Due: Wednesday, April 29, 2009Read Chapter 4
Look closely at the last paragraph of the chapter and then look carefully at the cover of the book. In what way does the cover art by Francis Cugat, which was commissioned for the first edition of The Great Gatsby, reflect or amplify themes from the novel?
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Throughout the novel I have noticed how the narrator, Nick, describes the scenery of a setting with loads of detail and beautiful language. In the last paragraph of chapter three, I saw a resemblance of how Nick was describing Jordan Baker with the cryptic photo on the cover of the book. The eyes of the character on the cover, who appears to be female, has slightly gray eyes and there is a dribble of sweat above her lip that looks like mossy-colored sweat. The color behind and along the eyes and lips on the cover is rather smokey and gray, almost like ash. While below there is an explosion of lights and outlines of buildings.
ReplyDelete- Dahvin
I agree with what Dahvin is saying but I also believe that this can also be very symbolic of the fact that some one is looking out among the things that are happening and yet at the same time the bright lights and the scenery behind the image show what is happening, i believe this shows a person who is looking on and also living at the same time. Never the less, i agree mostly to what Dahvin said about the detail and the lady.
ReplyDeleteDevon
When I was reading this paragraph, I tried to get an image in my head of what she should look like and I imagined a ghost like figure. When I looked at the front cover art, that was very close to my vision of the "disembodied face" that "floated along the dark cornices..." The features and mannerisms of a lot of characters in the book have ghost like features. The faint description of Wilson and the fact that Fitzgerald said that Mrs.Wilson walked through Wilson as if he were a ghost. The picture on the front of the novel reflects on the ghostly characters in The Great Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteOn the cover the green tear stands out to me. With the whole green light theme, and Gatsby reching across to Daisy's dock it could give possibility to think the woman on the front is Daisy. Or like Devon was sort of saying it could not represent a specific person. It could be an ideal person that is looking in on the story...or someone who is in the story but in a way not really there. The big blue eyes could represent the ones in the billboard which lead me to believe that the cover art person is no one in particular. And that those eyes in the billboard out in the streets with lights shining upon it...kind of looks into the different aspects of the story and the depths of characters.
ReplyDeleteI think the cover illustration visualize the exterior and interior world in The Great Gatsby. The background is very bright and luminous, which could symbolize all the parties, glamour, and liveliness of the world. I agree with Devon that this image is very symbolic. The facial figure, maybe male or female, seems to be looking at this bright scene because the eyes reflect the bright yellow lights. The shape of the yellowness in the eyes somewhat matches the background picture. I think the green tears and the melancholy eyes is looking at his/her seemingly perfect life, but is not finding happiness or satisfaction from it.
ReplyDeleteLooking over the responses thus far, I see lots of admirable grappling with the image and its possible meanings. Becca's response also does more, and you should consider modeling your responses on it. She addresses not just the image, but she also discusses the text and its possible connections to the image. THE TEXT IS YOUR EVIDENCE. Use it copiously and wisely.
ReplyDeleteCarraway refers to 59th street as "a facade...a block of delicate pale light...." The city and the parties are fake, Fitzgerald says. He also refers to Gatsby's love as "disembodied." Gatsby's love is so intense for Daisy that her spirit blows in the breeze, floats beyond the lights and the spaces where there is no light.
ReplyDeleteI think Lauren's metaphor of the exterior and interior world works better if the lights and the parties are on the foreground of the picture. And in fact, they are. The bright flashes of light are close to the ground, and the face floats above and beyond. I think the face, while it may represent Daisy, can also represent any desire. The point is that however much light there is, the darkness (your desire) will always overcome you. For Gatsby, it is Daisy, for Tom, it might be a more visceral life, for Nick, it may be some purpose of living.
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ReplyDeleteI partly agree with what Devon said about the symbolic meaning of the eyes on the cover. When I was reading this chapter for my first time, I also thought that this person could probably be Daisy because Daisy actually cried in this chapter. However, when I read the last paragraph of the chapter, another thinking came through me. It says, "Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, I had no girl... and so I drew up the girl beside me... and so I drew her up again closer, this time to my face." It was quite surprising because for last four chapters, this was first time Nick went into details about himself. He was always eagerly describing other people but not himself. But this time, he was actually depicting the image from his perspective. After reading the paragraph of "self-depicting," I looked at the cover, and it makes me feel like the eyes and the lips are the reflection of myself. Therefore, I think the cover of the book might be leading us to answer "what do you think about this superficially bright lights and images? not from general perspective, but from your own perspective."
ReplyDeleteWhat strikes me the most about this image is the blue "thing" that appears to be floating in space; it resembles a tear coming out from the eyes and it might be foreshadowing something. In the eyes, as Lauren said, there are some figures: in the left eye there appears to be a man sitting down with his left arm up, which might symbolize Nick embracing this invisible woman, and on the right eye there appears to be a nude lying down. In the text, Nick says "Her wan, scornful mouth smiled [...]" (pg. 80) but in the cover, the lips are not smiling. I think that the lights are not actually the city, but an amusement park because of the two circles at the very right that resemble a ferris wheel. An amusement park could represent all of the parties and the glamour, but the fact that you can't really figure it out means that Nick doesn't really understand what it all means. There is also not a path leading up to it, so it just stands as something that's far away, almost like a vision, just like the woman.
ReplyDeleteI think that the cover of the book shows the exactly what Nick says in the last paragraph in chaper four. Nick says, "Unlike Gastby and Tom Buchanan, I had no girl whose disembodies face floated along the dark conices and blinding signs, and so I drew up the girl beside me, tightening my arms."On the background of the illustration, it is obviously very bright and luminous as Lauren said, however, in some parts, there are dark conices and blinding signs.
ReplyDeleteAnd over it, there is a disembodies face drawn which gives the image of 'disembodies face floated along the dark conices and blinding signs'. And I also realized as Lauren and Jorge said, that in the eyes there are figures in each eye whom I think are women, naked in a pose of suffering pain and it even looks like that they are in a chaos. I think that these women represent Daisy and Myrtle from Nick mentioning Gastby's and Tom Buchanan's girls.
I agree with kevin when he said the face on the cover represents desire. When Nicks says "Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, i had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs," When nick says this its showing the reader that nick is very lonely and has nobody. Unlike his friends that have a life and know what they want in life. Nick does not know what he wants therefore the face on the cover of the book stands for his desire for what he wants in life.
ReplyDeleteI think that the person in the cover could be Daisy. Going with the idea that she represents desire, I agree that she represents the desires of different characters. Relating it to the paragraph, when Nick says; "I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs". For Gatsby, this disembodied face is probably Daisy whom he probably thinks about a lot, so her face is always floating in her mind, and for Tom I think that it is Daisy too, not Myrtle, who lingers in his mind, because even though he is so thoughtless, he knows that he is being disrespectful to Daisy by having a mistress, otherwise he would not have a problem with myrtle bringing up Daisy's name in the previous chapter. Something else I thought was really interesting about the cover picture is that, if you look really closely at the eyes, there are little people in them. I think that it is interesting to note that because, as we read, we see how much people gossip and talk about others, especially at Gatsby's parties, and in East Egg.
ReplyDeleteI thinks that this image represents the life peopel like Tom and Gatsby have. When Nick says, " We passed a barrier of dark trees, and then the facade of Fifty -ninth Street, a block of delicate pale light, beamed down into the park." It shows that although they live in a luxrious life, mostly partying and drinking. But just like the bright colorful city lights on the cover it only used up a small portion of the image. It seems like Nick is telling the readers that no manner how bright the lights are, they cannot fill up the emptyness, and depressing feeling that they all have.
ReplyDeleteThe woman on the cover reminds me of daisy. She is attractive, small red lips, makeup etc. But looks very sad with a greenish tear falling from her eye. There are several emotions I can see in the eyes of this woman... Sadness, anger,there's also this lack of confidence... the eyes are almost afraid. The overall look of her makes me feel like she wants me to save her. There's also a sort of loneliness. The bright lights and the building like structures behind the face probably represent the city that this is happening in. The naked women reflections in her eyes could be what she's seeing or could symbolize something else. I think it's kind of obvious that the paragraph has everything to do with the image because JCK said the paragraph was written after the image was made and that Fitzgerald was inspired by the image. Going along the desire thing I think that that may explain the naked women and the tear or sadness in the face could represent the people that get hurt through desire.
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