Ok, so the title was based on the last phrase Gatsby says on the first level in the little NES video game. (Hint!: while wearing a golden fedora, hold attack to make your hat fly farther!)
Now, Queer theory, which I shall refer to as "Queory" sniffs out a plethora of situations in The Great Gatsby. personally the one situation that caught me off guard was the Jordan and Nick's last conversation. Nick has been pointed out as possibly being attracted to other men, and Jordan has been described in more masculine terms than all the male characters combined (specifically "Jaunty"). And what really puts a nail in perfectly-heterosexual-novel-of-the-century-award's coffin, is in fact the "Bad driver conversation" which at first sounds a bit like a bonding conversation, turns out to be an alleged "coming out" for Nick and Jordan's Bisexuality. I was blown away at around midnight by this concept. Now, for Queory in general, I believe the topic does generally hold ground. I've read short stories and heard about and watched clips and films, that have had these homosexual signs, and now I actually have some phrases to point them out with.
On a side note however,
Gatsby choice of colors is a bit of a stretch for finding Qeory themes. Even though pink and lavender are generally effeminate colors, the whole concept of "Rainbow Flag" and the like happened 50 years after the book was publish.
AND Lois Tyson has many legit theories, but it's such a shame she's a man-hating monster with a troubled past, which she regularly drags into her book.
Question time, OK... Do you think Nick new the entire time that he was bisexual? or do you think he discovered this as the story went, tried to combat it with a fling with Jordan, and then found he couldn't hide it?
Kinda made that a binary question, but I've been trapped inside my house with very sick people for over four days, so I'm a little weird.
I agree with you (and Tyson) about how Jordan and Nick are "attracted" to each other because they are on the furthest end of the spectrum without being the opposite gender (i.e. Jordan is as masculine as possible without being a man, and Nick is as feminine as possible without being a woman). Like you said, I was blown away by the part in the car where Nick and Jordan are basically coming out to each other because at first, we don't see it. But once Tyson brings it to our attention, it makes complete sense. Jordan admits she likes dumb "men" so they are easy to fool, and she doesn't have to actually connect with them because she can't. I don't know the page numbers and remember the specific quote from the text, but Nick likes Jordan because of her masculinity, and how she isn't like other girls (translation: she's not like other girls because she is much more masculine than them). I think the color choices taps into feminist theory, because that ties in with the stereotypes that certain colors are feminine versus masculine, and when men where feminine colors, that makes them a woman or gay, and when women wear masculine colors, that makes them a man or a lesbian. Personally, I think Nick has known the entire time that he was bisexual. There is no actual textual evidence stating that Nick is bisexual from the beginning of the book, but his willingness to put off a relationship that never really seemed to spark because of his lack of interest leads us to believe that there is more to the story than just the distance that ruined the relationship.
ReplyDeleteJust going with what has been said I ready, I too found Tyson's reading of Gastby quite intriguing. I would not go so far as to say Tyson opened my eyes to entirely new aspects of the novel, for F Scott did a very nice job of making the homosexual undertones accessible to the audience even when not being critically read through queer theory lens; that being said Tyson still offered some valuable insight on the novel and aspects of it that lend themselves perfectly to a queer theory interpretation. Often times there would be a scene (such as the description of Jordan very early on in the novel) that will obviously have homosexual under tones that are seen by the reader but Tyson connects those scenes with others and applies terminology that makes discussion of the entire novel through a homosexual lens possible. Given the time I am impressed that F Scott would include some of what he did while writing the novel so some connections seem to be almost purposefully hard to make in an effort the keep the novel's queer side out of the spot light.
ReplyDeleteAs to answer the question about Nick and his bisexualism; I would say it seems as if Nick always knew he was different and had accepted the fact that he didnt have a long term and meaningful relationship, but had not gotten to the point where he realizes why women are not always right for him. Towards the beginning of the novel, Nick is living what is honestly a pretty dull life with the lack of a partner but seemed to be ok with the fact that he was by himself, it seems that as he began to reevaluate his long standing single status that he began to accept his bisexualism more and more.