New Critism (mae)

Gatsby itself didn't change much because the New Critical lens "has been a standard method of high school and college instruction in literary studies." (pg 135) I feel like the New Critical lens is something that everyone thinks about as they read the book, one of the reasons being because it was taught to us in school so it is something that is always in the back of our minds when we read new texts. I agree with the authorial intention saying that we shouldn't take in the authors history, but instead take in the authors words to analyze the written text. During analyzing Gatsby there were some parts that were stretched in order to fit the theory, and make connections. "Nicks youth was more real, more genuine, than the artifical atmosphere he assoiates wht his adult life" (pg 153) this part is saying that nick is unhappy with his adult life, with the phrase "new snow". I think that by seeing the text "new snow," it doesn't make sense that it could conclude to Nick being happier during his childhood rather than his adult years. Does every single line of the text have to mean something? Or can you make analysis about a text based on larger portions?