In Chapter Three, Nick describes one of Gatsby's parties from afar, and then from the position of a guest.
To begin with, he describes the scene from the porch of his house in an "other-worldly" kind of sense. He uses the phrases "yellow cocktail music" which could imply, with the use of synthesisia, that it is a happy, golden place, as the colour yellow has connotations of joy.
The man met in the library of Gatsby's house originally appears to have as little real significance as the eyes of the oculist peering over the valley, but ole Owl Eyes could be compared to this sign, as he seems only ever present when immoral things are happening, such as the party, in which many of the people there are intoxicated beyond wildest dreams. This novel was written when prohibition was still going, in 1922, meaning that all the alcohol at the party was illegal. Owl eyes also appears when Gatsby and Daisy are rekindling their adulterous romance, which is not only against good morals but marital vows as well.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
TGG Chapter Two
In chapter two, Nick and Tom go to meet Myrtle, Tom's mistress.
The beginning of the novel talks about the eyes of an optician's sign, who has moved to Queens.
These eyes are recurrent throughout the novel, and are often described when evil or immoral things are happening, for example here when Tom goes off to the garage to meet Myrtle, with whom he is cheating on Daisy. This could mean that they symbolise the eyes of an omniprescence, staring down upon anyone who crosses their path, be they high or low in society.
The barren landscape this sign is set in can be interpreted in a few ways. The first is that it could represent the contrast between the lives of those living in the valley and the lives of those living in West Egg. Those in the valley have little entertainment and are separated from the dazzling lights of New York, where those in West Egg can afford to throw lavish parties with crates upon crates of oranges and lemons and booze. This may be why Myrtle, when confronted with Tom and his lashings of money, throws the biggest party she possibly can, inviting all her friends and acting as though she is of a higher class than she is when dressed in her dowdy dresses in the valley.
There is a comparison that can be made between Daisy and Myrtle in that they are both named after flowers, yet are so very different. Daisy is groomed and beautiful, with what seems to be no imperfections or flaws other than her insatiable appetite for attention, whereas Myrtle is a climber plant, that grips on to anything she can to make herself higher in the eyes of society.
When Tom breaks Myrtle's nose, there is little description of it from our unreliable and rather scatty narrator. He simply states it in a sentence, even though he goes into great detail about tiny little things like pictures on walls and the disintergrating biscuit in the dogbowl. This may have been meant by Fitzgerald to emphasise the moment, as it is not disguised in the waffle of Nick's normal storytelling. However, it could also be that this is the only really clear moment in the evening, as it is the most dramatic, but also because Nick is so drunk that he can only really remember the truly important detail, rather than tiny little ones.
The issue on whether or not Nick is gay is not a very important issue, as it isn't one that influences the plot in any way, but there is possibly evidence in this chapter to suggest that he possibly is. There is a moment towards the end of the chapter where Nick remembers in a drunken fog a man in his underwear. There is no evidence to disprove that Nick is gay, as the frequent affairs with women could be lies or over-compensating, seeing as how Nick has only proved to be an untrustworthy source of information, something considerably annoying in a novel.
The beginning of the novel talks about the eyes of an optician's sign, who has moved to Queens.
These eyes are recurrent throughout the novel, and are often described when evil or immoral things are happening, for example here when Tom goes off to the garage to meet Myrtle, with whom he is cheating on Daisy. This could mean that they symbolise the eyes of an omniprescence, staring down upon anyone who crosses their path, be they high or low in society.
There is a comparison that can be made between Daisy and Myrtle in that they are both named after flowers, yet are so very different. Daisy is groomed and beautiful, with what seems to be no imperfections or flaws other than her insatiable appetite for attention, whereas Myrtle is a climber plant, that grips on to anything she can to make herself higher in the eyes of society.
When Tom breaks Myrtle's nose, there is little description of it from our unreliable and rather scatty narrator. He simply states it in a sentence, even though he goes into great detail about tiny little things like pictures on walls and the disintergrating biscuit in the dogbowl. This may have been meant by Fitzgerald to emphasise the moment, as it is not disguised in the waffle of Nick's normal storytelling. However, it could also be that this is the only really clear moment in the evening, as it is the most dramatic, but also because Nick is so drunk that he can only really remember the truly important detail, rather than tiny little ones.
The issue on whether or not Nick is gay is not a very important issue, as it isn't one that influences the plot in any way, but there is possibly evidence in this chapter to suggest that he possibly is. There is a moment towards the end of the chapter where Nick remembers in a drunken fog a man in his underwear. There is no evidence to disprove that Nick is gay, as the frequent affairs with women could be lies or over-compensating, seeing as how Nick has only proved to be an untrustworthy source of information, something considerably annoying in a novel.
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