Is classic literature accessible? This is a question that has been asked and also debated over and over. I think the real question here is whether classic literature is relevant to today’s day and if we can relate to it. As someone who loves literature and language I am always interested in how we can make English Literature accessible and make them interested in English so it is more relatable. I also think by making it more relatable you allow more engagement and entertaining that they would then be interested in and more understanding of the text itself.
One example is exploring Fitzgerald’s ‘Green Light’ which is a symbol greatly used in The Great Gatsby. I have chosen Lorde’s song also titled ‘Green Light’ because it was something that I listened to and instantly linked to a literary reference. With her first album Pure Heroine turning 10 this year I thought this was the perfect time to write this essay that has been marinating in my mind for a couple of years.
The Great Gatsby book review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5339181323
I feel I have to point out that the meaning of this song is about a heartbreak and where monumental change happens. Lorde herself states that this song is about a heartbreak and she says about the song that ‘I realised this is that drunk girl at the party dancing around crying about her ex-boyfriend who everyone thinks is a mess. That’s her tonight and tomorrow she starts to rebuild. And that’s the song for me.’ Author intent matters and it holds great value when analysing literature however when reading/listening to something it is also subjective as reader’s interpretation also matters.
At the beginning I mentioned how we can make literature more accessible. I believe this is one way because an exercise to do with students is analysing whether the Green Light mentioned by Lorde alludes to the ‘Green Light’ mentioned in The Great Gatsby. This is a great way to not only further engage with the text and get students to interact with it more but also you are engaging them as your allowing them to make comparisons to a song that most of them would have heard and that was recently written.
So how do we do this?
Firstly you can start by playing the students the song and allowing them to listen to it without taking any notes or comparison so they get a feel for it. Then have a quick discussion on what Fitzgerald’s meaning of the Green Light and where and how it is used in the novel. Then play the song again allowing the students to make notes on initial comparisons on both the song and the novel. It is something unusual that students wouldn’t expect but which they engage with more because you have used something as simple as a song to allow them to interact with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMK_npDG12Q Lorde- Green Light music video.
Of course, listening to the song and with Lorde saying it is about heartbreak how can the song allude to Fitzgerald’s Green Light. Well in a recent letter she posted on Tumbler she mentions recent books she has read such as ‘Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk and she also mentions other books. She also mentions a poem by Sylvia Plath highlighting that literature and poetry is something of a great deal to her.
Below is the lyrics to Lorde’s song and my interpretation of it and how it alludes to Fitzgerald’s novel. This is something that you can do with students by printing out the lyrics and letting them annotate it by picking out what they think are comparisons and then writing out an essay to evidence why they think it is. Read mine below. It is a short (no linguistic analysis) and quick analysis that is my interpretation.
I do my makeup in somebody else’s car
We order different drinks at the same bars
I know about what you did and I wanna scream the truth
She thinks you love the beach, you’re such a damn liar
The ‘different drinks at the same bars’ may allude to the class system and the ‘old’ and ‘new’ as it refers to the myth of the American dream and how although Gatsby is self made and has wealth however he is never accepted because he isn’t in the same social circles and isn’t cut from the same cloth as the ‘old’. The last two lines refer to Gatsby wanting to proclaim his love for her. He knows Tom’s love for her isn’t as authentic as his own.
Well, those great whites, they have big teeth
Hope they bite you
Thought you said that you would always be in love
But you’re not in love no more
Did it frighten you
How we kissed when we danced on the light up floor
On the light up floor
The rumours of Gatsby and the mysterious surrounding him refers to the ‘big teeth’ because Gatsby wants it to reach Daisy’s ears. The third line highlights how infatuated they were with each other and how it meant one thing to Gatsby as it did for Daisy. ‘Did it frighten you’ this relationship was fast and thrilling for Daisy and in a way was frightening because their relationship went again societal standards for that time but also because Gatsby was going to the war so it was ultimately their last kiss/meeting together.
But I hear sounds in my mind
Brand new sounds in my mind
But honey, I’ll be seein’ you ‘ever I go
But honey, I’ll be seein’ you down every road
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
‘Cause honey, I’ll come get my things, but I can’t let go
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
Oh, I wish I could get my things and just let go
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
The first two lines may allude to Daisy’s voice and how much her voice is described as a dream like quality and that it is this magical voice that allures him to her. ‘I’ll be seein’ you ‘ever I go’ can attribute to the fact of the light at the end of Daisy’s dock which in his house he can see and also it’s something he obsesses over to the extent that it haunts him. He can’t let go of her and he want’s that green light, only the reader know how much that green light represents to him.
Sometimes I wake up in a different bedroom
I whisper things, the city sings ‘em back to you
Well, those great whites, they have big teeth
Hope they bite you
Thought you said that you would always be in love
But you’re not in love no more
Did it frighten you
How we kissed when we danced on the light up floor
On the light up floor
He wakes up in a different bedroom because of his being so big, but also the city sings ‘em back to you refers to the party goers that attend Gatsby’s party and which Nick finally attends so they can whisper back and tempt Daisy to come.
But I hear sounds in my mind
Brand new sounds in my mind
But honey, I’ll be seein’ you ‘ever I go
But honey, I’ll be seein’ you down every road
‘Cause honey, I’ll come get my things, but I can’t let go
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
Oh, I wish I could get my things and just let go
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
Yes, honey I’ll come get my things, but I can’t let go
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
Oh, I wish I could get my things and just let go
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it
Final thoughts:
In the video Lorde features a car and of course the green light throughout (symbolised through traffic lights and a coloured background which features a green light) and in her video the lyrics and her song and her meaning behind it is empowering and freeing because of letting go of your relationship. However if we analyse it through Gatsby’s lens it represents heartbreak, loss and a void.
‘Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… and then one fine morning- so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past’.
The Green Light for Gatsby symbolises his love for Daisy. It also can symbolise the colour for money which he attains for Daisy. Lorde’s song was empowering whilst Gatsby’s green light was hopeful as he believes it will lead him to his love. On the other hand it can also represent envy as it symbolises the distance between them and his money still doesn’t validate him and give him the status he wants which becomes the catalyst of the story. It is a haunting image of him stretching his arm out towards the single green light and the fact that he can’t reach it which echoes the American dream. This fallacy of social mobility comes to a climax at the end of the novel where the aftermath of the fatal car crash makes his dream and hopes become unattainable as the green light at the end of the dock. As much as he wanted it he couldn’t reach it.
If you have got this far, thank you for reading. What did you think about my comparisons do you have any of your own to add? Comment down below. Doing such a simple exercise is so much better to engage students and allow them to interact with the novel so much more. They will also have a better understanding and not to mention they will enjoy it much more when they can have fun with it by comparing it to a song. Even if it isn’t about the novel there is so much comparisons you can make which I have made a point of above and to develop this further you can assign a verse and make a question and get students to write an essay/paragraph based on that. Ways that make it more accessible and ultimately it makes students want more. And this doesn’t have to be applied to one thing you can choose different examples.
I hoped you like this post, comment if you want similar posts and your own thoughts to the question of this post and whether you agree/disagree with me. The aim of this post is to encourage discussion of literature.
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With Love and Dua’s
Fiz @Every Page She Turns.
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