Topic #4: Text Connections

            In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates a novel in which many similarities may be observed, concerning subjects both in the story and in life itself. In the first page of the novel, while on a tangent concerning his ability to observe other’s secrets, the narrator says that he is “inclined to reserve all judgments” (Page 1). As one continues the story, he or she will realize how this statement comes to play a major part of the story’s development. Eventually, the narrator both reaffirms and negates this statement: when he meets Gatsby, he is not turned away by his otherness; when he uncovers details on an accident, he is absolutely furious, not bothering to further investigate, just looking for a convenient place to direct his rage. During the scene in which the narrator attends his first party at Gatsby’s house, he noticed that “one of these [single women] in trembling opal seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage and moving her hands like Frisco dances out alone on the canvas platform” (Page 41). Fitzgerald relates connects his novel to the world by alluding to Joe Frisco, a performer of Fitzgerald’s era famous for his jazz dances. This text connection, while having little meaning to today’s readers, likely created a profound imagery for the dancer, allowing the reader to have an idea of what her dance was actually like. By relating his novel to the world, and back to itself, Fitzgerald creates a sense of dimensionality, as if his story is not actually a story, but a history of a true human being.