The Great Gatsby Quote Analysis

A brief analysis of one of my favourite book quotes, from F.Scott Fitzgerrald's novel The Great Gatsby.

"I was within and without, 

simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life"

This quote, from F.Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby is one of my all time favourite quotes. Its purpose, within the context of the novel, is to describe Nick Carraways state of being, in a life filled with loud and vibrant strangers he is unable to feel accepted. Each and every corner of his life is bustling with excitement, however he, not unlike Gatsby, is a spectator unable to break through the glass that separates him from the rest of the crowd.

The quote is reminiscent of Tennyson's Lady of Shallott, as many believe the poem to represent the conflicting life of an artist, attempting to balance the juxtaposing themes of  life and art; therefore making the difficult choice of observation or experience. This is not too dissimilar to Nick's predicament. The reader learns that Nick gave up all hopes of becoming an author and traveled to West Egg to learn the bonds business; however, he still hold the mindset of a writer, and appears to simply witnessing life rather than living it.

In the recent film rendition this metaphor is visualized as Carraway stood both in and outside of the New York apartment building, gazing out of the window to find himself on the street bellow looking in. This image perfectly sums up his character as the observer. The version of him stood on the street, gazing into the apartment is Nicks true self and the version within the apartment is simply a shell of himself. As the whole party gets wildly drunk, Nick still finds himself unable to enjoy himself, his mind consumed by Tom's affair and the shaving foam on the face of a man he just met. This sets Nick up as the perfect narrator for the story as the details described appear as he witnesses them.

The First War- Nele Azevedo Memorial

Tonight marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One, a plethora of events are taking place globally to commemorate the occasion, including a national blackout from 10-11 O'clock tonight, which I personally will be participating in. Another event I was fortunate enough to witness was Nele Azevedo's "Minimum Monument" on Saturday 2nd August where around 5000 ice soldiers were lined up along the steps of Chamberlain Square.

Individuals were invited to come and participate in the event by placing a soldier on the steps. There were both male and female sculptures helping to reflect not only the lives lost in the field but at home.

The exhibition/memorial helped to provide a visual representation of both physical and mental decay.

Each soldier began to melt individually, and no two soldiers melted in the same way. Many began to melt from the legs, here you can see one of the sculptures who is otherwise intact apart from the loss of  their legs, creating a representation of an amputee.

Others were left untouched for a while except for the loss of their heads, creating a visualization of the mental decay caused by the war and the lack of understanding of mental illness' at the time, resulting in many survivors suffering with shell shock. 

Each soldier took between 30 minutes and 2 hours to melt completely due to the variable weather conditions. The gradual decay of the figures again helped to visualise the invisible "side effects" of the war, and the lack of support the troops received for mental illness, which often lead to them taking their own life in the moths after they returned home. This particular sight is one that struck me quite hard, here you can see a single sculpture sat away from the others, isolated. Its form slowly became disfigured and over time it gradually became thinner, until it simply disappeared.  

Another image I felt particularly moved by was the sculpture on the far right (bellow). Its one side had decayed from the chest down, creating the illusion of a wound which would eventually spread across his entire body. This sculpture is an example of the variations in melting patterns created by the sculptures. 

I am particularly inspired by war themed photography and used it as inspiration for my A2 photography exam, which I intend to post on my photography blog soon. 

In the photograph bellow you can see how the sculptures leaned towards each other for support in their final moments as they melted under the suns heat creating an image of brotherhood and support that the soldiers provided for each other in their time of need.

I hope you can take the time to further research this artist and her monumental exhibitions. And please spare a minute of thought tonight to remember the sacrifices made during The First War.

Elijah's Mermaid- Book Review

This book was recommended to me on Goodreads (a site I would highly recommend to any budding bibliophiles) based upon my previous reads.

Saved from the depths of the murky tames as a baby, webbed footed beauty Pearl is bought up and cossetted within the boundaries of The House Of Mermaids, a brothel, raised by the black veiled Mrs Hibbert and the slimy predator Tip Thomas, a man whom I cannot help but imagine as a Victorian rendition of Sacha Baron Cohen's Thenardier. Until she turns 14 her childhood is almost idyllic (if you can put aside the fact that she lives in a brothel) but then Pearl begins to realise that her upbringing has been building up to her being auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile orphaned twins Lily and Elijah Lamb are being raised by their loving grandfather Augustus, an author. When the three children turn 14 their paths begin to cross and their lives become a lot more complicated. Throughout this book we see the characters evolve from simple and naive children into adults who soldier on through risk of being tainted by their situation.

The book is narrated by the two female protagonists Pearl and Lily, every other chapter switches between the two perspectives. This is a technique that I admire and would like to be able to apply in my own work. The authors empathy and ability to understand her characters at a more in depth level is one that inspires me to go on to read more of her works and is an admirable trait.

Elijah's Mermaid is set in Victorian England, in a land of brothels and asylums, where life is far from idyllic. The believably of the settings adds to the realism of the book and allows for more surreal themes to be explored without compromising the narratives believably. The book has a steady pace and the narrative unrolls quite slowly if you are used to faster paced literature. However one of the main reasons for its slow pace is due to Essie Fox's attention to detail, her beautiful in-depth descriptions and all round well executed literature is one of the key features to the book.

Fox's style is not too dissimilar to that of Ali Shaw's The Girl With Glass Feet, one of my favourite books to date and and Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child. Two of my favourite books that also successfully blend fantasy features with a sense of verisimilitude.

This book had me enchanted from start to finish! and is without doubt my favorite book that I have had the pleasure of reading and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to those who enjoy historical or fantasy based literature.I would also recommend this book to any lovers of classical art or literature as these are strong themes that run throughout.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Gothic, Romance, Mystery

Star Rating: 5/5

My current addictions

First of all I would like to welcome you all to my new blog, here I will be publishing reviews of music, films and books, alongside opinion posts and essays.

I am have just gone through a period of a high work load, meaning for the past few months I haven't had the time I would have liked to seek out new music as I normally do, I have however managed to stumble upon a few albums that currently have me besotted. 

1. S.Carey: Range Of Light. 

I have been a Bon Iver fan for a few years now and find their sound incredibly relaxing and inspiring (a great deal of the concepts explored in my poems are inspired by Bon Iver's music), therefore I immediately  fell head over heals in love with S.Carey's new album, Range of light.

Favorite tracks include: Glass/Film, Crown The Pines and Radiant.

2. Beasts Of The Southern Wild soundtrack 

I hate to admit it but before discovering this incredible soundtrack I had not heard of the film Beasts of The Southern Wild, and still have not found time to watch it. However if the soundtrack is anything to go by, it will be worth the wait! The soundtrack combines a blend of folk whims with cinematic drama.

I love listening to this whilst cracking on with work or painting because it really does convey a feeling of hope and motivation that gets me through moments of creative block.

Favorite tracks include: End of the World, Once There Was a Hushpuppy and The Smallest Piece.

3. The Cinematic Orchestra: The Crimson Wing- Mystery Of the Flamingos soundtrack

I discovered this soundtrack whist working on a nature documentary project, The crimson wing was one of my case studies and whist studying it I looked into the way music is used to amplify emotion in American Nature Documentaries. This soundtrack is simply breathtaking, the music accurately echoes the emotions of on screen action and yet as a stand alone medium works just as well. This soundtrack is again perfect for work as I often find songs with lyrical content too distracting when i'm working, it is also a beautifully relaxing album to listen to when winding down and reading a book.

Favorite tracks include: Opening Titles, Soda, Exodus and Transformation

4. Angus and Julia Stone: Down The Way 

I have been in love with this album for several months now, and am still hooked on the enchanting voices of brother-sister duo Angus and Julia Stone. This album has proven to be very thought provoking and lyrically is immensely poetic and moving. Many of the songs are so delicate to the ears as Julia Stones light, airy voice barely traces the surface of the lyrical content however the meaning behind many of the tracks are so filled with hurt and beauty that they are able to really impact the listener. 

Favorite tracks include: Yellow Brick Road, Black Crow, For You, Walk It Off, I'm Not Yours and The Devils Tears (I honestly couldn't narrow it down any further)