[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by koolk

Hey,

I found the passage that you are writing about.

The Great Gatsby is a very difficult novel to read. Fitzgerald's sentences are very long and not easy for english readers to understand.

Hi, Koolk.
I didn’t know that his sentences are not easy to understand even for English readers. I don’t know why, but translated versions of his books are not that difficult.

2. "..many curious natures.."

This is a good thing. This does not have to directly refer to people. This could mean interesting places, interesting events, interesting people. Nick refers to the good effects that his behavior has brought him.

Really!?
“Many curious natures” can refer to interesting people?
Oh! I didn’t notice that.
I have thought that his habit brought only troubles to him.

4. The abnormal mind

This is a generalization. Do not confuse this with "Every". He refers to most weird people, not all. The sentence is a generalization. The interesting people and the boring people are both adnormal minds.

Is that true??
You can say that the interesting people are abnormal minds??
…There is always more to learn.

:5. Every abnormal mind vs The abnormal mind.

The abnormal mind is a generalization. It does not mean every, but most.

i.e. Every Asian is smart vs The Asians are smart.

Asians are smart implies that most asians are smart, not all.

What “The Asians are smart” imply?
The Asians and Asians are the same meaning?

Every Asian is smart says that 100% of all asians are smart.

Can you say “The Asian is smart” meaning “most Asians are smart”?
What the difference in meaning among theose?
1. The Asians are smart.
2. Asians are smart.
3. An Asian is smart.
4. Asian is smart.

Hope this helps you understand more about the sentences. Please let me know if you want me to go deeper into any particular sentence. Fitzgerald's writings are very complicated and definitely not spoken language.

I didn’t know that his writings are not spoken language.
The Great Gatsby is written like Nick is speaking, I mean this story is not what is called “a novel in third person”, so I thought this is very good to study English conversations.

Lastly, you refered to his writings as "pregnant". That perfectly describes Fitzgerald's writing style and it's a word that he would use in this fashion. It's rare that we use that word to describe anything though. We reserve that word for "woman with child".

I didn’t know his style was that difficult to understand.
Do you know any books which is some study of The Great Gatsby?

Thank you!