Dueling Identities at the Darwin R. Barker Library

On April 18th we held our event "Dueling Identities in the Great Gatsby" at the beautiful Darwin R. Barker library. The event participated in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus

Great Gatsby library display made with our library partners

County's Big Read of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Our goal was to gather community members to participate in an open, casual, literary discussion of one of the most talked-about novels ever written. With the help of our Library partners and some very thoughtful and well-read community members, we were able to lead a very productive discussion that explored the national identities present in Fitzgerald's novel.

2:30 P.M. marked the beginning of our exploration of the great American novel. With coffee and donuts ready and waiting for our guests, we began discussing the cultural climate of the 1920's. We had planned on using a small online presentation to stimulate conversation but due to technical issues we had not anticipated, this aspect of our event ended up not working out. We were delighted, however, to discover that this was not going to be a discussion that needed any poking or prodding to be kept alive.

Our audience (which included a few members of the local book club who had read the book recently and attended a screening of the latest film adaptation the previous week) was enthusiastic and more than willing to discuss the novel, and related concepts and ideas, in depth and at length. We tackled a range of topics including character and symbol analysis, the novel’s attitude toward women and minorities, and the cultural relevance of Gatsby's themes in  today's society. The discussion needed minimal guidance and some of our guests even had refreshing and thought provoking questions for us.

Some of the wonderful guests who attended our event

After some cultural exposition we navigated through the pages of The Great Gatsby to isolate specific sections we wanted to question. After revealing the the Nordic national identity of Tom Buchanan, and the liberal and diverse identity of Jay Gatsby, we began exploring the several ways in which this conflict effects the plot of the novel. After we established this framework, community members eagerly explored issues concerning gender, race, class, and religion.

The discussion was still going strong after 4:00, and as we brought the event to a close it felt as if hardly any time had passed. The community members in attendance were excited by the conversation, and a couple even expressed the need to re-read the novel. It was an invigorating moment to see the NEA's goals for the Big Read being realized in a tiny back room of a small town library. Being able to help the NEA realize the Big Read's mission was an exciting and challenging experience. It is an honor to have been apart of such a noble and necessary initiative, and we cannot wait to participate in the next Big Read!