The Book that Killed the American Dream

[@OathQuake]

new horses video has me climbing up the walls and biting at the bars

[@raumfahreturschutze]

down boy! get!

[@RoshDroz]

You live in a monkey cage too? Hell of a coincidence

[@cdgchucktaylor]

every time

[@sentinel7122]

I've been wondering where my sons' other pet hamster went. DAMNIT, NIBBLES, COME HOME

[@gonbetter]

Radiohead ref?

[@Jawn..]

I’ve been watching for years and still not a single horse

[@hurbig]

31:10 Playing Polo

[@Luneytoon]

Let’s keep watching until it happens

[@achaemenes2179]

it was one of the main reason why I subbed.. feeling really let down and depressed as a horse buff

[@thequeenofswords7230]

HORSES, HORSES! HORSES-HORSES-HORSES HORSES! 🐎🐎🐎

[@raintamer8121]

Naaaaay!!!

[@SpoopySquid]

My favourite part is when Jay says "I'm done horsin' around" and pulls out his Great Gat

[@havenwisner6776]

Hive mind ahhh comment

[@maxxxxxxxxx108]

GYATTT

[@DreadPirateRobertz]

When will it stop.

[@TSAdu]

Dude the morbin time format will never die 😂

[@JonathanVilleda10]

@@havenwisner6776WHEN WORLD’S COLLIDE!

[@HorsesOnYT]

i made this video because i didn't do my assigned reading in high school (which was the great gatsby), then the great gatsby later became one of my favorite books. it seems to me that many readers do not see the darker undercurrents of the work. it is also funny that such a dour indictment of the american dream is almost universally assigned as required reading for teenage students here in the US. i hope you enjoy

[@officialshivertrip]

u da goat

[@AndreasSconzo]

I very recently participated in a high school class in which Gatsby was read. I can tell you that while I do think high school readers are fairly conscious of the book being a societal indictment, they seem to think it's exclusively an indictment of American society in its time period. They don't seem to understand its enduring (arguably increasing) relevance.

[@triggeringsmuganimepfp7611]

Gatsby is the quantum death of the American culture. Its decline was apparent, but willingly ignored. The fact that students have it as designated reading it is not ironic, you guys claim to be aware of it, but you are not. To come full circle, they are somewhat ahead of their past counterparts. While in the past people were reluctant to look inside, the young ones today know that cat is there, they just dont care. Dont get me wrong, Gatsby is my favorite novel, because I went through a similar experience when coming back to my native country. The video is also great, but it is unfair to depict the young ones today in an unfair light.

[@AndreasSconzo]

​​​@@triggeringsmuganimepfp7611 So would you say that today's youth are more socially aware but also more apathetic? Also I'm not making any broad arguments about the social cognizance of an age group, I was trying to offer an explanation as to why a public school system would lean so heavily into teaching a book with such a negative view of the American dream.

[@stewiebalew6446]

Thus far, I'm about 20% in, you are putting my feelings about this story into words. I didn't get to read it in school either, but it's one of my favorite stories ever. Short and to the point, great characters, deep story.

[@hushslade4695]

Congratulations. You've done what my high school teacher couldn't do and made me understand this novel. Thank you.

[@joshportie]

Because it's the most boring book ever written. After the Quran.

[@Heathmcdonald]

Not to mention the language is hard to understand. I hated trying to read it. Horrible, the movie is good tho

[@dionmcgee5610]

I saw the movie and if that's the same plot of the novel then I can understand why it was difficult to understand. What fantasyland is this Gatsby supposed to be living in? Bears no resemblance to the one we live in. I was honestly puzzled by the entire plotline. Still not sure if I understand it. He became rich and threw extravagant parties to be with a married woman? Is that right? Riiiight. I don't think so.

[@greyfells2829]

​@@Heathmcdonald you probably have poor language skills then, it's a pulp novel, not exactly archaic or high level English.

[@greyfells2829]

​@@dionmcgee5610 you lack the life experience to understand

[@btbruh9868]

This channel has been carrying my lunch breaks for years

[@opticalsalt2306]

Your profile picture is awesome sauce

[@clixhe]

I thought i was the only one who used up the lunch breaks to watch these :0

[@SutekhTheDestroyer]

I love the aesthetic of Michael’s videos so much; they’re unlike anything else I’ve seen on KZbin.

[@jonasseorum5471]

I like his videos, but let's not kid ourselves, there are plenty of videos in a similar style on KZbin.

[@othmankamel7206]

​@@jonasseorum5471 who

[@schakalicious6023]

@@othmankamel7206lemmino

[@hakonaae9636]

​@@othmankamel7206then and now is quite similar, especially their older stuff, spectacles is good as well, although their videos are shorter.

[@othmankamel7206]

​@@hakonaae9636thanks

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

The American dream used to be in the future, by now it's in it's past. It's never been in the here and now.

[@butterfish-g9f]

It's a thing now for billionaires and higher end millionaires (like 40 million plus). It was mostly always a thing for the wealthy elite of any time period.

[@BABATMAN95]

Isn’t the American dream what you define success as, and everyone has a different definition of success. The pursuit of happiness and all that like it says in the constitution. We as Americans have the right to pursue happiness whatever that is for the individual. Some today believe the American dream is dead but really what they believe the dream to be is dead.

[@dionmcgee5610]

It was only between WW2 and the Reagan administration that the "American Dream" truly existed in the here and now.( Helped A LOT if you were white.) But it was attainable with hard work. Not anymore. Hard work doesn't cut it. Need to have contacts, front money, a leg up to even have a shot. The republicans saw to that- with the Democrats help, of course. Everybody should get the credit they're due.

[@dionmcgee5610]

​@@BABATMAN95Your interpretation ignores the reality that the so called dream is now more easily attainable in Europe than it is in America. The reason for that is intentional. Greed and the republican politicians, with help from key Democrats and the endorsement of the Dem establishment. (Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and a handful of others have not being as inclined to play along with this, still current, republican policy of enriching the rich) "Populist" politician and reinvigorated fascist Trump is 100% on board with it. His last term saw the richest of the rich making their biggest gains under any presidency, and distance themselves even more from the rest of the pack. The American dream isn't dead because some people don't believe in it. They don't believe in it because hard work, perseverance and ingenuity are no longer enough and there's been a barricade erected. The American dream is dead because Ronald Reagan and the republican parties tax changes and corporate wage stagnation killed it. With considerable help from neoliberal politicians like Bill Clinton.

[@CalamityJay-ez2mq]

​@@butterfish-g9f that kind of defeats the purpose of the American Dream which specifically refers to social mobility, going from very wealthy to insanely wealthy doesn't really fit the bill

[@smileyday]

“Thats why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.” - George Carlin

[@nocantry]

RIP legend.

[@michaelswinbourne8067]

George was one smart dude

[@jaketobias449]

Ironicly, George Carlin lived the American dream.

[@will-ob7pr]

The "American dream" was actually a marketing slogan sold to soldiers returning from the war rich guys were afraid they would all get together and revolt or something when they got back so the idea of the american dream was to pacify them essentially and seperate them. The guy that made it up was a paranoid jerk its pretty wild he pushed it so hard people still repeat it and nobody is aware of the actual history of it. A marketing ad directed at a perceived threat to defang it.

[@papaskimask5853]

Hope is for presidents, and dreams are for people who are sleeping.

[@WhiteTulip2002]

Thank you for using clips from an older version of The Great Gatsby instead of the modern one. The aesthetics of the old one are on point and the emotions on their faces are perfectly timed with the script

[@violetslit]

IM SO EXCITED TO WATCH this is one of my fav novels with one of the best closing lines ever: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

[@Elaiden]

The way you narrate and create your videos is incredible. No cheap tricks to fool us to pay attention. Instead, you demand that we pay attention and reward those who decide to put down their phone and follow along. Your videos have an intriguing and almost hypnotizing quality to them. Really glad i found this channel.

[@rinat3964]

I remember beefing so much with my English teacher in high school cuz she thought gatsby loved daisy and not the life she represented😭😭

[@rahmatismail3577]

*insert a clever remark*

[@AlexisHollingsworth]

Well maybe that’s why she is teaching High School Literature instead of writing literary scholarship from her office at a university where she has tenure and only has to teach a single class per semester on whatever literature topic she wants to teach about. Not to 💩 on high school teachers in general. But I️ swear there are people who teach youth because they are passionate about the education of youth. And then there are teachers who just didn’t have what it takes to get through gradschool and will spend their whole career taking their failures out on their students. 🤷🏻

[@rinat3964]

@@AlexisHollingsworthtbh I just don’t think she was a very good English teacher. I went to a religious school so them being religious was prob more impt than her being an amazing teacher. A lot of her analysis were very shallow and one note tbh

[@faith-o8w3j]

Weird level of teacher hate here...reading is subjective! Just enjoy yourself.

[@rinat3964]

@ she was pretty racist and weirdly anti Jewish which came up during our analysis of this book. We also went to a Christian school and she was not a very love thy neighbour person so🤷‍♀️ she deserves the shade

[@Mr_Pigman200]

I have not watched the video yet, but I know that it will be as thought-provoking, as articulate, and as magnificent as all your other videos. I still come back to your "Birds do not Sing in Caves" video often as I find it one of the best videos in the thousands of hours of KZbin I've idly (and some regrettably) consumed, as I did not follow this trend for your essays. It is an awe-inspiring piece of work that has genuinely helped me these past few months. If I had the money to donate to your patreon, I would. Never stop being a genius Michael.

[@jjacksonn]

Studying can wait Horses just uploaded…

[@DæmonV86]

Damn right

[@jackyichan4759]

Horses is what you discuss in class, write in the long answer section, or submit to your teacher in double spaced, times new roman

[@confidentialn]

Thank God this is what im studying 😂

[@elainez]

"Babe wake up new Horses video just dropped!!"

[@andrestomas2366]

I used to watch your videos in the height of my training as a naval aircrewman. Your style and nostalgic voice brings me a feeling back to how it was back then. And I am sure to feel this as time only goes further. Thank you.

[@TQFMTradingStrategies]

“Alcoholic lottery winner commits vehicular manslaughter while driving impaired, the book” - 16 year old me 😂

[@kathrineici9811]

Accurate Only missing “everyone is an annoying brat”

[@jjacksonn]

I’m so locked in

[@saucerar7615]

no more horsing around

[@aditya5162]

nah for real tho....

[@RubainAtelier]

RIGHT?

[@NikkoNikko98]

REAL 🗣️🗣️

[@polar__bear2.029]

I havent even read the book

[@uqif]

As someone who can't focus on a single sitting position alone for more than ten seconds, this hour-long video had me glued to my screen and inspired me to read The Great Gatsby that's been rotting in my bookshelf! Thank you for the well-spoken and greatly edited insight into the classic.

[@Dank_Engine]

For a lot of us, the American Dream has always felt like a travel brochure to a place you’re sure exists, but you’ll only ever seen on TV

[@Zackadeles]

I'm so glad you used the footage from the old Great Gatsby movie instead of the horrible 2012 Great Gatsby movie. Huge props to you Mr. Horse guy

[@airplanetowardsthesky3265]

I always saw east and west egg as represented the east and west coast of America as well. West coast being more free from classes and has new money while east coast is strong into holding onto class and is old money. Valley of ashes is just the poorer fly over states that the rest of the country looks down on even though they need them for farming and industry

[@whoisdamaris]

Under your Poe video I asked if there was any chance of anything on Fitzgerald from you. And here we are. I'm sure there's no correlation ofc. Thank you, Michael.

[@lotuschorus]

So it's your fault ima have to watch this masterpiece instead of catching up on work

[@PetiteDimanche]

Lmao​@@lotuschorus

[@DOMINO-j3x]

I walked into a gas station the other day with one of your shirts on, a small child saw it, whimpered, then ran away.

[@Anthony-p6d5u]

If Fitzgerald thought the "American Dream" had gone downhill by the 1920s, I wonder when he thought it was at its best. I think the time before the Great Depression was a pretty good time to be alive and symbolizes a good convergence of science and technology. Or maybe the country never really had a time when the "American Dream" was fully alive.

[@HoboGardenerBen]

This kind of wondering falls apart if you keep asking "Good for who?" and "In what way was it good?". It's all subjective and relative. The time in which the american dream was greatly benefitting some group of white people gain wealth, it was also oppressing other groups and creating a shitty mindset in the people gainijng wealth from it. We like to make up cartoon ideas and overlay reality with them, fun fantasies of what is and has been and will be.

[@pietrocatalano4285]

In my opinion, America's never really had an American Dream, certainly not a fully realized one. The American Dream promises that through great effort and tenacity, even the poorest man can become a greater, wealthier, happier version of himself. To me, it's always seemed pretty naive. Did all the nameless individuals forgotten by history simply not try hard enough? Is that why they failed to become anything "great"? Sure, pre-Great Depression you could say that things were going great in America...if you were white, preferably at least middle-class, living in a great centre of industry such as Detroit, New York or Chicago. What about everyone else? Were there any black men who managed to achieve the American Dream? The millions of farmers across the country, who lived just as their father and his father before him had, had they achieved the Dream? No, I don't think so. I think the American Dream is precisely that: a dream. It's something that only in the twenties did America wake up from, and even then, the persistence of this concept in American culture proves that it's not quite true. "When Jay Gatsby dies, the American Dream dies with him" is something I've heard a lot of people say, but honestly, the American Dream never existed to begin with. It's a fantasy that people kept chasing, maybe for all their life. America's a land of opportunity, yes, but it's a land like all the others. It's not a paradise, it's not a haven, it's (especially in it's current state) barely standing on its own two legs without crumbling, like so many great powers before it. Jay, like so many Americans, lives in illusion. His parties are like Venetian carnevals- everyone's wearing a mask. Including the host. It's a perfect representation of Prohibition- everyone's false, everyone's a gentleman and also a lawbreaker at the same time. They revel in their immorality. They're all perfectly fallible and human.

[@HoboGardenerBen]

@pietrocatalano4285 People are story-apes. We always overlay reality with a story we like. The american dream was a powerful one, even being entirely imaginary, it had a massive impact on the world. I wonder what story we're in right now :)

[@td_8346]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@pietrocatalano4285the American Dream is way to package up some of America’s core values (Capitalism, rugged individualism, liberalism, expansionism etc.) into one neat package. It goes alongside the other former ideal of manifest destiny during the settler era. It’s quite subjective too, the classic example of the American dream would be the rags to riches story. However, others may personally define it as finding relative stability through hard work.

[@Fireclaws10]

It was never a good time to be alive for Fitzgerald. He was part of the “lost” generation. Fought in the war, came back home with PTSD, great depression, and your sons die in the next war. The roaring 20’s were fun, sure. But what were they hiding? A generation plastering over their mental wounds with booze and parties. He died of a heart attack, after struggling with alcoholism his whole life, in 1940. I think that says it all.

[@artemproductions5454]

I love your videos I make pasta for a living and often I watch you videos while I’m doing it I find it very therapeutic and relaxing ty

[@usedscar]

This book is what introduced me to 6 years of studying English Lit. I walked around with it for a whole semester and beyond. A human portrait of a self-fulfilling loss and the death of not just a dream but dreaming itself. Well, I was young! Lol

[@procrastinating_celery4994]

10:42 A little correction- Gatsby doesn't proclain that Daisy is a catholic. That was Tom's reasoning behind why he couldn't divorce Daisy and just get remarried to Myrtle. I'm so glad you made a video on this. I'm not an American and I only just rec ently read the great gatsby and watched the movies. It's nice to get a little context behind what inspired the book.

[@MeghanGuastella]

Honestly I’ve seen so many iterations of Gatsby and seen so many analyses. This video tops all of that. What an incredible piece you’ve put together.

[@NECRAZ78]

This book description is so dark and real with such intensity that relates to how it's meant to be, a world where the rich are built on the foundation of the poor and their suffering.

[@i_dream_of_memes]

Only time I open youtube and feel lucky anymore is when horses posts a new video

[@japjeetmehton9921]

This made me tear up a little, seeing the greed and the condition of humanity and being disappointed. 😢

[@TheGoodMorty]

Great video, Old Sport.

[@TSAdu]

I remember being made to watch the movie in school but i reeeeally didn't pick up on any of the subtext. I think at that age we just didnt have the awareness to understand it, but now 15 years later watching this video the story seems so rich. Such a shame that as kids we had no interest in it

[@amandapatrick827]

A whole hour of horses on Fitzgerald?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY ME!

[@TheIceYvetal]

22:59 bro basically said that Daisy Buchanan ruined a generation of women long before Scott Pilgram v. The World.

[@steventrotter4958]

A man of refined tastes

[@pomefio]

in the anime series Bungou Stray Dogs, Francis Scott Fitzgerald is a character, but he's really written to be Jay Gatsby. He's got very little in common with the author, but is every bit deluded and addicted with wealth the way Gatsby is. I love how Asagiri bases authors off of their characters and as a literature and anime nerd this made me so happy..!

[@potatopirate5557]

This is the best channel on KZbin.

[@theScotian24]

Relax. Thats clearly ridiculous there are millions of channels.

[@zalandercalander]

There are many best channels. There are many best people, best books and best houses. The best of all of these, however, is yet to come. For the best is but in the eye of the beholder, as that allows the formation of the multiple.

[@normanleach5427]

So far, 26 people think your's is the best opinion.

[@randomperson-kx6mv]

Going through these comments made me thankful for how my English teachers approached this book. My classes had a fun time analyzing it; I really enjoyed picking apart the symbolism! It's a very interesting book

[@DæmonV86]

Best content creator currently living right here.

[@theScotian24]

Youve measured them all up have you?

[@caroline_sunshine]

Crazy that this channel is called Horses when all of its content is GOATed

[@Gardeking]

sup shawty

[@sanicboi9187]

@@Gardeking thanks for saving my grandma and her cat from a house fire

[@nobodyburgen4594]

@@GardekingThanks for helping me on my Feminist Literature final and for letting me borrow your Maserati.

[@ethanbarnes-et4jr]

This is why i love youtube so much every once in awhile you stumble onto a channel that makes you wonder why you watch tv. When you can watch people who put their heart and soul into great content and not sacrifice integrity to get clicks or likes. It always results in a better over all experience ❤

[@magiccookie22]

thank you for this video, in high school we read the great gatsby but the literary analysis was, well, "lackluster". Now as an adult who has actually seen the failings of the american dream this book hits a lot harder

[@matthewwheeler9281]

I wish horses were real

[@LetthaWrite1inn]

Don't we all

[@opticalsalt2306]

I’m so hungry I could…

[@cheeseburger2k891]

I for one am glad the stories of bigger, faster creatures that can kill a man with a single kick are fake and unreal.

[@clyde6401]

Best KZbinr merch hands down this could be a brand by itself

[@JuliaMitchel]

So I’m not crazy! I had a friend who had an extra free ticket to go see this movie which I wasn’t thrilled about seeing, but it was something to do. She could only talk about how beautiful the costumes and the scenery was and I couldn’t help but say, how ridiculously shallow it was and of course I had already read the book in college decades before I saw the movie. She never spoke to me after that. I didn’t realize how ungrateful I must’ve sounded. It’s not that I wasn’t grateful to her kindness, and being around her, it’s just that that’s what the movie was blatantly about. Apparently it went right over her head just like a lot of characters that he was portraying in the movie. They were all so caught up in the glamour and extreme abundance that they couldn’t see its dysfunction. To me it was a sad, and just like the book, shallow commentary that lacked substance of any kind.

[@Luneytoon]

This was great! It’s also a story about gentrification. None of the major characters are native New Yorkers, Even the “old money” are transplants

[@italyball2166]

As a non-native English speaker, this has been so far the only novel I've read in the original English form. The part that I think impacted me the most is the final part, where Gatsby's (alleged) father meets Nick, showing him his notes about building "successful habits". It really shows the fleeting nature of even today's success and the flaws of such an idea

[@TinyGuyTinyHouse]

New horses lets freaking gooooooooooo. Thank you for all your hard work. Ive really grown as a person from all the new things i discover from your topics. You are a thoughtfull person and may you never go thirsty. I hope that groks.

[@RoshDroz]

I'm shocked that someone was able to make me interestered again in the required-reading classic, The Great Gatsby. Well done!

[@yuhau1535]

what's the music you are using in 19:06? Damn that felt magical Edit: found it, beyond imagination of Gavin Luke in epidemic. Almost new year

[@sergioandresramirezzuluaga6649]

Please, don't ever stop doing this analysis, they always leave me a little depressed, but, boy, they make wonder

[@inappropriatejohnson]

As I recall, Jay is a delusional stalker, Daisy is a shitty driver and is casually amoral, and amoral Tom is the meal ticket. They all share awfulness.

[@Endymion766]

Good video. I was forced to read this book in high school too and absolutely hated it, but shouldn't have. I should have found a lot to relate to but public schools these days are full of teachers that don't know why they're teaching certain things anymore, other then it's just what's next in the lesson plan. I really like the story now and glad I came back to it. I have to disagree with one thing in the video though, that Gatsby saw Daisy as a potential trophy wife. I think Gatsby's love for Daisy was genuine. No man with that kind of money is going to put up with that much grief unless love is at stake. There would have been thousands of young hot things ready to marry the local booze tycoon, if a trophy wife is all Gatsby really wanted. Gatsby was hopelessly in love with Daisy. Daisy knew it and took advantage of it to get access to Gatsby's lifestyle, like a sugar baby, and Tom allowed it, almost serving as a pimp to his own wife. This isn't to validate true love though, but rather to add it on the pyre of American dreams as it's one more thing to be used against the sufferer of it.

[@elineitz2428]

I think by trophy he meant Daisy herself not just “a wife” because that’s who he’d already been pursuing. She’d be a trophy in the sense that he won her after trying for so long.

[@Endymion766]

@@elineitz2428 like i said in my comment, men don't pursue a particular woman just to "win" her, they do it because they love her. I am just not willing to remove sincere love from Gatsby's motivations because his drive was too intense to not have it.

[@elineitz2428]

@ Yeah probably lol

[@Nellyidk]

​@@Endymion766you'll be surprised, some men do try to "win" a woman because she is highly wanted, that they don't particularly love her for her but her status and and perceived scarcity for a rich highly wanted women,he wants her for status boost

[@AlfieVsLion]

Always a great day when I see an hour long Horses video uploaded.. thank you for all you do brother ✌️🇮🇪

[@xyro728]

I very recently started watching your videos. I very much enjoy your video essays.

[@jedediahhopkins6051]

This has to be one of the greatest KZbin accounts run by horses 🐎

[@kirandeepchakraborty7921]

So lucky to have found this channel. Pure Bliss 💫

[@cultclassicsclub]

This analysis is so masterfully done! Everybody needs to watch this!

[@Shadowberserker]

thank you for uploading this. i needed to read this book by tomorrow fro school and this video saved me from cramming all night!

[@soheilsemnani3280]

Congrats on the Milly subs 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@yaflah6484]

Horses please don't die or do anything bad, you are so goated.

[@Devcorp15]

I love this channel, the moment I start reading something he makes a video about it

[@mphilleo]

The quotation of James Truslow Adams at 55:12 struck a chord with me, particularly, "...It has been a dream of being able to grow to fullest development as man and woman, unhampered by the barriers which had slowly been erected in older civilizations, unrepressed by social orders which had developed for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class..." Michael, perhaps it was your intent to convey this, but I perceive this as a statement that stood in its time, albeit imperfectly, except now this micro-axiom has been turned on its head. America, and the American Dream, is now hampered by barriers which have been erected rapidly, in a mere several score of years. It is now Europe, from which our 19th and 20th century immigrants have fled, that has usurped this position from America. We have now effectively traded roles.

[@sonofjoanne1969]

I deeply appreciate your work. Keep it up. We need it

[@tulsacollins1721]

Great video, this definitely introduced me to a few ideas I had not considered about the book. As always, terrific job sir.

[@studiocmw]

When I was in high school, I wrote an essay for AP English Lit about this same topic. It got me a five (that's good).

[@coolman000099]

I’ve been learning about noam Chomsky and his work. So this video comes at a great time

[@mrdunsparce5138]

We thank you for this gift today

[@Beatsurgeon1]

Love your work. Your video on Hemingway might be my favorite- if you ever did a video on Hunter S. Thompson, or journalism as a whole I think it would be an incredibly interesting topic in your style!

[@Beatsurgeon1]

To add to this after completing the video, in a way Hunter S. Thompson could be seen as a sequel to this thinking on the American dream. It’s the core of what his hit Fear and Loathing is about yet it gets lost amidst the drugs and craze of Thompson’s prose which in turn turned HST into a characture of himself and started a decline in his work. Would be a really interesting continuation of this video

[@oldbadname3633]

I never understood The Great Gatsby as a kid. I just didn't understand the theme, mostly because I didn't like reading it. I wish I paid more attention back then, or even most stories we read in school, because they actually told stories worth thinking about, and I never gave it the chance.

[@happyheavenly4200]

Reread them now

[@zyxw2000]

I read it about every 10 years, each time, gaining new insights.

[@nickolasroper3237]

Babe, wake up! Horses just dropped a new video. Babe, “Where’s the horses?” Keep up the great work my friend. I ran across your channel a year ago and I devoured every essay/video you wrote. You’ve become, for me, a calm evenings thought on a nice walk in an otherwise chaotic life. Hope that made sense. I appreciate this.

[@SpookyGman]

This is my favorite of all your videos. Unless I remember something else....

[@missyoreilly4815]

Masterful use of ratio to bring on nostalgia and recreate the stylistic impression of the period.

[@Ayem427]

I demand a video of just horse footage

[@kesha_demon]

Your video came at the right time, cause I have a seminar today about this novel. Thanks!

[@paulwilliamson6660]

Great video, as ever. I can still hear my English Teacher (who was Scottish) saying "Myrtle was a very materialistic person"... even though it was 30 years ago

[@NickDak1]

This video was fantastic. Happy you create such valuable content. The first video I watched of yours was the Robin Hood video.

[@----REDACTED----]

Your video essays are incredible. Extremely engaging ideas throughout, making me double back and refine my own analysis over geopolitical reflections

[@sproutsies5178]

i just got my BA in english and am applying to MA/PhDs in english with my focus in 20th century american lit rn and i can literally cite my interest in that place/period alllllll the way back to when i read the great gatsby in 11th grade english. i still remember it was around xmas when my class read it because my uncle (an english teacher) was teaching it to his class around the same time and when he called at christmas my dad had to physically pry the phone out of my hands because we were talking about this book for well over an hour

[@ElisaPericoColombo]

your videos are always a gift

[@psmadd]

Such beautiful and interesting videos 🙏

[@PineStrawYT]

this video wouldve been real helpful a year ago when our entire class unit was on The Great Gatsby..

[@morrxw]

Just found your channel in my recommended but a video suggestion for you is to look back at the lord of flies. It’s a very thought provoking work to go back on to see how human nature's darker instincts can emerge when alone :)

[@ArcadeTheatre]

Always look forward to your videos

[@ForMovies-cc8go]

Hey, I really like your videos and how you've put all the information condensed in a really great way. Is it religio-specific or just any historical event or person who was of great importance?

[@bobleglob162]

Love the font choice.

[@paulcashion8049]

This was great. You earned a new subscriber! Looking forward to your other work.

[@TheGilbertorr]

Another fantastic video. Thank you for your work!

[@peetz.]

the fact that this came out literally a day after my exam on this book is crazy

[@Mike_Poppe]

Firstly, I didn’t read this in school either just depended on other kids to get answers. Secondly, that Truslow quote was fascinating to hear. Great work as always.

[@trockee]

always a good day when Horses uploads

[@ajax4898]

please keep making videos. they are amazing

[@aeemxe]

Gatsby doesnt love daisy; He likes the idea of his picture. The picture hes painting, the control he takes, its all for **HIS** american dream.

[@SkippTrip]

Like always, thank you for making my day with your video.

[@quinnbutler1609]

You’re very talented good sir an excellent understanding of literature and grammar plus a captivating air to your narration and interpretations

[@oliverquick3405]

My man, dude, please consider doing a piece on anything related to david foster wallace. Like, anything really. Your contend is remarkable and resonates a lot in me,and so does the entire work of this deeply tragic figure.... for sure,his magnum opus would perfectly fit nowadays, as it becomes more and more a fictional work turning to a dark prophecy. Anyways, love your work, keep up the same

[@seekingabsolution1907]

22:52 I never got any of that when reading the book. What I thought of daisy, what I really thought was, a mix of "oh you poor thing, paralyzed by societal expectations of lady-like behaviour thus unable to bring herself to stand up to the men in her life, and so addicted to the lavish lifestyle of the ultra wealthy she won't leave her cheating husband without an equally wealthy man at her side" Then "pretty awful of her to take out all her learned helplessness on her husbands mistress like that"

[@IdealisticDog]

Excellent video. Thanks for the hard work.

[@deathmagneto-soy]

That was a really fascinating analysis. Made me want to read the book again 👍