Importance of Vision and Blindness in The Great Gatsby - Book Report/Review Example

Discuss the importance of vision and blindness in The Great Gatsby Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s opus, “The Great Gatsby” is celebrated as one of the greatest literary classics of all time. It has become influential to other writers and has fascinated us with its discourse on such issues as the American society, materialism, the Jazz Age, among others. In a way, it was Fitzgerald’s commentary of the 1920s – an era where in staid conservatism and values of the previous decade were turned left behind as money, opulence, and exuberance became the order of the day – along with his conflicting feelings about the period. This paper will particularly discuss the importance of the concepts of vision and blindness in the novel. Vision The Great Gatsby presents a complex vision of the interrelation between impulses, and its final meaning resides in an understanding of the nature of that relationship. This brings us to the fact that in the novel, women are portrayed as the object of such impulses and therefore, a key to understanding such thesis. According to Judith Fetterly (1978), the American literature in regard to the romantic nostalgia set store on the sense of wonder, which is intimately and expectedly paired with a sense of loss and that women are usually used as counters to these emotions. (p. 75) Fitzgerald’s vision of lost America is widely regarded as the same with Gatsby’s vision of Daisy. In the male mind, which is collectively those of Gatsby, Carraway and Fitzgerald’s, the impulse to wonder is instinctively associated with the image of woman, and the ensuing gambits of the romantic imagination are played out in female metaphors. What this means for us is that in the novel, Gatsby is the incarnation of the American visionary and his story is the chronicle of the quintessential “American dream” with Daisy herself as America, like the old island that flowered once for the Dutch sailor eyes - the freshest green breast of the new world. (Fitzgerald p. 140) She was the conscious and subconscious focus of Gatsby’s visions and actions. The “green light” in the novel further provided insight in this regard. At the end of Chapter I, Nick Carraway, lingered on the lawn for sometime, under the stars, and became aware that Gatsby was there, too: I decided to call on him… But I didn’t… for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone – he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, as far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute far away. (p. 20) Gatsby, himself, would elaborate on the green light as he spoke to Daisy: “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.”… Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near… It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on the dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one. (p. 73) And finally, its symbolism was revealed in this part: Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (p. 141) The “green light” represented Gatsby’s vision – his longing for Daisy, but not only this. Gatsby spent his life longing for something better – money, success, acceptance, and Daisy. And no matter how much he has he never feels complete. And just like the green light of the past, of his Daisy, everything seemed so elusive, yet he kept on. Nick Carraway brightened on this tragedy noting that Gatsby “had an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.” (p. 6) Blindness The city – New York City- by which The Great Gatsby was set was pivotal in the elaboration of the concept of blindness in the whole narrative. Its role is anchored on the fact that it marked as the last link in a historical process from feudalism to modernism. Here, Enlightenment natural rights replaced feudal birthrights, only to be subsumed by the privileges of wealth. This city became a backdrop of a world that unfolded with blindness toward violence and the grotesque as well as the blindness that plagued each of the characters and situations. Fitzgerald has particularly underscored the blindness of the rich – a blindness that masks the real beauty of life which lies not in gold, diamonds or money, but in the natural beauty of the world. We have the words of Fitzgerald’s other memorable character Kismine to drive home this point: “I never noticed the stars before. I always thought of them as great big diamonds that belonged to someone. Now they frighten me.” (Fitzgerald 2005, p. 245) While one could glean from the story itself how Fitzgerald loathed the rich for being rich, one could find truth in his arguments. For instance, there is a paradox in wealth: Wealth gives one power and privilege but it blunts sensitivities and moral awareness and erodes goodness. Unfortunately, this is what blinded most of the characters in The Great Gatsby. This particular theme will characterise Fitzgerald’s other opus. For example, we have the unfeeling cruelty and casual attitude of the rich to less affluent beings illustrated in Fitzgerald’s Diamond as Big as the Ritz (2005) - about one Braddock Washington’s treatment of those who visit his retreat, whether they are invited or not. He thinks nothing of having them imprisoned, like the aviators, or killed. What is worse is that his daughters are aware of these actions and at the least thought nothing of it as if such was a most casual or natural thing in the world. Later on, Washington proceeded on doing a deal with God: Then a conviction commenced to dawn on the single listener, and as realisation crept over him a spray of quick blood rushed through his arteries. Braddock Washington was offering a bribe to God! That was it – there was no doubt. The diamond in the arms of his slaves was some advance sample, a promise of more to follow. (Fitzgeral, p. 237) In The Great Gatsby, the blindness that is Fitzgerald’s own critique of the American values in the 1920s is represented by Wolfshiem’s exploitations, Daisy’s duplicity, Tom’s treachery, Jordan’s dishonesty, Myrtle’s vulgarity, and the shallowness of an American populace – whose moral fiber declined with each passing year because of materialism and self-interest. Gatsby, on the other hand, has his own blindness although unlike those of his corrupt world. Gatsby has this capacity to dream and to devote himself to the woman who embodies that dream. His blindness is underlined here as he devoted himself to a woman that does not deserve his devotion. The difference, however, is that while the blindness that characterised all the other players in the narrative encouraged erosion of values and character, Gatsby’s gave himself that innocence that was maintained up to the end. Instead of eroded moral fiber, depleted sensitivity to others, the protagonist’s blindness gave him “the energy of the spirit’s resistance” and “immunity to the final contamination” of “cheapness and vulgarity” (Fitzgerald 1991, p. 13) In the end, he died, surviving everything – whole in character and uncorrupted by corruption. Conclusion All in all, the Great Gatsby embodies a criticism of the American experience – not of manners but of a basic historic attitude to life. As it explores the withering of the American dream it necessarily touched on the role of vision in the perspective of Gatsby - one who had compulsive optimism as well as his goodness and faith in life, his compelling desire to realise all the possibilities of existence. Gatsby was the one who dreamed the American dream and was not afraid to do so. His demise, hence, was Fitzgerald suggestion that the very vision and ideals that represented were also experiencing its death. In the same way, Fitzgerald’s critique on the American dream and the American values also explored the blindness theme that characterised most of the players in the novel. It was a sharp contrast to the almost mythological, all aspiration and goodness of the protagonist. What we have with the concepts of vision and blindness are two opposing poles – Gatsby and what he represents in the American society and in American values for the former while those who surround him, for the latter. This does not mean, however, that Gatsby and his vision or even the American dream is an absolute positive value of pristine origin without any taint. Gatsby has also been involved in some corruption and have benefited from his close relationship with the cruel and blinded wealthy. Finally, short of saying that blindness may also become a virtue, we have the case of Gatsby whose utter blindness to Daisy’s faults protected him from being co-opted by the corrupt society that he belonged to. References Fetterley, J. (1978). The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction. Indiana University Press. Fitzgerald, F.S. (1991). The Great Gatsby. Cambridge University Press. Fitzgerald, F. S. (2005). Big The Great Gatsby and A Diamond As as the Ritz. Collector’s Library. Read More