Yet more on Gatsby and a brief poem
This is a kind of “close reading” of a small part of Fitzgerald’s novel. From the text:
[Gatsby to Carraway, the narrator]: “Well, I’m going to tell you something about my life. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear. I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West–all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.” He looked at me sideways–and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. [Carraway]: “What part of the Middle West?” [Gatsby]: “San Francisco.” [Carraway]: “I see.”
Three thoughts. Gatsby’s comments might be considered something like an Irish bull; the idea of San Francisco being in the U.S. Midwest is almost a comical absurdity. Secondly, Gatsby is probably the most famous literary example of autobiographical “creation myth.” Switching art forms, the film The Social Network (written by Aaron Sorkin, directed by David Fincher) about Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook fame has also been described as a “creation myth” in that the writer and director had to imagine what drove Zuckerburg to his success. The plot of the movie begins with Zuckerburg being rejected by a young woman, and it seems to say he was jealous of other students in college who went to private, decadent parties. It seems to say that jealousy was a kind of energy that drove him to create Facebook. Finally, Sigmund Freud had a concept of “family romance,” meaning people often want to imagine their family is grander than it really is (hence fairy tales). Gatsby is an example of family romance.
“Pun-tius” by yours truly
“I am your imperial Roman leader, Pun-tius Pilate. Which of these two pun-minals do you want freed people: Pun-rabbas or J—– Pun-st?”
“We want Pun-rabbas! Give us Pun-rabbas!”
“Okay, I shall wash my puns of the issue. Have it your way. And will not have a guilty pun-science.”
“Pun-k you, dear leader!”