Used in a Derogatory or Joking Manner?

As a child, most are taught that there are some words that they might hear around them that are not appropriate to use, from words like "stupid" to simple expletives.  For example, everyone in my family knows the story about how my uncle used to tell his big brother and sisters that "Stupid's a naughty word".

However, everyone has their own idea of what sort of language is acceptable.

In "A Raisin in the Sun", Lorraine Hansberry employs the "N" word multiple times.  Now, every critic has their own idea about this word being used in literature: some think it should be taken out, others think it should be censored, and many think it should stay in the literary work like it originally was.

The thing is, African-Americans call each other this frequently, so why is it socially unacceptable for people from other races to call them that?  If they found it that offensive, NOBODY would call them that even if they were also from African descent and using it in a joking manner.  I don't mean to affront anyone here, however it seems hypocritical to me for whites to be criticized if they were to use a word such as that.

There really is no definite line between joking around and actually trying to offend someone by using that word.  So what's the solution?  The best thing to do would be for everyone to refrain from using words that most people would find offensive, leaving the world a much friendlier and positive place.

Unrequited Love

We've seen it before: someone falls in love with someone outside their grasp and it makes that person absolutely miserable when they aren't loved back.  From Romeo and Juliet to Gone With the Wind, there have been countless books, movies, plays, and songs dealing with this.  But now, we can relate it to Jay Gatsby's situation in The Great Gatsby.

Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby as a character who has been longing to have Daisy, the love of his life, back for years.  When Gatsby went off to the war, Daisy decided she could not wait for him to get back so she ended up dating, and eventually marrying, Tom instead.  He has longed for her, the part of the American dream that he seemed to be missing, and this longing is even represented in the book by the scene where Gatsby reaches out towards the green light.  The feeling of unrequited love wore on Gatsby for 5 years before he finally made a move to see if Daisy would take him back.  However, she said she could not leave her husband Tom, leaving Gatsby hopeless.

A lot can be taken away from what happened to Gatsby.  Although he did not end up getting Daisy, the persistence he showed by having feelings for her for so long is commendable.  It showed that he was not going to give up on his dream until he did his best to try to get her back.  Also, the fact that he did whatever he had to do in order to get her attention is laudable.  Sure, he didn't attain his wealth in an honorable way, yet that isn't the point; he still did what he had to so he could throw the extravagant parties in hopes of Daisy seeing and deciding to stop by.

While some of Gatsby's actions in the book definitely are not respectable, you have to consider that the feeling of unrequited love can change a person into something that they are not: It can annihilate any confidence you have.  It can make you bitter and cynical.  It can hurt your feelings more than almost anything. So no matter what you think about Gatsby, one thing is for sure: his commitment to trying to win Daisy back is admirable and more people in real life should be committed to love as much as Gatsby was.

Right of Interpretation

Any piece of literature can be interpreted in countless ways, as we learned about The Great Gatsby by reading articles that explained different "lenses" that can be "looked through" while reading the novel.  We focused on five distinct interpretations: psychoanalytic, African-American, feminist, historical, and queer.  By reading about these, we gained insight into the novel and learned about different ways that Fitzgerald might have intended to portray characters and topics.

Many of us have said that we think the critics who wrote these articles about The Great Gatsby are just reading into what Fitzgerald wrote too heavily. While some of the textual evidence could support these viewpoints, in my opinion, the only possible realistic interpretation was the historical one that related Gatsby to a self-made man, but even that might not have been a conscious effort. In reality, however, Fitzgerald could have subconsciously included phrases or scenarios that reveal his opinions of these topics.  Because we can't just call up Fitzgerald and ask what his intentions were with this novel, the only thing we can do is believe what we want to believe, as long as there is support for it. It's open to our own interpretation.

No matter what, many things are going to be subjective. How many feet does someone mean when they say something is "long"? Or what is the real definition of "pretty"? Both of these words are abstract; there is not only one "correct" answer to those questions. This is like many things in life. There is no way to define beauty, love, success, or hope since they aren't concrete objects.

Just as the articles about different interpretations of The Great Gatsby show different analysis of the text, these words are up to your own interpretation. No two people are going to interpret text, abstract words, or pretty much everything else in the world in the exact same way, but everyone is entitled to giving their own take on them.