WEBVTT 00:01.333 --> 00:04.003 WAI CHEE DIMOCK: Last time, we talked about the 00:04.000 --> 00:07.700 odd presence of race in The Great Gatsby. 00:07.700 --> 00:11.870 Even though there's no African-American character in 00:11.867 --> 00:15.697 iThe Great Gatsby/i, there's an undercurrent of allusions 00:15.700 --> 00:20.800 to race, especially in that seemingly gratuitous scene 00:20.800 --> 00:25.970 when Nick and Gatsby are going to town in Gatsby's car, and 00:25.967 --> 00:32.497 they see this other car with two black men and one black 00:32.500 --> 00:34.630 woman in a car driven by a white chauffeur. 00:34.633 --> 00:38.973 So that's a very odd, gratuitous reference. 00:38.967 --> 00:42.367 And I just want to pick up on that and push 00:42.367 --> 00:44.497 that a little further. 00:44.500 --> 00:49.830 Because there actually is a more important connection of 00:49.833 --> 00:51.933 African-American music, 00:51.933 --> 00:54.203 actually, being very important. 00:54.200 --> 00:59.100 And I would say that jazz started out as and is still 00:59.100 --> 01:01.570 very much African-American music. 01:01.567 --> 01:05.197 So Fitzgerald has written an essay-- this is after The 01:05.200 --> 01:05.630 Great Gatsby-- 01:05.633 --> 01:12.233 but 1931 essay called, "Echoes of the Jazz Age." And he says, 01:12.233 --> 01:17.003 "It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an 01:17.000 --> 01:21.170 age of excess, and it was an age of satire." 01:21.167 --> 01:24.967 So a lot of those terms, "miracles"-- 01:24.967 --> 01:27.297 you guys will probably know this-- 01:27.300 --> 01:34.630 there's a very strong religious language, language 01:34.633 --> 01:35.373 of Christianity-- 01:35.367 --> 01:36.597 "son of God"-- 01:36.600 --> 01:39.300 religious language in The Great Gatsby. 01:39.300 --> 01:44.170 And miracles would be within that domain of religious 01:44.167 --> 01:49.427 allusions, but obviously being remapped 01:49.433 --> 01:51.873 onto a secular context. 01:51.867 --> 01:54.997 But certainly Gatsby is someone who would believe in 01:55.000 --> 01:58.970 miracles, the miracle of turning time back and 01:58.967 --> 02:03.827 completely erasing a few years of Daisy's life. 02:03.833 --> 02:08.003 That's the miracle that he wants to achieve. 02:08.000 --> 02:12.770 So miracles, what Fitzgerald associates with the Jazz Age, 02:12.767 --> 02:15.667 very much is a very important term for The Great Gatsby. 02:15.667 --> 02:19.667 Excess, we know about, and age of art as well. 02:19.667 --> 02:22.367 And there's actually an allusion. 02:22.367 --> 02:26.767 When Nick goes to Gatsby's party, the music that was 02:26.767 --> 02:32.797 playing is actually the "Jazz History of the World." So lots 02:32.800 --> 02:38.500 of cross-references, basically a kind of a web, a musical web 02:38.500 --> 02:44.270 that's being woven into The Great Gatsby, with jazz being 02:44.267 --> 02:46.697 the genetic ground of that web. 02:50.700 --> 02:54.970 And jazz really was important to the 1920s, not just to 02:54.967 --> 02:59.697 Fitzgerald but to the entire decade, so I just want to 02:59.700 --> 03:01.970 bring up some other important figures. 03:01.967 --> 03:05.897 The piece called "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue," 03:05.900 --> 03:08.770 that's an especially resonant piece. 03:08.767 --> 03:12.597 It started out with Fats Waller singing it in "Ain't 03:12.600 --> 03:17.100 Misbehaving." And then it was picked up, both played on the 03:17.100 --> 03:19.970 trumpet but also sung by Louis Armstrong. 03:28.933 --> 03:40.373 And then there's an allusion to Louis Armstrong in Ralph 03:40.367 --> 03:42.827 Ellison's Invisible Man. 03:42.833 --> 03:49.473 And for some reason, that is not showing up here, so I must 03:49.467 --> 03:52.497 have erased that when I was getting ready for this. 03:52.500 --> 03:53.670 So I'll just read this to you. 03:53.667 --> 03:58.727 This is the opening of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. 03:58.733 --> 04:02.803 "Then somehow I came out of it, ascending hastily from 04:02.800 --> 04:06.270 this underground of sound to hear Louis Armstrong 04:06.267 --> 04:12.367 innocently asking, 'What did I do to be so black and blue?'" 04:12.367 --> 04:17.067 So it very much is something that started out in music and 04:17.067 --> 04:24.097 then crossed over into literature and basically was 04:24.100 --> 04:29.200 the underlying conceit for Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. 04:29.200 --> 04:33.800 I'll put this back on the PowerPoint when I post it to 04:33.800 --> 04:35.370 the website. 04:35.367 --> 04:37.467 Oh, it's right here. 04:37.467 --> 04:39.027 My computer is playing tricks on me. 04:39.033 --> 04:45.373 So this is the passage, and we can talk about music as 04:45.367 --> 04:50.527 furnishing a chromatic spectrum to 04:50.533 --> 04:52.203 a linguistic medium. 04:52.200 --> 04:57.700 We don't think of language necessarily as having colors, 04:57.700 --> 05:01.870 but language very much has colors in The Great Gatsby. 05:01.867 --> 05:04.797 It's very, very striking. 05:04.800 --> 05:08.400 Blue garden, yellow music, the blue honey of the 05:08.400 --> 05:14.400 Mediterranean, numerous instances of color being used 05:14.400 --> 05:21.100 in very abstract ways as operation, basic operation of 05:21.100 --> 05:24.730 the linguistic medium. 05:24.733 --> 05:31.773 So based on this, the cross-mapping of music onto 05:31.767 --> 05:39.397 language and the generation of color as well, it's very, very 05:39.400 --> 05:44.970 odd that sight and sound are being combined in this 05:44.967 --> 05:46.267 cross-mapping. 05:46.267 --> 05:50.567 So I want to bring this back to the word that we heard last 05:50.567 --> 05:54.827 time from Maxwell Perkins, his complaint, really, that The 05:54.833 --> 05:58.603 Great Gatsby is very vague, that not enough physical 05:58.600 --> 06:03.130 details, not enough info, really, about Gatsby. 06:03.133 --> 06:06.473 And last time we talked about it in terms of what I would 06:06.467 --> 06:09.227 call counter-realism. 06:09.233 --> 06:13.533 And today, I would like to talk about that, that 06:13.533 --> 06:16.533 sensation of vagueness. 06:16.533 --> 06:18.903 I would like to talk about that in terms of a 06:18.900 --> 06:22.000 cross-mapping of sight and sound, because this is not 06:22.000 --> 06:24.070 something that we do all the time. 06:24.067 --> 06:26.497 It's not common usage. 06:26.500 --> 06:30.070 It can create impression of vagueness, even though once we 06:30.067 --> 06:35.197 get used to it, it's just a wonderful strategy that 06:35.200 --> 06:37.500 Fitzgerald is using. 06:37.500 --> 06:42.630 So the three headings that I'd like to use for this 06:42.633 --> 06:45.273 cross-mapping is, first of all, 06:45.267 --> 06:47.497 auditory field with colors. 06:47.500 --> 06:51.270 We've already seen a little bit of that when Fitzgerald is 06:51.267 --> 06:57.397 seemingly talking about sound, but colors are operative in 06:57.400 --> 06:59.070 those descriptions. 06:59.067 --> 07:04.267 And then the obverse of that, the visual field with sound or 07:04.267 --> 07:05.727 with noise, lots of noise. 07:05.733 --> 07:12.233 The same, exactly symmetrical to that, but happening on the 07:12.233 --> 07:14.373 visual end. 07:14.367 --> 07:19.027 And then the third-- really, this is the central structure 07:19.033 --> 07:22.333 that I'd like to talk about today-- 07:22.333 --> 07:27.573 is this visual-auditory coupling as thematic coupling. 07:27.567 --> 07:32.197 So first of all, we see two characters in the same visual 07:32.200 --> 07:36.530 or the same auditory tableau, two people seemingly 07:36.533 --> 07:38.333 accidentally being paired together. 07:38.333 --> 07:39.333 We just see them together. 07:39.333 --> 07:43.003 That's the visual impact of that image. 07:43.000 --> 07:48.570 And it turns out that that visual logic, that visual mode 07:48.567 --> 07:53.697 of association actually has thematic implications. 07:53.700 --> 07:57.530 So the visual-auditory coupling turning into a 07:57.533 --> 08:00.673 thematic coupling, it's a very complicated structure, but I 08:00.667 --> 08:03.267 do think that this is something that Fitzgerald 08:03.267 --> 08:04.897 works very hard to create. 08:04.900 --> 08:12.400 And this is one of the just miraculous, I would say, 08:12.400 --> 08:15.230 architectural features of the novel. 08:15.233 --> 08:19.203 So first, let's just think about the 08:19.200 --> 08:21.830 auditory field with colors. 08:21.833 --> 08:26.273 And this is actually just still at Gatsby's party and 08:26.267 --> 08:30.767 Nick talking about what he hears there, but something 08:30.767 --> 08:31.697 else as well. 08:31.700 --> 08:35.570 "The lights grow brighter as the Earth lurches away from 08:35.567 --> 08:40.027 the Sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail 08:40.033 --> 08:46.033 music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher." 08:46.033 --> 08:48.633 So he's really hearing the music. 08:48.633 --> 08:52.173 This is the occasion when the "Jazz History of the World" is 08:52.167 --> 08:53.827 being played. 08:53.833 --> 08:57.533 But it seems that it's impossible to talk about 08:57.533 --> 09:02.033 qualities of sound without thinking of visual images. 09:02.033 --> 09:07.073 And not even visual images of the people who were there, 09:07.067 --> 09:09.667 although certainly there are plenty of descriptions of 09:09.667 --> 09:10.267 those people. 09:10.267 --> 09:15.367 But right now, it's a very, very cosmic 09:15.367 --> 09:18.267 vision of the world. 09:18.267 --> 09:21.967 "The Earth lurches away from the Sun." It's on that kind of 09:21.967 --> 09:27.797 cosmic scale, astronomical scale, that the yellow 09:27.800 --> 09:31.700 cocktail music is pitching into. 09:31.700 --> 09:35.970 So really the cosmic reference is coming out of nowhere, and 09:35.967 --> 09:38.297 that was very surprising. 09:38.300 --> 09:42.070 And I'm not sure what to say about it other than that it 09:42.067 --> 09:44.627 seems very deliberate on Fitzgerald's part. 09:44.633 --> 09:49.173 So once again, lots and lots of really interesting details 09:49.167 --> 09:55.167 and packed moments that invite us, basically, compel us, to 09:55.167 --> 09:57.597 give interpretation to. 09:57.600 --> 10:00.370 So this is one end of the spectrum, 10:00.367 --> 10:02.997 auditory field with colors. 10:03.000 --> 10:07.230 And so let's go to the other end of the spectrum, visual, 10:07.233 --> 10:10.003 optical field with noise. 10:10.000 --> 10:14.930 And this is, once again, very early, when Nick goes to the 10:14.933 --> 10:16.703 Buchanan household for the first time. 10:19.867 --> 10:20.867 Daisy is his cousin. 10:20.867 --> 10:22.997 He hasn't seen her for a while. 10:23.000 --> 10:28.400 The first image that he has of Daisy is actually not of Daisy 10:28.400 --> 10:34.170 alone, but she's on this couch with another young woman. 10:34.167 --> 10:38.727 "The only completely stationary object in the room 10:38.733 --> 10:43.903 was an enormous couch on which two young women were buoyed up 10:43.900 --> 10:49.270 as though upon an anchored balloon. 10:49.267 --> 10:52.467 They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling 10:52.467 --> 10:56.097 and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after 10:56.100 --> 10:59.600 a short flight around the house. 10:59.600 --> 11:02.730 I must have stood for a few moments listening to the whip 11:02.733 --> 11:05.873 and snap of the curtains and the groan of a 11:05.867 --> 11:08.167 picture on the wall. 11:08.167 --> 11:13.127 Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows 11:13.133 --> 11:17.173 and the caught wind died out about the room, and the 11:17.167 --> 11:21.227 curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned 11:21.233 --> 11:24.803 slowly to the floor." 11:24.800 --> 11:27.700 It's an amazing image. 11:27.700 --> 11:31.900 And it says a lot the about Buchanan household. 11:31.900 --> 11:34.100 It says a lot about Daisy. 11:34.100 --> 11:39.070 Basically, it's really a visual allegory 11:39.067 --> 11:41.067 for the entire novel. 11:41.067 --> 11:46.867 The entire novel of The Great Gatsby can be seen as Daisy 11:46.867 --> 11:51.567 ballooning up and taking flight, going back to that 11:51.567 --> 11:57.627 earlier romance with Gatsby. 11:57.633 --> 12:01.673 But really, it's just a very, very short trip, and she's 12:01.667 --> 12:05.367 going to be brought down to Earth by Tom. 12:05.367 --> 12:11.627 So it's really interesting that there should be this 12:11.633 --> 12:17.873 intensification of what might seem a very neutral or very 12:17.867 --> 12:21.627 casual visual image into something that carries 12:21.633 --> 12:23.673 tremendous thematic weight. 12:23.667 --> 12:27.597 This is basically the whole story of The Great Gatsby is 12:27.600 --> 12:32.470 being encapsulated in this one visual image. 12:32.467 --> 12:36.827 And what allows this visual image to have such tremendous 12:36.833 --> 12:39.403 thematic weight is actually an intrusion of 12:39.400 --> 12:44.100 sound into that image. 12:44.100 --> 12:47.270 If there had not been sound, it would not have been so 12:47.267 --> 12:48.897 pregnant with meaning. 12:48.900 --> 12:52.300 And the sound has to do with the whip 12:52.300 --> 12:54.900 and snap of the curtains. 12:54.900 --> 12:59.600 It's just remarkable words to use. 12:59.600 --> 13:04.530 Curtains, they don't make sounds like a whip, or they 13:04.533 --> 13:07.033 don't make snapping sounds. 13:07.033 --> 13:10.903 So clearly, this is the superimposition of something 13:10.900 --> 13:16.900 else much more brutal, much more violent images, being 13:16.900 --> 13:18.870 superimposed-- 13:18.867 --> 13:21.827 auditory images being superimposed upon the 13:21.833 --> 13:24.533 otherwise very benign and very harmless 13:24.533 --> 13:26.873 sound made by the curtain. 13:26.867 --> 13:33.227 So already, the whip and the snap already paving the 13:33.233 --> 13:36.133 auditory ground for the appearance for Tom Buchanan, 13:36.133 --> 13:39.333 so that when he finally appears towards the end of the 13:39.333 --> 13:41.973 passage, it's almost not surprising. 13:41.967 --> 13:45.097 Even though he doesn't show up until the last sentence of the 13:45.100 --> 13:48.800 passage, the snap and whip of the curtains 13:48.800 --> 13:51.570 already carry his signature. 13:51.567 --> 13:54.867 So it's real interesting that Tom Buchanan is a very 13:54.867 --> 13:56.097 physical man. 13:56.100 --> 13:59.270 We know him by his physical attributes, his body filling 13:59.267 --> 14:03.267 up every inch of his clothes, his riding boots, and so on, a 14:03.267 --> 14:04.527 very visual figure. 14:04.533 --> 14:07.803 But nonetheless, Fitzgerald is careful to give an auditory 14:07.800 --> 14:08.830 dimension to Tom. 14:08.833 --> 14:12.733 And then the final auditory act that he does is to bring 14:12.733 --> 14:14.333 down, shut the rear window. 14:14.333 --> 14:16.903 This is not the rear door, but it's the rear window, almost 14:16.900 --> 14:19.630 as though somebody is trying to get into his house by the 14:19.633 --> 14:22.403 back door or the back window. 14:22.400 --> 14:25.300 And Tom Buchanan is shutting that right then and there 14:25.300 --> 14:27.600 before any action has taken place. 14:27.600 --> 14:32.470 So this is a forecast of the rest of the novel. 14:32.467 --> 14:35.697 Basically, it's just a capsule summary of everything that we 14:35.700 --> 14:38.430 need to know about The Great Gatsby. 14:38.433 --> 14:43.103 So just to see how carefully crafted this is-- 14:43.100 --> 14:45.800 because this is already made, because this comes to us 14:45.800 --> 14:52.470 ready-made, we don't notice how much craftsmanship 14:52.467 --> 14:55.427 actually goes into that passage. 14:55.433 --> 14:59.703 So I just wanted to show you a visual image that is almost 14:59.700 --> 15:04.530 similar to this by a very famous painter, Manet. 15:04.533 --> 15:06.773 And this is a picture called 15:06.767 --> 15:09.427 Baudelaire's Mistress, Reclining. 15:09.433 --> 15:12.303 We also see the curtains in there. 15:12.300 --> 15:16.870 But we just know that those curtains are not going to make 15:16.867 --> 15:21.097 a noise like a whip, or they're not going to be making 15:21.100 --> 15:22.870 whipping or snapping sounds. 15:22.867 --> 15:25.497 So this is in contrast to Fitzgerald. 15:25.500 --> 15:27.930 This is a visual field without noise. 15:27.933 --> 15:30.303 It is completely visual. 15:30.300 --> 15:36.530 It doesn't carry the auditory signature and auditory menace 15:36.533 --> 15:41.503 that is encoded in Fitzgerald's very careful 15:41.500 --> 15:45.570 coupling of sight and sound in his description. 15:45.567 --> 15:52.797 So we also know that Daisy doesn't appear by herself, so 15:52.800 --> 15:56.870 it's very, very important that she and Jordan Baker-- 15:56.867 --> 16:01.197 that the first glimpse that we have is of the two of them on 16:01.200 --> 16:06.830 that enormous couch, and both occupants of a visual field 16:06.833 --> 16:09.033 that carries noise. 16:09.033 --> 16:12.933 So that is the first common thing between 16:12.933 --> 16:15.233 Jordan Baker and Daisy. 16:15.233 --> 16:20.303 Let's go on to see if that visual-auditory coupling-- 16:20.300 --> 16:22.830 what does that mean in thematic terms? 16:22.833 --> 16:27.533 How does that translate into features of the plot that 16:27.533 --> 16:31.033 maybe will also bring the two of them together? 16:31.033 --> 16:32.933 So I'm telling you what I'm-- 16:32.933 --> 16:35.633 I'm going to argue this, just the outline of the lecture, 16:35.633 --> 16:39.103 and then we'll do the same thing with 16:39.100 --> 16:41.100 Gatsby and Nick as well. 16:41.100 --> 16:46.600 But let's just move on to Jordan Baker. 16:46.600 --> 16:51.000 And last time, we talked about the importance of the car, of 16:51.000 --> 16:53.000 Gatsby's Rolls-Royce. 16:53.000 --> 16:57.070 And the car really is a key player in The Great Gatsby in 16:57.067 --> 16:58.897 all kinds of contexts. 16:58.900 --> 17:05.530 So it turns out that Jordan Baker, one very important 17:05.533 --> 17:08.503 aspect of her relation to Nick actually 17:08.500 --> 17:11.570 revolves around the car. 17:11.567 --> 17:15.927 "It was on that same house party that we had a curious 17:15.933 --> 17:19.103 conversation about driving a car. 17:19.100 --> 17:23.730 It started because she passed so close to some workmen that 17:23.733 --> 17:28.503 our fender flicked a button on one man's coat. 17:28.500 --> 17:31.130 'You're a rotten driver,' I protested. 17:31.133 --> 17:34.203 'Either you ought to be more careful, or you oughtn't to 17:34.200 --> 17:38.270 drive at all.' 'I am careful.' 'No, you're not.' 'Well, other 17:38.267 --> 17:39.967 people are,' she said lightly. 17:39.967 --> 17:42.897 'What's that got to do with it?' 'They'll keep out of my 17:42.900 --> 17:44.300 way,' she insisted. 17:44.300 --> 17:47.630 'It takes two to make an accident.'" 17:47.633 --> 17:53.673 So this says a lot about the relation between Nick and 17:53.667 --> 17:57.127 Jordan Baker and why it might come to nothing. 17:57.133 --> 18:01.233 So there are actually lots of little, local allegories of 18:01.233 --> 18:05.703 the entire plot all the way throughout The Great Gatsby. 18:05.700 --> 18:11.830 And the fact that she's a bad driver who's counting on other 18:11.833 --> 18:15.933 people being careful to prevent accidents from 18:15.933 --> 18:20.173 happening, that is not a good basis to get 18:20.167 --> 18:21.627 into a marriage with. 18:21.633 --> 18:25.103 And Nick seems to know that, so this is really one of the 18:25.100 --> 18:28.330 many signs that this is not going to come to anything. 18:28.333 --> 18:33.473 But what is also interesting, I think, about this particular 18:33.467 --> 18:38.497 image of Jordan Baker coming by way of her relation to the 18:38.500 --> 18:45.600 automobile is a notion of accountability that is perhaps 18:45.600 --> 18:48.670 not just limited to Jordan Baker herself. 18:48.667 --> 18:55.197 It is really an account, an explanation of why things go 18:55.200 --> 19:00.630 wrong and one's responsibility, one's input, 19:00.633 --> 19:05.603 one's contribution to the fact that something is going wrong. 19:05.600 --> 19:10.570 And for Jordan Baker, accountability is almost 19:10.567 --> 19:14.327 always written over to the other side. 19:14.333 --> 19:18.073 If there's an accident, it's because the other person isn't 19:18.067 --> 19:19.267 a good driver. 19:19.267 --> 19:23.227 That's why there's an accident, not taking into 19:23.233 --> 19:26.073 account at all the fact that she's also a bad driver. 19:26.067 --> 19:31.197 She's right that it takes two to make an accident, but the 19:31.200 --> 19:34.700 explanation that she's looking for is that it is another 19:34.700 --> 19:36.170 person's fault. 19:36.167 --> 19:40.467 And we'll see that there're other characters in the novel 19:40.467 --> 19:45.597 who share that understanding of accountability, kind of a 19:45.600 --> 19:50.300 straight attribution of fault to the other side. 19:50.300 --> 19:55.930 So let's see how Daisy relates to the car. 19:55.933 --> 19:59.533 And it turns out that she also has a very, extremely 19:59.533 --> 20:02.773 nontrivial relation to the car. 20:02.767 --> 20:06.897 This is while they're leaving that terrible scene in New 20:06.900 --> 20:10.700 York, when basically Gatsby is just falling apart. 20:10.700 --> 20:14.900 But Tom allows him to drive Daisy back. 20:14.900 --> 20:20.430 So Gatsby and Daisy are in the car, and this is Gatsby 20:20.433 --> 20:22.403 telling Nick what happened. 20:22.400 --> 20:25.800 "When we left New York, she was very nervous, and she 20:25.800 --> 20:28.930 thought it would steady her to drive. 20:28.933 --> 20:32.673 And this woman rushed out at us just as we were passing a 20:32.667 --> 20:35.267 car coming the other way. 20:35.267 --> 20:39.367 It all happened in a minute, but it seemed to me that she 20:39.367 --> 20:44.727 wanted to speak to us, thought we were somebody she knew. 20:44.733 --> 20:48.573 Well, first Daisy turned away from the woman toward the 20:48.567 --> 20:53.727 other car, and then she lost her nerve and turned back." 20:53.733 --> 20:59.433 So that's the death of Myrtle at the hand of Daisy. 20:59.433 --> 21:02.103 And it is not intentional. 21:02.100 --> 21:07.070 And I think that this says a lot about Daisy. 21:07.067 --> 21:13.067 Fitzgerald is not portraying a bad person, really. 21:13.067 --> 21:17.527 She is a bad driver because she's lost her nerve. 21:17.533 --> 21:20.803 And we really have to be pretty careful in our 21:20.800 --> 21:22.800 assignment of blame. 21:22.800 --> 21:26.400 I think that Jordan Baker has a very, almost too clear 21:26.400 --> 21:30.270 assignment of blame in putting it squarely on the other 21:30.267 --> 21:31.327 person's side. 21:31.333 --> 21:37.203 And Fitzgerald is actually quite careful about saying 21:37.200 --> 21:40.230 what kind of a woman Daisy is. 21:40.233 --> 21:44.803 She's just not a very brave person, and she's not a very 21:44.800 --> 21:46.070 feisty person. 21:46.067 --> 21:53.127 She doesn't have sturdiness of nerve, and she loses her nerve 21:53.133 --> 21:56.933 at a critical moment, both at this very critical moment but 21:56.933 --> 22:02.503 also in a kind of abstract way when Gatsby needed her to 22:02.500 --> 22:03.930 stand by him. 22:03.933 --> 22:06.503 She's really not there for him. 22:06.500 --> 22:10.970 So this is the kind of person she is, and it comes out most 22:10.967 --> 22:14.967 dramatically in her handling of the car. 22:14.967 --> 22:18.997 But it also comes out in the way that she handles other 22:19.000 --> 22:22.030 affairs of life as well. 22:22.033 --> 22:27.003 So in all those ways, we see the same logic that we saw 22:27.000 --> 22:31.470 last time-- that is, very important human attributes are 22:31.467 --> 22:37.127 rooted, are channeled through our relation to objects. 22:37.133 --> 22:40.873 Daisy's relation to the car says a lot about how she would 22:40.867 --> 22:46.797 behave in other strictly human contexts of interaction. 22:46.800 --> 22:51.400 So Jordan Baker and Daisy were joined together at the very 22:51.400 --> 22:55.000 beginning by virtue of that visual tableau. 22:55.000 --> 22:56.800 And it turns out that it actually is a very deep 22:56.800 --> 22:57.370 connection. 22:57.367 --> 23:00.227 They're both bad drivers, although for bad reasons. 23:00.233 --> 23:02.503 So we have to be careful as well. 23:02.500 --> 23:05.430 They're both bad drivers, but in the case of Jordan Baker, 23:05.433 --> 23:08.433 she's just much more cavalier about the whole thing, whereas 23:08.433 --> 23:12.333 Daisy is just incompetent and not very 23:12.333 --> 23:15.173 skilled and lacking nerve. 23:15.167 --> 23:20.597 So let's turn back now to another coupling. 23:20.600 --> 23:24.800 And you guys will notice that I'm not talking about Gatsby 23:24.800 --> 23:28.770 and Daisy, the most obvious couple in The Great Gatsby. 23:28.767 --> 23:33.897 But I want to talk about that couple in a roundabout fashion 23:33.900 --> 23:37.130 actually, by way of Nick and Gatsby. 23:37.133 --> 23:41.273 And I just want to go back to one very small point that we 23:41.267 --> 23:46.397 talked about much earlier, which is about the legacy of 23:46.400 --> 23:47.670 World War I. 23:47.667 --> 23:52.097 So we know that Nick and Gatsby have this in common. 23:52.100 --> 23:57.670 They both fought in World War I, and they both named the 23:57.667 --> 23:59.797 units that they were in. 23:59.800 --> 24:03.670 So Nick was in the Ninth Machine Gun Battalion, and 24:03.667 --> 24:06.367 Gatsby was in the Seventh Infantry. 24:06.367 --> 24:10.367 Very precise in naming the number of that unit. 24:10.367 --> 24:14.497 So already, we know that there's a prior connection 24:14.500 --> 24:16.470 between the two of them. 24:16.467 --> 24:19.727 And I would argue that they also have an ongoing 24:19.733 --> 24:24.603 connection as well, because they are both very, very 24:24.600 --> 24:29.630 sensitive to, responsive to, and captivated by a certain 24:29.633 --> 24:33.673 quality of sound that resides in Daisy's voice. 24:33.667 --> 24:38.797 So it's very, very odd that Nick, who has no romantic 24:38.800 --> 24:43.770 attachment to Daisy, should be captivated in almost exactly 24:43.767 --> 24:46.397 the same way that Gatsby is captivated. 24:46.400 --> 24:49.670 It doesn't actually take a romantic attachment for it to 24:49.667 --> 24:52.797 be completely within the powers of a 24:52.800 --> 24:54.300 certain quality of voice. 24:54.300 --> 24:57.970 So Nick talking about Daisy's voice. 24:57.967 --> 25:02.997 "It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down, 25:03.000 --> 25:06.630 as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will 25:06.633 --> 25:08.833 never be played again. 25:08.833 --> 25:12.433 Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, 25:12.433 --> 25:15.473 bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth. 25:15.467 --> 25:19.567 But there was an excitement in her voice that men who had 25:19.567 --> 25:23.297 cared for her found difficult to forget, a singing 25:23.300 --> 25:27.230 compulsion, a whispered, 'Listen.'" 25:27.233 --> 25:34.033 When we look at the visual description of Daisy, it's not 25:34.033 --> 25:35.233 very striking. 25:35.233 --> 25:38.773 Fitzgerald is using very, very generic words 25:38.767 --> 25:39.867 to talk about Daisy. 25:39.867 --> 25:43.427 Her face is "sad and lovely with bright things in it." 25:43.433 --> 25:48.973 Almost no actual description of the physical features on 25:48.967 --> 25:49.827 Daisy's face. 25:49.833 --> 25:54.503 So it actually is a very vague image of Daisy. 25:54.500 --> 25:57.400 We know that supposedly she's beautiful, but we don't 25:57.400 --> 26:00.300 actually know the exact features 26:00.300 --> 26:02.100 that render her beautiful. 26:02.100 --> 26:08.870 It is her voice that gives a very exact rendition of Daisy. 26:08.867 --> 26:12.067 It is a voice that nobody can forget, that nobody who cares 26:12.067 --> 26:14.327 about her can forget. 26:14.333 --> 26:18.933 And in this case, it is really the intimation of mortality. 26:18.933 --> 26:21.603 And I think that voice-- 26:21.600 --> 26:23.000 well, now we can capture-- 26:23.000 --> 26:29.730 obviously, sound recording makes that less of an 26:29.733 --> 26:31.033 intimation of mortality. 26:31.033 --> 26:35.233 But if it's just a voice that you hear for that one moment 26:35.233 --> 26:39.203 and you never hear it again, you do have the sense that 26:39.200 --> 26:43.570 it's just that one time, and it will never 26:43.567 --> 26:45.797 again be heard again. 26:45.800 --> 26:48.870 If you go to a concert that's not being recorded, then you 26:48.867 --> 26:50.427 just know that this is it. 26:50.433 --> 26:52.273 Once it's gone, it's gone. 26:52.267 --> 26:57.327 And so that partly accounts for the compulsion that comes 26:57.333 --> 27:04.333 from Daisy's voice, that it both is an intimation of her 27:04.333 --> 27:08.173 mortality, and it's an intimation of mortality on the 27:08.167 --> 27:11.067 part of the person who's listening to her. 27:11.067 --> 27:15.227 Let's look at one another description of Daisy's voice 27:15.233 --> 27:17.603 coming from Nick. 27:17.600 --> 27:20.670 This is something that we actually read before, but I 27:20.667 --> 27:22.597 just thought that I would read it again. 27:22.600 --> 27:25.930 "For a moment, the last sunshine fell with romantic 27:25.933 --> 27:28.873 affection upon her glowing face. 27:28.867 --> 27:32.967 Her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened. 27:32.967 --> 27:36.527 Then the glow faded, each light deserting her with 27:36.533 --> 27:40.073 lingering regret, like children leaving a pleasant 27:40.067 --> 27:42.027 street at dusk." 27:42.033 --> 27:45.303 And this is actually in the context of Nick-- 27:45.300 --> 27:48.900 this is the visit to the Buchanan household, and Nick 27:48.900 --> 27:51.230 is just about to find out about 27:51.233 --> 27:53.373 Tom's affair with Myrtle. 27:53.367 --> 28:00.667 So in some sense, the fading light is also a prelude, or 28:00.667 --> 28:05.797 perhaps even an allegory, of the rapidly fading light, even 28:05.800 --> 28:09.570 in the course of that evening, as the phone rings, all the 28:09.567 --> 28:13.027 light goes out of everyone's face. 28:13.033 --> 28:21.803 And so it's the quality of sound that registers dramatic 28:21.800 --> 28:24.870 development in that episode. 28:24.867 --> 28:30.897 So as I said, Nick really doesn't have a deep relation 28:30.900 --> 28:33.670 to Daisy, but he has a very deep 28:33.667 --> 28:36.497 relation to Daisy's voice. 28:36.500 --> 28:40.400 And Gatsby, who has a very deep relation to Daisy, also 28:40.400 --> 28:44.900 has a very deep relation to Daisy's voice as well. 28:44.900 --> 28:48.330 And this is the moment when he's meeting Daisy after all 28:48.333 --> 28:51.673 these years in Nick's house. 28:51.667 --> 28:55.127 And we'll read that passage a little later. 28:55.133 --> 29:00.673 But Nick conjectures that he's been keeping her in his heart 29:00.667 --> 29:03.297 for so long that this is actually not the 29:03.300 --> 29:05.000 big moment for him. 29:05.000 --> 29:09.000 This is actually the moment of the letdown, that here is this 29:09.000 --> 29:11.770 woman he's been waiting for all these years, doing 29:11.767 --> 29:14.297 everything, building up his whole life towards this 29:14.300 --> 29:18.070 moment, and it's a letdown. 29:18.067 --> 29:22.797 And so Nick is noticing that in Gatsby, and then something 29:22.800 --> 29:24.270 else happens. 29:24.267 --> 29:28.867 "As I watched him, he adjusted himself visibly. 29:28.867 --> 29:33.827 His hand took hold of hers, and as she said something low 29:33.833 --> 29:39.573 in his ear, he turned toward her with a rush of emotion. 29:39.567 --> 29:44.627 I think that voice held him most, with its fluctuating, 29:44.633 --> 29:49.433 feverish warmth, because it couldn't be over-dreamed. 29:49.433 --> 29:53.103 That voice was a deathless song." 29:53.100 --> 30:00.270 So everything else about Daisy actually could be, and is, 30:00.267 --> 30:04.967 over-dreamed, and Gatsby almost knows that, that he's 30:04.967 --> 30:09.627 projected much too much onto Daisy, that there's no way she 30:09.633 --> 30:13.433 can live up to all the projections of all those years 30:13.433 --> 30:16.233 that he's been involving her in. 30:19.000 --> 30:21.900 No human being--it's not just that Daisy can't live up to 30:21.900 --> 30:25.100 that kind of massive projection 30:25.100 --> 30:25.900 on the part of Gatsby. 30:25.900 --> 30:27.770 No human being can. 30:27.767 --> 30:33.697 But one thing about Daisy can stand up to that 30:33.700 --> 30:36.270 magnification, emotional magnification and 30:36.267 --> 30:42.527 amplification on the part of Gatsby, and that is her voice. 30:42.533 --> 30:46.633 Every time, any time he hears her voice, he's captivated by 30:46.633 --> 30:50.173 her over and over again, as if everything is really starting 30:50.167 --> 30:51.597 at that moment. 30:51.600 --> 30:55.530 So the voice for Daisy captures the possibility of 30:55.533 --> 30:56.973 fresh beginning. 30:56.967 --> 30:58.597 It seems to have come to an end. 30:58.600 --> 31:01.700 It seems to have arrived at the moment where Gatsby is 31:01.700 --> 31:04.100 finally disillusioned with Daisy. 31:04.100 --> 31:08.030 And then he hears that voice again, and it's almost as if 31:08.033 --> 31:09.033 there's a fresh start. 31:09.033 --> 31:11.803 And this is really what Fitzgerald talks about, about 31:11.800 --> 31:15.200 the new world and the "fresh, green breast of the new world" 31:15.200 --> 31:18.730 at the very end of The Great Gatsby is that some people 31:18.733 --> 31:25.103 actually have the capability for endless new beginnings. 31:25.100 --> 31:29.630 You think that they've come to the end of the road or that 31:29.633 --> 31:33.003 they come to the end of the dream, and all of a sudden, 31:33.000 --> 31:34.570 they're starting up all over again. 31:34.567 --> 31:38.467 And that's really what's impressive about Gatsby-- 31:38.467 --> 31:42.827 sad and pathetic about Gatsby as well, but also impressive-- 31:42.833 --> 31:45.103 is that he can always start again. 31:45.100 --> 31:50.170 That passion for Gatsby can always start afresh because of 31:50.167 --> 31:52.627 the quality of Daisy's sound. 31:52.633 --> 31:56.803 But Gatsby is not so captivated or so blindly in 31:56.800 --> 32:03.170 love that he doesn't know what is in that voice, what 32:03.167 --> 32:07.797 constitutes that voice, or what gives the voice its 32:07.800 --> 32:09.000 magical power. 32:09.000 --> 32:12.900 So this is actually a surprisingly cleared-eye 32:12.900 --> 32:16.970 evaluation of Daisy's voice from Gatsby. 32:16.967 --> 32:22.297 "'Her voice is full of money,' he said suddenly. 32:22.300 --> 32:23.370 That was it. 32:23.367 --> 32:25.767 I never understood before. 32:25.767 --> 32:27.267 It was full of money. 32:27.267 --> 32:31.197 That was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in 32:31.200 --> 32:35.100 it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. 32:35.100 --> 32:39.070 High in a white palace, the king's daughter, the golden 32:39.067 --> 32:40.197 girl." 32:40.200 --> 32:45.500 So usually people who are madly in love are not so great 32:45.500 --> 32:50.200 at analyzing the nature of the object that they love. 32:50.200 --> 32:54.000 But in a surprising move, Gatsby actually is very 32:54.000 --> 32:58.500 analytical here and completely right, that that really is the 32:58.500 --> 33:03.870 power of Daisy, that in some sense, she is the golden girl, 33:03.867 --> 33:06.967 in a very literal sense, that it is the gold that makes for 33:06.967 --> 33:10.767 that goldenness of Daisy. 33:10.767 --> 33:14.527 That's really what creates her, that gives her her 33:14.533 --> 33:20.633 initial magic over Gatsby when he was just a poor, young boy. 33:20.633 --> 33:25.533 And that's what makes for the continual magic of Daisy, 33:25.533 --> 33:32.673 that, yes, this is an age of miracle, as Fitzgerald says 33:32.667 --> 33:39.697 about jazz, but it is an age of miracle underwritten by the 33:39.700 --> 33:43.800 miracle-creating power of gold. 33:43.800 --> 33:48.070 This is really what the novel is about is this magic in this 33:48.067 --> 33:52.867 world, but it's coming from basically an inanimate, 33:52.867 --> 33:55.597 nonhuman source. 33:55.600 --> 34:00.500 And a human being can quite often be the creation of that 34:00.500 --> 34:04.470 miracle-working substance, gold. 34:04.467 --> 34:10.797 So, so far, we've seen the two of them being completely 34:10.800 --> 34:13.470 captivated by Daisy's voice. 34:13.467 --> 34:17.897 But Nick and Gatsby also have something else in common as 34:17.900 --> 34:23.470 well, in that even though sound is what keeps them going 34:23.467 --> 34:27.367 for a good part of the novel, actually, at some point, sound 34:27.367 --> 34:29.767 is also extinguished for them. 34:29.767 --> 34:33.367 So let's look at the mode by which sound is being 34:33.367 --> 34:35.767 extinguished for each of them. 34:35.767 --> 34:38.797 And not surprisingly, those come at the end of the novel, 34:38.800 --> 34:41.400 because when sound is extinguished, that's also a 34:41.400 --> 34:43.700 signal that the novel is coming to an end. 34:43.700 --> 34:50.200 So here is Nick actually watching Tom and Daisy after 34:50.200 --> 34:53.070 the accident when Tom and Daisy are back in the house. 34:53.067 --> 34:56.467 And Nick is outside, and so he's watching the two of them. 34:56.467 --> 34:59.567 And all he can see is this visual tableau of Tom and 34:59.567 --> 35:02.367 Daisy, but he can't hear what they are saying. 35:02.367 --> 35:05.597 And I think we can really actually get a more dramatic 35:05.600 --> 35:08.770 moment when you can only see but not hear. 35:08.767 --> 35:12.397 "Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite each other at the 35:12.400 --> 35:15.870 kitchen table, with a plate of cold fried chicken between 35:15.867 --> 35:18.397 them and two bottles of ale. 35:18.400 --> 35:23.600 He was talking intently across the table at her, and in his 35:23.600 --> 35:26.800 earnestness, his hand had fallen upon 35:26.800 --> 35:28.530 and covered her own. 35:28.533 --> 35:30.603 Once in a while, she looked up at him 35:30.600 --> 35:33.370 and nodded in agreement. 35:33.367 --> 35:36.397 They weren't happy, and neither of them had touched 35:36.400 --> 35:38.300 the chicken or the ale. 35:38.300 --> 35:42.000 And yet they weren't unhappy either. 35:42.000 --> 35:46.430 There was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the 35:46.433 --> 35:50.303 picture, and anybody would have said that they were 35:50.300 --> 35:51.270 conspiring together." 35:51.267 --> 35:56.027 So this actually is the "happy ending," in heavy quotation 35:56.033 --> 36:02.033 marks, for Daisy and Tom, the reconstitution of that 36:02.033 --> 36:07.003 marriage that had come under so much stress from both 36:07.000 --> 36:08.800 sides, Myrtle and Gatsby. 36:08.800 --> 36:13.070 And this is another way in which Myrtle and Gatsby are 36:13.067 --> 36:13.867 linked together. 36:13.867 --> 36:20.327 They're both people coming from a different social circle 36:20.333 --> 36:22.273 trying to destroy that marriage. 36:22.267 --> 36:24.767 They are not successful. 36:24.767 --> 36:26.797 The marriage survives. 36:26.800 --> 36:29.470 And this is the comedy, this is the happy 36:29.467 --> 36:31.927 ending for Tom and Daisy. 36:31.933 --> 36:34.733 And the nature of that comedy-- 36:34.733 --> 36:37.003 and obviously, I'm being very ironic here-- 36:37.000 --> 36:40.900 the nature of the comedy is that it's 36:40.900 --> 36:41.900 just the two of them. 36:41.900 --> 36:45.500 So really, the marriage is between the two of them. 36:45.500 --> 36:49.200 Even her cousin can only watch, but cannot actually 36:49.200 --> 36:52.630 hear what is being said between the two of them. 36:52.633 --> 36:59.373 So this is a happy moment for Tom and Daisy that for Nick 36:59.367 --> 37:05.297 has to be experienced as silence from the part of Daisy 37:05.300 --> 37:06.300 and from Tom. 37:06.300 --> 37:09.300 He's so used to hearing her voice. 37:09.300 --> 37:14.070 In this one instant, he's not hearing her voice at all, and 37:14.067 --> 37:15.497 that's because she's talking to Tom. 37:15.500 --> 37:17.130 She's not talking to Nick. 37:17.133 --> 37:22.833 So let's look at a comparable, symmetrical moment of sound 37:22.833 --> 37:26.773 being extinguished by Gatsby, and this is a truly 37:26.767 --> 37:28.027 unforgettable moment. 37:28.033 --> 37:33.533 And once again, all the objects that we've seen, all 37:33.533 --> 37:36.403 the objects that are imported in the first part of The Great 37:36.400 --> 37:40.100 Gatsby actually come back and play a very important part. 37:40.100 --> 37:45.700 So the extinguishing of sound for Gatsby towards the end of 37:45.700 --> 37:49.700 The Great Gatsby actually comes by way of the telephone, 37:49.700 --> 37:52.700 nothing coming through to him from the telephone. 37:52.700 --> 37:56.670 He was waiting, obviously, for a call from Daisy. 37:56.667 --> 38:01.367 "No telephone message arrived, but the butler went without 38:01.367 --> 38:05.967 his sleep and waited for it until 4 o'clock, until long 38:05.967 --> 38:10.467 after there was anyone to give it to if it came. 38:10.467 --> 38:13.227 I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn't believe it 38:13.233 --> 38:17.873 would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. 38:17.867 --> 38:22.267 If that was true, he must have felt that he had lost the old 38:22.267 --> 38:27.297 warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a 38:27.300 --> 38:28.830 single dream. 38:28.833 --> 38:33.273 He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through 38:33.267 --> 38:38.227 frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a 38:38.233 --> 38:43.173 grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight is upon 38:43.167 --> 38:46.867 the scarcely created grass." 38:46.867 --> 38:52.967 We see the very carefully planned transition from the 38:52.967 --> 38:55.527 silence of the telephone once again to a 38:55.533 --> 38:58.933 strictly visual tableau. 38:58.933 --> 39:04.703 So this is exactly symmetrical to the scene witnessed by 39:04.700 --> 39:11.430 Nick, the suspension, non-appearance of sound, and 39:11.433 --> 39:14.703 then the domination of the visual field. 39:14.700 --> 39:20.470 And now, finally, this is a visual field without sound. 39:20.467 --> 39:22.697 It hasn't been the case before. 39:22.700 --> 39:24.970 It's been a visual field with sound. 39:24.967 --> 39:28.167 Here is a moment when we get the visual field without 39:28.167 --> 39:31.567 sound, and all of a sudden, it's a grotesque field. 39:31.567 --> 39:34.267 We don't tend to think of the rose as a very grotesque 39:34.267 --> 39:37.527 thing, but when you're that up close to the rose, when you're 39:37.533 --> 39:41.003 seeing it in such minute features, the rose becomes a 39:41.000 --> 39:44.300 very grotesque thing, unbearable to look at, really. 39:44.300 --> 39:47.070 And that's really what the world is for 39:47.067 --> 39:48.767 Gatsby at that point. 39:48.767 --> 39:54.297 So right now, we've talked about the two of them, Nick 39:54.300 --> 39:58.100 and Gatsby, as if they were almost exactly alike. 39:58.100 --> 39:59.970 There's this very strong symmetry 39:59.967 --> 40:01.327 between the two of them. 40:01.333 --> 40:05.073 But obviously, this is really not exactly our experience of 40:05.067 --> 40:08.667 those two characters, either, as we read The Great Gatsby. 40:08.667 --> 40:12.797 The two of them are not so exactly alike that they are 40:12.800 --> 40:14.600 interchangeable. 40:14.600 --> 40:21.770 So I want now to start another train of thought that actually 40:21.767 --> 40:26.397 points to a difference between Nick and Gatsby. 40:26.400 --> 40:32.030 Nick and Gatsby have a very important common ground up to 40:32.033 --> 40:36.773 a certain point, and then they diverge after that point. 40:36.767 --> 40:40.327 So let's trace the divergence between them. 40:40.333 --> 40:45.273 It turns out that sound is extinguished for Nick in two 40:45.267 --> 40:46.597 dramatic scenes. 40:46.600 --> 40:49.900 Not hearing Daisy talking to Tom, that's one moment. 40:49.900 --> 40:53.230 But there's another one, not as dramatic, but equally 40:53.233 --> 40:56.033 consequential for him. 40:56.033 --> 41:00.103 And actually, it also comes by way of a phone conversation. 41:00.100 --> 41:04.330 So at least there's that symmetry between him and 41:04.333 --> 41:05.503 Gatsby as well. 41:05.500 --> 41:08.300 But here's Nick talking to Jordan Baker. 41:12.500 --> 41:14.230 This is after the accident. 41:14.233 --> 41:17.203 "'Suppose I don't go to Southampton and come into town 41:17.200 --> 41:20.330 this afternoon?' 'No, I don't think this afternoon.' 'Very 41:20.333 --> 41:23.173 well.' 'It's impossible this afternoon. 41:23.167 --> 41:29.767 Various--' We talked like that for a while, and then abruptly 41:29.767 --> 41:32.197 we weren't talking any longer. 41:32.200 --> 41:36.400 I don't know which of us hung up with a sharp click, but I 41:36.400 --> 41:39.130 know I didn't care." 41:39.133 --> 41:45.503 So here too is a phone conversation that simply turns 41:45.500 --> 41:51.670 into a non-conversation, and then silence descending on the 41:51.667 --> 41:52.867 two of them. 41:52.867 --> 41:57.027 So it seems this scene obviously is very, very close 41:57.033 --> 42:01.503 to the silence of the telephone for Gatsby. 42:01.500 --> 42:04.730 But there is a crucial difference. 42:04.733 --> 42:09.103 Nick had conjectured earlier that Gatsby didn't care if the 42:09.100 --> 42:12.770 phone call came or not, but that's obviously not true. 42:12.767 --> 42:13.927 How could he not care? 42:13.933 --> 42:14.803 He was devastated. 42:14.800 --> 42:20.000 It was devastating that there was no phone call from Daisy. 42:20.000 --> 42:27.570 But this is a moment when Nick truly doesn't really care. 42:27.567 --> 42:29.967 And he doesn't care because of who he is. 42:29.967 --> 42:35.267 So now we've come to a very important parting of the ways 42:35.267 --> 42:37.967 between Nick and Gatsby. 42:37.967 --> 42:41.197 Gatsby is someone who actually cares so much that it's almost 42:41.200 --> 42:44.970 as if there's no reason for him to live after that moment, 42:44.967 --> 42:47.727 and so it's fitting that he should die right then and 42:47.733 --> 42:52.633 there, the plot almost reflecting his psychology. 42:52.633 --> 42:57.003 But Nick is someone who doesn't care and who survives 42:57.000 --> 42:59.770 in some sense because he doesn't care. 42:59.767 --> 43:04.267 So here's a moment to go back to, something that Fitzgerald 43:04.267 --> 43:07.497 and Hemingway actually have in common. 43:07.500 --> 43:11.030 We talked a lot about the logic of substitution in 43:11.033 --> 43:14.803 Hemingway, and especially the picador's horse being the 43:14.800 --> 43:18.830 substitute for the picador when a bull is charging. 43:18.833 --> 43:20.203 So there's a very important logic of 43:20.200 --> 43:22.770 substitution in Hemingway. 43:22.767 --> 43:27.127 And it turns out that there's also a logic of substitution 43:27.133 --> 43:32.473 in The Great Gatsby as well, if only because the word 43:32.467 --> 43:38.227 "substitute" is actually used by Fitzgerald, once again in a 43:38.233 --> 43:40.603 seemingly gratuitous context. 43:40.600 --> 43:44.470 But this is the family history of Nick Carraway. 43:44.467 --> 43:49.397 "The actual founder of my line was my grandfather's brother, 43:49.400 --> 43:56.100 who came here in '51, sent a substitute to the Civil War, 43:56.100 --> 44:00.830 and started the wholesale hardware business that my 44:00.833 --> 44:03.203 father carries on today." 44:03.200 --> 44:08.130 This entire passage, when we first read it, seems to have 44:08.133 --> 44:11.173 nothing to do with the rest of the novel. 44:11.167 --> 44:16.627 Why would we care whether or not back one generation-- 44:16.633 --> 44:22.233 and not even his grandfather, but his uncle, grand-uncle-- 44:22.233 --> 44:22.833 sent a substitute? 44:22.833 --> 44:23.773 He didn't fight. 44:23.767 --> 44:25.897 So this actually has a lot in common with 44:25.900 --> 44:26.630 the Hemingway story. 44:26.633 --> 44:29.233 This is someone who doesn't fight his own battle. 44:29.233 --> 44:33.003 He sends a substitute to fight for him and to suffer for him 44:33.000 --> 44:35.130 in the Civil War. 44:35.133 --> 44:39.503 And then as a consequence of surviving because of not 44:39.500 --> 44:42.430 having died in the Civil War, being able to found a very 44:42.433 --> 44:44.873 successful hardware business. 44:44.867 --> 44:49.097 So all these details about Nick's family history, at the 44:49.100 --> 44:54.200 moment when it appears, very early, the opening pages of 44:54.200 --> 44:58.170 The Great Gatsby, seems simply just to stand there and to be 44:58.167 --> 44:59.097 doing nothing. 44:59.100 --> 45:07.230 And it's only in hindsight that we can impute a meaning. 45:07.233 --> 45:11.673 We can retrospectively impute a meaning to that original 45:11.667 --> 45:14.367 seemingly gratuitous detail. 45:14.367 --> 45:19.597 And it really has to do with the vital difference between 45:19.600 --> 45:21.400 Gatsby and Nick. 45:21.400 --> 45:26.130 And here is this moment when-- just before Gatsby is 45:26.133 --> 45:28.403 captivated by Daisy's voice again-- 45:28.400 --> 45:35.400 this is the moment of this illusion but also re-illusion 45:35.400 --> 45:38.730 that Nick is noticing in Gatsby. 45:38.733 --> 45:42.603 "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy 45:42.600 --> 45:47.070 stumbled short of his dreams, not through her own fault, but 45:47.067 --> 45:51.727 because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. 45:51.733 --> 45:54.333 It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. 45:54.333 --> 45:59.303 He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, 45:59.300 --> 46:03.030 adding to it all the time, decking it out with every 46:03.033 --> 46:06.273 bright feather that drifted his way. 46:06.267 --> 46:11.167 No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can 46:11.167 --> 46:14.597 store up in his ghostly heart." 46:14.600 --> 46:20.270 So this is really why Gatsby is what he is, is that he has 46:20.267 --> 46:26.527 this enormous storage capacity in his ghostly heart. 46:26.533 --> 46:30.833 And Daisy will be stored there forever. 46:30.833 --> 46:34.103 It almost doesn't matter who she is, what she really 46:34.100 --> 46:35.270 turns out to be. 46:35.267 --> 46:40.767 And when he finally realized what she is, it 46:40.767 --> 46:41.697 almost doesn't matter. 46:41.700 --> 46:47.100 It has no relation to reality at all, because it is strictly 46:47.100 --> 46:50.800 a dream about Daisy that Gatsby has stored up in his 46:50.800 --> 46:51.870 own heart and mind. 46:51.867 --> 46:56.227 So the colossal vitality of illusion, and that is what's 46:56.233 --> 47:00.433 deathless about Daisy in Gatsby's own mind and what 47:00.433 --> 47:04.633 enables Gatsby to be deathless to some extent as well, in 47:04.633 --> 47:08.173 spite of his physical, biological death. 47:08.167 --> 47:10.227 With Nick, it's the other way around. 47:10.233 --> 47:15.673 So I just wanted to read you why he doesn't care and why it 47:15.667 --> 47:19.027 turns out that his family business is 47:19.033 --> 47:20.373 the hardware business. 47:20.367 --> 47:23.767 It is someone who can never be hurt by anything 47:23.767 --> 47:25.827 that happens to him. 47:25.833 --> 47:30.573 "Jordan Baker was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to 47:30.567 --> 47:33.297 endure being at a disadvantage, and given this 47:33.300 --> 47:36.130 unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in 47:36.133 --> 47:40.033 subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that 47:40.033 --> 47:44.873 cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the 47:44.867 --> 47:48.997 demands of her hard, jaunty body." 47:49.000 --> 47:56.000 We have seen Gatsby be very analytical about Daisy, that 47:56.000 --> 48:01.730 her voice is "full of money." And here is Nick performing a 48:01.733 --> 48:07.473 comparable analytic operation on Jordan Baker, that she's 48:07.467 --> 48:10.597 just incurably dishonest, she can't bear to lose. 48:10.600 --> 48:13.330 She will do anything she can to win. 48:13.333 --> 48:16.333 He's right about Jordan Baker. 48:16.333 --> 48:19.803 That's why the marriage is not going to take place. 48:19.800 --> 48:22.600 But more than that, it's not even that she's not such a 48:22.600 --> 48:24.600 great marriage companion. 48:24.600 --> 48:31.800 It is that Nick really doesn't even care enough to be hurt by 48:31.800 --> 48:33.800 that realization. 48:33.800 --> 48:39.170 He is insulated by the emotional hardware that has 48:39.167 --> 48:44.627 been his family's business for these two generations. 48:44.633 --> 48:48.633 And so that's why the family history is so important to 48:48.633 --> 48:53.373 Nick and why he really needs a substitute, because he is 48:53.367 --> 49:00.297 simply incapable of feeling the ecstasy that Gatsby is 49:00.300 --> 49:01.770 capable of feeling. 49:01.767 --> 49:06.467 Nor is he capable of feeling the devastation that Gatsby is 49:06.467 --> 49:07.297 capable of feeling. 49:07.300 --> 49:09.100 Those two go hand in hand. 49:09.100 --> 49:12.170 You get ecstasy, you get devastation. 49:12.167 --> 49:15.227 Nick is not capable of either. 49:15.233 --> 49:19.573 And that's why he's such good friends with Gatsby and why 49:19.567 --> 49:22.067 he's always standing by Gatsby, because he really 49:22.067 --> 49:28.967 needs that indirect experience of what it feels to be in 49:28.967 --> 49:32.297 Gatsby's mind and to have that ghostly heart with its 49:32.300 --> 49:35.470 miraculous storage capacity. 49:35.467 --> 49:40.927 So anyway, this is Fitzgerald's way of 49:40.933 --> 49:44.103 encouraging us to think about different constellations, 49:44.100 --> 49:46.300 different configurations, different constellations of 49:46.300 --> 49:47.700 characters. 49:47.700 --> 49:52.270 And Nick and Gatsby are not the most obvious couple, but 49:52.267 --> 49:54.867 it turns out that actually the whole story of The Great 49:54.867 --> 49:59.527 Gatsby can be told by looking at this nontraditional couple. 49:59.533 --> 50:02.303 And I would encourage you in section to think of other 50:02.300 --> 50:04.230 nontraditional couples as well. 50:04.233 --> 50:07.033 And we'll turn to Faulkner next week.