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Honestly, our book club debate over 'The Great Gatsby' got so heated last Tuesday
One member from Chicago argued the green light was just a light, and it basically shut down conversation for a full 20 minutes. Has anyone else had a debate derailed by someone taking a super literal view of a symbol?
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kai4632mo ago
That's the worst. A symbol only works if people agree to look for meaning. Taking it that literally just kills the whole point of talking about books.
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blairstone2mo ago
Kai463 has a point about needing some agreement to talk about symbols. But that Chicago member might be onto something. Sometimes a symbol is just a thing in the story first. Getting too caught up in the "meaning" can make you miss the actual book. The green light is a light. The fact that Gatsby stares at it is what makes it matter. Starting with the literal fact can lead to a better talk, not kill it.
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emma_mitchell5d ago
Whoa, okay that's a genuinely interesting take from blairstone though. Like, I get the frustration with someone shutting down a whole talk, but what if they're right in a weird way? Tbh, that Chicago member might be forcing everyone to actually look at what the green light does in the story before they start slapping meanings on it. So my question is, if you had to start every book club discussion by agreeing on one literal fact about a symbol before you talked about what it could mean, what fact would you pick for Gatsby? Would it be that the light is literally across the water, or that it's green, or that Gatsby physically reaches for it?
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