Isn't Hollywood a dump-in the human sense of the word. A hideous town, pointed up by the insulting gardens of its rich, full of the human spirit at a new low of debasement.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes Hollywood for its shallow values and moral decay.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote reflects a deep skepticism about Hollywood, viewing it as a symbol of societal decay. He highlights the stark contrast between the opulence of the rich and the underlying moral emptiness that permeates the town, suggesting that despite its glamorous façade, Hollywood represents a troubling decline in human values and spirit.
In practice
In a film analysis class discussing the portrayal of society in cinema.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.
We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation.
Intelligence is a moral category.
One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world.
The experience of our generation: _x000D_ that capitalism will not die a natural death.
My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading.
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