All right
everyone. I’m so excited to be talking about this book with you all. How many
of you read and took notes on the first chapter of The Great Gatsby?
Looks like about four fifths of you. We can work with that. Did you find quotes
and questions you want to discuss? Good, good. Let’s get this warmed up. Oral
quiz! Who said, “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in
this world, a beautiful fool.” No hands. Oh, yeah. I forgot. Don’t be shy. I’m
sure you know this. Biff?
I don’t
know.
Bop?
I’m not good
with quotes.
Ben?
Don’t know.
Bessy? Come on,
Bessy: I hope she’ll be a fool. A beautiful fool. Who of the very few characters
we meet in the first chapter might have said that?
Gatsby?
No. Gatsby
hardly even's in the first chapter. Beau?
Is it Gatsby?
NO! Does ANYONE
know who said I hope she’ll be a fool? Yes. Belle.
Daisy.
YES! Daisy. Thank
you. Daisy is essential to this narrative, and that voice that makes Nick lean
forward—maybe flirtatious, maybe hushed… Let’s get a sense of our characters
before we go to your quotes and questions, and call out if you’ve got something
that pertains. And let’s start with Daisy. What do you notice about her, or
think about the way she’s portrayed? Anyone. Come on. How about it, Brenda?
What did I
think of Daisy?
Yes, what'd
you think of Daisy.
I don’t know.
Okay, well,
what did you notice about Daisy, or what do you learn or know about her.
What do we know
about Daisy?
Yes.
I don’t know.
Anything.
…
Okay, Brian,
how about you? What do you know about Daisy?
Um.
Try this. Is
she rich, poor? Is she shy, outgoing? Is she married, single?
Is she rich?
YES! She is
fabulously rich, and comes from generations of Midwest wealth. What else do you
know?
She lives in
the Midwest?
No! Where does
she live? Anyone. I introduced the geography yesterday. We looked at West Egg and East Egg. We looked at Gilded Age
architecture, specifically from this region—from where?
New York?
YES! Daisy
lives on Long Island. Let’s just move on. Who does she live with? Brock?
With her
family?
Yes, can you
name anyone in her family?
I’m not good
with names.
All right,
anyone. What’s the name of Daisy’s husband, Mr. Buchanan?
Oh, I remember!
His first name,
please.
Oh.
It’s Tom! Tom
Buchanan.
Oh yeah.
Brianna, what
do you know about Tom?
He’s married to
Daisy…
Yes...
Is he rich?
YES! They live
in a huge palatial villa on Long Island Sound. What else?
…
Brassy, what’s
something you know about Tom, in addition to him being married and rich?
Is he a
businessman?
You’re guessing!
Come on, all. I’ve only been calling on people who raised their hands to show
they’d done the reading and note-taking. We have something here you can’t get
anywhere else. We have a group of people who all read a rich piece of literature
and history, together, and who got to assemble here in a way that just doesn’t get
replicated easily for the rest of your lives, all our thoughts and curiosity and the energy and richness
of so many minds attuned through the lens of a piece of art, a piece of magic,
building on our own thoughts with an experienced guide to the book in front of you, and all of
you, unpacking together, turning things over, nudging thoughts and
observations you'd never have had on your own without that friction of a many minds in a concentration of time and purpose coming
together. This is so precious. But you have to do the reading, which means more
than putting your eyes onto a page, but visualizing, thinking, feeling. Come on.
Let’s stay with Tom. What do you know or sense about him? Yes, Benny, thank you.
He’s pushy and
entitled. He’s aggressive, and kind of a jerk.
YES! He’s
pushy, aggressive, so entitled, and absolutely. A jerk. And he's racist.
Whoa, Mr. Grosskopf,
you can’t call him that!
Yeah, where do
you get that?
You’re just
going to just call him a racist?
Page 17. Open
your books. Look! Open them. “Civilization’s going to pieces. Have you read The
Rise of the Coloured Empires by this man Goddard? Well, it’s a fine book and
everybody ought to read it.”
He’s racist
because he liked a book? That's kind of a stretch.
“The idea is if
we don’t look out the white race will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific
stuff; it’s been proved. It’s up to the dominant race to watch out or these
other races will have control.”
That’s just a
couple lines. I don't know how you expected us to catch that.
“The idea is we’re
Nordics. We’ve produced all the things that go to make civilization. Do you
see?”
…
Okay, all; let’s
move on. How about Jordan. What do you remember about Jordan Baker? I’ll give
you a hint: Nick realizes he recognizes her face because he’s seen her in
pictures before. She’s a little famous.
Oh, I remember.
She’s a model.
No! Another
hint. She’s an athlete.
Volleyball.
No. Another
hint. Who are these people? It’s a country club sport.
Tennis!
Polo!
Golf!
Yes, golf. When
we first see Jordan, she’s strangely balancing like a statue on an enormous
couch. It’s a very weird, static image, very clearly observed as the
tension of a pose.
Now, what about Gatsby? Do we see him in this chapter, any of that something-gorgeous-about-him-ness, any of that romantic-readiness? Do we glimpse him at all?
We see him in his house.
Yes, we see a
figure in his house. Any other time? Yes, Belle.
We see him
standing at the end of his dock, with his arms outstretched.
Yes, it’s the
very last image of the chapter. Let’s read it together: “He stretched out his
arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I
could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and
distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that
might have been at the end of a dock.” What does that look like? Is it like
this? That doesn’t seem right. Someone show me. Okay, now get some trembling in
it. That’s so weird looking! Is that what the reaching out looked like? Brian’s
got an interpretation: Get that green light, Gatsby! Does that look more
normal? No, it doesn’t! This is such an unfathomable description to me, I can’t
make sense of it in my head! Anyone else? Still looks weird. You all look like a bunch of zombies! What is he
reaching for? What is Gatsby feeling? I know from this description he’s
experiencing something there in his solitude, arms out towards the sea like a
symbol, but we don’t know what yet.
Let’s go to
that final fifth character of the chapter, our narrator. What do you know or
sense about him? He says, in the very first lines of the book, not to pre-judge:
“Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people
in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” We’ve been inside
his brain this entire time, looking out at these wild and strange posed
characters, so we should be able to tell if he’s been judge-y or not. Have his
observations reflected lack of judgment? Is he just describing? Do you have
hints of judgment?
The first few
pages, when he makes this statement, are full of overt pronouncements, but when
he first meets Tom, Daisy, and Jordan, do you see it then too? These are quiet,
sometimes just in the adjectives and adverbs. In tonight’s reading about a
small party in Manhattan, watch for it: What do you notice about Nick as an
observer? Does he judge or not? What and how is he taking in the world around
him, and is he participating in these riotous excursions? Is he an insider, an
outsider, and who is he talking to—is he talking to us as insiders, outsiders?
See what you notice. And at some point, we need to consider why our narrative
starts with Nick’s father’s advice about criticizing others.
But really
read, please.
(Belle. Benny. I'm going to try.)
