"He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to revcover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was...
...One autumn night, five years before, they had been walking down the street where the leaves were falling, and they came to a place where there were no trees and the sidewalk was white with moonlight. They stopped here and turned toward each other. Now it was a cool night with that mysterious excitment in it which comes at the two changes of the year. The quiet lights in the houses were humming out into the darkness and there was a stir and bustle among the stars. Out of the corner of his eye Gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalk really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees-he could climb to it, if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder.
His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete."
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
I read 'The Great Gatsby' for the first time a year and a half ago, and this passage stood out to me. Upon reading the novel a second time through, I had remembered that there was a certain page, some certain words, that captured my attention. I couldn't for the life of me remember what they were. When I got to this part of the novel, I once again remembered that this is what I was looking for, and why I loved it so much.
The way Daisy and Gatsby's first kiss happens is described as almost dreamlike; as though it didn't actually happen because of how magical it sounds. I'm sure everyone would like to remember their first kiss with someone as being like that. Of course, Jay Gatsby is delusional and probably added half these details in the five years upon which he was waiting to see Daisy Buchanan once again.
When Gatsby wants to climb the ladder to that secret place above the trees, he wants to rise in class, and be worthy for the girl he loves. In the future, Gatsby does indeed suck on the pap of life, and has gulped down the milk of wonder, when he has the money to live lavishly and impress that girl he once knew.
This passage makes me believe that Daisy and Gatsby are unutterably in love when it takes place. This passage, and this passage alone, makes me want them to end up together. This passage instills a feeling in me of wanting to be in love, and blossom for someone like a flower at the touch of their lips. To feel that mysterious excitement as we walk through the dark streets lit only by the homes of people we will never know. To be so infatuated with someone that all my senses are heightened while with them, so heightened that i can hear the "bustle of the stars", just like Gatsby can when he recalls to Nick about that seemingly beautiful night.
I wish I could believe that movie-moments such as this could indeed happen in real life, and maybe they do for some people. However, this did not even happen for Gatsby. His infatuation was not of Daisy, but of the idea of Daisy; the idea of wealth and class, of love spurred only by the idea of even more wealth.
We may all dream of our perfect kiss, being with the perfect person, but the chances are slim to none. I think of the way this passage makes me feel, and how I wish I could experience something as perfect as it sounds. I proceed to think of the people in this world; how we all have faults, just like Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Even if magical moments such as this do happen to some, one day they will realize that person is not who they once were. We all change. The flower that has blossomed beautifully must also die. We must climb down from the ladder that has led up above the trees. We must let go of the ideas of love and people, because it is those ideas that confuse us, that keep us from living in the present, and ultimately hold us back.
...One autumn night, five years before, they had been walking down the street where the leaves were falling, and they came to a place where there were no trees and the sidewalk was white with moonlight. They stopped here and turned toward each other. Now it was a cool night with that mysterious excitment in it which comes at the two changes of the year. The quiet lights in the houses were humming out into the darkness and there was a stir and bustle among the stars. Out of the corner of his eye Gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalk really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees-he could climb to it, if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder.
His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete."
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
I read 'The Great Gatsby' for the first time a year and a half ago, and this passage stood out to me. Upon reading the novel a second time through, I had remembered that there was a certain page, some certain words, that captured my attention. I couldn't for the life of me remember what they were. When I got to this part of the novel, I once again remembered that this is what I was looking for, and why I loved it so much.
The way Daisy and Gatsby's first kiss happens is described as almost dreamlike; as though it didn't actually happen because of how magical it sounds. I'm sure everyone would like to remember their first kiss with someone as being like that. Of course, Jay Gatsby is delusional and probably added half these details in the five years upon which he was waiting to see Daisy Buchanan once again.
When Gatsby wants to climb the ladder to that secret place above the trees, he wants to rise in class, and be worthy for the girl he loves. In the future, Gatsby does indeed suck on the pap of life, and has gulped down the milk of wonder, when he has the money to live lavishly and impress that girl he once knew.
This passage makes me believe that Daisy and Gatsby are unutterably in love when it takes place. This passage, and this passage alone, makes me want them to end up together. This passage instills a feeling in me of wanting to be in love, and blossom for someone like a flower at the touch of their lips. To feel that mysterious excitement as we walk through the dark streets lit only by the homes of people we will never know. To be so infatuated with someone that all my senses are heightened while with them, so heightened that i can hear the "bustle of the stars", just like Gatsby can when he recalls to Nick about that seemingly beautiful night.
I wish I could believe that movie-moments such as this could indeed happen in real life, and maybe they do for some people. However, this did not even happen for Gatsby. His infatuation was not of Daisy, but of the idea of Daisy; the idea of wealth and class, of love spurred only by the idea of even more wealth.
We may all dream of our perfect kiss, being with the perfect person, but the chances are slim to none. I think of the way this passage makes me feel, and how I wish I could experience something as perfect as it sounds. I proceed to think of the people in this world; how we all have faults, just like Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Even if magical moments such as this do happen to some, one day they will realize that person is not who they once were. We all change. The flower that has blossomed beautifully must also die. We must climb down from the ladder that has led up above the trees. We must let go of the ideas of love and people, because it is those ideas that confuse us, that keep us from living in the present, and ultimately hold us back.