<위대한 개츠비>의 특정 문장들을 이해하는데 꽤 어려울 때가 종종 있습니다. 제 3장의 끝부분에 나오는 닉이 조단에 대해 이야기하는 장면은 보통의 상상력과 독해력으로는 이해가 불가능한 듯 하였습니다. 구글에서 자료들을 찾아보다가 이 부분에 빛을 던져줄 좋은 글을 발견하였습니다. 닉이 조단에 대해 알게 되었던, 조단이 숨기고 싶어했던 내면의 비밀들이 있었는데, 작품내에서는 피츠제럴드의 글쓰기가 그렇듯이 명확하게 드러나지 않고, 오직 독자의 번득이는 지력과 상상력으로만 들여다 볼 수 있는 그런 비밀이죠. 영어를 모국어로 사용하는 사람들이 <위대한 개츠비>를 읽고 파악한 내용을 참고로 하니, 희미하게 뭔가를 알 수 있을 듯도 합니다.
Rebecca Owen
ENGL 752
October 18, 2000
Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever shrewd men and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. She was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage, and given this unwillingness I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body. (63)
The previous passage from Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby demonstrates the way in which Jordan Baker’s dishonesty is a mask for as well as a facilitation of her masculinized sexual aggression. Throughout the novel, Jordan is consistently described as a masculine woman: “She was a slender, small-breasted girl with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet” (15). Nick’s initial impression is reinforced when he mentions her “hard jaunty body.” Besides creating the distinct impression of the masculinity associated with Jordan , this phrase—“hard jaunty body”—reveals other characteristics which Nick attributes to her. Being “hard,” Jordan is “not easily pierced” (Webster 340); this reading may have sexual connotations or may imply that Jordan is not easily affected emotionally by things that happen around her. She is a solid woman who does not let anyone experience her inner self but remains defined by and even relegated to her body. Jordan , like Tom, is equated with her body in the novel; Nick accentuates this equation in his ruminations about her dishonesty.
Jordan ’s “hard” body is also “vigorous and robust” (Webster 340)—characteristics made evident by her sporting career. Her vitality, however, is not channeled into emotional intensity or intimate personal connections, but into satisfying “the demands of her hard jaunty body.” The “demands” of the body are obviously sexual desires—Jordan strives to satisfy her sexual desires in the same way a man would. She wishes to attain the sexual freedom of masculinity through her own assertive femininity. She must mask these desires, however, because sexual freedom for a woman was unthinkable in the 1920s. Her sexual drive is a “divergence from a code”—as a part of upper class East Egg society, Jordan is encapsulated by the social forms of her peers. She is a part of, and ironically even a product of, a society that does not allow sexual freedom, much less sexual aggression, to women. Jordan ’s desires put her “at a disadvantage,” a position which, especially as a sportswoman, she cannot bear. In order to avoid this disadvantage, Jordan creates a mask for herself. She is evasive—Nick imagines that “she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young….”
In order to mask her sexual aggression, Jordan lies—Nick accuses her of being “incurably dishonest.” “Incurably” suggests that Jordan ’s dishonesty is like a disease, attaching an added negativity to the trait. “Incurably” also suggest that dishonesty is a part of Jordan ’s nature—a disease that cannot be cured by anyone else and against which Jordan herself seems to have no agency. Nick claims that Jordan ’s dishonesty is her means of indulging her bodily desires while keeping her “cool insolent smile turned to the world.” Her smile is “cool” because it reveals no warmth of emotional intensity—the smile in this way masks the very thing that it is meant to exhibit. Smiles are usually a demonstration of an overflow of human emotion, especially joy, but Jordan ’s smile is absent of all emotion. Jordan ’s actual desires are absent of emotion as well—her sexual drive is unnatural and totally socialized. The smile is also haughty, reinforcing the relationship of Jordan ’s position to her class. As a part of the upper class, Jordan is expected to conform to the formalities of gendered behavior, formalities which do not allow sexual aggression from women. Her “insolent” smile, however, shows her to be “disrespectful of custom or authority” (Webster 389)—she refuses to conform to the social code but must somehow manifest the appearance of conformity.
Nick’s mention of Jordan ’s “cool insolent smile” in this passage relates to another description in the novel’s previous paragraph: “The bored haughty face that she turned to the world concealed something…” (62). The fact that she is “bored” again demonstrates her lack of emotional involvement with the rest of the world—she cannot be pierced or disturbed by anything so she remains uninterested. The “something” that Jordan ’s “bored haughty face” conceals is her sexual assertiveness—her face, like her smile, is a mask for her true desires, desires which deviate from the formalities of her social class. In order to maintain this sexual drive within a intolerant society, Jordan must be evasive and lie, thus avoiding the unpleasant situations which may arise from her sexual aggression being discovered. She avoids there difficult or unpleasant situations by placing herself “on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible.” This “code” is the social forms that direct the East Egg lifestyle, including the idea that women cannot be sexually free or assertive. But Jordan ’s goal is to be sexually assertive—to “satisfy the demands of her hard jaunty body.” This lifestyle is a divergence from the social code of her peers, so she surrounds herself with people who will not even imagine nonconformity. In this environment Jordan ’s lies will be believed and her “cool insolent smile” will be accepted by people who believe in the “code” so fully, if somewhat naively, that they do not suspect her of diverging from the expected behavior of her gender.
In order to maintain her evasions, Jordan “instinctively avoid[s] clever shrewd men” who would be able to see through her “cool insolent smile” to her true self that desires masculine sexual freedom. Instead, the people with whom Jordan associates see only her passionless formal exterior self that both masks and enables the satisfaction of her desires. In the passage immediately following in the novel, Fitzgerald (and Nick) extend the implications of Jordan ’s dishonesty by connecting it with her carelessness, specifically her careless driving. Jordan is ruthless in getting what she wants—she is careless and lies when she encounters any problem or unpleasant situation—and this carelessness becomes a destructive force in the novel.