How is this evident in The Great Gatsby? Are there characters who exemplify this quote? What is the "moral of the story" in regards to this novel.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Is it Possible to Escape Truth?
Scott Fitzgerald was born and raised Catholic. He eventually denounced his religion, but died running from it. A good friend of his, Dorothy Parker, at his funeral said, "The poor son-of-a-bitch. What he knew was true hounded him, no matter how much he believed that he had ceased to believe it."
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It is easy to try and make ourselves believe in something we know is not true. Fitzgerald is one of many who questions their faith, maybe because something bad happened to make them mad at God, no visual evidence of a higher being is available to maintain their attention, or a person becomes busy and forgets to practice his or her faith, therefore losing the strong bond between them self and God.
ReplyDeleteIn The Great Gatsby, money is used as a god, distracting people from what they actually want in life. Daisy loves Gatsby from the beginning but marries Tom for money. As she grown in an unhealthy relationship, she realizes that money does not provide love and as much as she tries to make herself believe that, she will always go back to love and leave money behind.
Gatsby lies to himself in a way similar to this. He makes "friends" with his money and uses his wealth to make himself believe that he has real friends. He does not, however, because the hundreds of people who attend his parties do not know who he is. He has chances to go back to making real friends when Daisy goes over to Nick's house, but he fails (in my opinion)when he brings a greenhouse and brings her home to brag about his wealth so that she can marry him unlike before. Gatsby is so used to getting people to like his money that he does not change for Daisy, even though she would love him anyway. His friends do not care about him and this can be shown when nobody attends his funeral.
Fitzgerald might have gotten distracted from the truth because of fame or wealth, but as much as he tried to leave what was right, the more depressed he most likely became. Just as Daisy got sad with her rich husband and Gatsby found no true friends with his money, Fitzgerald got sad without God and died before he could change it. The moral of this story is that you cannot run away from what is true by hiding behind worldly things.
Grace, I like how you pointed out the connection between Daisy and Gatsby's greed. Daisy is the reason Gatsby needed so much money, and also is part of the reason that he believes wealth is the only way to win someone's heart. However, I disagree with how you said Daisy always returns to love. She loved Gatsby and married Tom for money. Their marriage was awful and she returned to Gatsby. In the end, she came back to Tom. I do not believe that it was love that brought her back to him. She wanted the security of the familiar and the comfort of his money.
DeleteI liked what you said about how Gatsby used his money to convince himself that he had genuine friends. Of course, many people attended his lavish parties, and many of them were not even invited. This made Gatsby believe that he had a great number of friends when in reality, it was simply his wealth that had obtained these friendships. This is clear at the end of the novel, when it is revealed that virtually none of these partygoers attended Gatsby's funeral.
DeleteI agree, Grace, Gatsby lies to himself about his relationships. Gatsby is evading the truth and lying to himself by his disillusionment of the chance he has with Daisy. He remembers Daisy as the girl he had a fling with before his service in the military caused him to be deployed. When he returned she already had Tom. Gatsby still sees Daisy as The young, carefree girl she was when they had their fling before. He fails to see the truth that she is now a grown woman with a child and husband, although a bad one, who favors convenience over his companionship
DeleteRunning from the truth is hard, because the truth always catches up. God is always watching over us, no matter how far we try to run from him. We may turn our backs on him, but he still sees us. Just as Fitzgerald tried to run from God, so did many of the characters in The Great Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteGatsby himself ran from God throughout the novel. He turned to a false idol, money, and let it control his life. He acquires his money through illicit dealings and underhanded schemes, and never quite has enough of it. He spends it on lavish parties and ostentatious gifts. While he may seem charitable, he is simply trying to impress someone. Perhaps his love, not his greed, caused him to run from God. After all, if he had not loved Daisy, he would not have needed to accumulate so much wealth. Because he was blinded by his infatuation, he lost his moral center and instead fixated himself on worshiping Daisy. The truth did "hound" Gatsby. Nick told him "You can't repeat the past," but Gatsby did not listen. He denied reason and continue to live in his false reality. He even refused to believe his dream was gone when Daisy told him she loved Tom. He continued to run from the truth.
I believe that the moral of this story is that chasing fantasies or the past brings us far from reality. Many people delude themselves into thinking they can recreate a past event or a fantasy they have. However, they cannot. Gatsby wanted to return to the past and make Daisy his wife as though no time had passed since they had been in love. However, Daisy had married and loved her husband. Despite her love for Gatsby, she could not leave Tom because she loved him as well. Gatsby's entire life was wasted because he attempted to bring his fantasy to life. It is important to dream, but we cannot let imagination overwhelm our senses. We must be careful to accept reality as it is, and be thankful for the life we have been given. As J. K. Rowling said, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
Ashley, as you mentioned, the truth always does end up catching it with us. This is exemplified when Gatsby basically ends up losing everything he wanted, and then dying. In this way, it seems like maybe he wasted his days. Instead of moving on and trying to find a new woman to date, he considers Daisy to be practically his wife already. This fantasy ends up being his downfall.
DeleteThe truth can be hidden behind a lovely facade of disillusionment, but the truth is always present and nagging to unveil itself. Throughout the novel, many characters face a disillusionment that was very prominent during the Roaring Twenties, a time when speakeasies and commercialism were taking over society.
ReplyDeleteOne symbol of the perpetual presence of truth lies in the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. T.J. Eckleburg's eyes are noted again and again throughout the novel as the eyes stay plastered on a billboard. The eyes of God have been forgotten as commercialism takes over American society. In its place are the eyes of commercialism which constantly threaten society and deteriorate morals.
Another truth unveiled in this novel is the danger of the American Dream. Gatsby escapes his previous life in search of riches. Gatz made his ultimate goals to be ones of fortune and power. In the end, he got his wish, but he is left unfulfilled. In this, the American Dream is broken. All the commercialism and riches that are part of the American Dream leave Gatsby emotionally high and dry as his love choose another man for the same substance that will eventually be his doom, money. The truth with the American Dream in this novel is that it is a very unfulfilling life, but the characters escape that truth and hide it from the rest of the world by throwing around their wealth for show, which just perpetuated the image and cycle.
Lauren, I liked how you talked about the brokenness of the American Dream. Gatsby was a great example of how the American Dream does not always lead to happiness. I think Nick is another good example. He came East in order to get rich quick and become a member of the social elite. However, his dream was unfulfilled. After Gatsby's death, he returns to the West, a place that he feels is better than the East. The East had changed from a place of opportunity to a place of corruption, and he could not stand to be there any longer.
DeleteI loved what you said in your first sentence about the truth always nagging to unveil itself. I think that that truth was very pertinent to the life of Fitzgerald, and consequently, of Gatsby himself. The truth about God was one that Fitzgerald was constantly running from. However, I think this truth was constantly hovering about him, nagging at him to accept it. When he wrote Gatsby then, I believe that this truth was still nagging at him, and that became evident in the way he wrote his characters. The truth is always there, whether we consciously notice it or not.
DeleteThe Dr. T.J. Eckleburg part of the novel was very important and related a lot to Fitsgerald's life. I forgot about this part that is supposed to be God's eyes. When Ashley and I began reading the book together at our meet, we did not get that it was a billboard at first but learned that after we read the explanatory paragraphs at the end of the book. Maybe it is like this on ourpose, it is very subtle yet important.
DeleteIn the novel, "The Great Gatsby," there are a myriad of characters who exemplify the concept of running from or evading something. One character whose association with this concept is evident is Gatsby himself. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is constantly seen trying to escape the inevitable future ahead of him, instead longing to return to the days of the past. He clearly has a very real attraction to Daisy, one that stemmed from experiences in his past. He spends the majority of the novel trying in vain to fill the void in his heart with riches and wealth. Thus, he is essentially running from the truth that the days of his past are far behind him.
ReplyDeleteDaisy, too is portrayed by Fitzgerald to be a character of discontentment and despondence, one who feels the need to run. In the beginning of the novel, she is depicted as being rather empty-headed, for Tom's affair is practically dangled under her nose. However, she soon finds herself longing to run from her relationship with Tom. When Nick invites Daisy to his home at the request of Gatsby, Daisy is quick to respond, practically assuming that she would become involved in an affair. During the fight in the hotel room, Daisy makes clear to Tom her plans to leave him due to lack of contentment. While Gatsby's death keeps her from going through with this, her wanting to escape her life is evident.
Additionally, the minor character of "Owl Eyes" has some significance in the story. It seems to me that Owl Eyes was there to point out the deceit and falsities in Gatsby's reputation. In the scene in the library, Owl Eyes is the one to point out that the book pages are uncut, indicating that while Gatsby may seem intelligent due to the books in his library, he had never actually bothered to read any of them. I think that Owl Eyes could represent the eyes of God, who is constantly aware of the lies and truths of our existence. While others may believe us to be one thing, God is all-knowing, and is eternally capable of seeing through us. I think that this is why so many people choose to run from Him, including the characters in this story. I would also like to point out that Owl Eyes was one of the few attendants of Gatsby's funeral.
Overall, I would say that the moral of this story deals with running from the truth. I think that Fitzgerald knew deep down that he was evading something. And that became very evident in this novel. He made the point that running from the truth is impossible, because the truth is inevitable.
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DeleteMary, I didn't even think of Daisy as running from something. That is actually a very interesting interpretation of her aspirations as a character. I just thought she was a little ditsy and just didn't know what she actually wanted. I probably should've noticed that though as now that I have read what you said, it seems obvious. Anyway, that was a very interesting interpretation of Daisy. I only thought of Gatsby when it came time to answer this question.
DeleteIn the Great Gatsby, the most obvious example of a character running away from something is Gatsby. He spends the entire book trying to run away from his past.He refuses to accept the fact that Daisy had kind of moved on from him years ago. He also tries to reject the fact that he doesn't have many real friends by throwing lavish parties. Of course in the end, it becomes very apparent that he has only Nick as a real friend, as Nick and his father are the only two people that show up for his funeral. I don't know about you, but it would be extremely depressing if only two people showed up for my funeral.
ReplyDeleteThe moral of the Great Gatsby is that illusions shouldn't take precedent over reality. Gatsby's illusions are what end up getting him killed. But even on the less serious notes, he imagines that Daisy loves him. Even though she does, he should be the gentleman that everyone claims he is by backing off from Daisy and Tom's relationship. With the way things were going, I wouldn't have been surprised if Daisy decided to leave Tom because of the fact he was having an extramarital affair. He also imagines that he has lots of friends. But in reality, he just has lots of money. Everyone went to his house not to hang with him, but to just use his house a backdrop for a party. People don't even know who he is even though he attended his own parties.
The end of Gatsby's life is a lesson for all of us. We may not like what happened in the past, but it happened. We can't run away from it and try to rewrite these past events. Also, using illusions to make us happy in the present only means that greater sadness will result in the future when these illusions inevitably vanish.
Gatsby is a good description in many ways of Fitzgerald because of his past and money. I would hate it if only two people showed up for anyone's funeral, that would be so sad. I agree with your moral because although he hid from reality with money, he could not totally escape it. Do you think he thought he was doing Daisy a favor by "saving" her from Tom? He was cheating on her so maybe Gatsby thought he was showing her what true love was. Even though I believe this is true, he does not succeed because he still resorts to his money to do this.
DeleteNick, I agree Tom has the majority of his friends due to his copious wealth. The first thing I noticed in his affair with myrtle is how she was constantly buying items. As soon as they were together in New York she was buying everything in sight then in the apartment she was making a list of everything to buy. It made me suspicious of her motives with Tom.
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