Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down. And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there! I’d like to tell you how I became a prince of a town called… Wait. What? West Egg? Isn’t that where Big Bird was raised??
Apparently this isn’t a story about me at all, but my old pal Nick. His life got flipped, turned upside down too. Check this out.
Long story short, he grew up in Chicago and the moved to the East Coast. He had enough money and lived in a ritzy neighborhood, but was turned/off to the pretentiousness of high society. His neighbor, the epitome of high society, stood outside of his house every night and stared at a green light across the bay. A bunch of stuff happened, he and his neighbor became friends, anyone cool had an affair, his neighbor died, and then Nick figured out that the green light across the bay was a light at the house of a lady his neighbor was in love with years ago. Guess we can’t recreate the past how we’d like. In the midst of these happenings Nick was caught up in the high society he so eagerly kept out of, and was deemed just as corrupt and deceitful as anyone else. He couldn’t disagree.
This is one of many The Great Gatsby Quotes and I believe it sums up Nick’s initial belief of himself: Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.”
Really Nick? Were you able to hold onto that? Or did you become a monster in the process of not becoming a monster? You became what you did not want to become.
In some strange way, this reminds me of a succinct Macbeth Summary. Macbeth wanted to be king, there were three weird sisters, Macbeth had a bunch of people killed (but was able to justify each action to himself, with encouragement from his wife), he became king, he killed more people (still justifying), his wife went crazy, and then somebody killed him. Honest Engine Macbeth was not.
But I digress…
When he was younger (and pre-drama), my friend Nick was scheduled to take the SATs in May of his junior year, but he knew he wasn’t ready so he found himself an on-line SAT prep course. Guess where he ended up going? Yale, yo! For real.
He was successful in his studies there, but decided after some time, to move west and learn bonds (finances). That’s when things got flipped, turned upside down. That’s how he became the Prince of a town called Loneliness.
Paul Thomson is an avid reader of English Literature. His areas of expertise include The Great Gatsby Quotes, SAT prep, and American Poetry. In his spare time, he loves to participate in online literature forums and promote reading for youth.