Grief and The Great Gatsby

Grief links to Gatsby in the idea of the loss of love – Daisy is all that Gatsby dreams of but yet he doesn’t get to have her. In the poem ‘Grief’ there is realisation that Duffy has lost her lover and that she will be alone ‘my empty hands’-Duffy’s relationship has always been quite physical, now she is ‘empty’ and seems to feel helpless in her grief without Jackie. ‘I found myself on Gatsby’s side, and alone.’ (Chapter 9) Interesting that the sentence is quite short and seems to be angry. Previous chapters where Gatsby is mentioned there have been long and elaborate descriptions of crowds and parties. Now in death, there is only one person left on his side- shows how fickle other people are and how they have gone to find their American dream elsewhere Both Duffy and Fitzgerald use the theme of being alone to show grief and loss.

“..he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room.” (Chapter 7) This is Gatsby realising he is having to perhaps lose Daisy. He uses the death imagery which also relates to the events forthcoming and relates to the following concept of Grief. But there is also a use of the words using negative prefixes such as ‘unhappily, undespairingly’ which are also used a lot in ‘Grief’ for example: ‘unwanted’ ‘undeserved’ ‘unwrapped’ they give a sense that there was something their before and the opposite in the change of the relationship. Also relates to the negative feelings felt when Grieving. ‘The music died down’ compares to ‘my head bowed’ accepting in both cases that the good times are over, the stopping for death.

“The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.” Chapter 7 and in Duffy ‘like an ache’ in both cases the emotions are having physical effects on them. Personification of the words – the way that the words cause Gatsby pain as he realises his loss of Dasiy ‘lost for words’ - contrasting that Duffy no longer has the words to express her feelings where Gatsby has been hurt by the words – both experiencing the loss

“‘Please don’t.’ Her voice was cold but the rancour was gone from it. … ‘There Jay’ she said – but her hand as she tried to light a cigarette was trembling.” – creates a feeling that she was forced to say what she did and the sense of the unwanted situation creating nervousness. ‘humbling my heart’ both ‘humbling’ and ‘trembling’ are negative, but Daisy’s is more a physical nervous reaction, whereas for Duffy it is an inner emotion and reaction of her heart. ‘unwanted, too, my small voice/ lost for words…” Can be compared to the mention of Daisy’s voice being cold and the she was no longer bitter, suggests a longing in her voice, this contrasts to Duffy who no longer has the voice to express what she wants and not the right thing to say – the conversation is unwanted to Daisy to Gatsby. (rancour – means bitterness/resentfulness)

‘Though my eyes stare inwards now’- Duffy is wondering how she will move on or perhaps even looking at herself in the sense of wondering what she did wrong. ‘His eyes, seeing nothing, moved ceaselessly about the room.’ (Chapter 9) Similarly in Gatsby Mr Gatz appears to be restlessly and constantly looking about the room, when in fact he is not looking at anything but instead perhaps reflecting or even just trying to behave normally in his grief It could be also compared to the quotation in Chapter 7 “So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing.” There is a similar tone of reflection in the looking over nothing or in Duffy’s case perhaps looking at herself in refelction.

‘my star, my star’- what had once been a guide for Duffy in her relationship has been extinguished/ gone out. ‘And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away’ (Chapter 9) (inessential shows how materialistic the American Dreamers are.) The moon had once been a romantic motif to signify relationships at parties, now it was being used to blot out and showing the end to the American Dream for Nick. “As we walked across the moonlight gravel to the porch he disposed of the situation in a few brisk phrases.” (Chapter 7) this also compares to the quote from ‘Grief; and uses the moonlight as a guide but also contrast as it shows the easy way that Tom could get over Myrtle as if she was more a possession to ‘dispose’ of.

‘Learning, Learning; understood’- a moving final line to the non- conventional, non-rhyming sonnet, however it does show the final idea or opinion of the poem as a normal sonnet as it shows the final understanding and acceptance of Duffy’s grief ‘It eluded us then, but that’s no matter- to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…And one fine morning-so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’ (chapter 9) Final sentence seems to shows the dis-similarities between Nick and Fitzgerald as an understanding of the cyclical nature of the American Dream amongst the youth is reached.