First of all, is it weird that that song popped into my head first thing when I started this post? Honestly, I am not sure what to make for a thesis statement here. I am not sure how to even connect the works of Carroll with F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Then, that means that we need to start with the basics.
What do we know about Carroll's works as far as formal elements go?
What do we know about Gatsby as far as formal elements go?
There is very little I can point out as an overlying or common theme in either AIW, or Through the Looking Glass, unless you consider the random nature a theme. Random nature with no true goal? Random nature with no direction? Random nature that leads to waste? Random nature that can seem almost fake? (The last question is an idea from my sister Jenny.)
At first, I find several thoughts and more racing through my head, I do not know where to go. Where to start? What to say? Bringing two separate works together, almost at random, seems like a daunting task.So I take a breath.
I try to relax.
I am left with this general idea; Isn't so much of what happens in Gatsby seemingly random? We see random waste and fake aura/atmospheres around people. We see a lack of general direction, except for in the case of Jay Gatsby himself.
So, my working thesis involves the idea about random everything, and how Jay Gatsby is a little outside that... but not completely.
By the way, as an aside, I am suddenly thinking about a friend named Patty who just finished teaching some kids in her class about Gatsby. One of the kids said the book was written by Jay Fitzgerald. (Btw, Patty Rocks! (Inside joke... like literally inside. Like inside my microwave, refrigerator, and oven inside.))
Not familiar with Caroll's work, so can't comment there. I would have to disagree with Gatsby being very random. It may seem random in comparison to a standard work of fiction with a fairly linear start to finish progression. The "randomness" is because the book is depicting reality, it's not so much random as everyday life; characters acted like some real people would and events were things people did in life (in the 20s anyway). Even Jay Gatsby's death; a man thought Jay killed his wife, and in turn did something a regular person might do. Jay Gatsby himself wasn't really random; everything he did up till the end was fairly planned out by him.
ReplyDeleteThe idea was that a lot of the story seems random at least, the people seem random, but not Gatsby. Everything with him was calculated.
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