Gatsby-bluest Eye Notes

Gatsby/Bluest Eye Notes Gatsby

Bluest Eye

Societal Expectations -Classy Wealth: Use wealth to do classy things -Old Money: Born into money -Showiness -Pervasion: Wealth must pervade every aspect of your life -Conformity

Societal Expectations -Be White, or be subordinate

Characters -Gatsby: Society changed him; literally bought into society’s expectations -Daisy: Born into society, but not 100% into it like Tom -Tom: Absolutist, conviction without thought -Jordan: Typical Perception -Tom – All reality -Jordan – All Appearance -All friendships based on appearance (no mourners at Gatsby’s Funeral)

Characters -Geraldine: Ashamed by her race, believes she is better and acts “white” -Maureen: Corrupted by purity, corrupts the girls Perception/Reality: -Perceived inequality -In truth, equal

Ryan Thomas American Lit. Honors 6/10/08 Out of the Blue In the proverbial eleventh hour of junior year, after steadily trudging through studies of literary eras and wading through the pages of occasional novels, students were very likely shocked out of their stupor by their final assignments. Two books, both classics and both moving and completely open, were thrust upon them, almost simultaneously. If either were the type of novel to be savored and digested, this would have been a pity – but not so. Both were so disquieting that any prolonged exposure to them would be more detrimental than enriching. With such books, meaning is best gathered by finding not simply the truths within each, but the truths that they share, that are universal, though shown through different lenses. But that is not the only benefit of reading them so quickly and so closely together. The Great Gatsby and The Bluest Eye are logical choices to be read together because they are, though both unique, very similar in structure. Both speak to readers with similar messages, and share similar aspects – their main similarity lies in the issues they examine. Both uniquely approach expectations of their own societies, both do this through showing the impacts of these expectations on characters, and both deal with the differences between perceptions of these characters and the realities of their lives and natures. However, this is where the similarities between the novels end; though they share formulas for examining societies, they are diverse in every conceivable detail of their observations and conclusions. Take for instance society’s expectations in each novel. In The Bluest Eye, the community expects one of two things: be white, or bow down. This unwritten standard so pervades the lives of the characters that even the children understand it. Pecola thinks that beauty, as the world sees it, comes from having blue eyes; Claudia realizes from her disappointing Christmas gifts that only white children are adored, that only white children should be idolized. In Gatsby, social standards are not based on color, but on wealth – those who are not wealthy, and born so, are treated as inferiors. Many differences exist between these two sets of unofficial regulations. The racist decrees made clear in The Bluest Eye are vicious and derogatory; they exist for the enjoyment of people who have little else to thrive on but a spiteful feeling of superiority. In Gatsby, however, the line between commoners and masters is nowhere near as severe. Tom exemplifies his and his class’s basis of supremacy in a rant fueled by liquor and racist literature: half-baked convictions that result in strong-willed principles, principles with no discernable purpose other than preserving the traditional roles of lords and serfs, haves and have-nots. And this misconstrued notion of tradition explains the “old-money” characters’ limited observance of any social taboos such as the segregation and defamation seen in The Bluest Eye. Rather than overt cruelty towards and repression of the “second-class citizens” of their community, the old-money families merely harbor a foggy, yet firm, sense that they, who have as a rule done nothing of any significance in their lives, are better than those who have toiled for their wealth and privilege. This does

not stop them, though, from partying at mansions in West Egg such as Gatsby’s, or having friends in both eggs; this is nothing like the total isolation and hatred of the “upper class” in The Bluest Eye One similarity may be seen in the consequences of each book’s social customs: those who try to escape these caste systems bring only pain upon themselves and others. However, the type and degree of this pain is vastly different between the two worlds. Pecola’s desperate and impossible need for her blue eyes destroys her sanity, while the less desperate and more sinister social climbing of Geraldine results in her alienating her husband and twisting her son into a disturbed sadist. Cholly’s victimization at the hands of the white hunters destroys the only truly happy experience he has ever had, and leads to demons he cannot understand or control; coupled with his wife’s own pain and his inability to ultimately love her, this causes his tragic attempt to “love” his daughter. And Claudia, perhaps the most “normal” in society’s eyes of them all, still grows up “changing without improving” in her inability to respect or care for white people, as throughout her childhood she resents the pervasion of blue-eyed, white-skinned symbols of perfection in her life, rather than any black role models and dolls; the affections of adults are always for the “precious”, “adorable” white children, and the inference that the lack of these affections means she is the opposite infuriates her. The anguish and anger of characters in The Bluest Eye runs deep and harsh, a far cry from the “pain” felt by characters in Gatsby.