The Great Gatsby, Chapter 1, Pages 11-21

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

So Carraway's visit to the Buchanans becomes a very awkward affair when he begins to gain a glimpse of what lies behind the facade of a very wealthy and handsome couple. Through the text of their conversations, the difference between Tom and Daisy is in a way hilariously painted. Daisy owns a very bubbly and amused personality in which she gets very easily excited and distracted over little things, whilst Tom, fitting with his body, is a very gruff and uneasy man who tries to convey a very dominating presence; he is the classic bully. So the disparity of their personalities appears to
mitigate the relationship of the two causing them to be very troubled and owning some dark secrets. Tom's secret like his personality is pretty much out in the open, everyone knows, even his wife, that he has a woman in New York whom he is seeing on the side. Daisy's on the other hand is much less easier to identify. It is not anything of substantial fact, but she does appear to be hiding much despair and longing under her shining, beautiful face. I feel that her sudden obsession with Nick is an indirect effect of this. At one point, Daisy is so ecstatic at the presence of Nick, that she so suddenly throws out a breath of emotion and says, "You remind me of a- of a rose, an absolute rose" (Fitzgerald 14). Seeing that Nick and Daisy have not in the past had a very strong relationship, I find it odd that she so suddenly is so glad to see him. I do, however, feel I understand her outburst; its like a situation where you are stuck at some social event where you do not know anyone and feel very uncomfortable and lost, and the moment you gain a glimpse of just anyone you know the slightest, they, for a time, become your new best friend. Nick is Daisy's new best friend. She is so discontent with her life and upon seeing Nick, she jumps for joy to be in his presence.

A big development is underway, with Nick's first sighting of the Greaty Gatsby. Carraway spots him outside of the mansion, and thinks to call for him but hesitates on a sudden impulse, "for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone" (Fitzgerald 20). I think it right for Nick not to have called out to Gatsby and make a fool of himself. Already, it is evident that Mr. Gatsby conveys a presence of confidant and cool authority. Gatsby's mysterious power in a way reminds me of the "Most interesting man in the world" from the Dos Equis add campaign, for he is a man of almost regal endowment and it is a blessing to be in his presence...

I don't always read books- but when I do- I read The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, Chapter 1, Pages 1-10

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

So here we are a new book, a new day, and a new character whom I cannot help but find very similar  to a protagonist I recently read about. The main character in Gatsby is Nick Carraway and within only 10 pages on reading this book, I find Nick's persona and situation mimicking that of Lawrence Selden from House of Mirth. For one, Nick and Lawrence are both very intelligent and realistic. Nick has assumed a goal of becoming a renaissance man, showing that he has a yearning for knowledge, "I was going to bring back all such things into my life and become again the most limited of all specialists, the "well-rounded man" (Fitzgerald 4). However, what I find most interesting in Nick and Lawrence's likeness, is how they both are middle class bachelors, somehow shoved into a society of the elite upper-class. This is not to say that Nick is not wealthy, he works as a bond-man at a firm, however compared to some of his friends and neighbors, he might as well be a hermit living out of a wood and limestone hut, "My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yard from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season" (Fitzgerald 5)

To kickstart his summer, Nick rides out to "the Western Egg" where he meets with his second cousin twice removed, Daisy, and her big, hulking, brute of a husband, Tom. From Nick's first-person description upon meeting Daisy, it I think it quite possible that Nick has a mild crush on his cousin. The description is quite lengthy and seems to delve into some of the much more minute details, such as her quivering lips and her "voice that the ear follows up and down"(Fitzgerald 9). Such a description hints slightly at a secret longing.

The House of Mirth, Book 2, Parts 13 and 14

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Before I write this final post, I would like to thank Mr. Costello for providing such a jubilant novel to brighten my summer. However, there is the one silver lining that so perfectly decided to manifest itself before Lily took her last breathes of life. Her last day on Earth, in all honestly, was the one she lived out the best. As she says, "she dreaded to fall from the height of her last moment with Lawrence Selden" (Wharton 261). During her last day she went to Selden and renounced her selfish nature and admitted to how kept pulling her away from him; "I was a coward!" (Wharton 250). Not only does she finally admit to all this but she ends her lose ends with the burning of the scandalous letters and the billing of the  money, repaying Gus Trenor. Lily also has that moment where she meets Nettie Struther and finally realizes the true essence of life as she sat in her warm kitchen with her and her lovely baby. "It was the first time she had ever come across the results of her spasmodic benevolence, and the surprised sense of human fellowship took the mortal chill for her heart" (Wharton 257). Knowing that she was finally on the track to living a humble, human life, conjoined with the fact that Selden suddenly was invigorated with the opportunity to say what he wanted to say the day before, makes Lily Bart's death even more tragic. It is the kind of ending that will always leave you asking "what if..." At least, in the end, Selden did have his one chance to, for a evanescent time, be at peace with Lily Bart.

The House of Mirth, Book 2, Parts 11 and 12

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

At the beginning of part 11, we learn that due to the usual labor cuts that happen in the spring and Lily's poor quality at her job, she is laid off. Now with no more steady income, Lily also has the drudgery of deciding how she will fill her empty days. Miss Bart decides to go for a walk and while out she strolls into a restaurant where her eyes are met by the sight of a group of young ladies  having a jolly time. They are so caught up in their current activity that none of them comes to realize Lily Bart's presence. A girl who was once the centre of all praise and attention, now, "her eyes sought the faces about her, craving a responsive glance, some sign of an intuition of her trouble" (Wharton 245).

Later Lily is soon filled with resolved, when she decides to finally play the upper-hand that she before relinquished to utilize on her late adversary. On her way over to Mrs. Dorsets, however, Lily happens to wander by Selden's apartment. I believe this instance is a part of the book that clearly symbolizes the fork in Lily's road when she now must chose between two contrasting ideals. However,  her possible choices have much obscured from simply luxury or love; now it takes the form of many other areas, such as revenge and vice vs. reunion and virtue. Remembering her longing to protect Selden, she resolves to go up and see him. Sadly for Lily, although Selden is glad to see her and wishes to remain her friend. The fire he had once had for her was now vanquished; "The love she had killed in him and could no longer call to life" (Wharton 251). Before she goes she sets fire to the letters that she previously planned to bend the will of Mrs. Dorset.

To the lost love between Selden and Lily:

The House of Mirth, Book 2, Parts 9 and 10

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

With Lily now greatly abased to she finds the strength to swallow her pride, and serve Mrs. Norma Hatch as her secretary. Lily is some how able to put the idea past her that she is now in servitude to a woman she would have a year before thought of as dingy and below her. The relationship that tethers her and Selden still is becoming more complex. When Selden meets with her to demand she stop work for Mrs. Hatch at once, Lily is put into an indignant mood and becomes very angry with Selden. Despite her current emotion towards him, she still holds some kind of intimate interest in him, "She was very near hating him now; yet the sound of his voice, and the way the light fell on his thin dark hair, the way he sat and moved and wore his clothes- she was conscious that even these trivial things were inwoven with the her deepest life" (Wharton 226). I find it ironic that at the beginning of the book, it was Selden who was admiring the details he thought fascinating of Lily, now it is the other way around.

The House of Mirth, Book 2, Parts 7 and 8

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

With Lily taken to desperate measures, she is finally apt to do what a year ago repulsed her so much, marriage to Mr. Rosedale. If the offered stood to Mr. Rosedale a year ago, the man would have moved heaven and earth to make her his bride, however it is a year later, and that stock has changed a great deal. As Rosedale puts it, "I'm all broken up on you; there's nothing new in that. I'm more in love with you than I was this time last year; but I've got to face the fact that the situation is changed" (Wharton 207). To me, what makes Rosedale such an interesting character is that he so perfectly symbolizes how these people treat the society as their job, not as a diversion. In Rosedale's case, he is so watchful and observant, taking mental notes of whom to spend time with and whom to dine with; He treats his social life as he does his job on Wall Street, looking for the indications of where better opportunities may spring up. As for Lily, Rosedale believes that she is a bad piece of stock that would bring great loses if he were to invest in her.

Rosedale treats his social life like his job on Wall Street.

The House of Mirth, Book 2, Parts 5 and 6

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

In her struggle, Lily finds the solace in a hidden ally, Carry Fisher. It does not come to a surprise to me that of all of her past acquaintances that had shunned her, Carry would be the one to lend Lilly a helping hand. I believe that Carry feels she has much to relate to with Lily: they both are single, both are talked about with much controversy about their love lives, both have used men for money. Well, in her good will, Fisher introduces Lily to a different social group whom Carry believes that Lily will fit in just fine until her old friends realize what they miss. To her initial refreshment, Lily learns that these new people do have the same kinds of wealth and luxurious standards of her old friends, but, however, are much less stuck-up and stingy. Although these seems like the time in the book where Lily finally realizes all her past vices and resolves to live out the rest of her life in easy and peaceful living with the Gormers. She finds that, "the more she saw to criticize in her companions the less justification she found for making use of them" (Wharton 192). This greatly frustrates me that when a group such as the Gormers are descent enough to except Lily, along with her risque past, she is still ungrateful to them.

Of other importance is that Mr. Dorset seems to becoming truly infatuated with Lily. Such a passion mostly most be born out of the ridicule and negligence he receives from his wife; "Here was a man who turned to her in the extremity of his loneliness and his humiliation" (Wharton 198). Although a marriage to Mr. Dorset would solve all her financial problems and even social problems, along with some sweet vendetta towards Mrs. Dorset, Lily, for whatever reason, declines the offer to be with Mr. Dorset. I believe this to be somewhat admirable of Lily that she still has a moral inclination about marriage. However, seeing that her life is so incomplete without money, it may be time for her to swallow her pride and accept a rich marriage.