Going to bump this thread a bit more, for such a great novel I would have hoped more discussion around it.
Going to bump this thread a bit more, for such a great novel I would have hoped more discussion around it.
A man's finding masculinity attractive in a woman does not equate with being gay or bi. No more than a woman finding a man's femininity attractive means that the woman is gay or bi. Nor do I see anything in this passage, possible homoerotic subtext notwithstanding, that suggests an activated or important erotic interest in men on Nick's part. Moreover, some might find in Nick a semi-autobiographical voice, suggested by his midwestern origins and reflective character, and Fitzgerald, as far as I know, was straight. Zelda herself, who was I believe bi, may have had some masculine traits, albeit mingled with traditional southern feminine qualities.
When I read this passage I definitely thought Nick's character had enjoyed a night of drunken gay sex. Is Nick gay though? I wouldn't say so, but I would say he was definitely bi, at least. Nick's obvious admiration for Jordan, Daisy, Gatbsy, and even some of his descriptions of Tom have a sensuous quality to them. When it comes to Gatsby, Nick keeps going back and forth between extremes of love and hate for him, and in the end, he sticks by Gatsby's side despite him having been accomplice to the Myrtle's murder. No, Nick may not have been explicit about his sexuality, but during such a time of raucous-everything, it's hard to delineate the limits of sexuality/love/lust, even.
NO! Nick is NOT gay! Why does everyone try to read homosexuality into great works? I feel like everyone who says that he is gay needs to reread the book without preconceived notions and just read the book for the book. Putting together passages like this will of course make you think that, but seriously, reread the book. He's NOT gay and there is no real evidence of it stated. Fitzgerald would have said it straight out and not have been cryptic.
I don't at what point in college lit crit it became mandatory to show that everything written is to be studied from the perspective that every word means something different than it is seems to mean. Then, the less imaginative instructors found an easy way to find such hidden meaning: it always peertained to Marxism, Freudianism, Gay-Lesbian issues, etc.
Boring. BORING.
Sure, Nick Carroway might have been gay. He might also have been Afro-American, a Hungarian Jew, an alien, a bug who woke up one morning and found himself transformed into a human, naive WASP living next door to Gatsby.
Could Nick have been a middle American type, Fitzgerald's major audience in the 1920s, who described Gatsby strange, louche world to his middle American cohorts, Jordan and Wolfstein included?
By the way, a "boyish" figure for a woman was quite desirable and sexy for men in the roaring twenties.. Also, the tough immigrant types (Jews, Irish, Italian) who would have been running elevators in those days would have had no trouble insulting and threatening any fool of any social class who tried to mess with their controls.
I think Fitzgerald was straight, but may have had some homosexual tendencies and this came out in his writing. I personally never thought Nick was gay, but I need to reread the book.
I don't think that Nick is gay or that the lever is necessarily a phallic symbol, but I think Mr McKee might be.
I think it is wrong for someone to disagree with something that another person says on here because of course, these are all just interpretations and should be considered and respected just as people would wish their own interpretation to be.
I personally think that Nick is bisexual, in the first chapter he describes Tom's physical appearance in great detail, talking about how the muscles in his shoulders are shifting and admiring his appearance. However I can see how people would disagree with this as it would almost seem as if he is just jealous of his appearance.
I could also point out that the 'moustache of sweat' on a woman could show that he found the masculine feature in her attractive which ultimately could lead to him being bisexual.
I can see how the context will effect this gay/bisexual theory, however, maybe this is why it is only suggested rather than said openly almost like how Keats implies things in his poems because he wasn't able to say it at the time.
I look forward to any further theories on this gay/bisexual insight into the book.
He didn't.Originally Posted by Alexander III
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
You must be a frequentor at many parties, with that maginificent witt and verbal flamboyance of yours.
I'm serious. There is no indication, except in the minds of those who want to read it into the text, of Nick Carraway as being anything other than someone who is a little out of his depth among those of both Gatsby's and Daisy's circles
He is not only the narrator but also an uneasy bystander who is forced to take sides in something he would rather not have become involved with. Hence, his hesitancy with Jordan Baker.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
I completely disagree. I never do nor will claim any objective truth when it comes to literary interpretation, but the view that anything goes is just as bad, and produces the "Wolf Larson" effect in the field of literary analysis.
There is a difference between formulating a new theory based on great evidence from the text, and taking a few sentences out of context (which many in this thread have done) to "prove" something that, whether it is there or not, has no relevancy in the story.
I don't believe Nick is gay or bisexual, but even if I accepted the pitiful "evidence" offered in these threads, the fact is that Nick's sexuality has nothing to do with the story. If Gatsby was gay (which I have also seen argued) then there might be more of an impact on the story, given that his attraction to Daisy is a key point. But who gives a damn who Nick is attracted to?
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
I think it goes back to the author- that Fitzgerald was probably somewhat bisexual. I don't think he acted on it though.
Once again this is pure conjecture and until something more definite by way of authentication turns up, it will remain so. The words 'probably' and 'somewhat' give little credence to the suggestion.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Sure, Emil, there isn't any documented evidence. However, in his autobiography, This Side of Paradise, he makes a pretty explicit reference to wanting to flash a male bellhop when in a hotel room at the end of the book. It seemed a bit off. Oh sorry, used another indefinite term.
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