Tuesday, November 19, 2013

I Love You But I'll Ruin Your Life

To answer your last question, I'm not sure where I see Amory headed. Like you, I like Rosalind, even though I don't think I'd like her at all if I knew her in real life (sound familiar?). But one of the things I like about her is the cold realism that caused her to dump Amory and marry Dawson. I kind of hate it, but I can see the case she's making -- that she knows her own vanity and spoiled-ness and imagines she would ruin his life. As a reader, it's kind of interesting to see Fitzgerald accept this kind of rationale knowing that he experienced something like it in real life, and then married the same girl later on (assuming your Zelda/Rosalind comparison is right).

That said, I definitely think I know where Rosalind is headed. I imagine she'll go exactly where she said she will go. She'll marry Dawson, enjoy a life of having people do her hair for her, and maybe eventually learn to love Dawson, too. And she'll pack away the Amory experience because it's romantic to long for things that ended while they were still (seemingly) perfect.

I really liked the script format of most of this chapter. To me, it gave the chapter a lighter, faster tone, even though it's about a gut-wrenching romance. And I liked the imagery of people coming in and out of the room, kind of the way Rosalind generally treats men.

I also had the thought of whether Amory might go after Cecelia, and I'd like it if he did. I don't think Fitzgerald totally closed the door on it. It seems like Cecelia's talk with her brother midway through the the chapter left a window open.

I can't say I've had the same experience of you in terms of my enthusiasm waning. I guess it's slowed down, but perhaps my generally more favorable (or charitable, perhaps) view of Amory has kept me more interested. That said, perhaps because I'm a romantic I really did enjoy this chapter in a way I haven't since perhaps the first chapter of the book. And I feel like this was good for Amory in a way, although I'm not sure why.

Alright, now moving backwards, here's my psychoanalysis of Darcy: Assuming Darcy was, as he says, a lot like Amory as a youngster, I think Amory perhaps helps Darcy tie up his own life. Darcy sometimes wonders what might have been had he not become a priest. In Amory, he sees a window into his past, both the good and the bad. But he also sees a line between his past as represented by Amory, and his present. And so perhaps in a weird way spending time with Amory affirms his own life by showing him in real-time the arc his life has taken. 

As I re-read this before hitting "publish," I'm thinking back a bit to Amory's other great love of the book thus far: Isabelle. It's easy for me to look back at her and think of that relationship as just youthful and somewhat childish. But I also found myself wondering if they would come back together when they were both more mature.

After this chapter, I'm wondering the same thing about Rosalind. 

I don't really think either reunion will happen, do you? The story is so much about one person, and about that person's growth, that I image both of these girls, and maybe any others that pop up won't be much more than guideposts that shape who Amory becomes. But what say you?

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