"The little dog was sitting on the table looking with blind eyes through the smoke and from time to time groaning faintly. People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away. Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing in impassioned voices whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name" (Fitzgerald 41).
This passage is a perfect description of society in this novel. This "little dog" can be represented as any person within society because he is "looking with blind eyes through the smoke." This society is "an impenetrable cloud which screens their obscure operations from your sight" (27). They don't want the members of society to see what life is really like. Nothing is completely set in society. "People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other." They do not know what is actually going on. "Everything that happened has a dim hazy cast over it" (33). Society does not let the members live a true life because they become so wrapped up in believing what society wants them to believe. They begin to lose who their true selves really are. "He's so dumb he doesn't know he's alive" (30). The members become "little dogs" who sit on the outside of their own lives and watch with confusion; society is the reason for this.
This passage sets the scene for the rest of the novel. Whether it is about the life of Gatsby or the life of Nick, the reader is not sure, but either way, one of them will live a "hazy" life under the constraints of society. This passage also reminds me of Prufrock's poem when he says, "the women come and go talking of Michelangelo" (Prufrock). Their discussion is artificial, they come and go because they do not actually have importance. In this story, "people disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away" (41). like the women in the poem, these people also have no significance. They are not noticed because they are not individuals, they blend into a crowd known as society.
I think that if I read the novel with this passage in mind it will help me understand the novel better. That i why I picked it.
Molly-great response! I really agree with a lot that you said, especially about how the party and society is constantly moving, without fully accomplishing one action before moving on to the next.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would like to address, or modify, is the idea that "Society does not let the members live a true life because they become so wrapped up in believing what society wants them to believe. They begin to lose who their true selves really are." I do agree that society (I am assuming you mean the members in society, especially those at the party) tries to put up a false front in order to satisfy societal expectations, however, I do not think that the people lose who they really are in the process. Perhaps to the external eye, they do, but I think that each person is fully aware of their own thoughts. They just result to gossip and controlling the conversation so that they can oversee what is discussed.
For example, Mrs. McKee tells Nick "with pride that her husband has photographed her a hundred and twenty-seven times since they had been married" (30). After hearing how Mr. McKee is "a pale, feminine man" it is highly possible that Mrs. McKee only brags to try and make her husband seem as though he is madly in love with her, despite the previous, and as we later learn, future suggestions that he is gay.
The variety and constant changing of conversation does not allow for anyone to go too into detail about any one thing. THis is especially convienient because most of the topics are lies, like how "Daisy was not a Catholic, and [Nick] was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie" (33). Everyone appears false, but they act so deliberately. There is no overpowering figure who orders or warps the minds of the people to believe in a way, rather they compete against themselves to look the best.
This is an AMAZING explanation !! Thanks a loads!
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