The excerpt I found most important from chapter II was:
"'Can't stand them.' She looked at Myrtle and then at Tom. "What I say is, why go living with them if they can't stand them? If I was them I'd get a divorce and get married to each other right away'"(Fitzgerald 37).
This section reminded me of the contradictions we were talking about in class, not so much that contradictions are even mentioned here but there seems to be a problem with evenness. If the characters would make once certain decision everything could be sorted out but they don't do it. This quote also relates to status and the perceptions others have on you which I think I saw started to become more important within this chapter.
The two ideas can also come together. I believe Catherine, in this quote is implying that the two she is looking at should get divorces in order to marry each other since they are already seeing each other. Clarification is needed because the reader could interpret it as those two splitting up. Later in Nick's conversation with Catherine we see a very important lie told, "You see?' cried Catherine triumphantly. She lowered her voice again. 'It's really his wife that's keeping them apart. She's a Catholic and they don't believe in divorce.' Daisy was not a Catholic and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie" (38). Firstly, we see some proof as to how important status is. Since being Protestant was more accepted than being Catholic at the time, Catherine takes advantage of that to make someone else look bad in order to be perceived better. So while Catherine is able to reveal something about other people to Nick he catches her in a lie, this goes back to the evenness I was mentioning earlier. Just when she does something good she cancels it out and nothing is accomplished. Likewise to Myrtle and Tom she is talking about. If they got their divorces they would personally be happy but looked down on since divorce isn't something believed in. Once again nothing would really be accomplished.
I also think this is an important line from the novel. It asks the reader, what exactly is stopping them from getting married? In any society, what stops people from doing what they truely desire?
ReplyDeleteIn this novel, perhaps it is the judgement of those around them that prevents Mrtyle and Tom from getting married.
The harsh judgement of the society in The Great Gatsby is extremely evident, especially with the imagrey of "Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's eyes" looking down over the "valley of ashes." These larger than life eyes give the impression that you are being watched- and the people at the "party" in chapter 2, are careful to avoid this.
They proceed with their social events in the privacy of their own apartment, and the whole event is entirely secret, as it is not even suppossed to be happening.
It's not that the characters dont chose to be happy- but they do chose to avod becoming outcasts to their respective societies.
Happiness is perhaps not a cost worth to pay
hey sorry so I'm just gonna respond to both of your posts because I don't have anywhere else to post. Thanks! (and I hope you don't mind!)
ReplyDeleteI think that this is an important line too, because I think the idea of "getting nothing done" is really important. These people the Nick meets seem fragmented. Nick speaks about wanting to leaved the party but each time he "tied to go [he] became entangled in some wild strident argument which pulled me back, as if with ropes, into my chair" (Fitzgerald 40). This suggests that Nick is, perhaps, so entranced with this idea of almost a suspension of time, that he too is getting "tangled" into this society which does nothing but drink and party.
Also, in response to Rebecca's question (and to Connor's comment) regarding "what stops people from doing what they truly desire?", I would just like respond by saying, do Tom and Myrtle truly desire each other? and, would they be happy together if they or married? Also, even more basic, are they with each other because they love each other and are happy with each other? Or are they doing in for some other tainted purpose.
We get this scene later in Chapter 2, where Tom breaks Myrtle's nose; would two people who were in love dispute so violently?
I think that this also contributes to perhaps the discrepancies in the book. Tom and Myrtle are not in love, but would rather spend time with each other then the person the loves them. I think that this would be another example of the indecision exhibited by the people of this society. It speaks of the fleetingness of their desires, and of their inability to commit to non- superficial objects, such as love and loyalty.