Interesting Theory (Willie)

Lois Tyson's tendency to exhibit obsessive compulsive behavior in regards to facts and, fairly often, factoids, becomes extremely excessive and monotonous after, say, 20 pages. I'll just say "hyperbole" and leave that issue alone. With that said, her African-American critique of The Great Gatsby raises an idea that I never, throughout all of the time we spent reading and analyzing it, had come to think of; that is, the fact that blacks and black culture are all but entirely omitted from the text. In the context of her arguments, this reveals a layer of racism not inherently evident in the novel. However, returning to Tyson's disposition towards stretching facts and hypnotic methods of indoctrinating her readers, one must realize that her theses bring to the table a number of fallacies. In this essay, she constantly mentions that Fitzgerald was attempting to create an almost textbook description of the '20s in New York. What she fails to mention is that the primary locations in which the novel takes place, East and West Egg, are not technically real locations. On top of this, it is a novel and not a textbook. This, to a degree, undermines the idea of the theory in the first place, but I think that shows the weakness and fragility of race-, gender-, and sex-based criticism. That opens up a whole new can of worms, though...

Racist- Joseph Paul Carrara III

What if Fitzgerald is/was in fact a racists? As beautifully described by Lois Tyson, the man does a quality job describing the time period the way it was. All the while leaving out the fact that black people exist, or had any effect in his days. Not even the slightest notation of black culture in the novel truly does allow us to judge Mr. Fitzgerald. I agree with Lois in her remarks of Fitzgerald’s ability to weave the happenings of the day into his text in clever and discrete ways. For example on pg. 397 of CTT in the 3rd paragraph on the page, Tyson brings up the part in The Great Gatsby, when Tom brings “the bottle of whisky ’wrapped… in a towel (127; ch. 7)’” and tells how the line regards prohibition. This is the perfect example of Fitzgerald’s genius ability to throw in hints of major time changing events into his story. It would be far to easy for him to comment on black society if not hint at it in the slightest way. It’s not looking good for our acclaimed author. Tyson gets him again by blaming him for insinuating that white people created jazz as seen on pg. 405 of CTT "the novel gives the credit for jazz symbolically to whites." Since Lois Tyson says is true, and there is no way Fitzgerald did not know jazz was created through black culture, why would he insinuate it was created by white people? We have come to conclusion. One of the most famous writers of all time is clearly Racist.

Leave F. Scott alone ... (Josh)

After reading Tyson's 13 page criticism of the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald I was rather surprised by Tyson's ideas presented through out the essay. It is understandable to analyze the details in such a novel but Tyson truly takes it to the next level, grasping at straws so far removed from a logical argument that it was awkward to read the essay at times. Tyson tries to argue that Fitzgerald's thorough description of the time period which somehow manages to leave out the Harlem renaissance and the activity in the jazz clubs in Harlem during the time makes the novel a racist work. Sure Fitzgeral does describe the Great War, popular hair styles, entertainment icons, and the new found american love affair with automobiles, among other things but for the most part avoids mentioning most aspects of African American culture; I would agree that technically speaking the text is racist simply because of its lack of Black culture through out the piece, but that conclusion would be through a new-african american criticism lens as opposed to a lens that takes into account author intent. Fitzgerald tried to keep the novel short a sweet for reasons which we can only speculate, but that fact that the Great Gatsby is only 218 pages long certainly has contributed to its popularity and timelessness; if Fitzgerald had started to discuss a topic such as Harlem or other African American aspects the novel would surely have taken on a much longer length simply because of how complex the topics were. Fitzgerald wrote the Great Gatsby to give a view into a very specific time and very specific area of that time period, and he did an excellent job at describing the lives of the wealthy in the roaring 20s but in order to keep the novel on its intended course he had to leave out some aspects that might have forced a switch in focus at times.

A Stretch, Even for Tyson (Leslie)

I will give credit where credit is due: some characters within The Great Gatsby are racist, and Nick's racist statement about the African Americans, calling them, "two bucks and a girl".(Gatsby, 73). However, his response is even more offensive: "I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry." (Gatsby, 73). Despite the racist attitude of the characters, my agreement with Tyson stops there.

The part that annoyed me most was when Tyson said that the whites "stole" jazz from the African Americans. "Apparently, Fitzgerald decided not only to remove African Americans from his representation of the Jazz Age, but he also decided to remove jazz from the hands of the African Americans who invented it. For the novel gives the credit for jazz symbolically to whites. The only musicians we see playing jazz are the white musicians at Gatsby's party." (Tyson, 405). If Tyson considers it racist for whites to play jazz music, 'stealing' it from African Americans, then in Tyson's eyes, it must be racist for African Americans to play classical music, because that would be stealing it from Beethoven, or Mozart, right?

Something else that really bothered me was how she spent so long writing about the "sense of place", but only a few pages on actually why the text was racist. If she can only provide a few pages of why the text is actually racist, and some of those pages are examples of how Fitzgerald himself was a racist, that does not provide a strong argument for the text. Yes, Fitzgerald was a racist, but Tyson cannot prove that is the reason the Harlem Renaissance was excluded from the book. The author's intent is never truly known, therefore Tyson is just spit-balling; after rambling for a little while, she hopes that one of her arguments appears to be strong enough.

After reading Tyson's essays, I have said that all of them are stretching it to be plausible; however, I found that this one stretches it the most. Yes, some characters are racists, yes the Harlem Renaissance was omitted; that doesn't make the text racist and offensive to African Americans. I have a few questions after reading this: Do you think that having a racist author automatically makes the text racist? Is ignorance/omission considered racism? Do you think that the Harlem Renaissance had any effect on the text, but just wasn't included in the text?

Jazz was created by whites???

This reading was surprising to the say the least, especially in the conclusions she formed. For one, she (Tyson) says "the novel gives the credit for jazz symbolically to whites." (Tyson 405) I thought that this was slightly misleading, and I feel that she is saying only blacks can create jazz, and that statement is racist in and of itself. Another note I agree with slightly more is the absence of Harlem in The Great Gatsby, as noted on page 404 of CTT. It does seem peculiar that Harlem is not mentioned, but there are multiple ways into Manhattan, and may be justified. The lack of mention of the Jazz clubs is suspicious, however.

I don't feel that it changes my reading too much, but more raises my attention to this lack of scenery. The lack of Harlem in The Great Gatsby is far too suspicious to warrant ignore it and should be brought to light. The bit on the giving of jazz to whites was a bit far fetched, and could be omitted.

A question: Do you think the bit on the giving of jazz to whites was well concluded? Could it have been omitted? should it have been expanded on?

-Christian

Justine: The Jazz Age... Without Harlem

The Harlem Renaissance was a vital part of the 1920s. Considering that Fitzgerald coined the term "Jazz Age," it is a little ridiculous that Harlem was never mentioned in Gatsby. And yes, some of the characters are racist. However, all agreement with Tyson's essay stops there.

First, Tyson spends 5 pages discussing Fitzergerlad's "strong evocation of a sense of place" (396). However, apparently his evocation was not strong enough. Without Harlem, Fitzgerald forgot an essential part of 1920s New York City, therefore making the "sense of place" incomplete. But how incomplete? Just because Harlem was crucial during the same era in which the novel occurs does not mean that Harlem would have added to the storyline. Frankly, the omission does not seem as serious as Tyson describes it.

Second, Tyson's essay includes a 3 page description of Harlem itself. It is well known that "Harlem's nightclubs... offered such jazz greats as Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway [who all] attracted white people from all over the city and beyond" (402). The term "Harlem Renaissance" exists because it was a cultural movement that affected music and written works everywhere. This entire section could have been either edited or cut all together. The essay would not have suffered without it. We are learning about literary criticism, not the history of Harlem. We read these essays to learn how to use criticisms.

And third, Tyson yet again fails to follow through with her concept of "The Death of the Author." Let's face it: Fitzgerald was a racist. He believed the United States should "raise the bars of immigration... and permit only Scandinavians, Teutons, Anglo-Saxons and Celts to enter" (408). However, it is not possible to prove author intent from text alone, therefore this argument is unrelated to the essay.

We were told this essay was complex, and that Tyson knew what she was doing. Be that as it may, I cannot agree. In this essay, Tyson used textual evidence from Gatsby in conjunction to African American criticism on only 3 pages of this essay. Considering the essay is 13 pages long, that number is too few. Yes, she used textual examples to show the "sense of place," but that did not relate to using the criticism itself. This essay disappointed me. It did not give any new insights on the novel, or change my reading of Gatsby.