And what does pleasure accomplish?’ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly-my mind still guiding me with wisdom. ‘I will test with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be meaningless. In that sense, the novel echoes the opening chapter of Ecclesiastes (an Old Testament philosophical treatise) on the condition of humankind: Myrtle’s death inspires very little pity, except perhaps from Nick, whilst Gatsby is murdered by Wilson, who then commits suicide.
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Within the novel, human life has little value. The ‘valley of ashes’, where the advertising hoarding is placed, is often seen as a metaphorical location, signifying the spiritual emptiness of society. While it is possible to see the death of Gatsby as retribution for his hedonism and ‘sins’, Tom and Daisy escape punishment and express neither guilt nor remorse. So there is little sense of a coherent moral universe. When Michaelis asks Wilson if he attends a church, intending to supply a source of comfort, Wilson replies, ‘Don’t belong to any.’ He draws on his obsession with an omniscient and judgemental presence in his and Myrtle’s life to justify a controlling and punitive attitude towards his wife. Everything is relative, according to which spectacles you wear.įurthermore, Wilson is shown to be an unbalanced loner, outside the boundaries of conventional religion. Yet the hoarding depicts someone who cannot see clearly! In this sense, an awareness of overarching ‘divine’ judgement is missing from the novel. Resources for studying The Great Gatsbyĭo not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.Feminist interpretations of The Great Gatsby.
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