Hi Everyone:
On our first day of class, I suggested
that the most difficult or seemingly odd scenes in a book can often be a
route to some of the book's deepest meaning. We also noted that The
Great Gatsby is unique in how restrained and mysterious the language of
the text can be. And today (Friday) we discussed what seem to be the
conflicts and tensions that haunt the book.
In this blog post, describe the strange scene that you selected and (using your notes)
explain how this scene may connect to one of the conflicts or tensions
that we noted in class. You can also write about why the scene is so
different or unusual -- what sets it apart? You can speculate or offer
several alternative interpretations; keep in mind that you are not
expected to explain precisely and definitively what everything means, as
long as you offer some possibilities and impressions. Look at the "Advice for Annotation" page for guidance.
The scene that struck me as odd was when Gatsby invited Daisy to his residence and gave her a tour around his luxurious mansion. As Gatsby introduced Daisy to his bedroom, he began to throw expensive shirts on his bed and when Daisy came in contact with these shirts, she began to sob. When questioned about the reasoning behind her crying, Daisy replied with, “They're such beautiful shirts… It makes me sad because I've never seen such beautiful shirts." This moment had me wondering as to why one would shed tears over articles of clothing. After reinterpreting this moment, I realized that this scene represents Gatsby’s tendency to buy back the past. When Gatsby first met Daisy, he knew that he did not have much money to keep Daisy happy. He raised money and eventually became wealthy through corrupt means and later used that money to throw lavish parties and buy an expensive wardrobe. Daisy ultimately realized that Gatsby wanted to rekindle their previous relationship through his wealth; this happened to occur when Daisy was looking at Gatsby’s shirt, leading her to tears. This scene also touches on the fact that money cannot buy happiness. Despite Gatsby’s expensive tailored shirts, he does not have the money to buy Daisy’s love and to create his own reality. As discussed in class, I began to realize that the connections between Daisy and Gatsby are haunted by money. A part of the reason why Daisy might have been crying was that she believed that she was just another object that Gatsby was trying to buy when he became wealthy. Although I understand that this scene is tied with Gatsby’s wealth, I am not quite certain if Daisy is weeping over Gatsby’s dedication to his love or Gatsby’s love for money.
ReplyDeleteA scene in The Great Gatsby that I found strange was at the end after Gatsby has died. Nick is searching to find people to come to Gatsby’s funeral, but it seems that everyone has better things to do than pay their respects. Nick was sure that Daisy would come or at least wire him why she was being held up but he never heard from her again. No one would return Nick’s calls, so he decided to visit Wolfsheim, believing he was a true friend of Gatsby’s, but Wolfsheim tells him to “let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” Nick knows that this is not a loving response, rather a clever way for Wolfsheim to not have to waste his time at a funeral. Nick even received a call while at Gatsby’s house from a man that had been at one of his parties. The man had no idea what had happened to Gatsby, he was only calling to find out if he could get his tennis shoes back that he forgot there at the last party. When Nick runs into Tom in the city later, Tom acts like it was no big deal about the way Daisy and himself handled Gatsby’s death.
ReplyDeleteThe only people who attended Gatsby’s funeral were Nick, Gatsby’s father, and the Owl-Eyed man from one of the parties, along with the servants. This scene was very strange, Gatsby never acquired real friends, and even the woman he loved dearly did not return the emotion. This scene really exemplifies some of the tensions that were talked about in class. Gatsby spent his whole life trying to be rich, but in doing so he never truly achieved real happiness. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- -they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” Tom and Daisy, like the many other characters in the book, did not care that Gatsby was killed, nor did they come to pay their respects. They hid behind money like a shield, or as if money was more important to have than the love of other humans.
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ReplyDeleteThe scene that I found perplexing occurred soon after Myrtle's death, as Michaelis and George Wilson were speaking together in George's office. George says he told Myrtle that she may be able to fool him but she can't fool God. George then precedes Michaelis to the window, and he continues speaking out into the distance. It then reads, "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." Michaelis then goes on to tell George, "That's an advertisement." When I first read this scene I just took that George was expressing to Michaelis Myrtle's betrayal to his love. I am able to follow this scene until Michaelis seems to believe George was addressing Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. I don't understand the repeated significance of the poster of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. It seems to me as though George simply stepped toward the window to recall his and Myrtle's conversations. I don't understand why the poster appears again, or why Michaelis seems to think that George has mistaken the advertisement for something or someone else. Maybe Michaelis is just blind to George's words. Thinking about the conversation we had in class about the meaning of connection and symbolism in this book, Doctor T.J. Eckleburg may represent a recurring message or meaning in the book. He seems to appear during times of moral deficiency among the characters. As his eyes were referenced at times when Tom and Myrtle were together, here they are referenced again as George calls to light his earlier suspicions of Myrtle being with another man. The characters portrayed in this book are incredibly flawed, and very selfish in their actions. In this scene we see George give faith that Myrtle will suffer for being so careless with their love. I relate this scene back to one of the main tensions we talked about in class that the characters value materials things over loyalty and love.
ReplyDeleteA scene that I could not find a place for in The Great Gatsby is the scene in which Gatsby brings Nick to the city to have lunch with his friend Wolfsheim. The scene seemed very out of place because while Gatsby and Nick were in the car driving to the city Gatsby told Nick of his unbelievable past. It then leads to this very awkward scene with Wolfsheim, and directly after Jordan Baker tells Nick of Gatsby’s plan to reunite with Daisy over tea at Nick’s house. It puzzled me how Gatsby’s past love for Daisy connects with this strange businessman who allegedly fixed the 1919 World Series. The scene seemed very odd and out of place, but after finishing the book it occurred to me that Wolfsheim was the mastermind behind the bootlegging operation that gave Gatsby his wealth. Suddenly the mysterious phone calls to Gatsby’s house made sense. Gatsby’s great plan to win back Daisy’s heart was all thanks to this strange businessman and his twisted morals. The scene shows Gatsby felt the way to Daisy’s heart was through success in the form of wealth, and that with his money he could re-write his past. The revision being that he is no longer a meaningless soldier going off to war with nothing to his name, but a successful businessman who can attain anything he wants with the signing of a check. He can show her how he is loved and an iconic figure with his extravagant parties and breathtaking mansion. With his wealth he is trying to prove that she made the wrong decision when she married Tom. He was willing to do anything to do this including break the law. This scene later became keystone for me and allowed me to decipher the hidden clues scattered throughout the book that show how wealth was considered the key to success, love, and happiness.
ReplyDeleteThough this book is chalk full of thought provoking scenes, I found the scene in which the innocent Nick Caraway is exposed to how hedonistic and immoral the philandering Tom Buchanan is when he was cheating on his wife right in front of her cousin to be among the most awkward and burning. I think this really sets the stage for Nicks’ distrust of Tom and his liking of Gatsby. Along with this, I find the contrast between Tom and Gatsby hugely significant, as Daisy stays with Tom in spite of his gross offenses and seemingly shameless behavior, while Gatsby is a gentlemen and a relatively admirable character. Yet again the issue of money comes up as we see the to rivals practically being defined as ‘old money’ Tom and ‘new money’ Gatsby. People never question Toms’ business practices just because he has had money longer than Gatsby, but of course, when people question Gatsby’s wealth Tom comes out and vilifies Gatsby, saying he got it criminally. Another point we spoke about in class concerning Nick and most of the other characters was that Nick, in spite of being a person of relatively meager means, is seemingly the most trustworthy and virtuous person in the story. He is not obsessed over his past like Gatsby and he is not immoral like Buchanan. To me this says Fitzgerald is judging the rich and luxurious obsessed lifestyles of Americans in the 1920’s, which is a thing, many good authors do; they give some critique on their own country’s condition. In conclusion, the scene in which Nick Caraway is shown how inappropriate Buchanan behaves is odd because later on in the story he helps Daisy to cheat on Buchanan, even though that is the very offense he saw in Buchanan! This gives rise to the question of the role of women in the 1920s, though that is a different question for speculation. Here is the reason I found the scene odd: Nick acted as a catalyst for the very thing which Tom was doing wrong, which was cheating. Should he have done it any way because Tom was no good? Or should he have left his cousin alone with her fidelity with a man who was not loyal? I cannot think of an answer for this question yet.
ReplyDeleteThe scene I found difficult in The Great Gatsby was when Nick met Tom Buchanan’s mistress. I didn’t understand what was going on because of the way the book is written. I still am not exactly sure why Tom has a mistress, or even why his wife Daisy continues to meet with Jay Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteWhen Tom basically dragged Nick to meet the mistress, Myrtle Wilson, I didn’t know what was going on. I thought that Myrtle was just a friend of Tom’s. It was only until Myrtle kept repeatedly yelling Daisy’s name that I realized Tom was cheating on Daisy. I still am not sure why Tom and Myrtle bought a puppy. And I still don’t know how and why Tom cheated on Daisy. However, I do have an idea of why Daisy continued to meet with Gatsby.
Another scene related to this one was when Jordan Baker told Nick about Daisy knowing Gatsby before Daisy married Tom. Apparently Jay and Daisy had met and even fallen in love before Jay had to go into the army. Another thing I am not sure about is how Daisy met Tom and why she married him and didn’t wait for Gatsby. Also, how did Daisy get a letter from Gatsby? Is that why she wanted to call off the wedding a day before she was supposed to marry Tom? Why didn’t Daisy just leave Tom when Gatsby came back and bought the house across the way from hers? Was it because Tom and she already had a baby? Or was it before then? These are all things I didn’t understand while reading the book, and I still don’t really understand.
The scene in The Great Gatsby that I found to be the strangest was when Gatsby and Nick were awaiting Daisy at Nick’s house. Gatsby was consistently doing everything he could to make himself seem more wealthy. He ordered someone to mow the lawns of himself and Nick, and he wore his best suit. These were among many of the things he did to impress Daisy, none of which being with anything but wealth. He checked in with Nick constantly to make sure his house was clean, and he had tea, and if his hair looked good. This scene related directly to the book’s theme of wealth. It has a recurring subject of money buying love and happiness, but none of these relationships built off of wealth lasted. This concludes that no matter how poor or rich someone is, they can have true love, and not to force anything to happen using solely money.
ReplyDeleteThe one scene that I found a bit odd was when Nick had accidently ran into Tom after Gatsby’s death and Nick didn’t tell Tom that it was Daisy driving the car and hit Myrtle. I felt like it was kind of awkwardly placed after Nick had an equally awkward conversation with Jordan and then had ran into Tom and had heard his reasoning and then and there I thought of two things, that either Nick was too kind to tell Tom the truth, that Daisy was the one driving and had hit Myrtle, or that Nick was too stricken with grief and/or infuriated with both Tom and Daisy too even remember what Gatsby had told him before he passed away. I had re-read this scene and had remembered some of the tensions/conflicts we discussed in class and the “money vs. reality” one had popped into my head, and I thought that the quote on page 179 that stated “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness … and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” This quote kind of explains why Tom did what he did. It seems like whenever a character got themselves into trouble they would either buy or charm their way out instead of owning up to their mistakes and facing the reality of the situation.
ReplyDeleteI found multiple scenes to be quite interesting. More specifically, the ones with Nick and Jordan Baker. Obviously, Jordan and Nick are nothing alike. I feel as if Nick is quieter and more restrained, and overall just kinder. Well, actually, nicer (as him being more "kind" than Jordan might suggest she isn't kind) is a better word. Jordan is very opinionated and isnt afraid to say what she thinks, even if she comes off mean, though she can very well be nice. And despite their differences, they are attracted to each other, which really confused me, actually. Especially at the times when Nick was finding himself in love with her. Though, more perplexing, is when he questioned his love for Jordan. He went through these phases of simultaneous love and doubt. I feel like that throughout the entire book, Nick had a difficult time accepting companionship. To put it simply, he's kind of socially awkward. He doesn't really find a friend in anyone he meets (though he and Gatsby have a certain, unspoken, and possibly even unknown kind of bond). Which is why it confuses me that he finds someone like Jordan, whom he loves (or at least believes he does), and she actually has likewise feelings for him, that he pushes her away. Scratch that actually; he flat out dumps her. I mean, it was gentle and everything, but he still dumped her. I just find it weird that he can spend so much time with and connect on deeper levels than he can with all these other people, and he pushes her away. It's so interesting that he can go from not really liking Jordan much at all, to loving her, and just leaving her. Each scene is really thought-provoking to read. From their meeting and first awkward conversation, to their getting to know each other and realizing they have feelings for one another, to actually getting together, to their sad (well, I thought it was sad) ending and Nick breaking it off with her. It's confusing that Nick could just break up with her and push away a first romantic companion in a long while, and why he can never seem to accept friendship anywhere.
ReplyDeletePlease let it be known that if I had access to the book when I wrote this, I would have used examples. I wrote this from memory, so if I got anything plot-wise incorrect please let me know. :)
DeleteA scene in “The Great Gatsby” that I felt strange about was when Nick and Jordan bumped into Gatsby at his party. Mainly because they were spending the whole night looking for this one gentleman and when they come across him they don’t even recognize him. Then this got me thinking, why didn’t the recognize him? Why did they have a whole conversation with someone and not realize it was the host of the party they were attending. Why is Gatsby not the life of the party? One would most likely expect to be greeted by the host when they first entered or at least he would be walking through checking on everything. When I understood that Gatsby was doing all this for a girl he was in love with, I could understand Gatsby more. I came to the conclusion of Gatsby to be kind of a creepy man who throws parties and doesn’t show his face to his guest. Thiis changed his appearance to me because he was just trying to do something that could lead him into his true happiness. Which is, to be with the one he loves, Daisy. This scene in “The Great Gatsby” I felt was most strange.
ReplyDeleteA reoccurring problem throughout The Great Gatsby is that Gatsby believes he can use money to buy happiness and love from others. There are various scenes throughout this book that are unusual. I would say the most peculiar part of The Great Gatsby is that Gatsby will have many parties at his mansion with hundreds of people but he barely knows most of the people who show up. Some people arrive at the parties not even knowing Gatsby and not speaking a word to him the entire time they are at his home. A particular scene I have in mind is when Nick comes to Gatsby’s party and he spends the majority of the time looking for Gatsby then when he least expects it Nick is having a casual conversation with a stranger; who turns out to be Gatsby. Gatsby doesn’t even introduce himself to Nick he just assumes Nick knows who he is. If he didn’t just assume Nick knew who he was then he at least didn’t care enough to formally introduce himself. This is something I find very odd about Gatsby; he doesn’t make an effort to make an impression on other people around him. Maybe this could be because he is so caught up in winning Daisy back and making an impression on Daisy that he does not focus on anything or anyone else. This results in the end with only two people (other than his servants) showing up to Gatsby’s funeral, Nick and Gatsby’s father. I find that extremely strange and heartbreaking. A man that would have hundreds of people at his home daily had two people show up when it really mattered. There were only two people in the whole world that actually cared for Gatsby. Furthermore, there is one aspect of this book that I am very confused about and they never clearly state. How did Gatsby become so rich? I know he used to be poor then his friend Wolfsheim helped him in gaining money but I am not exactly sure what was going on there.
ReplyDeleteThe moment that stuck out most to me was the one in which Wilson’s wife Myrtle was a victim of a hit and run. The incident began when Wilson confronted Myrtle on his suspicions of her affair. This confrontation became a heated argument and this argument led to Myrtle running out into the street, in front of the moving car containing Gatsby and Daisy. Daisy, not being a well experienced driver, had two choices. She could head straight on towards the front of another car or hit Myrtle. To prevent the possibility of hurting herself, Daisy swerved to hit Myrtle. It is my assumption that with shock of what she had done and the fear of what lay ahead for her, Daisy kept driving away from the crime scene. Gatsby tried to get her to pull over but by the time he had succeeded to do so, it was too late to turn back. A reoccurring conflict or tension that arises in the book is the never ending struggle between doing what is morally right and doing what is desirable for the your own needs. The hit and run incident is very much intertwined with the reoccurring conflict. Firstly, Daisy’s choice of either hurting herself or killing Myrtle shows that Daisy would rather she be safe than save the life of Myrtle. More evidence proving the connection between the conflict and the situation is when Daisy chose to drive away instead of facing her fears and pulling over to take the blame for the situation. There is no other reasoning to why Daisy would drive away besides the fact that she was afraid for own self. If she had done what was morally right she would have pulled over and admitted what she had done, no matter what the consequences may be. To me this moment is an oddity because unlike the rest of the book it has less of a mysterious feeling and more of a dark and eerie feeling. To conclude, the death of Myrtle relates to the conflict of doing what is right and what is better for one’s own self.
ReplyDeleten the Great Gatsby, I was confused through out the whole book. The love triangle between Gatsby, Daisy and Tom really made me have to sit back and think. It confused me as to why Daisy would stay with Tom even though she knows he cheats on her all the time. I also kept wondering why Daisy didn't just wait for Gatsby to just get back from the war. Why did she have to marry Tom? What made her not want to wait?
ReplyDeleteI was also confused at the fact that when Gatsby and Daisy started to reconnect their love, Tom got jealous and had a fit about Daisy cheating on him. Like I said before, Tom cheated on Daisy all the time and Daisy stayed with him. I was wondering why Daisy couldn't have just left Tom sooner. Did her and Tom have a longer history than her and Gatsby? Or did she feel trapped in a relationship that she was scared to get out of?
These questions all seemed to cross my mind through out this book. This conflict between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby really had me think about not only Daisy and Gatsby's history but also Daisy and Tom's history and why she still may love him after all the things he has done to her and now that Gatsby is back in her life.
A scene in The Great Gatsby that I find exceptionally strange is when Nick spots Gatsby starring across at the light on Daisy’s dock one night. When I first read the scene, I had thought it was a bit odd. Now that I have finished the book, the scene is actually just very creepy. Gatsby is literally obsessed with Daisy. He builds his entire life around his hope that they will be together again. Gatsby originally was unable to be with Daisy because he was poor, and he goes to illegal extents in order to eliminate that issue. He throws large parties every weekend in an attempt to impress Daisy and in hope that she will eventually show up to one. He invites countless people to these parties even though he doesn’t really even know them. He just wants to know if they know Daisy. This is why he eventually befriends Nick, who happens to be Daisy’s cousin. He makes sure that they become acquaintances before having Jordan ask him to set up his “coincidental” reunion with Daisy. In hindsight, Gatsby is actually more obsessed with the previous relationship he had with Daisy than with Daisy herself. He even admits later in the book that he is trying to make everything exactly like how it first was between them. There isn’t a lot about their relationship during the book that is actually real. Even their reunion is completely set up. Gatsby spends the majority of the time in her presence holding up a facade that doesn’t allow many authentic aspects during their affair. The way he saw their relationship was, for the most part, an illusion. He acted out whenever someone tried to expose him to the reality of the situation and refused to believe anything other than the fantasy he created within his mind. Gatsby is so transfixed with their past that in the end it leads Daisy to choose Tom over him. Before Gatsby began his affair with Daisy, the green light at the end of her dock was the only connection he had with her. I believe the scene represents his obsessive investment in the relationship he wishes for with Daisy.
ReplyDeleteThroughout The Great Gatsby there were many scenes that struck me as puzzling although one in particular proved to stand out. This scene took place when Nick was leaving Gatsby’s party for the first time. It had appeared that a car had crashed as it was leaving and entirely lost a wheel. However, neither of the people that were in the car seemed to be aware of the situation or how it happened. When the first man “dismounted from the wreck” he seemed to be bewildered and amused by the event and results of the wreck as he explained it to the onlookers. It took quite an effort to get the man to finally clarify that he was not driving. When the driver of the car emerged he proved to be totally oblivious of the situation. My interpretation of this scene is that the relationship between the two men shows the difference between the rich and the poor or the empowered and unempowered. Although it seems skeptical, this scene may be a reflection of the misfortunate occurrence that those in power do not always have total knowledge of the situation. It also shows that when this is the case, the task at hand almost always ends terribly. And in some cases, those that are in control are the only people who have the power to lead while those with knowledge lack the skills necessary to take control. This can be represented well by this scene because the man who wasn’t driving was aware of the situation but said that he was a terrible driver, while the man who was said to be a more capable driver had no idea what had gone wrong. In conclusion, this baffling scene could be interpreted to explain one of the many faults of society that are hinted at throughout The Great Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteThe scene I found the most confusing in The Great Gatsby was when Gatsby was murdered. I feel as though Tom wasn't fully convinced that Gatsby was driving the car that hit Myrtle. Part of him believes that it really was Daisy who killed Myrtle, but it is easier to believe that it was Gatsby. Tom decided that it was better to let George Wilson believe it was Gatsby that killed his wife, due to his past conflicts with Gatsby. This conflict ends with Wilson killing Gatsby and eventually killing himself. I found it odd because it shows the reoccurring theme of what in the story of what the honorable thing to do is and what benefits you the most. For Tom, the honorable thing to do would be to acknowledge that it truly was Daisy that hit and killed Myrtle but it was more convenient for him to let himself believe it was Gatsby due to past conflicts. To Tom, it benefit him the most to let Wilson believe it was Gatsby that killed his wife because Gatsby was this murdered and was finally out of Tom's life.
ReplyDeleteSomething that struck me as odd while reading The Great Gatsby was that Jordan Baker was thrown in as a love interest. Her and Nick’s interest in each other did not seem to have a point and I don’t all too particularly see why Nick needed to have a love interest. Of course, F. Scott Fitzgerald probably had a point in having Jordan Baker be a love interest to Nick but I really do not see it. This was supported in the scene on page 155 in which Jordan calls Nick and says she wants to see him, he agrees, but then one of them hangs up and they do not speak until page 177 when he sees her and pours his heart out to her and she tells Nick that she is engaged. Was the point of Jordan simply to make it seem that Nick was not totally without the ability to have someone interested in him and that he was not just a plain, boring man who spends his time with people just observing them? Or was the interest between Nick and Jordan something deeper? Was this minor storyline supposed to signify something that I just could not see the point for? Whatever it was, it certainly hammered in for me that Nick does not have good people skills and does not know how to adequately handle his emotions.
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