Gatsby's Closure

As Nick reminds himself of Gatsby, he "thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock." (180) Nick steps into Gatsby's shoes and imagines how it must have been for him to see the green light for the first time. Later on in the passage, through Nick's thoughts, Fitzgerald descirbes Gatsby's big dream in the following: "his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it." (180) By means of Nick's reasoning, readers can visualize the hope Gatsby had and how quickly it all vanished. Nevertheless, the idea of Gatsby's dream being left behind long before his death is brought up by Nick. Readers can infer Gatsby's dream was just a fantasy since "he did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city."(180) Concluding that Gatsby's hope was no more than a delusion, Nick gives closure to his neighbor's death.

Who is the Real Buddy Bolden?

Buddy describes the moment when he is heading back to the house as he says: "In the late afternoon I walk back along the shore to the small house and it is against me dark and shaded." (68) He says this in such a cold voice, that we infer something happened previously that he is not proud or scared of. We know this since the house is "against [him]", (68) meaning it isn't a warm moment. "Dark and shaded" (68) are key words in the sentence since they give us a negative perspective about Buddy and the house. He then makes a pause after he says "Robin and her friends". (68) This permits us to deduce he speaks in a cold way, implying that these characters are part of the conflict. Buddy then says: "I am full of the white privacy. Collisions around me. Eyes clogged with people." (68) By saying this, he means there will be problems around him, supporting our previous idea. We are then certain of our assumptions since Buddy describes the situation that had occured. "Yesterday Robin in the midst of and argument flicked some cream in my face. Without thinking I jumped up grabbing the first thing, a jug full of milk, and threw it all over her." (68) It began as an argument but things got out of hands, leaving the situation in a negative way. Based on what happened, we also know the characters have a  close relationship  since throwing food to others is an act that only people who have trust between each other would do. Besides, the fight really affected Robin. Buddy narrates the moment by saying "she stood by the kitchen door half laughing and half crying at what I had done. She stood there frozen in a hunch she took on as she saw the milk coming at her."(68) She kind of laughed but also cried because she cares and was hurt by this. She was surprised that Buddy would do that, therefore stayed freezed. The way Buddy describes her face lets us see how he also cares about her. He thinks she is "beautiful"(68) and stares at her since he cant believe what he had just done. Based on this paragraph, we can see that Buddy is an impulsive man who really cares about Robin.

Getting To Know Buddy Bolden

As Ondaatje says: "They lay there without words. Moving all over her chest and arms and armpits and stomach as if placing mines on her with his mouth and then leaned up and looked at her body glistening with his own spit", (111) we are able to make two assumptions about Buddy's relationship with Nora. Either they don't have the trust to have a conversation or they have a lot of it, therefore being able to have a good time without saying any word at all. Based on Ondaatje's intimate description of the moment: "Together closing up her skirt, slipping the buttons back into their holes so she was dressed again" (111), we deduce the two charachters feel comfortable with each other since

Ondaatje depicts a sexual moment where Buddy kisses Nora's body. The word "together",(111) has a lot of meaning since it shows they are a team. Somehow they are two in one. They act together, letting us infer that both of them wanted to do what they did. Nevertheless, we deduce friendship is involved in this situation aswell, since Ondaatje says: "Not going further because it was friendship that had to be guarded, they both wanted." (111) . It seems like this is something meaningful to both of them, so if they want to keep it that way, they must not do anything more, even though they are tempted. We know they feel temptation due to Ondaatje's use of "because" (111). This lets us see that there is a reason that explains why they won't go further, instead of their choice only. Following, we observe the presence of a metaphor which compares a diamond and earth. Ondaatje states a literal relationship between the two objects as he says: "The diamond had to love the earth it passed along the way, every speck and angle of the other's history, for the diamond had been earth too."(111) Despite this comparison is unknown to the theme of the novel, we are able to make a connection between it and Nora and Buddy. They had once been only one, knowing absolutely everything about each other, so now they have to love each other at least in some way.

Closure Means The End

There are various symbols present in Fitzgerald's novel that highlight important things or moments involved with the characters. One of the symbols I found, is the emptiness of Gatsby's house. After his death, his house was completely empty and dead. Nick wasn't able to hear the sound of any of his parties since his death gave closure to them. Gatsby's house is an important object throughout the novel since many of the principal scenes occur in this setting. Not only this, but his parties represent life and how Gatsby strongly hopes to see Daisy and be with her again. Nevertheless, he never really noticed that his dreams with Daisy were already over and this hope was just a fantasy. Gatsby's death and the lonely mansion support the idea of his crashed dreams. The definite closure. Seeing the empty house gave a feeling that nothing else could ever happen. It was now the end, no way to go back.