Sincerely, Emily ✓

13 • Not So Great

"IS GATSBY GREAT? In what way?"

Jessie was standing in front of me, holding a Grade 11 Literature textbook. Seeing Raph standing beside her reminded me that he and the Grants were such opposites to each other, kind of like how Val and I were. They both stood out, however, with their striking looks: the Grants with their olive skin, brown hair and green eyes, and Raph with his dark skin, black hair and charcoal eyes.

Meanwhile, the other Grant — also known as Jake — basically made the living room his home and propped his feet on the couch. I couldn't tell if he was relaxing or sleeping.

I was sitting in the carpet with my notebook, racking my brain for answers.

"How might he not be great?" Jessie continued. "Does his greatness evolve over the course of the novel? What is the difference, in this text, between perceived greatness and actual great — "

"Jess, stop. You're going to give her a headache," Raph muttered. "God, you're giving me a headache."

"It says here in the book! What am I suppose to do?"

"Summarise it. It's not that hard."

"Well, how about you try it?" She complained. "Since you seem to know everything, Mister-I'm-Accepted-In-Every-College-In-The-Whole-Damn-Universe?"

"You really want to start now?" Raph's voice had risen. "And I haven't been accepted yet!"

"Hey guys, can we order some pizza?"

"NO!" They responded at Jake's interruption.

Jessie sighed. "Emily, just answer the — "

"I think Jay Gatsby was great in a different way. His greatness didn't develop over the course of the novel — he was already great in the first place. When you hear something like "the great Gatsby," people usually assume it's a magician. Well, it's similar like that. Gatsby was able to create a new identity for himself when he needed to be someone else. I think the title refers to Gatsby being a performed character. I also think Nick thought he was great because of his restless and undying love for Daisy. No matter what bad things Gatsby did, Nick still respected him because it was all did for love. So, yeah. I do think he's great."

One, two, three, four, five.

Five seconds of silence.

Then Raph slow-clapped. Jessie joined him.

Clapping for the answer, or the fact that I was able to say every word of every sentence without it being slurred? It made me feel better if I imagined they were clapping for both.

"Well, personally," Jake muttered. "I think the title was meant to be ironic. Gatsby was a great pretender. Everything about him was fake. He lied shamelessly. His mansion was just an act. Even Nick said — "

Jessie punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

. . .pretty hard.

"That. . . was one great answer," Jake said cheerfully with an over-exaggerated smile, still rubbing his shoulder.

Jessie smiled victoriously. "I agree, Jacob." Then she looked at me and softened. "We should take a break. I want to work on the decorations for Christmas, anyway."

Christmas. Mom and I were never really big fans of the holiday; we'd just buy a tree, watch Christmasy movies, drink hot cocoa and tell each other stories. We didn't even buy each other presents; like I said, Mom's problem with "gifts." So as you could see, it wasn't quite extravagant in the house