clean, hard, limited person, who dealt in universal scepticism, and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of my arm. A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: "There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.
Awe I think this is the moment NIck started falling in love with Jordan. I know that feeling all too well for it not to be that. This line reminded me of good memories I haven't visited in a while.
Finest specimens of human molars
I thought that that was extremely gross. Why would anyone have molars as cuff buttons? That's so sadistic, and probably contributes to my earlier question if he's shady or not. I was right. This reminds me of the sadistic dentist in Little Shop of Horrors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOtMizMQ6oM
His eyes, meanwhile, roved very slowly all around the room--he completed the arc by turning to inspect the people directly behind. I think that, except for my presence, he would have taken one short glance beneath our own table.
He sounds very sketchy. If someone consistently looked around himself as if he was telling a secret, I wouldn't want to be friends with him. Trust me, I've had experience like that.
A small, flat-nosed Jew raised his large head
That's such a funny statement, I couldn't help but laugh because I've never heard of a flat -nosed Jew. The stereotype is that the noses are extremely large... at least that's how it is in my Jewish community.
I was able to do the commissioner a favor once, and he sends me a Christmas card every year.
Gatsby can get away with so many things because of his connections. Everyone at school thinks GPA is the most important thing to get them through life, but once you graduate, it will be forgotten. Nobody cares! Connections are so important once you graduate because that can get you so far in life. I'm so grateful for my job because of the people I meet through it. At the end of the road, I think I might go further then some people at school even if they have better grades than me because I have a social network. Eventually I want to be as rich as Gatsby with all the connections.
sped along a cobbled slum lined with the dark, undeserted saloons of the faded-gilt nineteen-hundreds.
Why would Gatsby and Nick be driving past this deserted area? This reminds me of the time I was in the musical "Little Shop of horrors" on skid row, how it looked devastating and no one wanted to be there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xPq6W1EoIc
capitals of Europe--Paris, Venice, Rome--collecting jewels, chiefly rubies, hunting big game, painting a little, things for myself only
The fact that Gatsby traveled the capitals of Europe means he should be well educated in other cultures. I remember for my Bat Mitzvah, I chose the option of traveling abroad in all the capitals that he visited instead of a massive party like normal tweens had. I'm so grateful I chose traveling over a party because now I feel more cultured like Gatsby.
memory of that sudden extinction of a clan still haunted him.
The use of the word "clan" automatically registered as the KKK in my head. I don't think that Gatsby was part of that clan, but that would be a bad plot twist. The KKK mostly resided in the south, so it would be confusing if he was a part of it in New York.
he was lying. He hurried the phrase "educated at Oxford," or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before.
The only reason people lie is to sound better than what they actually are, to cover up something, or make someone feel better... Why would he lie about studying in Oxford. When I took psychology in seventh grade, we learned about body language and speech to tell if someone is lying. There is a tv show called Lie to Me where the doctor can tell if anyone is lying. That'd be a nice skill to have when talking to Gatsby.
He was never quite still; there was always a tapping foot somewhere or the impatient opening and closing of a hand.
He either seems like he has ADHD or a secret he is hiding. I can relate to him never sitting still because I am very energetic and have Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).
Well, if you're a poor driver you oughtn't to try driving at night.
I don't think that him driving at night is the concern. I feel as if he should be educated in driving some more. My dad always told me that you may not be a bad driver, but you have to watch out for the awful drivers around you.
And I like large parties. They're so intimate.
I feel like that's the opposite because I was at a small get together and they're was more privacy there than any major party I've been to.
It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism!
The owl-eyed man's love, enthusiasm, and innocence for the books is so adorable. Because he was expecting fake books similar to the gilded age how everything was gorgeous on the outside, but fake on the inside. His enthusiasm reminds me of Princess Ariel when she finds the fork and adds to her collection.Ariel sings about how she has all these material things, but she wants more like the experience of feet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXKlJuO07eM
-East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety.
Anytime Fitzgerald mentions East Egg and West, I find it really funny. And after reading it a few times, I remembered the song that correlates with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVbQo3IOC_A
Because it explains how people's lives can change so fast.
too big in the bust and had to be altered. It was gas blue with lavender beads.
She reminds me of Cinderella's ugly step sisters because they flaunt what they have but can't pull it off like the oversize and expensive dress given by Gatsby.
two girls in yellow and three men, each one introduced to us as Mr. Mumble.
I think the party only matters whats on the outside and the facade that people play, not on the inside... like these people aren't going to remember each other as friends later on. Just like in this school, people mostly care about the persona that people have.
all looking a little hungry
When Fitzgerald wrote that, did he mean actually hungry for food or hungry for a beautiful lady to spend the night with. I've heard that term be used both ways and the latter is so much worse.
People were not invited--they went there
That means that the guests didn't know Gatsby personally and where just going to the parties for lavish experiences. That's so rude, I once had a person invite somebody who I've never met to my birthday party, and they didn't even bring me a present!
opera of voices pitches a key higher
That means that it's an illusion of perfection because if the pitch is slightly higher its not in tune. I find it funny how there is a grand orchestra and they are not in tune.
By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums. The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing up-stairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive, and already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colors
Great Gatsby's extravagant parties remind me of the masquerade in the Phantom of the Opera because they're large and obnoxious with an impending doom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bn4BAlp8NQ
The only CRAZY I was was when I married him
The first thing I thought of when I read this line in the book was the song Crazy by Gnarls Barkley[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe500eIK1oA
I almost made a mistake, too," she declared vigorously. "I almost married a little kyke who'd been after me for years. I knew he was below me.
As a Jewish teen, this statement intrigued me because that has become a generic thing these days to make a "Jew joke" like if someone is being stingy or taking more than necessary.
With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change.
Of course the persona changes when the outfit changes. Has anyone seen mean girls? Lindsey Lohan's personality turned awful as soon as she started dressing like the popular girls.
the restoration of the old alignment gave a blurred air to her face.
This reminds me of a black mirror episode called Archangel where there was a filter that could be put on the child to blur out anything that could be harmful or appropriate like the conversations Catherine was going to have.
When I came back they had disappeared, so I sat down discreetly
I know what it feels like to third wheel like that, so I feel bad for Nick
only car visible was the dust-covered wreck of a Ford which crouched in a dim corner.
Like the cop car in cars 3! After his last race he was in a corner all covered in dust. He accepted defeat like Wilson should with Tom!
small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of the waste land
I wish my brother would say that to me because my brother said I won't know who is girlfriend is until they are standing at the altar. Even if the timing is wrong, I'd still like the opportunity.
when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene
This reminds me of the time I was in England, standing on a drawbridge, and I looked across the other side at the people's faces. I've never seen so many people look ticked off and impatient.
valley of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges
This part reminds me of the phoenix being reborn in Harry Potter. It maybe ugly, but in the end it's beautiful and turns out alright.
small block of yellow brick sitting on the edge of the waste land
This part reminds me of the time I was in a play "The Wizard of Oz" and it was one of my least favorite shows be cause the yellow brick road was just a black dusty stage, and I felt like it was a wasteland like Nick describes the area.