Month: March 2022

Everyone remembers this iconic line from “Mean Girls” that we quote every time we pick someone up from the side of the road to go somewhere, or at least I do. I pretend that I am rich and popular Regina George going to the mall for no reason except drama and to spend hundreds of my father’s dollars. I use this quote as a fun thing to make my friends laugh because we are usually not going shopping at the mall since we are all broke college students. 

However, going for a ride for no reason or even to go “shopping” was a big deal in the 1920s. People started to move out of the city and used cars to commute to their jobs in the city. Cars were a new thing, and it was a luxury to go for a Sunday drive into the city. Cars themselves were not too expensive, but it was definitely an expense to buy one. Department stores and mass production of commodities were starting to become more common and made those commodities more affordable. Now, more people could drive to the store in their car and buy some fancy clothes or anything else we find in department stores today.

There were many occurrences where the cast got in the car and drove to the city. They went to visit people, eat, and just drive around. This was a new thing to just get in the car and go. They never worried about gas or milage; they just went into town. They were the first generation that has these luxuries and they used them often.

As we get older, we wish to go back to a time when the weekend meant the weekend and a “break” was a break, when we didn’t have to work and everything was playtime. Some of us want to go back to our kindergarten crush and first love. Most of the time, those are just wishes because we know going back in time is not possible (yet). Those people have moved on, probably forgot who we were, or simply don’t have a way to contact us besides our parent’s landline from when we were kids.

Gatsby however does not have this filter. He wants to continue the good old days and no one can tell him otherwise despite their valiant efforts. Daisy represents all of Gatsby’s youth and a time when he was James Gatz and had no pressure on him to be rich and work hard. When he lost Daisy, he did everything in his power to get her, and everything that she meant, back in his life. Gatsby is so caught up in his brilliant plan that he forgets who he really is, and in this process, he loses the only thing that he was working to achieve. The money and status are great and he loves it, but if he can’t have Daisy it is not worth it to him. He holds on to the hope that Daisy will eventually leave Tom, but she is not the person he thought she was. 

That is what happens when you get older. People you knew when you were a kid change into a different person when you meet up with them years later. It sucks, but it’s a part of growing up.