  Either people think he is too holy and perfect to go near, or no one actually knows him.  I believe all signs point to the latter.  Gatsby leads a very crowded but empty life.

:)

As I have stated previously, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is largely dialogue-based.  Therefore, I find it humorous that his “shining star”, Mr. Jay Gatsby, seems to have trouble with words.  He’s speech is choppy, and he seems to have trouble masking his emotions when needed.  His observations are crass.  Basically, he has no verbal filter and regard for how people may feel to what he has said or asked never enters his mind.  Based on this, his possession of this grand lifestyle filled with garrulous people seems highly unlikely.  This must be where that famous smile has come into play.  Upon meeting Gatsby for the first time, Nick remarks that Gatsby’s smile “face--or seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.  It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that , at your best, you hoped to convey.  Precisely at that point it vanished--and I was looking at an elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd” (Fitzgerald, 48).  I think this enchanting smile has helped Gatsby get more than just friends; it has helped him get everything he wants and possibly everything he doesn’t.

Mrs. Wilson

“‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally” (Fitzgerald, 34)

One of Fitzgerald’s most dynamic characters in the The Great Gatsby is Myrtle Wilson.  She must have boarded the crazy train at some point in her life.  Nothing she does or says makes sense.  She says she married her husband because she thought he was a gentlemen, and this turned out to be untrue.  Why, then, does she begin a relationship with a coward?  Honestly, this man Tom, if I can even call him a man, took very little shame in punching her in the face in front of a group of friends.  Fitzgerald gives Myrtle an air of carelessness and not just simply about her marriage.  She, along with Tom, seem to have no regard for the feelings of others.  However, I do not believe things were always like this; I think Fitzgerald indicates they lost sight of the point of caring before the novel opened.  I believe this careless way of dealing with life foreshadows trouble to come for their relationship.

Fitzgerald vs. Wharton

I have encountered a large contrast between the writing styles of Wharton and Fitzgerald.  Wharton spent much time painting the background, while in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald jumps into situations and allows the reader to be immersed in the environment in an electrifying manner.  For example, Nick Carraway’s first encounter with Jordan Baker jumps into a discussion about Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan’s affair.  “‘You mean to say you don’t know?’ said Miss Baker, honestly surprised... ‘Tom’s got some woman in New York’” (Fitzgerald, 15)

 His utilization of dialogue throughout the novel helps grasp the reader’s attention.  Each conversation offers some sort of insight into how each character has gotten into the position they are now; Fitzgerald wasted no time with empty, meaningless chatter.  In The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton creates a large society that is hard to join.  While in The Great Gatsby, the dialogue conveys a mood of intimacy in between the conversing character.  In the novel, only about six characters contribute significantly to the development of the story.  Everyone of these characters is somehow connected; therefore, a type of clandestine clique is created.  

Without a Name

So, I have yet to learn the narrator’s name; therefore, assume that the “he” used throughout this particular blog entry refers to this unnamed narrator.  In the opening of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald paints the life of this man whose life has a sort of transparent quality to it.  To specify, many aspects or happenings in his life acquire a temporary sentiment.  For example, the man who was supposed to live with him in the city leaves; he had a dog, a car, and a girl.  Apparently, none of these things hold much significance for him; however, the audience quickly learns what is important to him: being a leader.  He receives some sort of rush from being viewed as a man who has the answers.  I think this rush initiates a craving for more that will lead him to attempt to abandon his current average-joe life.  When describing the location of his home, he says, it “was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it have been overlooked,” (Fitzgerald, 5)  I feel as if this could utilized as an explanation for his life as well.  His life is not as shiny and glamorous as all the others but that doesn’t seem to bother anyone because his life is somewhat insignificant to them. 

The Definition of a Man/Woman

    I have been taught since Mrs. Miles' period three freshman English class that a man's character is defined by three things: what he says, what he does, and what others say about him.  As we see in Wharton's The House of Mirth, it is difficult to not let that last point dominate the other two.  However, those three points are listed in order of importance.  If we look at what Lily Bart has said throughout the novel, we find she has been nothing short of kind to everyone.  She never lashes out in anger or is particularly cruel to anyone (except the maiden on the stairwell).   Now, if we turn to what she does, we see a slightly different version of the kind spoken woman.  Though all of her actions do not place her in the best light, she has always done what she was taught to do by her mother.  She fights to stay alive in the only world she's ever known.  I'm sure many of us would do the same.  If we solely go by what others say of her, we receive an image so distorted that it hold little truth to the actual Lily Bart.  We receive the image of a husband-stealing, money hungry, flirtatious wench who does not preoccupy herself with life and who always gets her way.  In the end, we know this is not the real Lily.  Through this, Wharton may be attempting to tell her audience to get perspective before we judge others.

"She could bear it--yes, she could bear it; but what strength would be left her the next day?  Perspective had disappeared--the next day pressed close upon her, and on its heels came the days that were to follow--they swarmed about her like a shrieking mob" (Wharton, 262). 

♥

    Love was not prevalent in this way of living.  By saying love, I mean all types.  The love within a marriage.  The love among friends.  Love of oneself.  Love and true kindness could not scratch their way through into a world where people were objectified, and life was materialized.  I think the audience sees love but four or five times throughout the course of the novel.  Mrs. Haffen loved her family and was willing to do anything to provide a life for them even if that meant completely shaming herself.  Gerty Farish loved her cousin and loved her friend.  She puts Lily's happiness in front of her own by telling her that Selden would help her if she truly needed it.  Mrs. Struther loves not only her child but her entire life which seems unheard of until now.  Miss Lily Bart's love for Lawrence Selden presents itself when she places his happiness with life in front of her desires for wealth by burning the letters with the unknown but dangerous contents.  These few people are the ones who bring heart to Wharton's The House of Mirth and shine a light on how happiness is not defined in dollar signs.

"But something lived between them also, and leaped up in her like an imperishable flame: it was the love his love had kindled, the pasision of her soul for his" (Wharton, 251).

"...he fancied that he saw her draw something from her dress and drop it into the fire; bue he hardly noticed the gesture at the time" (Wharton, 252). 

Seriously?

    Wharton has Lily whine and complain about her desires for a worry-free life of luxury all throughout The House of Mirth.  Then, she literally grows so tired of her life that the thoughts of being so exhausted keep her up at night, and in the end, she overdoses (I choose to believe it wasn't a suicide, but she was being careless with her life) and dies.  My first reaction was: are you kidding me? All of that, for nothing.  But, was it really for nothing.  In dying, Lily got everything she needed.  Her debts were paid to Trenor.  She was on friendly terms with Mr. Rosedale.  She began to make a life for herself independent of everyone and everything else.  Selden finally open displays his love for Miss Bart.  Although she was technically dead at this point, he had no knowledge of her death until he had made the decision to go to her apartment that morning.  The most depressing point of this novel is even when all her wishes were granted (with the exception of Selden), she was still unhappy with life.  Was Selden's love the only thing that truly mattered to her? Or did trying to live the elite way of life exhaust her to death like it did her mother? Was she know at peace as her appearance through Selden's eyes suggested?  "They had never been at peace together, they two; and now he felt himself drawn downward into the strange mysterious depths of her tranquility" (Wharton, 265). 

Unresolved Mysteries of The House of Mirth

    I wonder if Edith Wharton took joy in leaving her audience wanting answers when The House of Mirth was finally read?  I still want to know what was inside those letters Mrs. Haffen gave to Lily.  My initial thought was that Bertha was petitioning for divorce from Dorset, and Selden did not want to take the case because Lily might somehow be involved and seeing her in imperfect light may taint the perfect portrait he has of her inside his head.  However, curiosity got the best of me, and I googled it.  Though no one knows for sure, most assume the letters were love letters sent from Bertha to Selden which makes absolutely no sense to me.  I assume Selden's greatest disdain to be found in Bertha Dorset because she's the stereotypical woman of New York's elite class; therefore, I cannot imagine the two of them in each other's company for than a few minutes.  Additionally, I find myself wanting to know what happened with Mrs. Hatch as well.  Why is Selden always involved in the clandestine affairs of New York's most ambiguous figures?

     I do think, however, the audience gets a feel for what Lily has felt throughout this entire story with these unanswered questions.  Lily has never truly known a full life of luxury and will probably never get to because she has ruined her chances with Mr. Gryce, Mr. Rosedale, and even Mr. Dorset.  Neither has she known a life of freedom which she will probably never be able to because she has nearly destroyed any opportunity she had with Lawrence Selden.

"It's [the world] not a pretty place; and the only way to keep a footing in it is to fight it on its own terms--and above all, my dear, not alone!" (Wharton, 204). 

What Could Have Been...

     "The future stretched before her dull and bare as the deserted length of Fifth Avenue, and opportunities showed as meagrely as the few cabs trailing in quest of fares that did not come" (Wharton, 187)

    So, Mrs. Peniston left basically nothing for Lily in her will.  For some unknown reason, Lily seems accepting of this realizing her behavior towards her aunt was not worthy of the much-needed money.  Surprisingly, Gerty Farish remains friends with Lily even after the situation with Selden and now serves as her only friend.  Lily depends on her greatly.  For the first time though, she depends on her for emotional as well as financial support.  In my opinion, this section of the novel is dominated by an underlying message.  Was Mrs. Peniston trying to help Lily by not giving her the money?  I think so.  I believe Peniston is trying to send a message beyond the grave and telling Lily that her problems will not be solved by way of payment.  I found it ironic that Lily was left just the right amount to pay off her debts to Trenor.  Mrs. Peniston attempted to offer Lily Bart an opportunity at real happiness without ties to anyone; however, as she usually does, Lily tangles herself in the gossip and soft enchantment of the elite life.  She dangerously begins to assume that life will figure its way out by way of chance.