"I told that boy about the ice." Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. "These people! You have to keep after them all the time."
She looked at me and laughed pointlessly... (2.69-70)
The Great Gatsby was originally published in 1925. That was 91 years ago, but still the novel produces a timeless and modern vibe to the reader. Its characterization of the slavery of man to kitchen appliances to its detail of social extravagance and discourse could easily be said of 2016. Perhaps this is the reason why we as Juniors are expected to read this "masterpiece" of literature. Such a literature whose movie deals and celebrity cast and apparent popularity have left us prospected readers expecting of so much from the little book.
I was quite delighted with the beginning of The Great Gatsby. It invited us to follow Nick, the narrator, in his experience with 1920s socialites--one readers are sympathetic to because of Nick's outsider status. There was much more wit, humor and linear-storytelling than I had anticipated. The Bluest Eye, with its many breaks in story to satisfy its grand message has definitely left an impact on the way I approach literature.
As a type of historical fiction, The Great Gatsby has a unique role in serving as a bridge between the 1920s and the future. A bridge of course is used to hasten the transportation of goods or people or good people between two planes and over a body. In a similar fashion this novel allows for the transportation of ideas and consciousness to transcend normal chronology and taste another era in time for a cup a tea at home. One particular writing device Fitz uses is implicit cataloging, whereby he jams in as many things and oddities of the 1920s era into his sentences without seeming apparent. The trick is play with a saturation point of sorts, a point where one too many flappers or cigs bogs down the novel in the era and kills its relativity and its "Classic" status, a status earned by losing the leash of time.
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