Monday, February 14, 2011

Where is there a character named Sigourney in "The Great Gatsby"?


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Why: There's an NES Great Gatsby game. I remember reading on Sigourney Weaver (real name: Susan Alexandra Weaver)'s wiki wiki:
She began using the name "Sigourney Weaver" in 1963 after a minor character (Sigourney Howard) in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby.
And I'm also pretty sure I've read the entire book since then, and also probably flipped through it even further looking for this character. I don't think I ever found one.

Answer: In Chapter 3! She's only mentioned once, and it's Jordan's aunt:

Jordan’s party were calling impatiently to her from the porch, but she lingered for a moment to shake hands.

“I’ve just heard the most amazing thing,” she whispered. “How long were we in there?”

“Why, about an hour.” “It was — simply amazing,” she repeated abstractedly. “But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.” She yawned gracefully in my face: “Please come and see me. . . . Phone book . . . Under the name of Mrs. Sigourney Howard . . . My aunt . . .” She was hurrying off as she talked — her brown hand waved a jaunty salute as she melted into her party at the door.

And another Sigourney shows up in This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald's debut novel (1920). In an article from the National Catholic Register called "Gatsby's Epitaph":
Fitzgerald's first novel—that scandalous, marvelous, twenty-three-year-old's astonishing bound into fame and fortune—opens with scenes among wealthy Catholic families. This Side of Paradise is dedicated, in fact, to Sigourney Fay, the worldly priest who stood for a time as spiritual (and surrogate) father to the author, and Fay appears, very lightly disguised as Monsignor Thayer Darcy, throughout the book's semi-autobiographical tale of a handsome, pampered, and yet still idealistic young Princeton student named Amory Blaine.
It's a man, man!
Source: ebooks.Adelaide.edu, ReadLiterature.com, Catholic Education

The More You Know: Sigourney's real name is Susan Alexandra Weaver. Maybe you will recognize her as Alvy's theater date tonight when you're home stuffing your face with ice cream and watching Annie Hall. I know I will.
(JK, we're stuffing our faces and watching "The Bachelor" [and arguing about Michelle. Controversial!].)

1 comment:

  1. The character in the The Great Gatsby is Sigourney HOWARD.

    ReplyDelete