Thursday, March 8, 2012
Gatsby!
Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, is in many ways a perfect American novel. It's an extremely tightly constructed novel, and it is brilliantly written on the sentence by sentence level. Such perfection might be too neat and might feel airless--but Fitzgerald's writing is so virtuosically freewheeling and breezy that it never does feel that way to me (it's my own personal theory that Fitzgerald is not as good a writer as his narrator, Nick Adams, and that's why Gatsby is better than any of Fitzgerald's other productions). In any case, the prose in Gatsby is lovely. One way it's lovely is in the remarkable surrealism of its language, which manages to compress metaphors into single words and slip amazing images into the most casual of sentences. When you read chapter 1, try to notice examples of brilliant writing, and write a comment on this post quoting and briefly explaining your favorite example.
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"Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor."
ReplyDeleteI love the imagery in this sentence, especially the description of the women "ballooning slowly to the floor." It conveys not only a visible scene, but a sort of breezy, calm emotion as well.
"Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtrusively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire."
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite example because I love the simile in which Fitzgerald compares the innocent bantering to their white dresses. Another reason the quote is my favorite is that it gives me a vivid image of the scene.
"But I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game"
ReplyDeleteI like this sentence because it makes me pity Tom, a character that throughout the rest of the chapter I find pretty unlikeable. This sentence gave me another view of him and it made him seem vulnerable.
"Daisy took her face in her hands as if feeling tis lovely shape, and her eyes moved gradually out into the velvet dusk. I saw that turbulent emotions possessed her,"
ReplyDeleteThis section caught my attention not only for the striking description of the velvet dusk, an odd image that one would never normally think of, but above all for its description of Daisy. She's presented herself as nothing but a vapid spoiled women, but now to suggest her having such deep, moving emotions makes me ponder if I've underrated her throughout this chapter.
"The wind had blown off, leaving a loud, bright night, with wings beating in the trees and a persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the earth blew the frogs full of life."
ReplyDeleteI love the description of the night in this scene. After an evening of little decisive action made by his dinner hosts, Nick observes the life in night and nature. Daisy feels somewhat jaded by her "white girlhood," proclaiming much and acting little. Here, Fitzgerald paints us a beautiful picture of bursting life with smooth a single smooth sentence. I like the oxymoron of the "bright night" and the alliteration of "frogs full of life." This, again, adds to the elegance of the writing. -Anna Parkhurst
"A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling- and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as the wind does on the sea."
ReplyDeleteThis passage caught my attention because of all the different scenes I could get from just one sentence. He describes the curtains like flags which for whatever reason makes me think of a castle, especially since Tom's house is meant to be extravagant and beautiful. I also tried to picture what a ceiling like a frosted wedding cake would look like and it sounded delicious which is strange because we are supposed to be thinking about a ceiling. Lastly. I loved the image of the shadow on the sea at the end of the sentence because it seems so serene and lovely that it makes me want to be there too.
-Bianca
As the cover picture suggests, the book Average Gatsby surrounds the story of the Mystical Sky Woman. This omnipotent entity spreads life over the night life of downtown Manhatten, where Gatsby inhabits a shrine and prays to the Mystical Sky Woman nightly. In his quests to achieve nirvana, Gatsby must enter the world of the Sky Woman, where, in the first chapter, he aimlessly wanders through clouds until he finds one of her gigantic eyeballs glaring at him through the cracks of a cumulonimbus cloud. While staring into her eyes, his brain cannot handle the truly massive scale of the eyeball, and enters a coma where he dreams of his actions in the Great War. During this dream, the Sky Woman attempts to wake him from his coma, but lacking limbs of any sort must resort to blinking very loudly in order to snap him out of this state. Finally, at the end of the chapter, Gatsby wakes up, confused as to his location. He quickly realizes that he is in his bed and vows never to take hallucinatory sleeping medication again.
ReplyDelete“The lamp-light, bright on his boots and dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair, glinted along the paper as she turned a page with a flutter of slender muscles in her arms.”
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading this sentences it made me feel relaxed just like after you ate a heavy meal in the winter time and sitting near the fire and watching a good movie. “… autumn-leaf yellow…” I loved this phrase of the sentence because it takes me back to the autumn time of yellow and orange leaves when everything turns a warm color. “… the lamp light…” this phrase brings back the memories of going to sleep with a small lamp standing right beside my bedside it was warm and cozy.
"Miss Baker and I exchanged a short glance consciously devoid of meaning. I was about to speak when she sat up alertly and said 'SH!' in a warning voice. A subdued impassioned murmur was audible in the room beyond, and Miss Baker leaned forward unashamed, trying to hear. The murmur trembled on the verge of coherence, sank down, mounted excitedly, and then ceased altogether."
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is WOW! As I read this sentence I was just amazed at how Fitzgerald's descriptions were able to paint an amazing image in my head. When Miss Baker is trying to listen in on the conversation Fitzgerald is able to express the situation through words that make you feel like your in the room with the characters from the book. I really enjoy being able to see what is being described in books. In other parts of Chapter I, Fitzgerald does an amazing job describing situations that one can easily picture in their minds.
"The lawn started at the beach and ran towards the fron door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun dials and brick walks and burning gardens-finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run"
ReplyDeleteI love this small excerpt because it truly make me visualize the setting of the house and the mood that accompanies that time. The wording seems to bring to life the sun beams as they moved across the sky. It also gives a calming atmosphere to the home of strangers.
"A national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax."
ReplyDeleteThis sentence was a great description of the limited accomplishments of those who are praised so heavily. In our society, football players and baseball players are payed millions for playing a game to entertain the American public. Nothing else they do seems as special as that one moment. This quote gave me a sense of the idea of peaking too early. When one accomplishment, or one goal is all you have, what happens after it is achieved and the moment is passed.
"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this excerpt, I was reminded of the cycles that control our lives. The bursts of leaves growing on the trees alludes to the fact that life is continually blossoming: the course of each of our lives is always developing, taking us in new directions. The conviction that "life was beginning over again with the summer" reminds me of life's transience. None of our decisions are permanent. Our mistakes do not define us, as we alone define our lives.
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ReplyDelete"Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips, the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch, open toward the sunset, where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind."
ReplyDeleteThe first part of the sentence caught my attention as it suggests slow, fluid movement, like a ghost. The whole chapter has a relaxing aura which I felt was represented within this one sentence. I also thought it was a good structural example; its a good example of what we were talking about in class, where a good sentence is long, with no comma splices.
"Daisy took ger face in her hands as if feeling its lovely shape, and her eyes moved gradually out into the velvet dusk. I saw that turbulent emotions possessed her, so I asked what I thought would be some sedative questions about her little girl."
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about this sentence is its subtlety; it doesn't seem like much, yet Fitzgerald is able to sneak in imagery of both Daisy and her surroundings. The casualness and efficiency with which Nick is able to process Daisy's emotions and save the scene with the kind of conversation she'd be interested in was another example of Fitzgerald's craftiness.
" The instant her voice broke off ceasing to compel my attention, my belief, I felt the basic insincerity of what she had said. It made me uneasy, as though the whole evening had been a trick of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me."
ReplyDeleteI found this sentence a little strange. This gave a brief and different portrayal of Daisy than had the other descriptions of her. Before that it had seemed to me that Daisy was perfect and Tom was slightly awful, and after that passage it appears that Daisy is similarly awful.
~Marie Kolarik
"He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward."
ReplyDeleteThis passage stood out to me because it is so descriptive and I felt as if I could really see Tom. I think the word choice in this passage is absolutely brilliant and helps capture the essence of Tom's appearance as well as the way his personality could be perceived.
"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."
ReplyDeleteI love this sentence and how Fitzgerald uses simple language, yet gives such a deep description of what he sees and feels. It helped me relate this speed he was feeling to something I had experienced before. I get a sense of a fast growth and as his life is passing quickly, a new beginning is encountered. While everything was going by, he is getting this new sunshine and has a whole new life. The connection that is being made in this sentence is constructed beautifully and it makes the reader think.
"For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face; her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listed-then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk."
ReplyDelete"
I really like the transition from the first half of the sentence to the second. We are given very little actual physical description, but at the same time I can imagine what this scene would be like more clearly because of the abstract details about how her face glowed. And then suddenly, it's all stripped away and we're left with an empty feeling of what used to be.
"suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens"
ReplyDeletei really like this phrase because there is a very significant sense that, reading the chapter, Nick is more or less surrounded by snobs, yet for most of the chapter he doe not indicate that he even notices. Because of that, i find the eloquence and blatancy with which he points out that exact feeling to be very entertaining
"...Making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea"
ReplyDeleteThis phrase just seems to create not only a beautiful image but also an interesting texture; I feel like I can see the wind on the sea, but also feel the cover of the shadow. Being in a shadow as well as in the wind, if you really think about it, would also be very cold and uncomfortable, but this sentence gives the feeling of calm and warmth to me which is a nice juxtaposition.
"...so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbor's lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires--all for eighty dollars a month."
ReplyDeleteEven though I can't 100% discern what Fitzgerald means by the "consoling proximity of millionaires" I can't help but love the way it sounds. The way that Nick goes from the very physical descriptions of his situation to the more emotional and personal viewpoint is amazing. Nick manages to somewhat subtly incorporate his opinions of things into his descriptions in very creative ways that are equally fun to read.
"She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see. That was a way she had."
ReplyDeleteI think that this is one of many examples of Fitzgerald's brilliant writing. Fitzgerald describes Daisy laugh so vividly that it makes us create a picture of what Daisy looked like.
Corey Grill
"-a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax." (9)
ReplyDeleteI think this is an example of great writing because Fitzgerald talks a common yet infrequently mentioned situation in a way that directly translates the gist of his thought to the reader. Once aware of the gist, the words fit into the description in such a manner that it is almost as if Fitzgerald could be READING the feeling of the reader and speaking these feelings word for word. The uncommon words paired together, such as "acute' and "excellence", enhance each other perfectly even though the would be so rarely combined to make a phrase. Everything "savoring" of anticlimax afterwords, however, is something that people deal with in their lives, and is a feeling the reader will most likely recognize.
-Amanda Farman
"Something was making him nibble on the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart."
ReplyDeleteI think that this sentence is an example of Fitzgerald's great writing because of the casual injection of metaphorical language into an otherwise simple paragraph. I also found the imagery very interesting, especially the idea of his heart feeding off of ideas.
"She was only extemporizing, but a stirring warmth flowed from her, as if her heart was trying to come out to you concealed in one of those breathless, thrilling words."
ReplyDeleteI think that this sentence is a perfect example of Daisy's personality- coupled with the sentences before where she describes Nick as a rose, it not only shows how airheaded she is, but also how endearingly charming she is, how nice and affable she is. Besides that, the imagery of her heart "coming out at you" is a great expression of her personality in beautiful language.
"Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven-a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anticlimax."
ReplyDeleteThis is a very common topic of discussion, people peaking at an early point in their lives but Fitzgerald handles it very well in this single sentence. The sentence is quite simple in its language and is easily understood despite appearing complex in structure. This simplicity and smoothness in the use of language appears to be a running theme for Fitzgerald but this sentence specifically encompasses a great deal of that essential style.
-James Wronoski
" I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbors lawn and the consoling proximity of millionaires - all for eighty dollars a month."
ReplyDeleteThis one small sentence really struck me for its really amusing description, and the sarcastic tone caraway says it with.
- Gabby St Pierre
"...Making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea"
ReplyDeleteI think this sentence was fairly beautiful and poetic. Even though shadow and wind are not important things, nobody can imagine people without shadow and sea without wind. It's just beautiful how he used relatively unimportant things to make a poetic sentence. It's just so pretty.
Jonathan Oh
"Two shinning arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward."
ReplyDeleteThis description is not typical, it personifies the eyes and makes a really vivid picture in my mind. I especially like how his eyes "established dominance over his face" I think the wording is very unique and part of what makes the sentence so vivid. The narrator seems playful in his descriptions and it makes for an entertaining read
ELLA MACVEAGH
"The lamp light, bright on his boots and dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair, glinted along the paper as she turned a page with a flutter of slender muscles in her arms."
ReplyDeleteI found this sentence to be both a wonderful and stylistically unique description. I have not encountered description quite like this, and I think that its uniqueness and originally make it great.
-Sam KW
"Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward."
ReplyDeleteI like this sentence because of its vivid description and realistic imagery. The description of Tom shows his truly aggressive nature and I feel that his character development throughout the story will be quite interesting.
-Brandon Martone
***They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away.***"
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about this sentence is how plain it seems. Of course, this is a natural course of events for a dinner. However, with the way it is described, the sentence actually conveys how nonchalant the atmosphere is here in East Egg. In fact, in the next sense, the author talks about how this atmosphere is disparate from the west, where life is "hurried." It's a great quote because it's the perfect example of 'showing, not telling.' That is, the utilization of the language demonstrates the slow pace, rather than spelling it out verbatim.
"its romantic isn't it?"
ReplyDelete"very romantic"
The narrator's simple reply to these questions, in my opinion are kind of sarcastic and show that he thinks this rich family is extremely superficial, so he cant really say anything meaningful to them because nothing they say is meaningful. For instance when he says "very romantic" i see him rolling his eyes secretly. He does this several times after showing me that the narrator appreciates people who are not so fake.
Sorry for the late post, my internet decided to go down last night. My excerpt is:
ReplyDelete"Almost any exhibition of complete self-sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me."
I chose this sentence for two reasons. The first of which is that the language is it is very sophisticated and it creates a much deeper meaning than if the sentence had been more simply written. The other reason is because it gives a very important insight into the character of Nick. Prior to reading this section, I would not have considered Nick to give a "stunned tribute" or apology at any action that to him seemed self-sufficient.
"The lamp light, bright on his boots and dull on the autumn leaf yellow of her hair, glinted along the paper as she turned a page with a flutter of slender muscles in her arm." The amount of details in this book and in this sentence especially is overwhelming. Nice in the beginning of the book states that he is not to judge people because he was more fortunate, but we can never tell if this incredible amount of detail is him judging the people around him, or just him giving to the reader objective descriptions.
ReplyDeleteNick*
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