Group 3—NYC
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4 comments:
In The Great Gatsby, New York City is portrayed as the obvious large, majestic city that it is, but also as a symbolic place that connects the people of the East and West Egg to the city; and at the same time, a place that separates them. The City represents the fake society that resides within it; Gatsby's friend Meyer Wolfsheim, and a myriad of Gatsby's guests, including the Chromes, Backhyssons, Dennickers, Corrigans, Kellehers and Scullys. These guests of Gatsby's are seen as the "fake" rich people that live in the City. Residents of the City are seen as people who can be who they want to be in the city, giving them the ability to pretend and be something or someone they are not. The lights of New York City represent the artificial life that resides within it. However, the City provides a lifeline for the people that live in West and East Egg, all of them with a direct path to the different lives they may want to try and lead. Whatever reputation they might have in the Eggs is stripped of them while in the City, giving them a clean slate to work from whilst they are there. The themes portrayed within New York City are those of light versus dark, real versus artificial, and expectancy versus the unknown.
Important Quotes:
Pg. 35 "The bottle of whiskey...repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life."
Pg. 56 "At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes."
Pg. 79 "I immediately suggested a luncheon in New York - I thought he'd go mad."
Pg. 80 "We passed a barrier of dark trees, and then the facade of Fifty-Ninth Street."
Pg. 56 "I began to like New York, the racy...young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life."
Pg. 69 "'Anything can happen now that we've slid over the bridge,' I thought; 'anything at all.'"
Hello--
After reading this response, I am struck by the fact that I might have set your group up for failure: perhaps, it is to early to render a declaration about the true function of NYC in the novel.
I will say the following: I do not agree with the first half your response at all (however, as we progress through the novel I think you will see why), but I do think the second half of your response is insightful and right on.
This was the hardest setting to write about (in my opinion, and I look forward to watching how you revise this post in order to ensure that your musings pain an accurate, thoughtful, and symbolic reflection of NYC and its impact on the thematic ideas at the center of the novel.
At this time, I am reserving a grade for this post. But we should find a time to catch up in order to talk through this response and what you can do in order to ensure that it is successful in the future.
Best,
AK
Residents of New York City:
- The Chromes
- The Backhyssons
- The Dennickers
- The Corrigans
- The Kellehers
-The Scullys
- Meyer Wolfsheim
New York City is the only connection that East and West Eggers have with the outside world. Although The Valley of Ashes is considered the “outside world” it is in some ways dead compared to New York City. New York City is alive, it is vibrant and it is full of colors. The colors that New York City embraces are mainly a cover for the dullness that lives within it. There are many gray names and darkness living within New York. The City creates the gray names and keeps them surviving and thriving within the places those people are right now. It provides the gray named people with money which allows them to continue to thrive in their eggs. New York City is home to many different people and many different lifestyles. It provides most East and West Eggers with the money that defines them. It portrays the image that anything is possible in New York City and in some ways this is true. New York City provides the jobs that people need to get the money that they want. New York City is an extravagant place for everyone in every class. It is the all welcoming city, the only place where everyone is on an equal playing field. New York City is the place where people have the ability to be real and say the things they want to say. It is a place where there is no judgment as to who you are or what you are doing there. Everyone is accepted in New York City and it embraces everyone from all different backgrounds.
More quotes:
p. 118 “’But it’s so hot,’ insisted Daisy on the verge of tears, ‘and everything’s so confused. Let’s al go to town!”.
p. 125 “’Those big movies around Fiftieth Street are cool,’ Suggested Jordan. ‘I love New York on summer afternoons when every one’s away. There’s something very sensuous about it—overripe as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands’”.
Thank you for this entry--I really like the thought:
"It is the all welcoming city, the only place where everyone is on an equal playing field. New York City is the place where people have the ability to be real and say the things they want to say."
With that being said--I do wish that you would have tightened up the writing within this response (an example: people have the ability to be real). It seems to me like the writing is a little too casual at certain moments and this impacts the quality of the response--perhaps, think about you can infuse the writing in this response with a greater depth of clarity and a stronger sophistication of expression.
Also--perhaps think about this--how is NYC a 'melting pot?' But maybe more to the point even though everything in NYC is lumped together, there are still some divisions, there is the East Side and the West side...so why then does Fitzgerald make NYC like East and West Egg?
Also--do you need more pieces of textual support, the quote section of this response seems a little thin?
Let me know what I might be able to do to help.
Best,
AK
Content: 84
Writing: 77
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