The True Tom Buchanan

According to Sarah Ballard’s “Polo Player Tommy Hitchcock Led a Life of Action from Beginning to End” article in Sports Illustrated, Tommy Hitchcock “was everything a Long Island blue blood was supposed to be.” He was a wealthy, educated man with the physical physique of an Olympian, due to his immense success in the sport of Polo.

These characteristics alone are very similar to that of Tom Buchanan of The Great Gatsby. That is no coincidence. As stated in the article, “a close and fascinated observer of Hitchcock and his milieu was F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Hitchcock is, in fact, the inspiration and influence of Buchanan.

Tommy Hitchcock, wearing the double-breasted coat, regarded as a real-life iteration of Tom Buchanan.

Like Buchanan, Hitchcock played Polo, but Buchanan would be no match for the skill and strength of Hitchcock. Hitchcock’s “near miraculous abilities and his relentless determination to win, he made every team he played with look good.” This extreme talent can be paralleled with Buchanan’s football abilities, but they in no way measure up. If Buchanan were the Nathan Adrian of swimming, Hitchcock would be Micheal Phelps.

But the setting in which Hitchcock played Polo was very similar to Buchanan. They both played mainly in Long Island with many different, wealthy Long Islanders. Hitchcock attended Harvard, whereas Buchanan went to Yale. Both are part of the Big Three (Harvard, Princeton and Yale), and in the 1920s, they all had very deep connections with each other in sports and academic competitions.

Both Tom Buchanan and Tommy Hitchcock came from wealthy families. They both played a sport in which they were very successful. They both competed in Polo. They were both athletically built, and resided in Long Island. It is quite clear that F. Scott Fitzgerald used Tommy Hitchcock as inspiration for the character Tom Buchanan in his famous novel, The Great Gatsby.

Is Jay Gatsby Batman?

While reading The Great Gatsby, I had this feeling through the book that Jay Gatsby’s character type felt familiar to me somehow. It all clicked when I found out that Jay Gatsby was doing this all to gain the favor of Daisy. This was a similar character model used for Bruce Wayne from BATMAN.

The Batman (or at the time The Bat-Man) was created in 1938, the decade after the book The Great Gatsby was written. This leaves room for the idea that Bruce Wayne’s tactic of avoiding suspicion could have been based off Jay Gatsby’s way of trying to gain Daisy’s favor: By coming across as a party hard, rich playboy who loves to throw a good party.

Now, there are some fantastic similarities between Bruce and Jay without the whole, fake front. Both of them have a fortune at their disposal, even if Jay’s is newer than Bruce’s, both of them have something they’re trying to hide, and both of them put on this fake front in order to not only help themselves towards a goal, but for the interest of others around them.

These are some pretty intense similarities, but the difference’s completely change the situation. Because Jay has young money, people are not going to take him as seriously because everyone is going to think he’s some young hot shot. He’s going to have to work harder to make a name and reputation for himself then Bruce will because he comes from a well known family. Another major difference is that Bruce is doing all of this to hide something, but Jay is doing it all to gain something. This is an interesting flip because they are both doing the exact same thing: hosting these large, over the top parties and interacting with people differently. But, they are expecting different end results from each other. The last, major difference is that Jay is doing all of this to gain the favor of a single woman, but Bruce does everything to protect him identity as Batman and the people he loves. I would touch base and how Bruce’s false front is much more layered and well developed, but it’s really unfair to compare 74 years of character development to a single book.

Now, back to the parties. In the beginning of The Great Gatsby, Nick describes to the reader all the stuff that goes around with Jay’s parties. He talks about the giant mounds of orange peels thrown away after a party from all the food and drinks, and he talks about all the Christmas lights in the yard, the band, the food, everything that makes a grand, over the top party. This same thing happens in several instances in the many incarnations of Batman. In the 1989 Batman film with Michael Keaton, Bruce is approached by Alfred because the wine at the party is dwindling down. Bruce tells him to go open “about a dozen” more cases. He then turns to Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox and double checks with them to make sure that’s enough wine to keep the party going after this gala has been in progress for some time. A single case of wine can contain either 6 or 12 bottles, depending on where you are and what you’re buying. Because it’s Bruce Wayne and he’s sparing no expense on the police gala, I’m betting it’s cases of 12. Also, because this is Bruce Wayne, it’s going to be nicer wine that what your average working man is going to go buy for himself, so I’m expecting this to be at little above a gift wine standard, so 40-50 bucks a bottle. If this is the case, those extra dozen cases he told him to get? That’s costing Bruce about $6,480 just in the second round of wine. In The Dark Knight Bruce throws a fund raiser for Harvey Dent, but arrives just past fashionably late in a helicopter with three girls on his arms.

You don’t just see this in their parties, but in the glimpses of their homes we are allowed as well. With Jay it’s the library full of real books, with Bruce (in the 1989 film) it’s the authentic suits of ancient armor from all around the world, or the fact that all the rooms in Wayne manor are fully furnished. To put that into perspective, there are about 16 bedrooms in Wayne Manor.

These men are sparing no expense to put out these false fronts in order to do something in their lives, and this makes you question what money really means to them. It comes across to me that, to these men, money is just a means to do something, it’s not as vital to life as people make it to be. To them it seems like “yeah, that extra six grand is worth it if it helps with x y and z.”

Information referenced and used from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Batman, a 1989 film directed by Tim Burton and The Dark Knight, a 2008 film directed by Christopher Nolan. The imaged used is of Christian Bale, the current actor portraying Bruce Wayne.

The Armor-bearer

“It was like wearing chain mail or armor, and it was brilliant for the scene, which required a calm gravitas from my character, a sense of social weight and grandeurs,” recalls Carey Mulligan who acts as Daisy Buchanan in the new film movie. This is the description of the dress at a party scene: it is “pale rose colored party dress, dripping with crystal and a Hugh crepe-de Chine bow and topped with a fox fur collar” at Daisy first time party at Gatsby’s house. According to the quote, it seems like the clothes that Daisy will wear are for her protection because Mulligan mentions “…wearing chain mil or armor….”

Leonado Dicaprio as Gatsby,Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan,Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, and Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan

The clothes are mostly designed by Miuccia Prada.

The description of the dress connects to the book. In the scene at Gatsby’s house and Daisy and Gatsby walk to Nick’s house and Daisy requests Nick to watch them “ in case there’s a fire or a flood,” she explained, “or any act of God” (F. Scott) It is very intriguing because from Vogue, it seems like Daisy has the clothes to protect herself, but from reading the book, it does not describe what she wears. This quote addresses that even though she wears a very protective dress like she going to the army (as hinted at by Carey Mulligan in the quote that begins this post), the dress still could not protect her. She still has to tell Nick to watch her and Gatsby just in case  something might happen. I also feel like she is protecting herself from falling in love with Gatsby because now she is weakened in love because Tom has a mistress. Maybe she protects herself from people surrounding her or her husband.

At the dancing scene in the film, she takes off the outer layers at the dancing film. It seems like maybe she does not protect herself from Gatsby and the surrounding people, but she protects herself from Tom.

After researching for another the picture, when Daisy is alone with Gatsby, probably on the way to Nick’s house. Her outer layer has disappeared. This makes me feel that she probably does not protect herself from Gatsby. This dress can lead to many questions regarding the scene from the book. Why does the dress have to be like security for Daisy? Why does Daisy needs to ask Nick to watch her and Gatsby? In my opinion, it seems like she is defending herself from Tom.

However, there are many answers to who, why and what Daisy tries to protect herself from. What do you think?

✧ It Depends On How You Look At It ✧

It really does. The Great Gatsby is set in a very rambunctious time, a time labeled as the “Roaring Twenties;” right after alcohol was deemed illegal. This was a time of rebellion, of wealth, and extravagance – for most people. In an article I found from Vanity Fair, Christopher Hitchens, the author of it, provides several new scopes on how to look at The Great Gatsby and what exactly it is all about – which is way different than what I thought.

Many people (including myself) think of The Great Gatsby as tale of the “American Dream” in the 20’s, which Hitchens does mention:

“…because it represents a declaration of independence by American writing”

“Fitzgerald found he’d taken on all the great American themes, from the original “dream” itself to the corresponding loss of innocence.”

Hitchens describes how Fitzgerald wrote this book from a “poor man’s” perspective, and that, “it’s important to remember that he was, at bottom, a patriotic young man from the Midwest…” The Great Gatsby was written by a man who lived with the desire of the American Dream, and maybe this story is just what he imagined it to be – not what it actually was. Fitzgerald got carried away with the them to such an extent that at one point he intended to title it “Under the Red, White, and Blue,” which his editor, Maxwell Perkins, later convinced him otherwise.

Hitchens then takes a turn for the surprising, and reveals a whole new perspective I had never even come close to thinking of. Like mentioned in the introduction of this post, The Great Gatsby is set in the “Roaring Twenties” when alcohol was illegal and ironically abundant in every ones’ lives. Hitchens:

“Every page, practically, bears the scent of gin and rum and whiskey: the characters marinate in illegal hooch and moonshine…”

When I first read this my internal voice shouted, “What!? That is extreme! That is ridiculous!” And then – I thought about it. Though it is not explicitly stated throughout the book that characters are drunk, or drinking in every seen, what Hitchens wrote is not crazy… it is believable. Fitzgerald describes the obnoxious amount of alcohol at Gatsby’s parties, Gatsby himself bootlegs it everywhere! Part of the American dream is having a beer at the end of the day! Hitchens supports this statement with the following:

“It’s in the course of a drunken and spiteful moment in the Plaza Hotel that Nick realizes something:

“I just remembered that today’s my birthday.”

Recall that Tom Buchanan is described in the opening pages as “one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savours of anticlimax.” They are not long, the days of wine and roses…”

Hitchens goes on with more support mentioning Daisy’s bad driving and whatnot. Like I said earlier, I do not think he is wrong. The Great Gatsby can be so many beautiful things for so many different people, but you do have to remember; it depends on how you look at it.

-Garnet

The Original Article “The Road to West Egg” ~ http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2000/05/hitchens200005

FIND GATSBY!

 

I love to play video games, and I am quite good at playing them. I’ve never found that a video game could be connected to what we learn in the English class. During the first English class, Joe introduced me the Great Gatsby video game.

The narrator in this game is Nick Carraway, which is the same as the book. The player needs to control Nick Carraway to avoid many obstacles such as waiters, people who would attack him as Nick tries to get to the end of the game. The goal in this game is to find Gatsby.

I was very interested in this game at first, so I played it many times. After I played it several times, I still could not get to the last mission of this game. When I saw the big “GAME OVER” appear on my screen, I just suddenly realized that that’s the end.

Nick Carraway did not find Gatsby in the game, and Nick Caraway did not seek his dream at the end of the story either. What surprised me is I really found this game helped me better understand this book. Jay Gatsby is symbolized as Nick Carraway’s American dream. Gatsby was poor in the past, but he became rich. Gatsby’s wealth and society status are what Nick aimed for at the beginning of the story.

After experiencing Gatsby’s death and seeing the conflicts between the rich, he gave up on achieving his dream and went back to his hometown.

I got the picture from the following website: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/02/15/play-the-great-gatsby-video-game/ If anyone wants to play the game, just go to this link: http://greatgatsbygame.com/

Can Art Mirror the Artist?

Jay Gatsby has a hard life.

He goes into the army, he drops out of Oxford, and the love of his life doesn’t love him back because of his money situation.

This sounds suspiciously like Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.

C.D. Merriman reports in his biographical text of Fitzgerald that he went to a different prestigious school, Princeton, he joined the army yet had no significant achievements, and the love of his life, Zelda,  wouldn’t marry him until he had enough money to provide adequately for her lavish lifestyle.

This picture is of Zelda, Fitzgerald, and their daughter Francis Scott.

(provided by Rex Features of The Observer)

Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald threw lavish parties and and had an excessive amount of alcohol even though he lived during the prohibition!

Other characters in the book as well mirror people in real life.

Killian Fox of the Observer in his article on the Great Gatsby in pictures tells that Fitzgerald actually told his publisher that Jordan Baker was created in the image of one of Fitzgerald’s great love  Ginevra King’s friend,  a golfer named Edith Cummings.

The other character Fox references is Meyer Wolfsheim, who is similiar to Arnold Rothstein, a jewish gangster who has ties to fixing the 1919 World Series.

Why would an artist write a story mirroring himself and other real people in a fictional novel?

http://www.online-literature.com/fitzgerald/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/jun/10/gatsby-facts-scott-fitzgerald-pictures

Clothes Make the Man (Or in This Case… the Woman)

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As I was writing this post, I wanted to find a quote that represented the importance of clothing, especially the importance of clothing in The Great Gatsby. I ended up coming across the perfect quote to explain the point I am trying to get across. Written by Mark Twain, it reads: “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Clothing shows many things about a person. In The Great Gatsby one character stood out to me when I compared her personality to her appearances. That character was Daisy Buchanan.

In The Great Gatsby we kept reading about how important it was to people to live like they were wealthy. At the time that I was reading the book I did not actually have a tangible photograph of Daisy to look at. What I did have was the photo that I had created of her in my mind. Fitzgerald did a great job portraying Daisy Buchanan as pure, innocent, and filled with light. Fitzgerald constantly connects Daisy with the color white, which was interesting to me because the color white also represents purity, innocence, and light. But near the end of the story, we find that Daisy is the opposite of what she had presented herself to be.

Clothing does exactly what it’s supposed to do; it clothes someone. In this context, though, I am not just talking about someone covering their body in fabrics but the ways in which people disguise themselves with clothing. For example, Daisy Buchanan is a wealthy woman with very nice clothing that, when first meeting her or getting to know her, would portray her as a sweet person. But what you see on the outside is not what really ends up being on the inside. Her perfect white clothing and sweet voice is only a disguise of her unfaithfulness towards Gatsby.

The photo below is of Gatsby and Daisy from The Great Gatsby  (1974) movie. Here, Daisy and Gatsby are both dressed in white. Behind them, there is also bright light; which I found somewhat ironic. The collage of clothing items are just possible examples of what you might find Daisy wearing.

Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford), Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow), and several of Daisy’s accoutrements

To relate Mark Twain’s quote to Daisy and her clothing I looked at this part in particular: “Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Daisy was wealthy and like many other characters in The Great Gatsby, different clothing was worn on different people that had different social statuses. For example, if we look at Wilson, he wore more worn clothing because of the money he made and the job he performed. Gatsby on the other hand, wore the complete opposite clothing. He dressed in beautiful silk shirts and suits- may I just remind everyone how Daisy fell in love with his shirts and the impact they had on her? Right there is a great example of how clothes change people’s points of view. The clothes you wore told your social status. Like the quote says, if you had no clothes you would not be taken seriously; hence, you would have no influence on society.

Is Gatsby really “Great?”

Throughout the text, Fitzgerald shows his negative viewpoint toward people, especially the rich, by employing plenty of imagery, diction. It is obvious, I think, that the author launches diatribes to the Buchanan family: Daisy’s strong obsession with prosperity and ostensibility and Tom’s morally corrupted lifestyle and deeds. However, I have wondered whether Fitzgerald actually wants to criticize Gatsby’s life as well. What I mean, is Fitzgerald criticizing both the old wealth, Daisy and Tom, and the new wealth, Jay Gatsby?

I am somewhat ambivalent about it because Fitzgerald poses both simultaneous sarcastic and sympathetic viewpoints toward Gatsby. In the course of the text Fitzgerald concentrates on describing Gatsby’s vast affluence that is from illicit ways. But later when Gatsby dies and his father visits his son’s house the father says, “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that. He told me I et like a hog once, and I beat him for it” (Fitzgerald). This seems like his father glorifies Gatsby’s life.

So, I researched the author’s motivation for writing the text and the ultimate message -what does he want to show through Gatsby’s story?- of it. I found an article that explains the era when The Great Gatsby was published. This gives me specific explanations about general setting of the text, which is a great source to understand the text comprehensively.

The article is called “F.Scott Fitzgerald and the Age of Excess” by Joshua Zeitz. In this article, the author explains that the 1920s in the America went through great improvements in terms of its economic conditions. Zeitz suggests that in the early 20th century, after the World War I, America had a great upsurge in its GNP, and many individuals in its society became rich and enjoyed their wealth. Everyday living conditions were enhanced a lot, and numerous and various factories grew. However Zeitz says that Americans’ materialism and prosperity also brought their moral corruption and huge polarization between the poor and the rich. Zeitz claims that Fitzgerald strongly berated this 1920s American society in the novel.

In that regard, I think Fitzgerald also wanted to criticize Gatsby’s life by alluding that he produced profits through illegitimate business. I believe Gatsby’s tragic death shows Gatsby is a guy merely gets into a snobbery society. Hence, I think the word “Great” does not virtually refer to Gatsby’s success, but it is merely verbal irony.

So, what do you guys think?

Love Is Blindness

“Love Is Blindness”

Covered by Jack White

(originally by U2)

One, two, three

Two, two, three

Love is blindness,

I don’t wanna see

Won’t you wrap the night

Around me

Oh, my heart

Love is blindness.

I’m in a parked car

On a crowded street,

And I see my love

Made complete.

The thread is ripping

The knot is slipping.

Love is blindness.

Love is clockworks,

And it’s cold steel

Fingers too numb to feel

Squeeze the handle

Blow out the candle

Blindness

Love is blindness

I don’t wanna see

Won’t you wrap the night

Around me

Oh my love

Blindness

A little death

Without mourning

No call

No Warning

Baby, a dangerous idea…

Almost makes…sense

Love is drowning

In a deep web

All the secrets

And no body else to tell

Take the money

Why don’t you honey

Blindness

Love is blindness,

I’m so sick of it,

I don’t wanna see

Why don’t you just take the night

And wrap it all around me, now

Oh my love

Blindness

Oh, I’m too numb to feel…

Blow out the candle.

Blindness.

This trailer song, “Love Is Blindness,” of the movie The Great Gatsby, is covered by Jack White and is originally by U2. Jack White’s voice just fits this song so well that it amazed me when I first heard it. This is a beautiful triple-time song with a little bit sadness and a little bit insaneness.

The lyrics also fits the movie well that it says love is blindness, which, to me, means people “love” not because they really love, but because of something else like money. It can be simply relate to The Great Gatsby that leaves Gatsby because he has no money, and then Daisy comes back because of his wealth, although she finally goes to Tom because she does not know whom she loves.

“Love is clockworks, / And it’s cold steel/ Fingers too numb to feel” (ii. 17- 19) means that people’s hearts become cold, hard, and numb that they finally forget how to love and what love is.

Also, there is a repetition of “Love is blind, / I don’t wanna see,” which means people just don’t want to see the truth, just like Gatsby. Though he knows Daisy comes back because of his money, he still does not want to see the truth; he still imagine Daisy is really in love with him. And the lyrics later, “Squeeze the handle/ Blow out the candle” shows the same thing.

“A little death/ Without mourning” (ii. 28-29) makes me think of Gatsby’s funeral, which is the most impressive part to me that makes me feel so upset and sad, and makes me sympathize with Gatsby; no really a friend comes to his funeral, though he holds parties in his house that makes him seems to have a lot of friends.

The melody and the lyrics that were perfectly made by U2, the insane guitar solo like squeal, and Jack White’s screaming singing always makes me think of the scenes in The Great Gatsby, and the song is like just made for this book. And in my opinion, this is the best cover ever! Jack White rocks!

What do you think about the song? And what is your opinion towards the meaning of the lyrics?

The lyrics are from this website:

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jackwhite/loveisblindness.html

GG old sport!

GG- an acronym for the phrase “good game”, commonly used in the gaming community and uttered by players to mark the end of a game.

The Great Gatsby, a classic American novel transformed into a 8-bit video game. Nick Carraway, using only his hat, must fight his way through butlers, dancers, drunk people and gunmen to Gatsby. Using the z key to throw his hat, space bar to jump, and arrow keys to move, the player leads nick on his quest to find Gatsby. The game replicates an old 80’s NES game, far less sophisticated that video games now, putting the player in an old fashioned setting making them feel years in the past.

The video game relates to the book by reenacting scenes and settings from the book. Each level is an important scene in the book.

Level 1: Gatsby’s party
Level 2: Valley of Ashes
Level 3: New York City
Level 4: West egg beach

A theme I found in the game is the fact that Nick Carraway is looking to find Gatsby. Almost as if he was chasing him. In the book, Nick is trying to figure Gatsby out and the game clearly shows that. An example of this would be the cut scene after level 1. Nick finally gets to Gatsby and then Gatsby magically disappeared after staring into the green light. The story of Gatsby slowly plays out through the game and the player then understands the basic interpretation of the book through the cut scenes and basic dialogue in the game. I personally would give the game a 6/10 being that it was so short and didn’t represent many characters beyond Carraway, Gatsby and Daisy. I believe it’s a nice game to play through if you’re looking for a fun way to experience events that occurred in The Great Gatsby.