The Great Gatsby: Living the Dream in the Valley of Ashes
Posted by admin in Finance Sunday, 2 October 2011 20:45 25 Comments
In which John discusses critical readings of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, including metaphors and symbols like the color yellow, the green light at the end of the dock, the eyes of Doctor TJ Eckleburg, the valley of ashes, and the American dream. I also write books. They are not as good as The Great Gatsby. My new one, The Fault in Our Stars, is available for preorder now: dft.ba All preorders will be autographed.
im just looking to convince my ex-girlfriend to trust me again… I don’t care if it is heroic or not
im just looking to convince my ex-girlfriend to trust me again… I don’t care if it is heroic or not
Gatsby is heroic. He may have seemed misguidedly destructive my willing the end of the Buchanan’s marriage, but not nearly destructive in the way that Nick labels Tom and Daisy in the final passage of the novel. Gatsby’s flaw was his single-minded assuredness that he could create something beautiful and love somebody perfectly, despite the harsh reality of the world. He does not have his way and then retreat into his comfortable wealth- he seeks to realize his dream. Nick may be one of very hon
Why did I not watch this before my GCSE?
great. Now I actually want to read the great gatsby. Which is saying something since I never wanted to read anything sad as I thought that I had witnessed enough sadness in my life already; reading a depressing book wouldn’t help any. *heads to library*
john, you should finish the book before i have to do my IOP for ib english (:
but anyways, gatsby’s quest wasn’t heroic. sure, he’s the tragic hero of the novel, but his quest was in no way heroic. HE ended up telling tom that she never loved him. he was willing to break up a marriage, nonetheless an unhappy one, for personal gain. although gatsby’s ambition was admirable, his motives and quest were unpure. i feel like it’s almost literary karma that daisy turned the lights out that one night.
also my thoughts on is gatsby heroic…. my understanding of the shakespearean definition of a tragic hero (its a tragedy so yes tragic hero) is that he must be the protaganist and he must have a tragic flaw … i think gatsby not only fits but is interesting because his flaw is also one thing that makes us sympathize with him:his undieing love for daisy
Okay so I read gatsby recenty for my AP english class and fell in love with it. one thing I’ve been thinking about is the significance of Owl Eyes. I’ve been told that there is none but the more I think about it the more I become convinced that Owl Eyes IS Ekelberg … he is the only other charecter with glasses, he has big eyes, he made a comment about thinking that the books at gatsbys house would be fake (as if maybe he knew gatsby was less than he appered)….am i overkinking it?
what are you doing with all the pieces of calendar from past days?
when I first read the Great Gatsby I was 12 and very confused, I think I might reread it now that I’m older.
OMG! I love that book! It’s one of my favorites
So glad you talked about it… brought me back to highschool!
Hey I linked my old (past tense old, she’s only 30ish) English lit teacher this video and she’s planning a revision lesson on it; so your wise words are going to educate around 25 16/17 year old British A-Level literature students. You might even get quoted in an exam. Jus’ sayin’.
Brilliant!
great video! Gatsby’s quest was not heroic. It’s not like he was an Argonaut; he merely aspired to stealing another bloke’s wife.
quality video. awesome.
where was this video when I was writing my Gatsby essay?? I seriously would have included you in it.
5:26 so many words beginning with w!
I want you all to know that I read this book for the very purpose of being able to watch this video. It was worth it, but I am going to need a bigger heads up next time we do a literary discussion video.
“And I think at least in the novel, that had become the American dream by the 1920s. The dream was to, you know, have a leisurely and debaucherous life where you have enough money to buy fancy new cars and enough whiskey to crash them.” I just love that quote so much, and I don’t know why.
more then 4 minutes NOO!!!
@vlogbrothers John I have a VERY IMPORTANT question… It depends on whether you get punished or not. In the video “Brotherhood 2.0: Peeps and Genocide at 4:28 Hank said and I quote “For now on videos must be less than four minutes”. End quote. Does that rule still apply?
Oh no. I’m most definitely the villan.
May I suggest The Stranger by Albert Camus as the next book to discuss?
Gatsby is a classic tragic hero …
1:54, you’re welcome.