Re: The Great Gatsby

[robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

Ah.  So, the anti-hero concept started early, but begs the question of
why the anti-hero is so identifying and compelling by audiences.  Maybe we
all long for an alpha-male, despite all the pitfalls of patriarchy.

 > From: Noelle <noelle>
 > Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2022 15:14:33 -0700 (PDT)
 >
 > work addressn novel discussion on electoral-vote.com. I wish this 
 > interpretation was more widely known.
 > 
 > "M.B. in Pittsburgh, PA, writes: Ultimately, The Great Gatsby 
 > presents America's most uncomfortable and unassailable truths: that 
 > God is money, that we are all adherents to the religion of 
 > capitalism via the American Dream, and that it's simultaneously 
 > beautiful and pathetic...
 > A classroom aide in my 9th grade class once asked to borrow a copy 
 > and was disappointed after reading it because she didn't understand 
 > why Gatsby was so enamored with Daisy, considering how terrible a 
 > person she is. But you don't even have to open the book to see that 
 > it isn't a love story, even though many teach it as one....the book 
 > is clearly an indictment of this social class, which in every way 
 > has defined America, from slaveholders to the Roosevelts, Kennedys 
 > and Bushes.
 > 
 > And yet Fitzgerald manages to get the reader to admire Gatsby, much 
 > like we strangely admire Tony Soprano and Walter White. Gatz 
 > transformed into Gatsby just like Drumpf transformed into Trump.
 > 
 > The novel lacks diversity and is told from the perspective of 
 > privilege. But I devote almost a month to the book and spend a fair 
 > bit of time outside of the text, discussing concepts like distorting 
 > the American Dream, wealth inequality, old money's condescension to 
 > new money, the "lost generation," and sexist character archetypes. 
 > It engages students in a way that other work addressn novels fail 
 > to do anymore. ...Money trumps religion in this country, even if it 
 > takes money using a bowling pin to bludgeon its enemy to death. We 
 > get the leaders we deserve, and Gatsby gets to the roots of it.