hi I'm John Green this is crash course
literature and this is the great gatsby
this novel barely makes it to 200 pages
even with rather large print and yet
it's so magnificently complex and rich
that we can't possibly do it justice in
two videos so today we're going to focus
on a specific question is Gatsby great
mr. green mr. green
no it's so cute when you think you're
entitled to your opinions me from the
past even when they're entirely
uninformed opinions as penance for being
such a little Hemingway about this stuff
you will one day have to host a show
about the glorious ambiguity of
literature
so a while back we discussed the
Aristotelian tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
in which people of high birth are
brought low by weakness of character
Shakespeare introduced some ambiguity
into that story arc as you'll remember
there was bad luck involved in their
demise and their mistakes such as they
were weren't so Grievous as to render
Romeo and Juliet unsympathetic also as
in many tragedies Shakespeare used
heightened poetic language to help us
care about Romeo and Juliet and root for
them instead of just holding them up as
examples of what terrible things befall
you when you're not now obviously Gatsby
isn't a work of poetry but Fitzgerald
found himself with similar problems as
many a high schooler has pointed out the
characters in the great gatsby aren't
terribly likable and the story just
isn't moving or compelling if you're
reading about a bunch of people you hate
some of whom get what's coming to them
and some of whom don't this Jerrold
handles this problem by heightening the
language and giving it pace I mean you
can basically tap your foot to the great
gatsby from the very first sentence in
my younger and more vulnerable years my
father gave me some advice have been
turning over in my mind ever since it's
got a beat and I can dance to it and the
descriptions are jarring ly
magnificently beautiful - Daisy's voice
sounds full of money the fading glow on
Jordan Baker's face is like children
leaving a pleasant Street at dusk at the
end of the novel Nick imagines the first
European explorers of New York writing
for a transitory enchanted moment man
must have held his breath in the
presence of this continent compelled
into an aesthetic contemplation he
neither understood nor desired face to
face for the last time in history with
something commensurate to his capacity
for wonder putting aside the fact that
Fitzgerald failed to foresee that humans
would one day walk on the moon not to
mention create fake fake flowers the
descriptions here are lush and beautiful
so the language of the novel elevates
Gatsby's triumphs and tragedies to the
stuff of real epochs which gives Gatsby
a kind of uh neurotic greatness Stan can
we just decide if these are physical
digital flowers or digital digital
flowers remember you don't have to be
good to be great and as the critic
Matthew Jay brocoli notes Gatsby is
truly great by virtue of his capacity to
commit himself to his aspirations I mean
we celebrate achievement born of hard
work and clarity of purpose because
there's a greatness in that success that
you don't get by like lounging around
and using your pool all the time
remember there's exactly one person at
Gatsby's parties who doesn't get drunk
Gatsby I mean he's a bootlegger who
doesn't drink a swimming pool owner who
doesn't swim a man of leisure who never
engages in a single leisure activity but
as bucoli further points out there's
plenty of irony in the titular
description of Gatsby as great the
adjective indicates the tawdry and
exaggerated aspects of his life hurry
hurry hurry step right up and see the
Great Gatsby
I mean he's part magician and in a world
of wealth he's part carnival curiosity
brew coldly notes that Tom Buchanan
describes Gatsby's famous yellow car as
a circus wagon okay let's go to the
thought-bubble
one thing Gatsby has in common with
Romeo and Juliet is that they're all
obsessed with controlling time which of
course continues passing anyway like
Juliet tries to force Knight to come
quickly and dawn to stay away because
only under cover of darkness can her
marriage thrive similarly Gatsby doesn't
just want to marry Daisy he needs her to
say that she never loved Tom Buchan at
all as if he can erase the past five
years what they'll do about Daisy's baby
is a fascinating question that Gatsby
seems wholly uninterested in but anyway
Gatsby's dream is that he and Daisy will
to quote Nick go back to Louisville and
be married from her house just as if it
were five years ago
Nick's perfectly sensible response to
this idea is you can't repeat the past
and then Gatsby utters his most famous
line can't repeat the past why of course
you can and then he says I'm going to
fix everything just the way it was
before Romeo and Juliet want to extend
the present into forever because they
know their future is bleak Gatsby
believes the key to the beautiful future
is a perfect restoration of the
beautiful past thanks doc okay a brief
aside before we return to Gatsby's
questionable greatness the idea of
restoring the past to create a beautiful
future is of course not unique to Gatsby
which is why no candidate for president
can ever get through a speech without
mentioning some previous president whose
glorious leadership the current campaign
intends to channel so as to make it
morning in America again it's also why
Americans fight so much about what the
founding fathers would think of us when
in fact what they would think as
probably you guys are dressed funny also
how come this room is so bright without
any windows furthermore why is this
screen talking to me now of course this
nostalgia isn't unique to the United
States but you also have to remember
that Gatsby is the ultimate self-made
man having both literally and
figuratively
made a name for himself and this
combination of aspirational impulses and
the urge to restore life to some
immaculate past does strike me as very
Amer
reckon that's what makes the tragedy of
Gatsby so much more interesting and
complicated than the Aristotelian model
of tragedy instead of being a person of
high birth Gatsby is a person of low
birth albeit one born into a world that
claims not to care about or even believe
in such things and instead of
experiencing a reversal of fortune due
to a weakness of character Jay Gatsby
won't that's where it gets complicated
actually
I mean Daisy Buchanan was driving the
car but Gatsby chose to take the fall
for her but he's also doomed just
because he lives in a social order
that's happy to drink illegal alcohol
but condemns a sober bootlegger oh it's
time for the open letter an open letter
to Prohibition but first let's see
what's in the secret compartment today
be booze be booth be booze people yes
touchdown its mystery liquor all right
the game here simple I drink the mystery
liquor and try to guess what it is
of southern comfort no what is it
checked that's too easy Meredith Jackie
anybody could get Jack Daniels steer
prohibition you were crazy I mean for
the rest of American history our
Constitution is going to be this weird
document that is perfectly normal until
the 18th amendment which suddenly bans
alcohol and then the 21st amendment
which is suddenly like no no no terrible
idea it's almost like legislating
morality doesn't actually increase
morality but prohibition in you
Fitzgerald found the perfect metaphor
for American hypocrisy and debauchery we
are not very good at tolerating
naughtiness in America but we love being
naughty in short prohibition you were a
terrible idea but a fantastic metaphor
so thanks for that best wishes
aha John Green so his Gatsby doomed by
his romanticization of Daisy by his
refusal to accept that he just wasn't
born to be one of the gold headed men of
leisure by his belief that any means
justifies if you'll pardon the pun
Daisy's end yes yes and yes but more
than that the Great Gatsby lives in a
cold world that cares nothing for
justice a world that makes claims to
fairness but really only further rewards
those who have already been rewarded I
mean who even survives this novel only
the idle rich Jordan Baker Daisy and Tom
Buchanan Nick Carraway they survive and
they are allowed to go on being careless
as Nick writes they were careless people
Tom and Daisy they smashed up things and
creatures and then retreated back into
their money or their vast carelessness
they aren't cruel or malicious they're
just careless they don't care too much
about Myrtle or Gatsby or their daughter
or even each other to live without a
care in the world is supposed to be the
dream right everyone wants a carefree
life but Fitzgerald shows us the horror
of this carefree life how Tom and
Daisy's inability to care is in some
ways more monstrous than outright
cruelty would be it's not like Romeo and
Juliet where the lovers are sacrificed
and then Verona is healed nothing is
made whole by the tragedy of the Great
Gatsby I think that's why some readers
find the novel depressing and hopeless
even amid all the lush language and
witty turns of phrase but I don't think
it is hopeless remember that line from
the first chapter Gatsby turned out all
right in the end it was what preyed on
Gatsby what foul dust floated in the
wake of his dream as individuals and as
a collective the tragedy isn't in
dreaming it's in chasing an unworthy
dream so in the end is Gatsby great I'm
interested to read your comments but
here's my takeaway Jay Gatsby was a
great man
but great people especially must be
careful about what they worship thanks
for watching I'll see you next week
crash course is produced and directed by
Stan Muller too far our script
supervisor is Meredith Danko the
Associate Producer is Danica Johnson the
show is written by me and our graphics
team is thought bubble every week
instead of cursing I say the name of a
writer I like if you'd like to suggest
writers you can do so in comments where
you can also ask questions about today's
video that will be answered by our team
of English literature experts thanks for
watching crash course and as we say in
my hometown don't pick
to be often
you