"All right...I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool -that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."
- The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is my darling of literary classics. Demure women enveloped by feathers and masculine protocols. Smoke. Delicate headgear. The Noveau rich. Decadence. Any excuse to break the rules while flaunting all the pretty things that money can buy you.
You simply have to throw on the most expensive clothing that you own, head out to one of Cape Town's growing number of pretentious clubs, and you might just begin to understand the obsession that intellectuals have with The Great Gatsby.
"Another shot of Patron please. Put it on my tab."
The self-made man walks our streets with the swag of a gentleman, who is adorned with the sweet smell of power, and the vulnerability of someone who doesn't quite know whether he's in or out. So, what does he do? He force feeds his wealth on elite dance floors, filled with people who are too vacant to interpret his behaviour as anything more than just a 'good time'. This is Gatsby.
We buy shots of intoxication for people we don't know, because our insecurities dictate that acceptance is attained if you reel society in with beautifully painted wads of cash. It's the curse of the glitz, glamour and pseudo-charms of an inner world that is far too occupied with staying on top.
Wild parties and bad behaviour. You only live once.
Or, perhaps it's an obsession with love?
Gatsby desperately wanted to charm delicate Daisy with his epic soirees and decadent world - he desired her, wanted her - she was a drifting soul that would complete his world. We're all searching for love in this club, aren't we?
The Great Gatsby is as relevant today as it was yesterday. A timeless tale that will never go out of fashion, until love does.
