In the Comments section below, please post a response of at least one full paragraph (min. 5 sentences). Your assignment is twofold: 1) you are to demonstrate a clear understanding of the text by attempting to summarize the text's argument as precisely as possible, and 2) you are to use your comment to ask the text (or ask your peers) at least one thoughtful question.
Remember: your comment can respond directly to other students' posts on this text. The goal of this forum is to offer an opportunity for intelligent dialogue related to the works we are studying in class. Respectful debate is always welcome.
In the final chapter of The Great Gatsby, Nick recalls the funeral that was held for Gatsby, which was two years ago. He finds out that Daisy and Tom had left town. Nick spends his day trying to get people to come to Gatsby's funeral, but he is not very successful as no one could make it. The one person that did show up arrived unexpectedly, Mr. Gatz. He was Gatsby's father. Nick also breaks up with Jordan in a strange way. My question is, why does Nick say that he never really loved Jordan?
ReplyDeleteAs I was thinking back on the Great Gatsby, I kept trying to figure out why he's called "great." It didn’t really make sense to me. Why call someone great if they thought that they lived out their dreams but in reality, they failed and couldn't attain what they had sought after? That kind of person is not called "great", but rather a failure, the opposite of great! Then I realized, as a modernist text written by a soldier who fought in WWI, Gatsby is called great for the same reason the WWI is called the Great War. Many soldiers went into WWI thinking that they would emerge as Great War heroes. They didnt realize that humanity was soon to reach a new level of destruction, choas, and inhumanity. The word Great is ironic in the literal and physical sense. Some say that the definition of irony is a fact or realization that is opposite to what was expected. The soldiers, and Gatsby, expected to fight (the soldiers their enemies, Gatsby for Daisy), and they thought they had enough strength and charisma to emerge victorious. In the end, though, both parties realized that the "American Dream" that you can become great on your own, and the "Soldiers Dream" that you can be a war hero, are both dependant on another person failing in order for you to succeed. The soldiers returning from The Great War found little redemption in WWI and in their lives afterwards and many of them saw no reason for living. They realized that their dreams of victory were immature and illconcieved and though they may have "won" the war, there is no winner in a brutal, destructive war. Gatsby realizes that though he has all a self-made man could ask for, he is still missing the one thing he sought after most: Daisy. No matter how much money he had or how much charisma, he still couldn't make himself into the man he wanted to be. That's the irony of Gatsby's title. Fitzgerald it criticizing the American Dream by glorifying it's destruction and proclaiming it great when in reality, there's nothing great about Gatsby or his failure.
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