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Those words are a bit harsh, Monty. I object to the word, ¨procured¨, which has a connotation to pimping. Nick acts as a go between at Jordan's request.
Wolfsheim doesn't show up at Jay's funeral, and even though Nick holds him accountable on that score, I am not so sure he didn't do the right thing. The police were closing in on Jay's bond schemes and W. could have been caught by his presence at the funeral.
It's apparent that the one moral Nick exhibits throughout is his unqualified loyalty to friends. Jordan and Tom are not his friends but it is Jay who gains his enduring loyalty, perhaps because of the homosexual attraction. The fact that Jay was a boatboy to the millionaire suggests that he was an ardent sexual player, yearning for the big payoff. Gigolos are that predatory.
Hi Monty, I also thought the language was poetic but sadly didn't like the story. I think I need to like at least one character and that was not possible with this book.
Yes, @Linda, there are no heroes here, except perhaps the reader who is enlightened, made to think, to peer inside themselves for evidence of a Nick, a Daisy, a Myrtle, etc.
More than any book I have read, TGG made me consider the dark side of humanity and the frantic efforts of some to keep it hidden. The lesson: never trust the wealthy, particularly someone who flaunts it with ostentation.
@Geoffrey, you will recall that Gatsby offered to compensate Nick for his efforts by offering him a "bit of business." Here's the quote:
“Well, this would interest you. It wouldn’t take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing.”
I realize now that under different circumstances that conversation might have been one of the crises of my life. But, because the offer was obviously and tactlessly for a service to be rendered, I had no choice except to cut him off there.
The "service to be rendered" was clearly Nick's arrangement of a meeting with a woman Gatsby intended to have sex with. "Service to be rendered" was Fitzgerald's choice of words, a suggestive allusion to the sex trade he would not have made if he weren't inviting readers to ponder the corruption in Nick's involvement. He could have chosen other words to make the point, but he chose these.
Hmmmm. And I took it that he was referring to the bond business and was going to ask Nick to pick them up for him. Your explanation doesn't ring for me as Nick, for several years in Wolsheims underworld web, would have had ample opportunity to fix up with a moll.
I see, but you lost me when you said, "... Nick, for several years in Wolsheims underworld web... ." What did Nick have to do with Wolfsheim?
"Fitz strengthened the Wolfsheim connection at his editor's suggestion in the final draft, but he always saw Gatsby as innocent, as a tool, as he himself was."
But editor didn't hold a gun to Fitz's head. Fitz wouldn't have strengthened the Wolfsheim connection if he didn't agree with his gifted editor Max Perkins.
In the end, the final arbiter of meaning is what is on the page and how the reader connects with it--the sacred trinity of reader, page and author. And what people take away from any work of art is a function of who they are, the sum total of their psychological experience. If they NEED a romantic hero they will look for a romantic hero. If they NEED a critic (or Cliffs Notes or Blooms Guide) to think for them so they can get a grade, they will do it.
But no matter what I or anyone else says, it's the reader who is the final judge. I just happen to stick with what's on the page more than Bloom, who apparently conflated Fitzgerald's biography with his novel.
I don't care much about what an author says after the fact, either. Sometimes they say things to pump up sales or to avoid disfavor. What an author has on the page is gospel. Maybe they think, consciously, "I screwed up." and want a re-write. Tough bananas. They wrote it; they live with it. Often times it's the subconscious at work revealing things they're not prepared to consciously accept. Like the scene with McKee.
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Those words are a bit harsh, Monty. I object to the word, ¨procured¨, which has a connotation to pimping. Nick acts as a go between at Jordan's request.Wolfsheim doesn't show up at Jay's funeral, and even though Nick holds him accountable on that score, I am not so sure he didn't do the right thing. The police were closing in on Jay's bond schemes and W. could have been caught by his presence at the funeral.
It's apparent that the one moral Nick exhibits throughout is his unqualified loyalty to friends. Jordan and Tom are not his friends but it is Jay who gains his enduring loyalty, perhaps because of the homosexual attraction. The fact that Jay was a boatboy to the millionaire suggests that he was an ardent sexual player, yearning for the big payoff. Gigolos are that predatory.
Hi Monty, I also thought the language was poetic but sadly didn't like the story. I think I need to like at least one character and that was not possible with this book.
Yes, @Linda, there are no heroes here, except perhaps the reader who is enlightened, made to think, to peer inside themselves for evidence of a Nick, a Daisy, a Myrtle, etc.More than any book I have read, TGG made me consider the dark side of humanity and the frantic efforts of some to keep it hidden. The lesson: never trust the wealthy, particularly someone who flaunts it with ostentation.
@Geoffrey, you will recall that Gatsby offered to compensate Nick for his efforts by offering him a "bit of business." Here's the quote:“Well, this would interest you. It wouldn’t take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money. It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing.”
I realize now that under different circumstances that conversation might have been one of the crises of my life. But, because the offer was obviously and tactlessly for a service to be rendered, I had no choice except to cut him off there.
The "service to be rendered" was clearly Nick's arrangement of a meeting with a woman Gatsby intended to have sex with. "Service to be rendered" was Fitzgerald's choice of words, a suggestive allusion to the sex trade he would not have made if he weren't inviting readers to ponder the corruption in Nick's involvement. He could have chosen other words to make the point, but he chose these.
Hmmmm. And I took it that he was referring to the bond business and was going to ask Nick to pick them up for him. Your explanation doesn't ring for me as Nick, for several years in Wolsheims underworld web, would have had ample opportunity to fix up with a moll.
I see, but you lost me when you said, "... Nick, for several years in Wolsheims underworld web... ." What did Nick have to do with Wolfsheim?
"Fitz strengthened the Wolfsheim connection at his editor's suggestion in the final draft, but he always saw Gatsby as innocent, as a tool, as he himself was."But editor didn't hold a gun to Fitz's head. Fitz wouldn't have strengthened the Wolfsheim connection if he didn't agree with his gifted editor Max Perkins.
In the end, the final arbiter of meaning is what is on the page and how the reader connects with it--the sacred trinity of reader, page and author. And what people take away from any work of art is a function of who they are, the sum total of their psychological experience. If they NEED a romantic hero they will look for a romantic hero. If they NEED a critic (or Cliffs Notes or Blooms Guide) to think for them so they can get a grade, they will do it.
But no matter what I or anyone else says, it's the reader who is the final judge. I just happen to stick with what's on the page more than Bloom, who apparently conflated Fitzgerald's biography with his novel.
I don't care much about what an author says after the fact, either. Sometimes they say things to pump up sales or to avoid disfavor. What an author has on the page is gospel. Maybe they think, consciously, "I screwed up." and want a re-write. Tough bananas. They wrote it; they live with it. Often times it's the subconscious at work revealing things they're not prepared to consciously accept. Like the scene with McKee.
The strongest metaphor for the pervasive corruption is the "valley of ashes," which appears repeatedly and is the setting for the murder of the adultress Myrtle Wilson.
The book is so short and lyrical it's almost an epic poem of a corrupt hero who pays for his sins with his life.
Gatsby sought wealth and took the easy route. No matter what the circumstances, at some point we are responsible and accountable for our choices. With his bond scam, Gatsby was headed for prison, if not worse. The gun that ended Gatsy's life could just as easily been fired by a victim of his bond scam as poor George Wilson.
Nick may have seen Gatsby as a hero, but Nick himself was corrupt, having procured Daisy on his behalf. Then there's that thorny insinuation of a homosexual tryst with McKee, which, given the morays of the time, would severely discredit Nick.
Pursuing a big dream doesn't excuse someone from accountability.