The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is undeniable one of the most popular and sought after novella by Fitzgerald.

As always, I do not intend to summarise the novella or analyse the characters, that has been done by numerous people.

Here I present my few cents on my impression of the book:

The nineteen twenties seem like a new awakening of the American culture. It ushered the country into the Modern world with increased consumerism - revolutionizing communication, entertainment, relationships, etc. People with increased income with newly earned money spent it lavishly on meaningless parties. Being an Indian, it was quite interesting for me to read about the roaring twenties and then find the elements in the novel.

The first three chapters show the new America where Ton Buchanan lives in a lavish house and expensive furnishers with his wife Daisy, they spend on cars, clothes and other luxuries. They talk about playing polo and attending parties during their free time. They live a privileged life ‘full of money’.

The increased expenditure of the wealthy on automobiles can be seen in the way Daisy and Tom show off their wealth by using different cars for different occasions. Also, we see Myrtle riding a different car when they go to New York by train.

Gatsby had newly come into money and wished to conquer the power that came with it. So he calls himself an ‘Oxford Man’. He wants people to eyes him with respect and think of him to be more influential than an aristocrat. Throwing lavish parties was another way he does so. This is where the influence of Jazz culture can be seen in the novel. Gatzby’s parties are full of people from the higher society who drink more than they eat. They dance till they cannot stand on their feet anymore. Women fight with their husbands over strange men.

There was also increased freedom to women. They smoked and drank and wore short dresses and went to late night parties. However, the double standards of the society can be seen in the way Tom treats both Daisy and Myrtle. He cherishes them but still thinks that they are beneath him. He goes around with his mistress Myrtle while leaving his wife at home. And when Myrtle irritates him by talking Daisy’s name, he breaks her nose without a second thought.

Nick the narrator embodies shallow idealism of the twenties. He served in the army, goes to college, has seen the world closely, but he seems to be more influenced by wealth than character. He is intrigued by Gatsby not because the man has done or said something worthwhile but because of the parties he throws. Nick wants to know more about the man who orders five crates of fruits every week and hires a full orchestra for the entertainment of his guests.

The Great Gatsby is thus an interesting impersonation of the roaring twenties.

Gatsby’s Emotional Ride

Within a very short span we see Fitzgerald take Gatsby to a roller coaster ride of emotions. A writer of great worth, Fitzgerald ‘shows’ his readers what goes on in Gatsby’s mind from the time he hears of Daisy’s impending visit. He foreshadows the turmoil going on in Gatsby’s mind by showing the readers how he is all scared, trying to be at his best, wanting his house to be the most beautiful place she sets eyes upon – he wants to delay the visit because the grass needs to be tended.

This technique of ‘show don’t tell’ dominates the fifth chapter in the book.

Jay Gatsby the new man in the town with his splendour and wealth throw lavish parties, opening his doors to numerous socialites and celebrities in the town with the aim of catching a glimpse of Daisy.

As chapter five opens, we see Gatsby waiting eagerly for nick who tells him that he has talked to Daisy and she would be coming to his house for tea. On the agreed day we see Gatsby come to Nick’s house hours before. He is nervous; he wants everything to be perfect. It has been five years since he has seen Daisy and he wants the evening to flow as smoothly as possible. The only problem is, Gatsby can’t control his own nervousness. He is unstable, not being able to make a coherent conversation. He replies to Nick in a hazed state and those replies do not often match the question that is posed.

He is downright miserable minutes before Daisy is to arrive, saying he knew it was a bad idea and she wouldn’t come. However, once she arrives, he becomes tongue tied for a moment. He talks miserably and discussing an old clock in Nick’s house. He runs away to the other room behind Nick instead of staying with Daisy. When the two finally talk, they reminisce about the old memoires which leaves both Gatsby and Daisy too emotional.

And then suddenly, Gatsby is filled with energy. He wants to show Daisy his house. He is ecstatic and wants her to approve of his living style. He takes both Daisy and Nick and with a sudden burst of energy he shows them around, taking them from room to room, laughing, waltzing in and out, making them taste the wine kept in his bedroom.

‘He revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes.’

Nick further narrates Gatsby’s emotional turbulence

He had passed visibly through two states and was entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence.

Fitzgerald’s success as the author can easily be measured in the way he shows us Gatsby’s emotional ride through his hazed expressions, the replies that do not make sense, the childish way in which he runs out of the room or the excited behaviour that he displays at his home. Even if Nick hadn’t narrated the sentence, the reader is already aware of the tempest raging in Gatsby’s heart as he is finally able to welcome Daisy into his home.

The Saddest Funeral

Jay Gatsby was a sad man and he died all the more sad.

He lost the love of his life to another man and as soon as he came into some wealth, he began throwing lavish parties so that she might hear about them from an acquaintance and maybe through come to them and let him catch a glimpse of her.

When that didn’t happen, he used his neighbour Nick, who also happened to be Daisy’s cousin to finally get close to her again but nothing good comes out of it either.

One night Gatsby is shot dead ( by the man whose wife was killed in an accident caused by Daisy) and that is the end of his popularity among the masses. People who once fought to come to his parties turned their backs on him. Nick tries hard to get his ‘so called friends’ to attend the funeral but there were excuses of every sort. He repeatedly calls Daisy, trying to inform her of Gatsby’s sudden death (which obviously had made it to the newspapers) but receives no reply. He is told that Daisy and Tom had left the city with all their baggage and there was no way to reach them.

When Nick tries to contact Meyer Wolfshein, the man refuses to see him. Nick goes to his home in New York on the day of the funeral, talks to his wife but was told that Wolfshein was in Chicago. Even though he could clearly hear the man talking, his wife maintained her stand. When Ick is finally force his way through to meet Wolfshein he refused to be involved in the funeral of a man who was murdered. When Gatsby was alive, the same man went on proclaiming the depths of their friendship and how he always felt close to Gatsby and happy for his success. However, all such claims vanished when the man was dead and needed his friends to lay him in peace.

He told Nick in a plain voice that he too should not get mixed too much in Gatsby’s affairs. ‘Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead. After that my own rule is to let everything alone.’

Mr Gatz, Jay Gatsby’s father was the only sad family member who came to attend the funeral. No other relation showed up. There wasn’t anyone to hold the old man’s hands either. It was only Nick who tried to comfort Mr Gatz in whatever ways he could.

When Owl-eyes arrives at the funeral, he is shocked to see that there is no one present at the funeral of the man whose parties hundreds of people flocked to. ‘The poor son-of-a-bitch’ was the only words he could muster up for Gatsby.

Above all else what makes the funeral sad is that Daisy, the woman he loved all his life and also lived for, didn’t even bother to send a letter or flowers.

Funerals are always sad, there is no doubt in that but Gatsby’s funeral is one of the saddest that I have read so far. A man, who spent amidst the appreciation of hundreds every night, was sent of his final journey alone without the good wishes of his near and near one and with no significant one to shed tears on his departure.