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FatcatXN Posted 19 years ago
Vocabulary
What is " abortive sorrows " ?
I've been reading <The Great Gatsby>.
"It is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams
that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded
elations of men."
What is " abortive sorrows " ? I really don't understand. Could anyone help me?
Thank you very much.
"It is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams
that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded
elations of men."
What is " abortive sorrows " ? I really don't understand. Could anyone help me?
Thank you very much.
Top answer
Sorrows [ things that cause deep distress] that have no effect on men's lives, that fail to produce a result.
- Sorrows [ things that cause deep distress] that have no effect on men's lives, that fail to produce a result.
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7 Answers
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Sorrows [ things that cause deep distress] that have no effect on men's lives, that fail to produce a result.
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I think I would take "abortive sorrows" as a parallel to "short-winded elations", with the meaning "not fully developed" or "rudimentary".
MrP
MrP
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Their parallel, but not in that way...
"abortive" sorrows, are feelings of sadness that are purged and short lived; that is, not dwelled upon. It is reflective of Gatsby's "romantic readiness" and "extraordinary gift for hope." Its a reference to, at the end of the novel, when Gatsby loses Daisy. He spends all night watching her window to make sure that Tom "doesn't bother her." The
"abortive" sorrows, are feelings of sadness that are purged and short lived; that is, not dwelled upon. It is reflective of Gatsby's "romantic readiness" and "extraordinary gift for hope." Its a reference to, at the end of the novel, when Gatsby loses Daisy. He spends all night watching her window to make sure that Tom "doesn't bother her." The
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I have wondered myself what F. Scott Fitzgerald really meant by "abortive sorrows".... According to the dictionary "abortive" means something along the lines of to "not succeed" and "sorrows" is of course feeling sad about something such as a loss of somekind... put these two together, and it gets confusing and sounds like a "double negative" to me: the "not succeeding feeling of loss"....
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It's hard to take you seriously when you incorrectly wrote "their" versus "they're"
BTw. Thanks for ruining the end. I was on page 2
BTw. Thanks for ruining the end. I was on page 2
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