Great Gatsby (the book) part II

Some slight connectivity problems had hindered my ability to post here. Followed by the more serious lack of motivation problems. Ah well. I've got my topics lined up- but man! This is the worst I've ever been as far as spacing out and whatnot. Hopefully, there'll be something of interest to you in the following- there's certainly a bunch of things to choose from!

What interested me the most about reading Gatsby again, since this was, naturally, for my own benefit, instead of for any class assignment, was to take the time to answer the question: why have I had so much difficulty keeping in my head the plot of this book? Yes, there's a green light, fantastic, so I'm all set for Trebek's questions, but what ELSE happens?

The answer seems twofold to me now. (Is 'twofold' a word? Should it be 'two fold'?) The greater barrier, to my mind, was the sheer number of characters involved. There's an odd bit of debauchery where Nick goes off with Tom and his mistress Myrtle (man, I have got this book down now! It's been about a week since I've read it and returned the thing to the library, and I still remember Myrtle Wilson's name. Good job me!) and I know in the past I'd always remembered Daisy or Jordan Baker also being in attendance at that party... it turns out that isn't so! In fact, the only really significant characters that return from that party are Nick and Myrtle. Myrtle's sister gets a sentence near the end after Myrtle has been killed, which has it's own brand of significance, but nothing pivotal to the books success. This is a party with six characters with speaking parts, but we only ever talk to Nick and Tom again.

Similarly, at Gatsby's parties, there are loads of people. The one chapter even begins with Nick listing off the names of some attendees- and it's quite a long list! I think my problem was one of conflating characters in a way that was impossible to make sense of.

The other problem, and this will be the issue for a large chunk of the readership, is the poetic language used throughout the novel. There's no doubt it's lovely, but it does often take some deciphering, something I wouldn't have had much time for in my university days- which sounds horrible, but it's true. I probably had two or three other novels to read the week I read Gatsby, and this one does take some focus to appreciate. Although, while I'm thinking back on my modernisms class (my favourite class) I'd like to note the similar vibe I got between Gatsby and the novel 'Passing' by someone who I forget who it was (cut me some slack, this must have been, ugh, 7 or 8 years ago? Wow.) It was about the phenomenon of people with mixed white and black heritage that could pass for white in society, and so they had this big secret to hide away that could ruin them. I guess Gatsby had a similar secret, that of his money making ways. Yeah, I don't know, the books are just linked to me.

Ah, that's another thing that would have got in my way of understanding the book. It had been hammered into me the notion that Gatsby himself was a metaphor for American ambition, and that it therefore didn't matter how he got his money, Gatsby having money was more a device to tell this story than anything else (a point hilariously made again in the Kate Beaton Gatsby comics she drew "I heard he's a metaphor..." "...I don't think I like this Gatsby fellow!"). I took it for granted that there was no explanation for his fabulous wealth, that there COULDN'T be an explanation for his fabulous wealth, because Gatsby was less a person than a literary device. But that way of thinking blinded me to the goings on of the novel. Yes, it is explained how he made his money! All the time it's brought up! The sketchy jewish guy (ugh, that's horrible, but HIS name is currently escaping me... it's a pretty stereotypical sounding name too) needed someone who looked respectable, because he himself would never appear so, and thus Gatsby was taken under his wing. And IF Gatsby himself didn't participate in the rigging of the one world series game for gambling profit, Gatsby certainly enjoyed the results of it courtesy of... Wolfshiem? Is that the jewish guys name? Well, that money would certainly have been used to help set up the bootlegging operation running out of those various pharmacies that had been bought up.

Ultimately, I'm going to go with: I needed a bit of space to sit down and absorb this book. Which I think is fair enough. Man, that Gatsby is a tragic dude. The movie is going to be really cool.