So... this week's assignment (among the boatload of other assignments *insert annoyed emoji shaking its head at the American school system*) was to write about my favorite passage in The Great Gatsby but be warned: I'm about to manipulate the heck out of this. Of course, I will talk about my favorite passage, because it's for the grade. Everything is for the grade. (Sorry, I'm just really heated about homework right now.) But then I will connect it to something else.
My favorite passage (How long is a passage? Mine is so short.) is a part where Jordan and Nick are talking at one of Gatsby's parties:
"Anyhow, he gives large parties," said Jordan, changing he subject with an urban distaste for the concrete. "And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy" (Fitzgerald 54).
Yep. There you have it folks. That's my entire passage. Why? Because in a book full of disillusion, disconnect, and disregard, this is the one passage that speaks the full on truth. It is so dang (I'm censoring myself) true. Large parties are intimate. Everyone is so wrapped up in small situations that it isn't hard to really feel alone with somebody else. In small parties, everyone is hyperaware of what the next person is doing. Or how they're feeling. Or how much they're drinking. Or who they're talking about. It's just straight up annoying.
I, too, experienced this. I am current
ly experiencing this. In eighth grade I thought I wanted to go to IA. So I shadowed there and quickly learned that since IA is such a small school, word got around quickly. From my ONE DAY shadowing there, I successfully got half of the now-senior class to hate me and I got random friend requests from boys I didn't know. People actually told other people that they hated me and the only way I can describe my feelings to this day is "?????"
But not that I hate IA or anything. Some of my best friends go there. It just wasn't the right place for me. Everything was too public. Despite my sassy demeanor, I actually prefer to be under the radar. Here at Troy High, my life is pretty much as private as I want it to be. I have a group of close friends, but nobody really knows anything about my personal drama unless I choose to share it with them.
Troy High is a large party. Much more intimate in terms of who I let in.
And now, that brings us to my point of manipulation. Here I leave you with my all-time favorite Fitzgerald quote about intimacy, from his book The Beautiful and Damned.
"The growth of intimacy is like that. First one gives off his best picture, the bright and finished product mended with bluff and falsehood and humor. Then more details are required and one paints a second portrait, and a third-before long the best lines cancel out-and the secret is exposed at last; the planes of the pictures have intermingled and given us away, and though we paint and paint we can no longer sell a picture. We must be satisfied with hoping that such fatuous accounts of ourselves as we make to our wives and children and business associates are accepted as true" (90).
Sorry for such a long post but that is my favorite book and my favorite quote from it. No way was I going to talk about Fitzgerald and leave that out.
Lyrics of the week: "Some love was made for the lights. Some kiss your cheek in goodnight..." from Slow It Down by The Lumineers. Such a beautiful song, which references intimate and public love.
My favorite passage (How long is a passage? Mine is so short.) is a part where Jordan and Nick are talking at one of Gatsby's parties:
 |
| Jordan Baker in the new movie because.... just look at her |
Yep. There you have it folks. That's my entire passage. Why? Because in a book full of disillusion, disconnect, and disregard, this is the one passage that speaks the full on truth. It is so dang (I'm censoring myself) true. Large parties are intimate. Everyone is so wrapped up in small situations that it isn't hard to really feel alone with somebody else. In small parties, everyone is hyperaware of what the next person is doing. Or how they're feeling. Or how much they're drinking. Or who they're talking about. It's just straight up annoying.
 |
| the best joke about being all up in your business |
I, too, experienced this. I am current
ly experiencing this. In eighth grade I thought I wanted to go to IA. So I shadowed there and quickly learned that since IA is such a small school, word got around quickly. From my ONE DAY shadowing there, I successfully got half of the now-senior class to hate me and I got random friend requests from boys I didn't know. People actually told other people that they hated me and the only way I can describe my feelings to this day is "?????"
But not that I hate IA or anything. Some of my best friends go there. It just wasn't the right place for me. Everything was too public. Despite my sassy demeanor, I actually prefer to be under the radar. Here at Troy High, my life is pretty much as private as I want it to be. I have a group of close friends, but nobody really knows anything about my personal drama unless I choose to share it with them.
Troy High is a large party. Much more intimate in terms of who I let in.
And now, that brings us to my point of manipulation. Here I leave you with my all-time favorite Fitzgerald quote about intimacy, from his book The Beautiful and Damned.
"The growth of intimacy is like that. First one gives off his best picture, the bright and finished product mended with bluff and falsehood and humor. Then more details are required and one paints a second portrait, and a third-before long the best lines cancel out-and the secret is exposed at last; the planes of the pictures have intermingled and given us away, and though we paint and paint we can no longer sell a picture. We must be satisfied with hoping that such fatuous accounts of ourselves as we make to our wives and children and business associates are accepted as true" (90).
Sorry for such a long post but that is my favorite book and my favorite quote from it. No way was I going to talk about Fitzgerald and leave that out.
Lyrics of the week: "Some love was made for the lights. Some kiss your cheek in goodnight..." from Slow It Down by The Lumineers. Such a beautiful song, which references intimate and public love.
Rohini, reading your blog is such a treat! I like how your voice really penetrates into your writing in these posts -it makes reading them really fun. Upon reading the passage in the novel that you chose, I've always found it to be slightly contradictory, like much of Gatsby, but your analysis really shed light on the meaning of intimacy. And the personal anecdote that you included added a lot to your analysis of this passage, and the purpose of this post.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm super glad you ended up going to Troy High with me:)