Why Is Stella Content?

“I am not in anything I have a desire to get out of… He promised this morning that he was going to quit having these poker parties, but you know how long such a promise is going to keep. Oh, well, it’s his pleasure, like mine is movies and bridge. People have go to tolerate each other’s habits, I guess” (74).

The parallel Stella draws between her harmless habits of movies and bridge and Stanley’s poker nights depicts that she is content in her seemingly unsafe and unhealthy marriage.  She pardons her husband for his actions the night before by attributing them to his drunken state.  Not only does she excuse her husband, but she also does not expect him to uphold his promise to “quit having these poker nights.”  Stella’s calmness in regards to the previous nights actions depicts both that this is a regular occurrence and that she is content with the perpetual cycle of Stanley’s poker nights.  Stella does not show any speck of “desire to get out of” her marriage.  Stella’s composure after a night of such destruction begs the question of what is keeping her content in her dreadful marriage. Is it she because she has no other option, because she is blinded by her supposed love for “bestial” Stanley, or because she is truly content in her lifestyle?

Insecurity, Lunacy, Conceitedness

“Unless you were there at the bed when they cried out, “Hold me!” you’d never suspect there was the struggle for breath and bleeding. You didn’t dream, but I saw! Saw! Saw! And now you sit there telling me with your eyes that I let the place go!” (Scene One, 22).

­­Blanche’s distraught recount of losing relatives and her family’s estate, Bell Reve, as well as her accusatory tone, illustrates her unstable state.  While Blanche’s incessant clamor and status initially define her as confident, the façade of this supposed upper class person fades as her lunacy becomes prevalent. She is accusatory of his sister, and blames her for the loss of the family estate. Not only does Blanche accuse her of leaving her with “with all the burden descended on my shoulders,” but also accuses Stella of blaming Blanche for failing to retain the estate.  This accusation has little validity as Stella is merely concerned and wants to know what has happened.  Blanche’s accusation illustrates her insecurity and conceit as she does not want to be held accountable for the estate and, rather, wants to blame Stella for this misfortune. 

Nick Carraway: Ambiguous, Contradictory, and Unreliable

How do Nick’s judgments of the characters of The Great Gatsby illustrate his character? Or do they not and does Nick remain an ambiguous character?

            In the commencement of the novel Nick suggests this story is one of the “intimate revelations of young men [which] are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions” (2). This immediate suggestion that The Great Gatsby is not about Gatsby at all fosters the reader’s curiosity of the narrator himself.  Also at the commencement of the novel, Nick describes himself as tolerant and nonjudgmental.  This brief introduction into his character solidifies the platform that the rest of the novel contradicts.  Nick’s thoughts of, his interactions with, and relationships with his counterparts conflict with the initial description of his own character.  While the events of the novel dictate Nick as judgmental and having a bias, therefore intolerant, the reader cannot draw a final conclusion of Nick’s character.  The persona of Nick Carraway remains ambiguous not only because his actions and thoughts throughout the novel contradict his initial description of himself, but also because he assumes the role of an unreliable narrator; this lack of reliability forces the reader to wonder how distorted his descriptions and opinions are. 

Dream: Attainable in the Future, but Forever Rooted in the Past

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past” (180).

Fitzgerald ends his novel with a metaphor of life.  He illustrates that people are continuously striving for an unattainable future, like a boat attempting to advance by beating “against the current.” He suggests that in a person’s attempt at reaching that future they are carried “ceaselessly into the past.”  This future everyone is striving for is the place in which people are realize their dreams.  Dreams stem from previous experiences that the imagination is elaborating on.  Dreams are an ideal of something in the past and they are thought to be attainable somewhere in the future.  Because dreams are never completely attainable as they are illusions of reality, they forever remain in the realm of the future. The future is a realm that is perpetually out of reach, forcing people to engage in an endless travel “against the current” to strive for these dreams.  This eternal journey further pulls people back “into the past” as they are attempting to achieve that ideal dream that has stemmed from a previous experience, idea, or feeling. 

Daisy's Daughter: A Reality Check

“…a freshly laundered nurse leading a little girl came into the room… Afterward [Gatsby] kept looking at the child with surprise.  I don’t think he had ever really believed in its existence before” (117).

Daisy’s daughter further promotes Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy and his desire to start a life together to a fantasy than a reality.  Gatsby wants Daisy to proclaim she never loved Tom and to run away with him.  This fantasy of Gatsby’s is further dissociated with reality by the existence of Daisy’s daughter.  Her existence makes it so that Daisy is not just abandoning her marriage and Tom, but also her family and child.  Her existence shocks and disturbs Gatsby because it does not blend with his fantastic scheme of his love for Daisy and their future.  Because the daughter did not fit into his fantasy, Gatsby’s imagination made her unreal; therefore, his experiencing her physical existence shakes the foundation of his fantasy, further removing it from the possibility of reality.  

American Dream: A Possibility or a Desired Fantasy?

“Americans absolutely believe in this idea of American exceptionalism, that the United States is a country that promotes opportunity, that hard work and ambition are what matters the most for getting ahead” (Erin Currier, Moving On Up More Difficult In America).

Although Cal Thomas claims “there is not much of [the American dream] that’s left” and Erin Currier argues “it is more difficult to ‘move up’ in America,” 70% of Americans still “believe in this idea of American exceptionalism.” This naïve optimism is fueled by the traditional believe that a new generation achieves “a better life than their parents and grandparents.” Like Americans, Gatz is fooled into believing his fantasy, his American dream, is a possibility.  The global image that America is the place for opportunity fools Americans themselves into believing so.  Similarly, the guests’ beliefs that Gatsby leads the most impressive, extravagant lifestyle leads Gatsby to believe he has fulfilled his American dream.  The fatal truth comes when it is evident that the American dream has not been achieved and may no longer be a possibility. For Gatsby, this reality comes when the guests leave and it is prevalent that without their circling rumors of his persona, all that is left is the unsupportive framework of his imagined American dream. 

Gatsby's Mind: A Moon Redirecting Reality

“A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the washstand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor” (99).

“…the sidewalk was white with moonlight… the blocks of the sidewalks really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees---he could climb to it, if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder” (110).

The moon is seen by reflected light, so the light it gives off is reflected light; therefore, it illuminates things in an almost unrealistic way.  It is not the moon illuminating earth, but it is the moon’s redirection of light that irradiates objects.  The use of the moon in flashbacks to Gatsby’s early life illustrates that his imagination, his “moon,” redirected the realities of life.  Yes the moon was illuminating the sidewalk, but it is Gatsby’s imagination that transforms that sidewalk into a “ladder.” Gatsby’s mind (the moon) receives reality (light) and redirects it to transform it to be what he desires. 

Gatsby's Illusion: A Distorted Daisy

“There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams---not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything.  He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time… No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (95-96).

Fitzgerald foreshadows that the initial jubilation experienced by Gatsby, fostered by his resumed relationship with Daisy, will fade as she fails to equate with his illusion of her.  The five-year interim, between when he first arrived on West Egg to his meeting with Daisy, enabled Gatsby’s imagination to expand upon his dreams of Daisy, distorting her to the state of an illusion, one that she will “tumble short of.” While they both are ecstatic at their reunion, Gatsby’s “doubt…as to the quality of his present happiness,” indicates that their resumed relationship will not fit the parameters of Gatsby’s illusion. 

A Hidden Love Sheds Light On Gatsby's Mystery

“‘Gatsby bought the house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.’ Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor” (78).

Nick’s realization about Gatsby, emergent from insight Jordan gave him about Gatsby’s background, portrays Gatsby in an emotional light that enables Nick to see him as human.  The complete mystery of Gatsby’s existence and how and why he came to West Egg fades away as Nick is informed of his past with Daisy.  The explanation that “he had waited five years and bought a mansion” to be near Daisy illustrates the love that Gatsby has for Daisy.  Nick’s relationship with Jordan and his recognition that Gatsby too loves a woman enables him to relate to Gatsby.  This ability to relate allows Gatsby to “[come] alive” to Nick. 

Gatsby's Parties: Means to Establishing Reputability

By means of “costly entertainments… The competitor with whom the entertainer wishes to institute a comparison is, by this method, made to serve as a means to the end. He [the guest] consumes vicariously for his host at the same time that he is witness to the consumption of that excess of good things which his host in unable to dispose of single handedly, and he is also made witness to his host’s facility in etiquette” (Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class)

Gatsby’s utilizes the method of grand entertainment to establish and maintain his reputation throughout East and West Egg.  The parties are not meant for Gatsby’s leisure, but, rather, to let his guests experience what he portrays as his quotidian life.  The exposure to this extravagant lifestyle leaves West Eggers envying Gatsby and leaves East Eggers sufficiently impressed by Gatsby.  While, in the eyes of the East Eggers, these parties separate Gatsby from the rest of the West Eggers, still maintained is a social divide between new money and old money that inhibits Gatsby from being an East Egger. While his parties further his reputation and set him apart from West Egg, they will never implant him into East Egg society---a place where Gatsby, no matter how extravagant his parties, where he will perpetually be a guest to another host’s method of achieving “reputability”

Gatsby's Smile Contrasts Mysteriousness

“He smiled understandingly---much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it…It…assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.  Precisely at that point in vanished” (48).

Throughout the first of Gatsby’s parties that Nick attends, Fitzgerald is able to hint at the many levels and sides of Gatsby’s character.  However, while a mysterious side and a friendly side are alluded to, nothing is ever concluded.  The aloof role Gatsby has at his own party his actions portray him as the isolated, mysterious man that everyone assumes him to be.  However, his initial interaction with Nick, in which his smile “was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it…It…assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey,” provides the reader with a brief insight into a more benevolent, personably Gatsby.  

Expressed Unreliability

“I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon; so everything that happened has a dim, hazy cast over it” (29).

Within the first paragraphs of The Great Gatsby, Carraway depicts himself to be unreliable as he subtly expresses that the novel is not at all about Gatsby, but rather is his intimate revelation, which he claims is “plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions” (2).  He further establishes his lack of reliability when he precedes his description of the gathering at Tom’s New York apartment by asserting that “everything that happened has a dim, hazy cast over it.”  While the gathering provides the reader with insight into the characters of Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, the reader has to question whether Carraway has embellished the affairs and actions of the evening, which would, in turn, screw the perception of the characters.

Ignorance Is Bliss

“I hope she’ll be a fool---that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (17)

Daisy’s initial reaction to the news that her baby is a girl sheds light on the value, or lack there of, of women in early twentieth century America.  Daisy is both intelligent and “sophisticated.” While nowadays these qualities have positive connotations, in the era of Daisy Buchanan, a woman was better off ignorant, better off as “a beautiful little fool.” Daisy’s desire of this to be her daughter’s fate illustrates the “cynical” view Daisy has adopted because of her sophistication.  Her intelligence enables her to see how women of society are devalued.  Daisy’s conscious of this reality tortures her, and she only wishes to exempt her daughter from the cynical view that her intelligence has brought upon her.