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: : Haley wrote, : : " Hi, just wondering some stuff about this quote in the 1st chapter. What exactly do you find preyed on Gatsby? What clearly was this interest Nick had that ended with Gatsby? : : : "No--Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and shorwinded elations of men." : : ========================================== : : Considering that, at the end of the story, Nick turns away from the selfish world that destroyed Gatsby, yet fuelled his dreams, I venture that the "foul dust" is the world of Tom and Daisy. : : But I hope we see here other explanations of this curious page, one of several in which Fitzgerald so confusingly rhapsodizes. : : L. Swilley : Well, I think essentially it is Tom and Daisy's : self-absorption and snobbery which preys : directly on Jay. However, Fitzgerald may be : hinting at something much larger here. The foul : dust that floated in the wake of Gatsby's dreams may : have a bit to do with the disillusionments of : adulthood and the impossibility of any reality : ever living up to what a man build up : in his "ghostly heart." There is a terrible loss : we experience when our dreams come true, and a terible price for carrying dreams "from age to age." : As for the closing out of interest... Well, : haven't you ever felt that? Haven't you ever : experienced something so heartbreaking or : repulsive that you simply wanted nothing more : to do with anyone ever again-- something where you : just said to yourself "That's it for this human : being business. I'm not dealing with anyone on any : level, except as instruments, ever again. Scott deals more vividly with this idea in the 'Crack-Up' essays.

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