You may think that's sentimental but I mean it--to the bitter end…. Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead," he suggested. He is using this quasi-philosophical excuse in order to protect himself from being anywhere near a crime scene.
Part of forgetting the past is forgetting the people that are no longer here, so for Wolfshiem, even a close relationship like the one he had with Gatsby has to immediately be pushed to the side once Gatsby is no longer alive.
I tried to think about Gatsby then for a moment but he was already too far away and I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn't sent a message or a flower. Dimly I heard someone murmur "Blessed are the dead that the rain falls on," and then the owl-eyed man said "Amen to that," in a brave voice. The theme of forgetting continues here. Perhaps it is this kind of forgetting that allows Nick to think about Daisy without anger.
On the one hand, in order to continue through life, you need to be able to separate yourself from the tragedies that have befallen. When we pulled out into the winter night and the real snow, our snow, began to stretch out beside us and twinkle against the windows, and the dim lights of small Wisconsin stations moved by, a sharp wild brace came suddenly into the air.
We drew in deep breaths of it as we walked back from dinner through the cold vestibules, unutterably aware of our identity with this country for one strange hour before we melted indistinguishably into it again. That's my middle west--not the wheat or the prairies or the lost Swede towns but the thrilling, returning trains of my youth and the street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark and the shadows of holly wreaths thrown by lighted windows on the snow.
I am part of that, a little solemn with the feel of those long winters, a little complacent from growing up in the Carraway house in a city where dwellings are still called through decades by a family's name.
I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life. All along, the novel has juxtaposed the values and attitudes of the rich to those of the lower classes.
However here, in this chapter, as Nick is starting to pull away from New York, the contrast shifts to comparing the values of the Midwest to those of the East. Here, the dim lights, the realness, and the snow are natural foils for the bright lights and extremely hot weather associated in the novel with Long Island and the party scene.
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into 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.
They are people who do not have to answer for their actions and are free to ignore the consequences of what they do.
This is one of the ways in which their marriage, dysfunctional as it is, works well. It is interesting to consider how this cycle will perpetuate itself with Pammy, their daughter. On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more. On the white steps an obscene word, scrawled by some boy with a piece of brick, stood out clearly in the moonlight and I erased it, drawing my shoe raspingly along the stone.
Then I wandered down to the beach and sprawled out on the sand. His whole project in this book has been to protect Gatsby's reputation and to establish his legacy. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.
It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. And one fine morning Check out our very in-depth analysis of this extremely famous last sentence, last paragraphs, and last section of the book. Think about the amount of effort involved in this process of constantly sailing against the current. Maybe this is the fundamental mismatch between Gatsby and Daisy. She is a creature of passivity, and he is a swan - gliding gracefully above the water, while paddling furiously just below it to stay afloat.
What two things does Gatsby always carry with him and why? A medal from the war and a photo of his days from Oxford days to "prove" his made up stories. He had a wreck with the chambermaid from the hotel with him.
What other evidence is there that Gatsby is lying? Answer Expert Verified. Aside from the improbability of his story, the other evidence that Gatsby is lying when he tells Nick about his background is the way Gatsby acts about it when it is brought up. He obviously doesn't want to talk about his past a lot, and it seems that he is hiding something.
Why is Daisy really crying about the shirts? Daisy Cries Because the Shirts Are Beautiful Daisy's actions are reminiscent of someone who would cry because they haven't been able to experience the joy of seeing such beautiful shirts before. Gatsby is certainly now of a means that would afford him shirts that perhaps even Tom couldn't afford or source. What Gatsby says about himself? How many episodes of Damages are there?
What are the names of Santa's 12 reindeers? Co-authors 7. What he learns is surprising, but strangely in keeping with her character: She chastises him for being the first man who has ever broken up with her, but before ending the conversation she gets in one last strike, hitting his secret vanity and labeling him as deceitful and dishonest. The second important experience occurs when Nick bumps into Tom on the street.
Although he tries to avoid Tom, meeting him can't be helped. Tom, as arrogant as ever, initiates conversation, slightly offended that Nick won't shake hands upon their meeting. During the short conversation, Nick learns that Tom, not surprisingly, had a role in Gatsby's death. When Wilson came to Tom's house, gun in hand, Tom directed Wilson to Gatsby, not feeling an ounce of remorse.
In his mind's eye, what he had done was "entirely justified," leading Nick to the apt conclusion that Tom and Daisy were "careless people," using people like objects, until they no longer serve a purpose, then they discard them and move on. This realization is more than Nick can stand and forces him to a new level of maturity. In the end, he shakes hands with Tom, finding no reason not to because Tom and the people he represents is really no more than a child. The final chapter of the novel again draws attention to the green light at the end of the dock, and in turn, to the hopes and dreams of society.
Readers are left with a final image of Gatsby as a powerful presence who lives on despite the destruction of the dream and the decay of the estate. Nick again reminds the reader of the thin line separating dreams from reality, causing everyone to stop and wonder about the validity of the dreams people chase.
Is everyone, like Gatsby, chasing illusions while neglecting reality? Can anyone ever escape being held hostage by the past, continually working to get back to better times and sometimes missing the joy of the present?
According to Nick, the more Gatsby reached for his dream, the more it retreated into the shadowy past, taking him further and further away from what is real. Gatsby had hope and believed in the bounty of what was ahead, but it brought him face-to-face with his own destruction. Although one may look at Gatsby and realize the futility of chasing dreams at the expense of the here and now , in the end, is anyone really that different?
Perhaps there's a bit of Gatsby in everyone. After all, society is, as Nick says, "boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. James J. Hill U. Hopalong Cassidy cowboy hero of novelist Clarence E. Mulford's popular western series. Previous Chapter 8.
Next Nick Carraway. Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title. Does Daisy love Gatsby or Tom? Why does Tom insist on switching cars with Gatsby when they go to the city? Why is Nick the narrator of the story? Why does Tom bring up race so often? Why is Myrtle attracted to Tom? Why does Gatsby stop throwing parties? Summary Chapter 9. See Important Quotes Explained. Test your knowledge Take the Chapter 9 Quick Quiz.
Popular pages: The Great Gatsby. Take a Study Break.
0コメント