Re: Irony in West Egg

Pierrot65@aol.com
Mon, 14 Jun 1999 14:21:59 -0400 (EDT) 

Scotty --

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year 
recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter -- tomorrow we 
will run faster, stretch out our arms farther ... And one fine morning --
	"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly 
into the past."

That, for my money, is certainly one of the most beautiful things ever set to 
paper. I think it proves Scotty's point, if I take it correctly. The use of 
"we" and "us" shows a connection between Nick and Jay, a sameness of 
world-view, that maybe wasn't as strong at the beginning of the book -- I 
think Nick's admiration turned from Gatsby's social status and behavior to 
Gatsby's personal philosophy. Nick, I think, sees Gatsby as a tragic victim 
of his own idealism and Romanticism, battered by the MODERN world's 
indifference. By the end of the story, Nick believes in what Gatsby believed 
-- but he is also made aware of the consequences of that philosophy, through 
Gatsby's tragic "sacrifice," if we can call it that, and I certainly think we 
can. Nick came to this realization through the knowledge of the truth of 
Gatsby's past and all of the circumstances surrounding his upper-class 
masquerade. So, in searching out the truth, and presenting it in the form of 
the book (and in not pulling any punches), I think Nick is probably one of 
the most reliable narrators we have. I like to think of him as a prophet in a 
way, but that's just me.
	I agree with the idea that, in a way, all first-person narrators are 
"unreliable," in the sense that that term is normally used, because 
everything that the narrator reports is filtered through his own psyche, his 
own experience. But authors make a very determined and important choice about 
who is going to tell their story, and in that sense, all narrators are 
reliable, demonstrating the author's vision -- even if the author 
deliberately throws in a red herring or two. I think maybe what is more 
important is whether or not the narrator is being reliable to himself, and 
that, of course, is where Holden comes in. I'm not trying to be pedantic or 
have a semantic panic here on the use of "reliability." I just get excited 
and verbose when Gatsby raises his leonine head.
	Let me also add that, after tons and gobs of Hemingway talk in these 
hallowed halls, it is personally satisfying to me that the talk has, even if 
just momentarily, turned to Fitzgerald.

Rick