Gatsby's Gaffe

Okay, I'm still on The Great Gatsby with my first-year students, and this is a question that came up today that I couldn't answer. I'm throwing it over to my US friends, to contemplate over the turkey.

At one point, Nick asks Gatsby which part of "the Middle West" he comes from, to which Gatsby replies "San Francisco". "I see," replies Nick, though in what tone of voice I can't say.

According to the note in one edition this reply shows Gatsby up as a liar, because of course San Francisco isn't in the "Middle West". But, given that neither Gatsby nor Nick is Mr Dumb from Dumbland, this doesn't seem very satisfactory. After all, they are in fact both Mid-Westerners, so why would Gatsby make such a stupid and obvious mistake? It would be a bit like someone from Winchester asking which part of Hampshire I came from, and my replying "Edinburgh".

So then we wondered whether "Middle West" had a wider geographical application in 1924 - one that stretched as far as the West Coast. Alternatively, maybe Gatsby was trying to make a mistake, for complex psychological reasons of his own - but even then it seems too obvious. That the mid-Western Fitzgerald thought San Francisco was in the mid-West seems still less likely; that he goofed in giving Gatsby such a stupid line, unthinkable! The only other possibility we came up with was that there's another San Francisco, possibly in Minnesota.

Which is it, Pumpkin Eaters?

Gatsby's Gaffe

Okay, I'm still on The Great Gatsby with my first-year students, and this is a question that came up today that I couldn't answer. I'm throwing it over to my US friends, to contemplate over the turkey.

At one point, Nick asks Gatsby which part of "the Middle West" he comes from, to which Gatsby replies "San Francisco". "I see," replies Nick, though in what tone of voice I can't say.

According to the note in one edition this reply shows Gatsby up as a liar, because of course San Francisco isn't in the "Middle West". But, given that neither Gatsby nor Nick is Mr Dumb from Dumbland, this doesn't seem very satisfactory. After all, they are in fact both Mid-Westerners, so why would Gatsby make such a stupid and obvious mistake? It would be a bit like someone from Winchester asking which part of Hampshire I came from, and my replying "Edinburgh".

So then we wondered whether "Middle West" had a wider geographical application in 1924 - one that stretched as far as the West Coast. Alternatively, maybe Gatsby was trying to make a mistake, for complex psychological reasons of his own - but even then it seems too obvious. That the mid-Western Fitzgerald thought San Francisco was in the mid-West seems still less likely; that he goofed in giving Gatsby such a stupid line, unthinkable! The only other possibility we came up with was that there's another San Francisco, possibly in Minnesota.

Which is it, Pumpkin Eaters?

Tom Butler's Schooldays - Part 19: The Church

A weekly change from the inside walls was the Sunday Divine Service at the Church, and the Foundation provided every boy with a Bible and Prayer Book bound together. The Church adjoined the School. There was something dubious about this gratification. Everything in the service was conducted in a tedious manner. We knelt on hard wooden benches without any support before or behind, which was painful to the kiddies, especially during the Litany. I never fainted, but the fear that I should faint made me nervous and sometimes lads did faint owing to the severity. There was a Deputy Grecian Monitor, D., sitting in the Church in front of Ward XV, who used to say, "Kneel up" to any lad who showed a sign of fatigue. He told us that he was a High Churchman, and that those who showed signs of fatigue were like Dissenters. "Dissenters" he explained, "are fat persons who do not kneel at prayer." But this foolish youth forgot to observe that he himself did not kneel at all, but sat comfortably in Church in a seat with a back to it. The name of the Incumbent of the Church was the Rev. Michael Gibbs. He was a great authority on the subject of Queen Anne's Bounty. When I had ceased to be a Blue Coat boy, and had become a clergyman I heard him give a lecture at a Ruri-decanal meeting on this subject. Several of his hearers were clergymen of great learning, but after he had spoken, no one ventured to say a word or ask a question. ...

We went to Church also on other days in the week on important Holy Days, and for services of national importance. Among the latter was the 5th of November thanksgiving for the escape from the Gunpowder Treason and the arrival of King William and the 30th January, a Fast of the execution of "the Blessed King Charles the First", in the service for which there is a fabricated Psalm of various scripture texts. This Psalm, though extremely laughable, excites admiration for its ingenuity. It reminds me of an insect cleverly concocted out of the parts of several insects by some entomologists who wished to play a prank on a learned professor. They asked him to name it. He looked at it for a few seconds through a microscope, and said, without smiling, "The name of it is Humbug."

Tom Butler's Schooldays - Part 19: The Church

A weekly change from the inside walls was the Sunday Divine Service at the Church, and the Foundation provided every boy with a Bible and Prayer Book bound together. The Church adjoined the School. There was something dubious about this gratification. Everything in the service was conducted in a tedious manner. We knelt on hard wooden benches without any support before or behind, which was painful to the kiddies, especially during the Litany. I never fainted, but the fear that I should faint made me nervous and sometimes lads did faint owing to the severity. There was a Deputy Grecian Monitor, D., sitting in the Church in front of Ward XV, who used to say, "Kneel up" to any lad who showed a sign of fatigue. He told us that he was a High Churchman, and that those who showed signs of fatigue were like Dissenters. "Dissenters" he explained, "are fat persons who do not kneel at prayer." But this foolish youth forgot to observe that he himself did not kneel at all, but sat comfortably in Church in a seat with a back to it. The name of the Incumbent of the Church was the Rev. Michael Gibbs. He was a great authority on the subject of Queen Anne's Bounty. When I had ceased to be a Blue Coat boy, and had become a clergyman I heard him give a lecture at a Ruri-decanal meeting on this subject. Several of his hearers were clergymen of great learning, but after he had spoken, no one ventured to say a word or ask a question. ...

We went to Church also on other days in the week on important Holy Days, and for services of national importance. Among the latter was the 5th of November thanksgiving for the escape from the Gunpowder Treason and the arrival of King William and the 30th January, a Fast of the execution of "the Blessed King Charles the First", in the service for which there is a fabricated Psalm of various scripture texts. This Psalm, though extremely laughable, excites admiration for its ingenuity. It reminds me of an insect cleverly concocted out of the parts of several insects by some entomologists who wished to play a prank on a learned professor. They asked him to name it. He looked at it for a few seconds through a microscope, and said, without smiling, "The name of it is Humbug."