For this week's post I have decided to choose the three quotes and use them to reflect on the story, The Great Gatsby. I will also compare them to Fitzgerald's life based on my opinion of their meaning. The first quote I am going to analyze is the following:
“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”
This quote applies to Fitzgerald's life in particular because as a writer he was probable referring to himself. When writing a book it takes a lot from the writer. Patience and wisdom. And that continuous struggle for greatness. This situation is similar to swimming and holding your breath. Your trying to get somewhere and trying vigorously to be patient to do it. So that when your book is finished or when your done playing in the water you can look back and know that holding your breath and the nights of agony were all worth it.
“My idea is always to reach my generation. The wise writer...writes for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward.” This quote is Fitzgerald analyzing his own writing techniques. When I read this quote I thought back to the "Great Gatsby" and recalled how the story was set up around the 1920s, the time Fitzgerald grew up in. The novel discussed things that were happening all around him. The remarkable Jazz Age, the tragedy of World War I,levels of prosperity during the 1920s, and the high need for alcohol. Fitzgerald said that his idea is always to reach his generation and he did that outstandingly in "The Great Gatsby."
"That was always my experience—a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton…I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works." This quote immediately turns my attention to "The Great Gatsby." The whole book's point of view was based upon a man who wasn't the richest guy in the world surrounded by some of the richest. Fitzgerald uses his personal life to set the storyline and background information for the main character in his greatest work, "The Great Gatsby."
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I thought you did a great job by explaining each quote. For example the quote saying, "All good writing is like swimming under water and holding your breath." I found this very true. Some people see writing as an easy thing but in reality it takes hard work and thinking to get out what your thinking in words. Great Job !!!
ReplyDeleteYou state, "When writing a book it takes a lot from the writer. Patience and wisdom. And that continuous struggle for greatness." How do you know this? Have you experienced this kind of a struggle, or did you detect this struggle in Fitzgerald's novel?
ReplyDeleteYou also wrote: "Fitzgerald said that his idea is always to reach his generation and he did that outstandingly in The Great Gatsby." How do you know this? What indication do you see in his novel that he was successful in this attempt? Just because a piece of writing was written about a particular era, does it automatically speak to a generation?
I think you might have written more deeply about one of these quotes rather than writing generally about all three.
Your analyzation of the quotes was very nice. I especially liked the second quote analysis. You gave good examples of how Fitzgerald accomplished his goal in The Great Gatsby. However, I think it would have been nice for you to expand on your responce to this quote, but it was good.
ReplyDelete