East and West (Julian)

Tyson's deconstructive reading of "The Great Gatsby" provides a rare opportunity to completely oppose the very foundation's that has made it one of the greatest American novels. This is not to say that it "disproves" or somehow "de-emotionalizes" the book, but Tyson says it, "can help us understand the ideological limitations of that [emotional] investment." (Tyson 278) Her points regarding George Wilson were particularly solid. Her clever use of quotations and text revealed that although Wilson is the one "innocent" character, he "has almost no personality at all," (Tyson 274) and is often viewed in a negative light. On the other hand, I was left fairly unconvinced with her points regarding East versus West. For example, she points out that while the novel often focuses on "a structure that opposes East and West," this is undermined in part because "Chicago and Detroit are in the Midwest." (Tyson 275). While she proves that there is a sense of ambiguity, I feel that even from a factual/logical standpoint the West can still be seen as the "countryside." Even today (after much industrialization and modernization has occured) the vast majority of the west is either undeveloped or farmland, leaving little room for the occasional urban sprawls. While Chicago and Detroit are part of the moral decay so prevalent in the novel, they were but a small percentage of the land that was otherwise free. In conclusion, I feel that many of Tyson's points are valid and can at least let us question the novel's limitations, however some of the novels points regarding East vs. West can be seen as legitimate, even from a cold factual perspective.