「2019-12-02」阅读笔记No.1

Dec. No.1 Reading Notes for 「The Great Gatsby」

Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction - Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the "creative temperament." - it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No - Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.

The first half of the first chapter of the book talks about some stream-of-consciousness accounts of the author, a man from a prominent family. He describes himself as someone who is of an ability to get told the secrets of others, for people think him a reliable one to confide in their truth that can be revealed to no one else. Still, despite him being growing up in a somehow wealthy family, he chooses to study bond in the east, going there without a wholly satisfactory consent from the family. He found a place to live at West Egg, an“eyesore”, as he describes, compared to the mansion that Gatsby owns. Due to his poor place being close to the colossal affair of Gatsby, he acquires the chance to witness some otherwise-impossible vistas to enjoy. Furthermore, he visits one old high-school friend of his, who the same possesses a gorgeous mansion as Gatsby does. The first half of the chapter ends here.