小說《了不起的蓋茨比》翻譯及評論

目錄 |– 一、法外之人 |– 二、傑伊·蓋茨比；金錢的魅力——錢能通神 |– 三、湯姆；富家子弟生活一瞥 | |– 1.讀書 | |– 2.討老婆 | |– 3.漂亮房子 | -- 4.婚後的風流事 |-- 四、書裡頭的女人 | |-- 黛西 | |-- 默特爾·威爾森 | |-- 喬丹·貝克 | – 其他，浮花浪蕊 |– 五、尼克，透過尼克的敘述，一個場景（灰燼之谷 / Valley of Ashes） `– 六、扭曲的時代

《了不起的蓋茨比》讀後 —— 人物、情節、場景淺析

（作者：囡魚； 引用譯文的譯者：囡魚； 原文ISBN：9781853260414 ） [請勿在讀完原著（或任何版本的，其譯本）之前閱讀本文] [全文譯本]

一、法外之人

故事的開頭對其主角傑伊·蓋茨比先生做足了鋪墊，它讓我們跟著他的鄰居，同我們一樣和他尚未謀面的尼克一起，從喬丹的口中、從威爾森夫人的妹妹口中、從舞會上的各色人口中，聽到他的名字，看到他的魅影，但是一直等到第三章快要結束之時，他才於不經意間登場，卻又匆匆隱退，隨之留下的圍繞在他周身的迷團，更是直到故事的結尾才全然揭開。

第四章，蓋茨比再次出場，尼克坐在他豪華的勞斯來斯汽車裡，目睹了有意思的一幕：

車子的擋泥板像翅膀一樣張開了，一路上我們為半個阿斯多利亞提供了光照——只是半個，因為當我們在那些正常的車子之間繞來繞去的時候，我聽到了一聲熟悉的『糾嗚——糾嗚哇——啪！』的摩托車響，一個氣急敗壞的警察騎了過來。 『好吧，老兄，』蓋茨比喊道。我們減速了。他從錢包裡拿出一張白色卡片，在那人眼前揮了揮。 『是你啊，』警察肯定道，脫下了他的帽子。『下次一定認得你，蓋茨比先生，抱歉！』 『那是什麼？』我問。 …… > > (原文P44) > With fenders spread like wings we scattered light through half Astoria - only half, for as we twisted among the pillars of the elevated I heard the familiar 'jug-jug-spat!' of a motorcycle, and a frantic policeman rode alongside. > 'All right, old sport,' called Gatsby. We slowed down. Taking a white card from his wallet, he wavd it before the man's eyes. > 'Right you are,' agreed the policeman, tipping his cap. 'Know you next time, Mr Gatsby. Excuse me!' > 'What was that?' I enquired. ... > > >

蓋茨比就這麼輕輕松松地搞定了一個警察，加之他之前在車上對尼克提到的其它事蹟，在汽車通過昆斯伯羅大橋的時候，尼克心中不禁感嘆：

『什麼事情都可以發生，既然我們過了這座橋，』我想著；『任何事情……』 連蓋茨比都可以，沒有人大驚小怪。 > > (原文P44) > 'Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge,' I thought; 'anything at all...' > Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. > > >

不過這裡蓋茨比輕鬆搞定一個區區警察，我們可能只是對他的身世背景更添加了一分好奇，也還不至於太過大驚小怪，畢竟也可能是就像他講的，因為他碰巧幫過那個警察一個忙，所以那個警察給他行了一個方便。不過，書中還特別提到了另外幾個似乎可以隨意玩弄法律、愚弄民眾，而逍遙法外的『法外之人』。其中一個叫邁耶·渥夫斯罕，在第四章，尼克親眼見到了他，還和他一起吃了一餐飯。邁耶·渥夫斯罕走後，尼克問蓋茨比道：

『他是什麼人到底，是演員？』 『不是。』 『牙醫？』 『邁耶·渥夫斯罕？不是，他是個賭徒。』蓋茨比猶豫地說道，然後很酷地加上一句：他就是一九一九年那次，操控世界聯賽的那個人。 『操控世界聯賽？』我重複了一遍。 這個想法震驚了我。我當然記得一九一九年的比賽被操縱了，但如果說我曾經有想過這件事的話，那我不過是覺得它發生了，緣于某條大概不可阻擋的利益鏈。我從來沒想過區區一個人竟可以隨意玩弄五千萬人的信任——玩弄一群尚不了解一個竊賊是如何把一個保險箱炸爛的那些心思單純的人們。 『他怎麼就做了那件事？』一分鍾後我問道。 『他看出了這個機會。』 『沒抓得他去坐牢？』 『他們抓不到他，老兄。他是個聰明人。』 > > (原文P47) > 'Who is he, anyhow, an actor?' > 'No.' > 'A dentist?' > 'Meyer Wolfsheim? No, he's a gambler.' Gatsby hesitated, then added coolly: 'He's the man who fixed the World's Series back in 1919.' > 'Fixed the World's Series?' I repeated. > The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the World's Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as a thing that merely happened, the end of some inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people - with the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe. > 'How did he happen to do that?' I asked after a minute. > 'He just saw the opportunity.' > 'Why isn't he in jail?' > 'They can't get him, old sport. He's a smart man.' > > >

第二個就是丹·科迪，他的照片掛在蓋茨比臥室的墻壁上。

我開始在房間裡轉悠起來，在這半明暗的光線下，檢視著一些模糊的物體。一張身穿水手服的年長男人的大幅照片吸引了我，掛在他書桌上方的墻壁上。 『這位是？』 『他？他是丹·科迪先生，老兄。』 他的名字聽起來有一點點耳熟。 『現在他已經死了。前幾年他是我最好的朋友。』 > > (原文P60) > I began to walk about the room, examining various indefinite objects in the half darkness. A large photograph of an elderly man in yachting costume attracted me, hung on the wall over his desk. > 'Who's this?' > 'That? That's Mr Dan Cody, old sport.' > The name sounded faintly familiar. > 'He's dead now. He used to be my best friend years ago.' > > >

後來在第六章，尼克又回憶起他對這張照片的映像，以及蓋茨比和丹·科迪之間的一些事情。

他是作為一個模糊的身份被雇用的——當他和科迪在一起的時候，他輪流充當管家、同伴、船長、秘書，甚至還有監護人身份，…… 如此安排持續了五年，五年間，遊船繞著這片大陸來回行駛了三次。這一航程可能還會無限期地延長下去，如果不是有一晚在波士頓，埃拉·凱伊來到了船上的話，一星期之後，丹·科迪便撒手人寰了。 **_我記得他那張在蓋茨比臥室墻上的照片，一個灰白、花哨的男人，有著一張堅硬而空洞的臉——敗壞道德的先鋒，他一度將妓院和交誼廳裡那套野蠻和暴力重新帶回了美國東海岸的生活裡。_**…… 從科迪那兒，他還繼承了一筆錢——一筆兩萬五千美元的遺贈款。但這錢並沒有到他手裡。他從沒弄明白用來對付他的那些法律伎倆，而剩下的幾百萬美金則完好無損地進了埃拉·凱伊的帳戶。他離開了，帶著他所得到的非凡的得體的教育；傑伊·蓋茨比這個模糊的輪廓已經充實為一個真實的人了。 > > (原文P64) > He was employed in a vague personal capacity - while he remained with Cody he was in turn steward, mate, skipper, secretary and even jailor, ... The arrangement lasted five years, during which the boat went three times around the Continent. It might have lasted indefinitely except for the fact that Ella Kaye came on board one night in Boston and a week later Day Cody inhospitably died. > I remember the portrait of him up in Gatsby's bedroom, a grey, florid man with a hard, empty face - the pioneer debauchee, who during one phase of American life brought back to the Eastern seaboard the savage violence of the frontier brothel and saloon. ... > And it was from Cody that he inherited money - a legacy of twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn't get it. He never understood the legal device that was used against him, but what remained of the millions went intact to Ella Kaye. He was left with his singularly appropriate education; the vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out to the substantiality of a man. > > >

上面還提到了一個叫埃拉·凱伊女人（丹·科迪身邊的無數女人裡面，最終得逞一個），通過文中寥寥幾句的描述，我們可以想見，她實際上也是一個『法外之人』，只不過她的法外之權是間接地通過利用丹·科迪而獲得：

科迪時年五十，是內華達地區銀礦業的，亦是育空地區的，是自一八七五年始的每一波淘金熱的——產兒。他在蒙大拿的銅礦業務使他數度成為百萬富翁，卻也突顯了他雖則身體強壯，內心卻幾近軟弱，有鑒于此，更有 **_無數女人_**試圖把他和他的錢財隔離開來。 **_其中有個來自報業界的女人，名字叫埃拉•凱，其下作行徑是一九○二年乏味的新聞報導上的常客，她利用他的脆弱，順勢扮演起了曼寧夫人的角色，支使著他搭乘遊艇出海去了。_**在以詹姆斯•蓋茨的命中貴人的姿態出現在小女孩海灣之前，他已經沿著熱情好客的海濱航行了五個年頭了。 > > (原文P63－64) > Cody was fifty years old then, a product of the Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, of every rush for metal since 1875. The transactions in Montana copper that made him many times a millionaire found him physically robust but on the verge of soft-mindedness, and, suspecting this, an infinite number of women tried to seperate him from his money. The none too savoury ramifications by which Ella Kaye, the newspaper woman, played Madame de Maintenon to his weakness and sent him to sea in a yacht, were common property of the turgid journalism of 1902. He had been coasting along all too hospitable shores for five years when he turned up as James Gatz's destiny in Little Girl Bay. > > >

以及她不知如何把丹·科迪的錢完好無損地弄進了自己的帳戶，使蓋茨比也沒有得到他的那一份：

從科迪那兒，他（蓋茨比）還繼承了一筆錢——一筆兩萬五千美元的遺贈款。但這錢並沒有到他手裡。他從沒弄明白用來對付他的那些法律伎倆，而剩下的幾百萬美金則完好無損地進了埃拉·凱伊的帳戶。 > > (原文P64) > And it was from Cody that he inherited money - a legacy of twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn't get it. He never understood the legal device that was used against him, but what remained of the millions went intact to Ella Kaye. > > >

在最後一章，丹·科迪再次被提及：

有人開始來問我問題，被我掙開了，我跑到樓上匆匆地看了一遍他桌子沒有上鎖的部分——他從來沒有明確地跟我講過他父母過世了。但是那裡什麼也沒有—— **_只有一張丹·科迪的照片，從墻上望下來，顯示了一種被遺忘的暴力。_** > > (原文P105) > Someone started to ask me questions, but I broke away and going upstairs looked hastily through the unlocked parts of his desk - he'd never told me definitely that his parents were dead. But there was nothing - only the picture of Dan Cody, a token of forgotten violence, staring down from the wall. > > >

整個故事從未明確告訴過我們蓋茨比是做什麼的，他總是從側面隱隱約約地勾勒出幾筆他的筆輪廓，通過他的財富、他總也接不完的電話、他的舉止和表情，還有，通過他和不論是丹·科迪還是渥夫斯罕的密切關係，然後，再讓我們用自己的想像去填充。比如在第五章，黛西第一次去他的房子裡的時候，尼克也在場，他接了一個電話：

『喂……呃，我現在不方便……我現在不方便講話，老兄……我說了，一個小鎮子……他一定知道一個小鎮子的意思吧…… **_那他對我們來說就是個廢物，如果底特律就是他所謂的小鎮的話_**……』 > > (原文P60) > 'Yes...Well, I can't talk now...I can't talk now, old sport...I said a small town...He must know what a small town is...Well, he's no use to us if Detroit is his idea of a small town...' > > >

『那他對我們來說就是個廢物，如果……』這句話，讓我們聯想到，在影視劇裡我們經常會從某個黑幫大佬的口裡面聽到這一句。又比如，在蓋茨比死後（最後一章），尼克還接到一個找蓋茨比的電話，對方開始並不知道蓋茨比死了，以為接電話的人是蓋茨比：

『小帕克有麻煩了，』他迅速說道。『他們在他把債券交到柜臺的時候抓了他。他們接到了一封從紐約來的信，告訴了他們號碼，就在五分鍾前。關於那個你可曉得什麼，嘿？你永遠不能跟那些土包子鄉巴佬——』 『喂！』我氣急敗壞地打斷道。『聽著——我不是蓋茨比先生。蓋茨比先生已經死了。』 > > (原文P106) > 'Young Parke's in trouble,' he said rapidly. 'They picked him up when he handed the bonds over the counter. They got a circular from New York givng 'em the numbers just five minutes before. What d'you know about that, hey? You never can tell in these hick towns -' > 'Hello!' I interrupted breathlessly. 'Look here - this isn't Mr Gatsby. Mr Gatsby's dead.' > > >

從這裡我們又窺見了一絲他經手的『事務』的內容，不管怎麼樣，我們可以想見，他和丹·科迪、和邁耶·渥夫斯罕所走的都是同樣一條『康莊大道』。

二、傑伊·蓋茨比；金錢的魅力——錢能通神

那麼傑伊·蓋茨比到底是個什麼樣的人？是什麼讓他走上這條『康莊大道』？

看完整個故事，我們知道傑伊·蓋茨比原名詹姆斯·蓋茨，出生於明尼蘇達州一個小鎮上的農民家庭，他的父母親，根據故事裡講的，是『不長進的失敗農民』。他大概在十幾歲的時候因為跟父親鬧翻了而離家出走，此後，他便一直過著四處漂泊的自由生活，然而他的心卻一直在動盪之中，他堅信自己會有一個遠大的前程，從未停止過尋找適合自己的機會，直到他遇見丹·科迪。以下文字摘錄了他在遇見丹·科迪之前的生活的片段：

一年多以來，他作為一個挖蛤人和捕魚者，或者以其它任何能給他帶來食物和居所的身份，活動在蘇必利爾湖的南岸。他那棕色而堅韌的身體很自然地適應了這種半嚴酷、半慵懶，而充滿活力的日子。他很早就知道女人這回事，由於她們把他給寵壞了，他反對她們抱以鄙夷的態度，那些童貞的少女，他認為她們太過無知，而其他的女人，則又對他的，以其太過沉溺於自我的眼光而特別珍視的一些事物，抱以歇斯底里的大笑。 但他的心始終在動盪之中。夜晚，躺在床上，總是有那最奇異最古怪的幻像跑出來將他攫住。 …… 幾個月前，一種對於他未來飛黃騰達的直覺，指引他去了明尼蘇達州南部的小路德聖奧拉夫學院。他在那呆了兩個禮拜，震驚於他們對他個人的命運之曲及命運其本身的那種殘酷的冷漠，且又不屑於他那份為了獲取路費而幹的看門人工作。他於是回到了蘇必利爾湖，在丹•科迪的遊艇拋錨在近岸淺灘上的那天，他仍舊在尋找，找看有什麼合適的事情可做。 > > (原文P63) > For over a year he had been beating his way along the south shore of Lake Superior as a clam-digger and a salmon-fisher or in any other capacity that brought him food and bed. His brown, hardening body lived naturally through the half-fierce, half-lazy work of the bracing days. He knew women early, and since they spoiled him he became contemptuous of them, of young virgins because they were ignorant, of the others because they were hysterical about things which in his overwhelming self-absorbtion he took for granted. > But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. ... > An instinct toward his future glory had led him, some months before, to the small Lutheran college of St. Olaf in southern Minnesota. He stayed there two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself, and despising the janitor’s work with which he was to pay his way through. Then he drifted back to Lake Superior, and he was still searching for something to do on the day that Dan Cody’s yacht dropped anchor in the shallows alongshore. > > >

就在那一天，蓋茨比看見了丹·科迪的遊艇，並深深為之傾倒。那一天：

年青的蓋茨靠在他的小槳上休息，抬頭望著那有欄桿圍住的甲板，對於他來說，那艘遊艇，呈現了這個世界上一切的美好和無窮的魅力。

<code>(原文P64)
To young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, that yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world.
</code>

蓋茨比牢牢地把握住了這一次機會。

幾天後他（丹·科迪）帶著他去了德盧斯，還給他買了一件藍色外套和六條白鴨絨褲以及一頂水手帽。當托樂美號開往西印度群島和巴巴里海岸時，蓋茨比也一起去了。 > > (原文P64) > A few days later he took him to Duluth and bought him a blue coat, six pair of white duck trousers, and a yachting cap. And when the Tuolomee left for the West Indies and the Barbary Coast Gatsby left too. > > >

此後的五年，從十七歲到二十二歲，他一直跟隨丹·科迪，直到如上文所提到的，那個叫埃拉·凱伊女人的出現，才中斷了他們的海上旅程。在這五年間，蓋茨比獲得了，如原文所說的，『非凡的得體的教育』，并且『傑伊•蓋茨比這個模糊的輪廓已經充實為一個真實的人了。』不過，很明顯，他獲得的這種『非凡的得體的教育』當然是丹·科迪式的教育，如前所述，丹·科迪——一個敗壞道德的先鋒，一種被遺忘的暴力。而丹·科迪的離奇死亡，以及完好無損地進入了埃拉·凱伊帳戶裡的那筆幾百萬美元的遺產外加蓋茨比自己的那一份兩萬五千塊美元遺贈款，所有這一切，給他上了怎樣的一課？『他從沒弄明白用來對付他的那些法律伎倆，』但他在那個時候，講不定就已經明白了在法律面前，你須要玩弄一些伎倆。畢竟埃拉·凱伊這個女人，這個嫌疑的殺人者、財產的侵吞者，雖然『其下作行徑是一九○二年乏味的新聞報導上的常客，』但法律卻並無拿她怎麼樣。

丹·科迪死後，從故事裡我們知道，蓋茨比後來當兵了。在泰勒營裡服役時，他認識了黛西。

她（黛西）是他平生裡認得的第一個『好女孩』。在各種不為人知的身份下，他結交上了此一類人，可總是有一道說不清道不明的帶刺的柵欄隔在他們之間。他發現她是如此的令人激動的性感。他去她家裡，起先是同其他從泰勒營來的軍官一起，後來他就自己去了。 **_這讓他驚奇——他以前從來沒有置身在一幢如此漂亮的房子裡過。但真正讓他感到窒息般緊張的事實是黛西住在那裡面——而這對於她來講是再平常不過的事，好像在營隊裡睡帳篷於他一樣的平常。在這裡面有一個純熟的秘密，一個暗示，暗示了——有關於樓上的臥室要比其它的臥室更酷更漂亮，關於歡快和魅力四射的活動正在走廊上發生並進行著，關於已經披著淡紫色的薄紗等在那裡的毫不陳腐，相反新鮮、呼之欲出的風流韻事，以及時年最閃耀的新車發出的強烈氣味，關於有著永不凋零的鮮花的舞會。_**還有一點事實也同樣令他興奮，就是，已經有很多男人愛上了黛西——這使得她在他眼中的價值提升了。他在房子的四周圍感覺到他們的存在，那些激情猶在的形影和回聲布滿了空氣。 **_但他明白他走進黛西的房子是一個巨大的偶然。不管他作為傑伊•蓋茨比的未來能有多光輝，當下他只是個不名一文的年輕人，沒有經驗，而且他那件有無形的偽裝作用的制服隨時都可能從他的肩膀上滑落。_**所以他盡可能充分地利用他的時間。他抓住所有他可以得到的，如飢似渴，不擇手段——終於他在十月份一個寂靜的晚上抱起了黛西，抱她是因為他並沒有真正被允許觸碰她的手。 ... 但是他沒有自暴自棄，事情也並未往他以為的方向發展。他本想，或許，盡情享受他能夠擁有的，然後離開——但現在他發現他已然把自己投身於對一個聖杯的追逐之中了。 **_他曉得黛西是不同尋常的，但是他就沒料到一個『好』女孩可以有多麼得不同尋常。她不見了，消失進了她富麗堂皇的宅子裡，進了她的富貴裡，整個生活，脫離了蓋茨比——一絲不落。他傾心於他，這就是全部。_** 當他們再次見面，於兩天後， **_是蓋茨比屏住呼吸，是他，以某種方式，被出賣了_**。她的門廳因飾有買來的奢華的星星亮片而明耀無比；她朝他轉過身來的時候，柳條沙發時髦的咿咿呀呀叫，他則親吻了她好奇而可愛的嘴巴。她感冒了，使得她的聲音有點沙啞而顯得比任何時候都更加迷人， **_蓋茨比強烈地意識到了，年輕，以及由財富圈定的秘密領地，以及許許多多嶄新的衣服，以及黛西，白銀樣的閃耀，安全地、驕傲地凌駕於水深火熱的窮苦眾生之上。_** > > (原文P94－95) > She was the first 'nice' girl he had ever known. In various unrevealed capacities he had come in contact with such people, but always with indiscernible barbed wire between. He found her excitingly desirable. He went to her house, at first with other officers from Camp Taylor, then alone. It amazed him - he had never been in such a beautiful house before. but what gave it an air of breathless intensity, was that Daisy lived there - it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at camp was to him. There was a ripe mystery about it, a hint of bedrooms up-stairs more beautiful and cool than other bedrooms, of gay and radiant activities taking place through its corridors, and of romances that were > not musty and laid away already in lavender but fresh and breathing and redolent of this year’s shining motor-cars and of dances whose flowers were scarcely withered. It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy - it increased her value in his eyes. He felt their presence all about the house, pervading the air with the shades and echoes of still vibrant emotions. > But he knew that he was in Daisy’s house by a colossal accident. However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders. So he made the most of his time. He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously - eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand. > ... > But he didn’t despise himself and it didn’t turn out as he had imagined. He had intended, probably, to take what he could and go—but now he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail. He knew that Daisy was extraordinary, but he didn’t realize just how extraordinary a 'nice' girl could be. She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby—nothing. He felt married to her, that was all. > When they met again, two days later, it was Gatsby who was breathless, who was, somehow, betrayed. Her porch was bright with the bought luxury of star-shine; the wicker of the settee squeaked fashionably as she turned toward him and he kissed her curious and lovely mouth. She had caught a cold, and it made her voice huskier and more charming than ever, and Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor. > > >

在他結識了黛西，有幸瞻仰了黛西這個『好女孩』的生活之後，他赤裸裸的看到、也意識到、更感受到了，窮人和富人之間的天壤之別，看到了富貴人家『由財富圈定的秘密領地』，看到了黛西『安全地、驕傲地凌駕於水深火熱的窮苦眾生之上』。他看到了 金錢的魅力。實際上，在黛西的美麗當中，自始至終本就包含了金錢的魅力，包含了她出生並成長的那個『人造世界』裡的種種浪漫和華美。蓋茨比最初僅僅是模糊地意識到這一點。及至他後來失去了黛西，及至再後來他重新以金錢的魅力、幾乎再一次地贏回黛西，他已然清楚地明白這一點：不論何時，黛西選擇的天秤都會傾向於『一種更為確保的富貴的生活』，黛西的美麗也是由那種富貴的生活來維持的。這也是為什麼在湯姆·布坎南隱約地提到蓋茨比生意上的可疑背景之後，黛西馬上就打消了離開湯姆去跟著蓋茨比生活的念頭。

那麼，我們可以講蓋茨比最終是因為追求愛情而走上了這條『康莊大道』嗎？我們來細細看關於蓋茨比對黛西的愛情，在故事裡是怎樣描述的。

首先，在第一章末尾，透過尼克的眼睛，我們第一次看到了蓋茨比的身影，以及他所追逐的海灣對岸的那一抹綠光：

他（蓋茨比）用一種古怪的方式把雙臂伸向黑暗中的水際，而且，以我離他的距離，我（尼克）敢肯定他在顫抖。我朝大海的方向投去不由自主的一瞥——除了一抹孤單單的綠光我什麼也沒看見，那綠光細小而遙遠，許是在一個馬頭的盡頭。 > > (原文P16) > he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward － and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. > > >

通過後面的故事，和尼克一起，我們漸漸知曉了那一道綠光就是他、蓋茨比的黛西。後來當黛西來到他奢華的宅邸，『窗外又開始下雨了，所以我們（尼克、黛西和他）站了一排，看著海港上泛起的漣漪。』這個時候，他對黛西講道：

『如果不是有霧的話，我們就可以看到你海灣對面的家，』蓋茨比說。『你總是有一盞綠色的燈一整夜都亮著，在你港灣的盡頭。』

然後透過旁觀者尼克的描述，我們看到：

黛西忽然伸手捥著他的手臂，但他似乎還沉浸在他剛剛說的話裡面。很有可能對他來說，那束光亮的巨大意義已經永遠的消失了。相較於把他和黛西隔開的那巨大而遙遠的距離來說，那束光曾經讓他覺得他們很近，幾乎一伸手就能觸碰到她，好比星星同月亮的距離。現在這亮光又變回一個不知名的馬頭上的一盞綠光而已了。他心目中叫他魂牽夢縈的物體又減少了一樣。 > > （原文P60） > 'If it wasn’t for the mist we could see your home across the bay,' said Gatsby. 'You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.' > Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one. > > >

再後來，黛西來參加了他的舞會。舞會結束後，他和尼克之間有一段對話十分耐人尋味：

『她不喜歡，』他立刻說道。 『她當然會喜歡。』 『她不喜歡，』他堅持。『她玩得不開心。』 他沉默了，我則揣測著他這不可名狀的鬱鬱。『我感覺我離她很遠，』他說。『沒辦法讓她明白。』 『你是說舞會？』 『舞會？』他手上打一個響指，把所有的辦過的舞會都忽略不計了。『老兄，舞會是不重要的。』 他要的唯是黛西走到湯姆面前，跟湯姆講：『我從來沒有愛過你。』在她用一句話將四年一筆勾銷之後，他們便可決定下一步的更切實際的行動。行動之一是，在她自由之後，他們將再次回到路易斯維爾，然後他從她的家裡把她娶出來——就好像這是在五年前。 『可她不明白，』他說。『在以前她是能明白的。我們一起一坐就是好幾個小時——』 他不講了，開始在一條滿是果皮、棄物和壓壞的花朵的孤寂的小徑上走上走下。 **_『是我就不會要求她太多，』我不同意道。『你已經沒辦法回到過去了。』 『沒辦法回到過去？』他不可置信地喊。『怎么，你當然可以！』 他狂野地看向自己的四周圍，好似過去就潛藏在這兒，在他宅子的陰影裡，一伸手就可以抓到。 『我會像以前一樣，把每件事都安排得妥妥帖帖，』他說時堅定地點著頭。『她會看到的。』_** > > （原文P70－71） > 'She didn’t like it,' he said immediately. > 'Of course she did.' > 'She didn’t like it,' he insisted. 'She didn’t have a good time.' > He was silent, and I guessed at his unutterable depression. 'I feel far away from her,' he said. 'It’s hard to make her understand.' > 'You mean about the dance?' > 'The dance?' He dismissed all the dances he had given with a snap of his fingers. 'Old sport, the dance is unimportant.' > He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: 'I never loved you.' After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house just as if it were five years ago. > 'And she doesn’t understand,' he said. 'She used to be able to understand. We’d sit for hours——' > He broke off and began to walk up and down a desolate path of fruit rinds and discarded favors and crushed flowers. > 'I wouldn’t ask too much of her,' I ventured. 'You can’t repeat the past.' > 'Can’t repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!' > He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand. > 'I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before,' he said, nodding determinedly. 'She’ll see.' > > >

透過尼克的感受，我們可以更進一步體會：

他（蓋茨比）講了很多過去的事，我（尼克）想 **_他是想要還原一些東西，或許是他自己的一些想法，_** **這些想法嵌進了他對黛西的愛裡面。** **_他的人生自那時候就充滿了困惑和無序，但要是一旦他能夠回到某個特定的起點，重新慢慢地再走一遍，他就能找到問題的所在……_** > > （原文P71） > He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was... > > >

我們繼續來看，實際上，故事裡上上下下，尼克在很多場合都提及了類似的感受，例如，還是在黛西第一次到蓋茨比的豪宅裡去的那次，尼克準備走過去道別，

當我走過去道別時，我看到困惑的表情又回到了蓋茨比的臉上，好像他對眼下的幸福生出了一絲懷疑。快五年了！五年裡肯定會有那樣的時刻，黛西讓他的夢幻忽然跌落，即使是在那個下午——可那并非她的錯， **_只因為，他的幻想一刻都不曾停歇。這幻想超越了她，在一切之上。_**他以創造性的激情投身於這幻想，不停地為它添磚加瓦，穿戴上每一片能妝飾他這一夢幻的閃閃發光的羽翼。任何巨大的火焰或者活物，都無法比擬一個人、在他那捉摸不定的內心裡所能夠儲藏下的。 > > （原文P61－62） > As I went over to say good-by I saw that the expression of bewilderment had come back into Gatsby’s face, as though a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness.Almost five years! There must have been moments even that afternoon whe Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart. > > >

又例如，有一次尼克認為蓋茨比『講出一句古怪的評語來』，因為他說：『不管怎麼樣，這只是個人的事。』

『我不覺得她有愛過他，』蓋茨比從一扇窗前轉過身，拿挑戰眼神看著我。『你曉得的，老兄，她今天下午很激動。他（湯姆）用一種恐嚇的方式把這些事講給她聽——搞得好像我是什麼輕浮的詐騙分子。結果搞得她幾乎不曉得她自己在講什麼了。』 他憂鬱地坐了下來。 『當然她有可能只愛過他一小下子，在他們剛結婚的時候——而且即便在那個時候她還是更愛我，你可明白？』 **_忽然他講出一句古怪的評語來。 『不管怎麼樣，』他說，『這只是個人的事。』_** > > （原文P96－97） > 'I don’t think she ever loved him.' Gatsby turned around from a window and looked at me challengingly. 'You must remember, old sport, she was very excited this afternoon. He told her those things in a way that frightened her—that made it look as if I was some kind of cheap sharper. And the result was she hardly knew what she was saying.' > He sat down gloomily. > 'Of course she might have loved him just for a minute, when they were first married—and loved me more even then, do you see?' > Suddenly he came out with a curious remark. > 'In any case,' he said, 'it was just personal.' > > >

再有，我們在前面提到過的、代表蓋茨比的黛西底那一道綠光，在故事的結尾，尼克乾脆把它形容為了『那一個年復一年地跑在我們前方的，歡縱的未來』。

**_蓋茨比深信那一道綠光，那一個年復一年地跑在我們前方的，歡縱的未來。_**那時它避開我們，但那沒關係——明天我們會跑得更快，把我們的雙臂伸展得更厲害……然後在一個愉快的早晨—— > > （原文P115） > Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther...And one fine morning—— > > >

因此，現在我來回答前面提出的那個問題：我們可以講蓋茨比最終是因為追求愛情而走上了這條所謂『康莊大道』嗎？不，我認為不可以。這樣子講起碼是不準確的，根據以上所述。我們還可以更進一步地，當然也是很明顯地，得出一個事實，即蓋茨比把對黛西的追求當作了他對自己遠大前程的追求的一部分，所以很自然地，故事越到後來，我們就越看不到愛情的影子了。那我們看到的到底是什麼嘞？

是錢、錢、萬能的錢—— 錢能通神！

黛西嫁給了湯姆，蓋茨比失去了她的女孩。後來，蓋茨比也許很清楚其中的原因，故事的第七章，他先是對尼克點破，說黛西的聲音裡充滿了錢的味道，

『她的聲音很輕率，』我說。『充滿了——』我猶豫著。 『充滿了錢的味道，』他突然說。 就是了。我以前一直不明白。她的聲音裡滿是金錢味——這就是那起起伏伏的嗓音裡無窮的魅力之所在，它叮咚地響，它是一曲金鈸之樂……高高在上的白色宮殿裡，國王的女兒，那個金光閃閃的女孩…… > > （原文P76） > 'She's got an indiscreet voice, ' I remarked. 'It's full of - ' I hesitated. > 'Her voice is full of money,' he said suddenly. > That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it... high in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl... > > >

後又直接對湯姆講：

『你老婆不愛你，』蓋茨比說。『她從來就不愛你。她愛我。』 『你發癲吧！』湯姆不由自主地驚嘆道。 蓋茨比突然地站了起來，興奮而活躍。 『她從來沒愛過你，可有聽到？』他叫道。『 **_她嫁給你只是因為我當時很窮，而她等我等得累了。_**那是一個天大的錯誤，在她心裡她從來沒有喜歡過任何人除了我！』 > > （原文P83） > 'Your wife doesn’t love you,' said Gatsby. 'She’s never loved you. She loves me.' > 'You must be crazy!' exclaimed Tom automatically. > Gatsby sprang to his feet, vivid with excitement. > 'She never loved you, do you hear?' he cried. 'She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!' > > >

所以蓋茨比也許同樣，從一開始到後來，越來越清楚地知道他要怎麼樣去贏回黛西。他賺錢，不擇手段地賺錢，賺快錢，他花了三年時間就賺夠了買下黛西對面的那幢無與倫比的房子的錢（黛西在第一次見到並走進這幢房子時發出了一連串讚歎），他舉辦奢華的無與倫比的大型舞會，他開無與倫比的時髦汽車，他專門有一個人在英國幫他買當季的衣服，關於他的衣服，尼克看到：

他拿出一摞襯衫，並開始把它們一件一件地扔到我們前面，有透明亞麻料子的，有厚絲綢的，有上等法蘭絨的，它們落下來時都被抖散了，各種顏色的襯衫混亂地蓋在桌子上。在我們嘖嘖稱讚之時，他又拿出來更多，那柔軟而豐富的一堆又摞得更高了——條紋的、圓點的和格子的，粉色的、青色的、紫色的、淡桔色的，還有印度藍的字母圖案的。突然，一個不自然的聲音傳來，黛西把她的頭埋在襯衫裡，大哭起來。 『它們這麼漂亮，』她抽泣道，聲音捂在厚厚的一堆襯衫裡面。『這讓我覺得悲傷，因為我從來沒見過這麼樣、這麼樣漂亮的襯衫。』 > > （原文P59） > He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher—shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, and monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. > 'They’re such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. 'It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.' > > >

他臥室的梳妝台上擺放著的一套沉悶的純金梳妝用具；他的那些盛況空前的舞會，讓他的鄰居尼克眼花繚亂。跟隨著尼克的腳步，我們看到了湧動的人潮（在他藍色的花園裡）、聽到了樂隊的聲浪、聞到了空氣裡香檳酒的味道、感受到了變換的五光十色……那兩個黃衫女孩，那個漂亮的女演員和她的導演，那個著名的男高音歌唱家，那個聲名狼藉的女低音，和這兩者區間內的各色人等，那起在各個圈子裡穿梭的長袖善舞的『吉普賽女郎』，那個圖書室裡的鷹眼男，那些吃醉了的某某某先生，某某某女士……

其中有一個場景尤其讓我映像深刻，我仿佛瞬間置身在了一個童話的世界裡。那一輪『提前捧出的，像晚餐樣的從經理的菜籃子裡直接拿出去，掛在了天上的』月亮——好像在他蓋茨比的舞會上，連天上月亮都是自己準備好的呢，可不叫應有盡有嘛！然後又見『一個托著雞尾酒的盤子穿過月光向我們漂過來』，可不是童話世界？！

『你好！』她們齊聲嚷道。『你沒贏太可惜了。』 說的是高爾夫球賽。她輸掉了一禮拜前的總決賽。 『你不認得我們，』其中一個黃衫女孩說道，『不過我們差不多一個月前也是在這裡見過面了。』 『你們染頭髮了，』喬丹說，我倒是吃了一驚，可是女孩們已經漫不經心地走開了，她的說話倒像是對著 **_那輪提前捧出的月亮——像晚餐樣的從經理的菜籃子裡直接拿出去，掛在了天上的。_**喬丹那纖細的金色手臂挽著我的手臂，我們下了台階，在花園裡閒逛。 **_一個托著雞尾酒的盤子穿過月光向我們漂過來，_**我們在一張坐著那兩個黃衣女子和其他三個男人的桌子上坐下來，三位先生被一一介紹給我們，他們的名字叫『某某某先生』。 > > （原文P28） > 'Hello!' they cried together. 'Sorry you didn’t win.' > That was for the golf tournament. She had lost in the finals the week before. > 'You don’t know who we are,' said one of the girls in yellow, 'but we met you here about a month ago.' > 'You’ve dyed your hair since then,' remarked Jordan, and I started, but the girls had moved casually on and her remark was addressed to the premature moon, produced like the supper, no doubt, out of a caterer’s basket. With Jordan’s slender golden arm resting in mine, we descended the steps and sauntered about the garden. A tray of cocktails floated at us through the twilight, and we sat down at a table with the two girls in yellow and three men, each one introduced to us as Mr. Mumble. > > >

蓋茨比創造的不僅是一個童話世界，而且是一個無比歡快的童話世界。從一大早起，『他那輛黃色的旅行車像只輕盈的大蟲，歡快地跑到火車站去迎接每一班火車（第三章）。』舞會剛開始，樂隊演奏了黃色雞尾酒音樂，貫穿整個舞會，我們時不時地看到那兩個黃衫女孩穿梭期間，我們的記憶裡總忘不了那一抹亮眼的黃色，明快的黃色，歡樂的黃色，雀躍的黃色！但這一切的一切，這個五光十色的童話世界裡，哪一束光，哪一種色，哪一樣，不是錢的神通？蓋茨比的金錢似乎連天上的月亮都可以買通，正像黛西從小生活的那個人造的世界裡『因飾有買來的奢華的星星亮片而明耀無比』。因此，他當然也如愿地重新將黛西攬入了懷中，他也幾乎差一點就做到了讓黛西離開湯姆，同他雙宿雙棲，如果不是湯姆在背後調查了他，並故意在黛西面前提出他在生意上的可疑背景，促使黛西改變主意的話。無疑，湯姆幾乎再一次地打碎了他的完美計劃，讓他這個完美主義者沒辦法再回到過去，按照他自己最初的完美計劃，重新再來過一次。他曾對尼克講過，

他要的唯是黛西走到湯姆面前，跟湯姆講：『我從來沒有愛過你。』在她用一句話將四年一筆勾銷之後，他們便可決定下一步的更切實際的行動。行動之一是，在她自由之後，他們將再次回到路易斯維爾，然後他從她的家裡把她娶出來——就好像這是在五年前。 > > （原文P70） > He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: 'I never loved you.' After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house—just as if it were five years ago. > > >

不過無論如何，蓋茨比他當然不會放棄，不會被擊垮，他只會大不了再重頭來過，再重新制定一個更完美，更詳盡的計劃——如果他沒有死在威爾森的槍下的話。像尼克在故事開頭所描述的那樣，

…… 蓋茨比的迷人之處就在於，他對在生活中許下的一切承諾的那種高度地在意，彷彿他是一台與萬尺之外的地震掛了鉤的觸發器他的這一種敏感，同美其名曰『創造性禀賦』的那點子疲弱的影響力無關——實際是，他擁有一種非同尋常的希冀的天賦，一種我（尼克）認為是前無古人後無來者的，浪漫的意願。 > > （原文P3-4） > ... then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the 'creative temperament.' - it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. > > >

如果他沒有死在威爾森的槍下的話，也許他最後會贏得黛西也未可知，因為

不，事實最終表明蓋茨比是行得通的； …… > > （原文P4） > No - Gatsby turned out all right at the end; ... > > >

蓋茨比、又或者丹·科迪、又或者渥夫斯罕，事實最終表明他們這種人，他們的『康莊大道』是行得通的。他可以繼續玩弄規則、破壞規則、規避法律、繼續以他們的方式賺快錢，繼續在馬路上隨意穿來穿去，那些警察繼續為他們放行，『什麼事情都可以發生，任何事情……連蓋茨比都可以，沒有人大驚小怪。』

可是講到底蓋茨比其實是一個普通人。他的身世我們前面已經講過，非常普通。那麼他的理想呢？因為他一直相信自己前程遠大，關於他的理想我們曉得點什麼？事實是，我們好像只是曉得，或者講同意他是個很有理想的人，但他的理想底內容到底是什麼，我們講不出來。他的理想很空泛，甚至我覺得不講他是個有理想的，而講他是個有抱負的，好像會更準確一些。他一直，從小就有很強的抱負心，很努力，這點我們從他死後，他父親帶來的那本他小時候的書上寫的『日程表』跟『決定』可以窺見。講到他的父親，我們不妨來看一看他父親的一些言談。在他父親（『一位嚴肅的老人，非常無助而驚愕』）剛剛看過了兒子的尸體，從客廳走出來之後，老人對尼克說：

『他（蓋茨比）有大好的前程，你知道。他還是個年青人，但是他這裡有個強有力的大腦。』 他（蓋茨比的父親）令人印象深刻地碰了下腦袋，我點了點頭。 『如果他活著，他會是一個了不起的人。一個像詹姆斯•J•希爾斯那樣的人。他將建設他的祖國。』 > > （原文P107） > 'He had a big future before him, you know. He was only a young man, but he had a lot of brain power here.' > He touched his head impressively, and I nodded. > 'If he’d of lived, he’d of been a great man. A man like James J. Hill. He’d of helped build up the country.' > > >

根據英文原書的註釋，詹姆斯•J•希爾斯是一個鐵路大亨（1838-1916），他的北方證券公司在1904年因違規而陷入了信任危機。

再來看下面這個場景，這是在葬禮之前，老人來到的第二天了，

換好衣服後，我來到了隔壁，發現 **_蓋茨先生在廳下裡激動地走上走下。他對他兒子及他兒子擁有的財產的那份驕傲，在持續不斷地增長，_**現在他有一些東西要展示給我看。 『吉米寄給了我這張照片。』他用顫抖的手指拿出他的錢包。『看那裡。』 那是一張這幢房子的照片，邊角上爛掉了，髒稀稀的。他殷切地向我指出每一處細節。『看那裡！』然後在我的眼神裡尋找仰慕。他那麼頻繁地展示它，我想，現在對他來說，它比這座房子本身還更真實。 『吉米把它寄給我的。我覺得它是張很漂亮的照片。它拍得很好。』 『非常好。 **_你最近可見過他？_**』 『 **_兩年前他來看過我，買了我現在住的房子給我。當他離家出走的時候我們當然鬧翻了，但是我現在曉得他是有原因的了。他曉得他將來前程不可限量。只要他取得了什麼成功，他就總是對我很慷慨。_**』 > > （原文P110） > When I left his office the sky had turned dark and I got back to West Egg in a drizzle. After changing my clothes I went next door and found Mr. Gatz walking up and down excitedly in the hall. His pride in his son and in his son’s possessions was continually increasing and now he had something to show me. > 'Jimmy sent me this picture.” He took out his wallet with trembling fingers. 'Look there.' > It was a photograph of the house, cracked in the corners and dirty with many hands. He pointed out every detail to me eagerly. 'Look there!' and then sought admiration from my eyes. He had shown it so often that I think it was more real to him now than the house itself. > 'Jimmy sent it to me. I think it’s a very pretty picture. It shows up well.' > 'Very well. Had you seen him lately?' > 'He come out to see me two years ago and bought me the house I live in now. Of course we was broke up when he run off from home, but I see now there was a reason for it. He knew he had a big future in front of him. And ever since he made a success he was very generous with me.' > > >

再來下面是在老人拿出了那本寫有『日程表』跟『決定』的書給尼克看過之後說的話：

『吉米注定要 **_出人頭地_**。他總是有些子這樣、那樣的決定。你注意到他怎麼提升他的思想嗎？他總是很擅長這些。 **_有次他講我吃東西的時候像豬一樣_**，我因為那個打了他。』 > > （原文P110） > 'Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that. He told me I et like a hog once, and I beat him for it.' > > >

記得上文講過，他的父母親都是『不長進的失敗農民』，因此他父親，簡言之，是一個窮人。他的言談也確實符合這一點。在他的言談之中，我們多少看出一個窮人，對『大好前程』的想像是什麼樣子的，從他對他兒子的期望裡（『如果他活著，他會是一個了不起的人。一個像詹姆斯•J•希爾斯那樣的人。』），從他對他兒子擁有的財產的那一份不斷增長的驕傲裡，從他在看到兒子的豪宅之後，表現出的對兒子的認可裡（『當他離家出走的時候我們當然鬧翻了，但是我現在曉得他是有原因的了。他曉得他將來前程不可限量。只要他取得了什麼成功，他就總是對我很慷慨。』），看到這裡我們不無心酸……窮人的抱負是什麼呢？無非是出人頭地四個字；窮人心目中的大好前程是什麼呢？無非是吃好的、穿好的、住好的。我想，同樣地，蓋茨比作為一個窮人家的孩子，也繼承了所有窮人所共有的抱負，像他父親所期望的，像他自己所相信的，他會出人頭地，他會有一個大好的前程。

不同的是，蓋茨比不像他的父母親那樣不長進，蓋茨比雖然出身普通甚至微賤，但是他無疑非常的努力，更非常的優秀，這就是為什麼他走上了他現在走的這條路，這就是為什麼，出身微賤的他變成了『 了不起的蓋茨比』。

蓋茨比離家出走的時候也許只有十三或者十四、五歲，總之我們確切地知道他在十六歲之前就已經在外漂泊了，因為他遇見丹·科迪的時候十七歲，而在那之前的一年多以來，他已經『作為一個挖蛤人和捕魚者，或者以其它任何能給他帶來食物和居所的身份，活動在蘇必利爾湖的南岸。』他很早熟。優秀的孩子大多很早熟，更何況『窮人的孩子早當家』。他不滿於他的出身，也不滿他父母親的不長進，『有次他講我吃東西的時候像豬一樣，我因為那個打了他』他父親後來對尼克回憶道。所以我們也能夠理解為什麼他會離家出走。別忘了他還是一個浪漫的人，在他童稚的想像裡面：

他是一個上帝之子——這個詞，如果有表達什麼意思的話，就是它字面的意思——他必須像『他的父』一樣，服務於一項宏大、俗氣而虛華的美的事業。所以他編造出了正像他那個年紀，一個十七歲的男孩所能編造出的，一位傑伊•蓋茨比，並且對於這一構想，他可謂忠實到底。 > > （原文P63） > He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end. > > >

在他遇見丹·科迪的那一天，他為自己改名作傑伊·蓋茨比了。他已經開始在一點一點地為自己構想出一個完美的未來，用他那非同尋常的希冀的天賦和前無古人後無來者的浪漫的意願。碰巧的是，用故事原文的話講是『一個巨大的偶然』，他走進了黛西的房子。他結識了黛西，並深深為生活在人造世界裡的那個黛西，和黛西生活的那個人造的世界所震撼、所傾倒。他覺得『他以前從來沒有置身在一幢如此漂亮的房子裡過』，他覺得黛西是『如此的令人激動的性感』，他愛上了黛西，并且，他對尼克回憶說：『有段時間我甚至希望她乾脆把我拋棄了，但是她沒有，因為她也愛上了我』。於是，他這個完美主義者，這個浪漫的人，從這時候起就把黛西納入了他構想的那個美好的未來裡，直到湯姆·布坎南把他的黛西娶走了，他不可置信，直到黛西說出她愛過湯姆，但她也愛他，他不願意相信，直到——，直到他被槍殺之前，他還在等黛西打一個電話來……

所以，在了解了整個故事之後，我們再回過頭來看開篇尼克對他的評述，也許會有更多感觸。

蓋茨比——那個將所有我不屑一顧而無動於衷的事物一一呈現的人。如果說，人格是以卓有成效地將一系列連貫的卓越姿態示人而論的話，那麼蓋茨比的迷人之處就在於，他對在生活中許下的一切承諾的那種高度地在意，彷彿他是一台與萬尺之外的地震掛了鉤的觸發器。他的這一種敏感，同美其名曰『創造性禀賦』的那點子疲弱的影響力無關——實際是，他擁有一種非同尋常的希冀的天賦，一種我認為是前無古人後無來者的，浪漫的意願。不，事實最終表明蓋茨比是行得通的；只是那些——縈繞在蓋茨比心頭的，和那靄靄塵囂般、漂浮在他夢醒時分處的——重重疑竇，暫時中斷了我對他的那種悲傷失意的興趣，及我對人性的那陣短促而莫名的狂熱。 > > （原文P3） > Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the 'creative temperament.' - it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No—Gatsby turned out all right at the end; 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. > > >

我要講，蓋茨比是一個優秀的年青人，甚至我不願意講什麼『他走上了一條歧途』之類的話。因為他如果不走這條路，還有什麼其它的路他可以走呢？只有一條。那就是像他爸爸一樣，做一個『不長進的失敗農民』，而這條路正是他當初離家出走時，想要逃離的那一條。

三、湯姆；富家子弟生活一瞥

湯姆·布坎南，一個富家子弟，故事裡介紹『他的家境極其富裕』，又及，他這個人給人的印象，

自他的紐黑文歲月以來，他變了。現在的他是個留一頭稻草樣頭髮的、結實的三十歲男人，有個生硬的嘴巴加一副不可一世的舉止。一雙閃閃發亮的高傲眼睛主載了他的臉部，給了他一副貌似挑釁地向前傾斜著的外觀。他用女性化的姿態炫耀他的騎裝，即便如此也藏不住他那副身子骨裡的巨大能量——他看起來把那雙油光發亮的靴子塞滿了，直到最上面的那根鞋帶都緊繃，且當他移動他薄外套下的肩膀時，你會看到一大塊挪動的肌肉。這是一個蘊藏著巨大力量的身軀——一個殘暴的身軀。 他說話的聲音，一種粗啞而生硬的高亢，加強了他本身給人的暴躁易怒的印象。那聲音裡有種家長式的輕蔑，即使對他喜歡的人也一樣——在紐黑文就曾有些人對他恨之入骨。 > > （原文P6－7） > He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that body—he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage—a cruel body. > His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed. There was a touch of paternal contempt in it, even toward people he liked—and there were men at New Haven who had hated his guts. > > >

透過湯姆的生活，我們來粗略地看一看富家子弟的生活是怎麼樣的，從四個方面，

1. 讀書湯姆讀的是名校耶魯大學，即上面提到的『他的紐黑文歲月』，尼克跟他是校友。他早在讀大學的時候，『在金錢上的自由就足以引起非議了』。

他的家境極其富裕——早年間在大學裡，他在金錢上的自由就足以引起非議了——不過現在他離開了芝加哥，又再度以一種能讓你窒息的方式來到東部；比方他從森林湖。很難相信一個自己的同輩人竟有如此財力。 > > （原文P6） > His family were enormously wealthy - even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach - but now he'd left Chicago and come East in a fashion that rather took your breath away; for instance, he'd brought down a string polo ponies from Lake Forest. It was hard to realise that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that. > > >

1. 討老婆湯姆以他無人能及的金錢和地位，讓黛西、一個富貴人家的小姐，都變得飄飄然了，結果黛西在那一年的六月

…… 六月，她嫁給了芝加哥的湯姆•布坎南，那排場在路易斯維爾是盛況空前。他帶來了一百人、四輛私家車，還包下了穆爾酒店的整個一層樓，並且在婚禮前一天送了她一條價值三十五萬美元的珍珠項鏈。 > > （原文P49） > ... In June she married Tom Buchanan of Chicago, with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before. He came down with a hundred people in four private cars, and hired a whole floor of the Muhlbach Hotel, and the day before the wedding he gave her a string of pearls valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. > > >

後來這個情景從另一個側面被再次提及，

…… 而在所有的這些時間裡，她體內的某個部分一直在渴求著一個決定。她想要她的生活在此刻就定形，立馬——這個決定必須靠某種外力來促成——比如愛情，比如金錢，比如不容置疑的現實——得要是近在眼前的。 **_這個外力在仲春時節隨著湯姆•布坎南的到來而形成了。外面有大量美好的傳言，關於他這個人和他的地位，_**黛西變得飄飄然了。毫無疑問存在過某種掙扎和某種解脫。那封信到達了蓋茨比手裡，他那時還在牛津。 > > （原文P96） > ... And all the time something within her was crying for a decision. She wanted her life shaped now, immediately—and the decision must be made by some force—of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality—that was close at hand. > That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position, and Daisy was flattered. Doubtless there was a certain struggle and a certain relief. The letter reached Gatsby while he was still at Oxford. > > >

那封信當然是一封通知，通知蓋茨比她要結婚了，和湯姆·布坎南。

1. 漂亮房子故事的第一章，尼克去了湯姆和黛西的家做客。我們於是看到了他們漂亮的房子

他們的房子比我想像的還要精美，是一幢歡快的紅白相間、喬治殖民時期的宅邸，面朝海灣。草坪始於海灘，直奔向正門，足近一里地，緊接著躍過日晷和石磚小徑以及一個個艷麗的花園，當它終於觸到房子的牆壁時，一壁明亮的常青藤映入眼簾，彷彿是趁著這草坪奔湧而來的勢頭向上長的。房子正面為一排落地窗分割，現在這些窗子正反射著金光，敞開在這暖風吹拂的下午，而一身騎裝打扮的湯姆•布坎南正叉開兩腿站在門廊上。 > > （原文P6） > Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red-and-white Georgian Colonial mansion, overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens - finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. The front was broken by a line of French windows, glowing now with reflected gold and wide open to the warm windy afternoon, and Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch. > > > 我們穿過一條高處的走廊，來到一處明亮玫瑰色的所在，這地方通過兩端的落地窗將將好與這幢房子接上了。半開的窗子閃耀著白光，射在外面鮮綠草坪上，草好似要長進房子裡來了。一縷穿堂風，吹得窗簾像蒼白的旗幟似的飄拂起來，舞到磨砂的結婚蛋糕式樣的天花板上，接著又拂過酒紅色的地毯，像風吹過海平面，留下一抹漣漪。 > > （原文P7） > We walked through a high hallway into a bright rosy-colored space, fragilely bound into the house by French windows at either end. The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea. > > >

湯姆還有自己的馬匹和馬廄，在第七章，蓋茨比和尼克到他那邊做客，他曾帶蓋茨比參觀馬廄跟騎馬：

『有個運動很適合你，』湯姆點著頭說。『我要和他去那裡，去差不多一個鐘頭吧。』 > > （原文P） > 'There's sport for you,' said Tom, nodding. 'I'd like to be out there with him for about an hour.' > > >

後來在吃午飯的時候，湯姆還講起，

『我聽說過用馬廄來做車庫的，』湯姆跟蓋茨比說，『不過我是第一個用車庫來做馬廄的。』 > > （原文P75） > 'I’ve heard of making a garage out of a stable,' Tom was saying to Gatsby, 'but I’m the first man who ever made a stable out of a garage.' > > >

當然了，湯姆不只買過這一處房子，至少我們知道，在他們從芝加哥洛城搬來之前，在那兒也買過房子。

1. 婚後的風流事湯姆在婚後風流韻事不斷，第七章，黛西提到他們當初離開芝加哥，

『你真叫人惡心，』黛西說。她轉過來向著我，她的嗓音低了一個八度，她充滿激動和鄙夷的聲音填滿了整個房間：『你可曉得我們為什麼要離開芝加哥？我很奇怪他們沒有把那個故事，也就是他的那次小樂子告訴你聽。』 > > （原文P84） > 'You're revolting,' said Daisy. She turned to me, and her voice, dropping an octave lower, filled the room with thrilling scorn: 'Do you know why we left Chicago? I'm surprised that they didn't treat you to the story of that little spree.' > > >

上面講的『他的那次小樂子』我們並不確定所指何事，或許類似的小樂子根本就太多了。不過在第四章，喬丹就向尼克提到過湯姆的一次『小樂子』。當時喬丹回憶起她在聖巴巴拉市遇見了蜜月旅行（為期三個月）歸途中的湯姆和黛西。八成就是她講到的那一次促使他們要離開芝加哥，因為那一次的事件登了報，連同湯姆的情婦也上了報紙，不過那一次事發的地點並不在芝加哥，而是在文圖拉路上（加利福尼亞州的聖巴巴拉市是通過沿海的文圖拉路同洛杉磯連接的），那時候湯姆和黛西還在蜜月旅行期間，時間是八月份，他們才剛結婚兩個月！而那位情婦是聖巴巴拉酒店的一個女招待，很顯然湯姆那時候才泡上她不久，那個酒店必定是他和黛西旅行歸途中下榻的一個酒店了。

…… 那時候是八月份。在我離開聖巴巴拉一個星期之後，湯姆一天晚上在文圖拉路上撞了一輛貨車，他車子的前輪被撞掉了。有個女孩在他車裡，也上了報紙，因為她撞壞了手臂——她是聖巴巴拉酒店的一個女招待。 > > （原文P50） > ... That was in August. A week after I left Santa Barbara, Tom ran into a wagon on the Ventura road one night, and ripped a front wheel off his car. The girl who was one of the papers, too, because her arm was broken - she was one of the chambermaids in the Santa Barbara Hotel. > > >

連蜜月期間都可以發生這種事情，那湯姆會在蓋茨比的舞會上只顧著自己泡妞，就毫不足為奇了，

當我們要坐下來一起吃晚飯的時候，湯姆從他遺忘的角落裡現身了。『你不介意我去和那邊的幾個人一起吃吧？』他說。『有個傢伙在講些子有意思的東西。』 『去呀，』黛西大方地答道，『如果你想記下哪個的地址，我這裡有只金色的小鉛筆。』……過了刻子，她四處看了看，然後跟我說那個女孩子長得『普通但蠻漂亮』，我知道她除了單獨和蓋茨比一起的那半個小時外，其餘時候她並不開心。 > > （原文P68） > 'Go ahead,' answered Daisy genially, 'and if you want to take down any addresses here’s my little gold pencil.' ...she looked around after a moment and told me the girl was 'common but pretty,' and I knew that except for the half-hour she’d been alone with Gatsby she wasn’t having a good time. > > >

願意和湯姆交往的每一個女伴，都必須得忍受湯姆只顧自己尋歡作樂而不顧身邊人這件事，包括情婦。湯姆和默特爾·威爾森一起的時候，

湯姆的常去的地方那些人都曉得他有個情人。他那些子熟人全都反感他的做法，他帶著他的情人出現在很多人的咖啡館裡，卻把她丟在一旁，自己只顧晃來晃去地去找隨便什麼他認得的人聊天。 > > (原文P17) > The fact that he had one was insisted upon wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact that he turned up in popular cafes with her and, leaving her at a table, sauntered about, chatting with whomsoever he knew. > > >

我們看到，女人們跟著湯姆其實，在大多數時間裡她們是不開心的，好比黛西，她在第一章，尼克去她家裡做客時，就向尼克控拆了湯姆，

『…… 尼克，我變得很憤世嫉俗了。…… 『你聽了就會曉得我對——對所有的，我的感受了。吶，她出生還不到一小時，鬼曉得湯姆跑哪裡去了。我從麻藥裡醒過來，有種強烈地被遺棄的感覺，…… > > （原文P13） > '... Nick, and I'm pretty cynical about everthing. ... > 'It'll show you how I've gotten to feel about - things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, ... > > >

又比如，在故事的第二章，湯姆因為默特爾在他面前提了黛西，就一掌打爛了她的鼻子，

在快到午夜的某個時間裡，湯姆•布坎南和威爾森夫人面對面地站在那，情緒激昂地討論著威爾森夫人到底是不是有權力提黛西的名字。 『黛西！黛西！黛西！』威爾森夫人咆哮著。『我什麼時候想提她就提她！黛西！黛——』 **_湯姆•布坎南迅急移動了一下，一掌打爛了她的鼻子。 然後就有了浴室地板上的帶血的毛巾，女人的咒罵聲，以及在短暫地惶惑之後暴發出的一聲長久的、響亮的、痛苦的慟哭聲。_** …… > > （原文P25） > 'Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!'shouted Mrs Wilson. 'I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai——' > Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. > Then there were bloody towels upon the bath-room floor, and women’s voices scolding, and high over the confusion a long broken wail of pain. ... > > >

這裡很容易又讓我們想起前文提到過的，湯姆在大多數時間是一個令人不快的人。他是個『留一頭稻草樣頭髮的、結實的三十歲男人，有個生硬的嘴巴加一副不可一世的舉止』，有著『一個蘊藏著巨大力量的身軀——一個殘暴的身軀』，他『說話的聲音，一種粗啞而生硬的高亢，加強了他本身給人的暴躁易怒的印象。那聲音裡有種家長式的輕蔑，即使對他喜歡的人也一樣——在紐黑文就曾有些人對他恨之入骨』。既如此，又為何湯姆總能夠艷遇不斷？毫無疑問，湯姆能夠滿足她們某些方面的訴求（或者講慾望），而那些訴求的滿足一定讓她們感覺到了快樂。也就是講，繞了半天，湯姆其實還是很可以給人帶來快樂的嘛。待下文介紹默特爾·威爾森的時候，我們再具體來看看湯姆給她的女人帶來的快樂。無論如何，講到這裡我想起了一句老話（也許並不恰當）是——周瑜打黃蓋，一個願打一個願挨。

在故事最後一章，尼克在第一大道上碰到了湯姆，我們看到，

他（湯姆）沿著第一大道，走在我（尼克）的前面，囂張的樣子，他的雙手甩出身體外面一點子，好像要把騷擾趕走似的，他的腦袋快速地到處轉動，以跟上他那雙躁動不安的眼睛。我才減慢了速度以免經過他，他就停下來了， **_他皺起眉頭往一間珠寶店的櫥窗裡看。_**…… > > （原文P113） > One afternoon late in October I saw Tom Buchanan. He was walking ahead of me along Fifth Avenue in his alert, aggressive way, his hands out a little from his body as if to fight off interference, his head moving sharply here and there, adapting itself to his restless eyes. Just as I slowed up to avoid overtaking him he stopped and began frowning into the windows of a jewelry store. ... > > > …… **_然後他進了珠寶店去買一串珍珠項鏈——又或許只是一對袖釦——永遠地擺脫了我的迂腐的神經質。_** > > （原文P114） > ... Then he went into the jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace - or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons - rid of my provincial squeamishness forever. > > >

我們當然猜想，湯姆又要去珠寶店買一串珍珠項鏈或者別的什麼也罷，怕又是要討哪一位新人的歡心吧，別忘了當初他討老婆的時候就送的是一條三十五萬美元的珍珠項鏈。所謂老婆，對湯姆來講，是不是就是『最貴的女伴』？

至此我們粗略地討論了湯姆其人及其生活的一些方面，待到本文第五部分，還會再討論他的其他一些性格特點，現在，我們先接下來繼續探一探這本書裡頭的女人。

四、書裡頭的女人

黛西

我們前面一直都有在討論黛西，討論中多次提到黛西的那個人造世界和黛西是人造世界裡長大的女孩，所以這裡僅僅補上原文裡面對這個『人造世界』的一小段描述，然後對黛西這一角色稍做總結。

下面的引用裡描述了黛西的人造世界：

他在戰爭中的表現出類拔萃。在去前線之前他是個陸軍上尉，阿貢戰役之後他晉升少校，並執掌機槍師。停戰後他瘋狂地爭取回家，但由於某些錯綜複雜的因素或者誤會，他轉而被送去了牛津。他現在很擔心了——黛西寄來的信中透露出一種強烈的絕望。她想不明白他為什麼不回來。她正感受著外界的壓力，她想要見到他，感覺到他在她的身邊，總之，她想要再次確認她是在做對的事。 因為黛西很年輕， **_她那個人造的世界裡充滿了沁人的芳香，愉快、可樂的打趣，還有管弦樂隊制定好一年的節律，把生活的憂傷同寓意加總成為新的曲調。一整晚，薩克斯風哀嚎著絕望的比爾街藍調，與此同時成百雙金色和銀色的拖鞋攪動起閃閃發光的塵埃。在無聊的飲茶時間，也總是有些房間裡不停地騷動著此種低沉、甜美的興奮，此時新鮮的面孔在這裡、那裡游移著，如同玫瑰花瓣被這悲傷的號角吹拂在地板四下。_** 借由這個暮光熹微的宇宙，黛西伴隨這一季重新開動起來了； _突然之間，她又每天保持了和半打子男人進行半打子約會_，然後在黎明時分、入睡， **_在她床邊的地板上躺著就要枯萎的蘭花和混在其間的晚禮長裙上的珠寶同綢縵_**。而在所有的這些時間裡，她體內的某個部分一直在渴求著一個決定。她想要她的生活在此刻就定形，立馬—— _這個決定必須靠某種外力來促成——比如愛情，比如金錢，比如不容置疑的現實——得要是近在眼前的。_ 這個外力在仲春時節隨著湯姆•布坎南的到來而形成了。外面有大量美好的傳言，關於他這個人和他的地位，黛西變得飄飄然了。毫無疑問存在過某種掙扎和某種解脫。那封信到達了蓋茨比手裡，他那時還在牛津。 > > （原文P96） > He did extraordinarily well in the war. He was a captain before he went to the front, and following the Argonne battles he got his majority and the command of the divisional machine-guns. After the Armistice he tried frantically to get home, but some complication or misunderstanding sent him to Oxford instead. He was worried now—there was a quality of nervous despair in Daisy’s letters. She didn’t see why he couldn’t come. She was feeling the pressure of the world outside, and she wanted to see him and feel his presence beside her and be reassured that she was doing the right thing after all. > For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes. All night the saxophones wailed the hopeless comment of the Beale Street Blues. while a hundred pairs of golden and silver slippers shuffled the shining dust. At the gray tea hour there were always rooms that throbbed incessantly with this low, sweet fever, while fresh faces drifted here and there like rose petals blown by the sad horns around the floor. > Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again with the season; suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening dress tangled among dying orchids on the floor beside her bed. And all the time something within her was crying for a decision. She wanted her life shaped now, immediately—and the decision must be made by some force - of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality - that was close at hand. > That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position, and Daisy was flattered. Doubtless there was a certain struggle and a certain relief. The letter reached Gatsby while he was still at Oxford. > > >

拿老話講，黛西就是一枚『溫室裡的花朵』，從優沃的環境裡長成，在結婚之前都無憂無慮，且從未歷世。也所以她當初才會被蓋茨比所吸引。蓋茨比那時大概二十三歲，已經有了跟隨丹·科迪到各地出海的五年經歷，并且歷練出了一身非凡而得體的談吐舉止。科迪死後他既而參軍，後來結識到黛西。黛西當初十八歲芳齡，是高貴的富家小姐，連蓋茨比自己都不敢想、也想不到她會喜歡他，但她確實，據蓋茨比說，『也愛上了我。她覺得我懂得很多因為我曉得那些她不曉得的……』但可惜後來蓋茨比去打仗了。不過，就算蓋不去打仗，黛西跟他結婚的機會也屬渺茫，因為他太窮，而黛西太沒有主見！如剛才所說，黛西從優沃的環境裡長成，無憂無慮且從未歷世，所以沒有主見是很正常，因為她從小什麼也不用想。所以在結婚的事情上，她是完全受外界、外力的左右。一忽而跟這群人約會，一忽而又跟那一個訂婚（據喬丹對尼克的回憶，在她和湯姆（六月份）結婚前不久，『二月份，她大概和一個新奧爾良的男人訂了婚』），那一個也許也是一個強有力的『外力』，但是最終，她還是嫁給了最強有力的湯姆·布坎南，因為外面——不論她的家人還是朋友圈子——『外面有大量美好的傳言，關於他這個人和他的地位』，她『變得飄飄然了』。而且，就像她結婚前的那個秋天突然『又快活起來，像當初一樣快活』，就像她『突然之間，她又每天保持了和半打子男人進行半打子約會』，在她婚後，她突然又陷入了對湯姆的癡迷裡，第四章裡，喬丹對尼克回憶說，

他們回來時，我在聖巴巴拉見到了他們，當時我覺得我從來沒見過像她那麼對老公癡迷的女孩子了。如果他走出房間去一刻子，她就會不安地東看西看，問：『湯姆哪裡去了？』而且一直帶著一幅心不在焉的表情，直到她看到他進了門為止。她喜歡坐在沙灘上，讓他的頭睡在她大腿上，成小時地那麼坐著，用她的手指撫摸他的眼睛，無比開心地注視著他。看他們在一起的樣子就會很觸動——吸引你，讓你會心一笑。 > > （原文P50） > I saw them in Santa Barbara when they came back, and I thought I’d never seen a girl so mad about her husband. If he left the room for a minute she’d look around uneasily, and say: 'Where’s Tom gone?' and wear the most abstracted expression until she saw him coming in the door. She used to sit on the sand with his head in her lap by the hour, rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at him with unfathomable delight. It was touching to see them together - it made you laugh in a hushed, fascinated way. > > >

只可惜緊接著在八月份（婚後的兩個月）湯姆就出了一次『小樂子』。不過黛西卻在隔年四月份為他生了個女兒。還記得尼克在她家做客時得知了湯姆在紐約有其他女人，又聽了黛西向他抱怨湯姆在她生完小鬼後不見人影之類的話，尼克的想法是，

在我看來，黛西應該做的事是抱著孩子衝出那間房子——很顯然她自己並不這樣想。 > > （原文P15） > It seemed to me that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of the house, child in arms - but apparently there were no such intentions in her head. > > >

毫無主見的黛西當然不會有這種決斷，她只會不斷的屈從於較為強大的那一股外力，而且要是近在眼前的。她的這種『墻頭草，隨風倒』的個性在第七章，蓋茨比向湯姆攤牌的時候，表現得尤為突出：蓋茨比占上風的時候，她就屈從於蓋茨比，勉強地講出一句『我從來沒有愛過他（湯姆）』；等到湯姆對她使出溫柔攻勢，她又想起了『我有一度確實愛過他（湯姆）——但是我也愛你（蓋）』，再等湯姆又進一步揭了蓋茨比一點子的底，她最後乞求湯姆道，

『求你了，湯姆！我再受不了了！』 她驚恐的眼神已經透露， **_不論她有過什麼想法，不論曾經多少勇氣，早已消逝了_**。 > > （原文P86） > 'Please, Tom! I can’t stand this any more.' > Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, whatever courage, she had had, were definitely gone. > > >

她像只驚弓之鳥樣地又回到湯姆一邊。當然，在所有這些發生之前，她最想的是蓋茨比永遠不要向湯姆攤牌，這樣她就永遠不用做抉擇，她好繼續做她的布坎南夫人，與此同時，享受著蓋茨比給她的愛。

以上就是嬌柔美麗的富家小姐、黛西其人。

默特爾·威爾森

第二章，當火車在灰堆旁邊停下來的時候，吃多了點子酒的湯姆邦硬拉得尼克要去見『他的女人』，於是我們便初次見到了湯姆的情婦默特爾·威爾森，在那個加油站裡——

我（尼克）聽到樓上的腳步聲，過了刻子，一個 **_體態豐腴_**的女人形象堵住了辦公室門口的光線。她的歲數有三十好幾了，體形稍顯肥胖，但 **_她的肉體，和某些女人一樣，能給人一種感官上的誘惑_**。在深藍色斑點花紋的縐綢長裙的上方， **_她的臉，談不上漂亮，但卻有一種生動的表情在那上面，彷彿她體內的精力正在緩慢地燃燒著_**。她悠悠一笑，像經過一個幽靈樣的從他老公身旁走過去，眼睛 **_興奮地_**瞅著湯姆，和湯姆握手。然後她不轉過身去，直接跟她老公說：『你幹嘛不去搬兩張凳子過來，好讓人家坐坐。』嗓音柔和而沙啞。 > > （原文P17－18） > Then I heard footsteps on a stairs, and in a moment the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering. She smiled slowly and, walking through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye. Then she wet her lips, and without turning around spoke to her husband in a soft, coarse voice: 'Get some chairs, why don’t you, so somebody can sit down.' > > >

默特爾·威爾森其人，簡直就是赤裸裸的慾望的化身，她『體態豐腴』，『肉體能給人一種感官上的誘惑』，『她的臉，談不上漂亮，但卻有一種生動的表情在那上面，彷彿她體內的精力正在緩慢地燃燒著』。在加油站裡，湯姆跟她約好要她在紐約下火車後到某個報攤上等。等到一下火車，她換了一身裝束，並馬上開始了一連串的購買動作：

當湯姆在紐約的站台上接她的時候，她的 **_裝束換成了一身灰色細紗衣服_**，她相當肥大的臀部被裹得緊緊的。她 **_在報攤上買了一本《城鎮閒談》和一本動畫雜誌_**，然後 **_在車站雜貨店買了一些潤膚霜和一小瓶香水_**。出站台後，在正式的出租車候車通道裡，她放走了四輛的士，直到她選中了一輛外觀是淡紫色，裡面的坐椅套著灰色椅罩的新車，於是我們坐進了這輛車裡，靜靜地駛離車站人群，開進了熱情的陽光裡。但是馬上， **_她猛地回轉身向車窗靠過去，拍打著前面的玻璃。 『那些狗，我想要一只，』她熱誠地說道。『我想要一只放在房子裡。能擁有一——一只狗、真好。』_** > > （原文P18－19） > She had changed her dress to a brown figured muslin, which stretched tight over her rather wide hips as Tom helped her to the platform in New York. At the news-stand she bought a copy of Town Tattle. and a moving-picture magazine, and in the station drug-store some cold cream and a small flask of perfume. Up-stairs, in the solemn echoing drive she let four taxicabs drive away before she selected a new one, lavender-colored with gray upholstery, and in this we slid out from the mass of the station into the glowing sunshine. But immediately she turned sharply from the window and, leaning forward, tapped on the front glass. > 'I want to get one of those dogs,' she said earnestly. 'I want to get one for the apartment. They're nice to have - a dog.' > > >

除了享受購物的樂趣以外，默特爾也不忘淋漓盡致地享受以東道主身份盡情待客、開派對的快感，當『的士最後斜切在了西一五八街上一長條白色蛋糕形狀的公寓前』，

威爾森夫人 **_收拾好她的狗和她新買的其它東西，向公寓四周投去似是王者歸來的一瞥，然後趾高氣揚地走了進去。 『我要喊麥基一家過來玩，』在上去的電梯裡她向我們宣佈道。_**『當然，我也會把我妹妹叫過來。』 > > （原文P19－20） > Mrs Wilson gathered up her dog and her other purchases, and went haughtily in. > 'I'm going to have the McKees come up,' she announced as we rose in the elevator. 'And, of course, I got to call up my sister, too.' > > >

威爾森夫人如饑似渴地，一口氣把自己好多的慾望都暫時填滿了，她又進行了第二次變裝，然後就跟一個暴發戶樣的自我膨脹了起來，

**_威爾森夫人不久前換了套裝束_**，她現在穿的是一套精製繁復的奶油色薄紗午後禮服，當長裙掃過房間時，發出一陣沙沙作響聲。在她這身裝束的影響下，她的個性也發生了變化。她在加油站時給人留下深刻印象的那股活力，轉變成了現在的令人吃驚的傲慢。她的笑聲，她的動作，她的論斷，顯示出越來越強烈的虛偽和做作，而當她的自我膨脹得越大，她周圍的空間彷彿就越變得小了，直變得像是她整個人在繞著一根吵鬧的、咿呀作響的軸承，不停地穿過這方煙燻霧漫的空氣，咿咿呀呀、咿咿呀呀旋轉著。 > > （原文P21） > Mrs Wilson had changed her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress of cream-colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about the room. With the influence of the dress her personality had also undergone a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more violently affected moment by moment, and as she expanded the room grew smaller around her, until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot through the smoky air. > > >

頤指氣使了起來，

『你們兩夫妻去弄點喝的啊，』他說。『去多拿點冰塊和礦泉水過來，默特爾，在大家睡著之前。』 『我叫了那個男孩去拿冰了。』 **_默特爾揚下眉頭，表示對那起懶惰的下人之絕望。_**『這些個人！你成天要盯穩他們來才罷休。』 **_她看看我，無緣無故地笑了起來。然後大步地走到那只狗那裡，狂熱地親吻了牠，之後她又大模大樣地走進了廚房，暗示裡面有一大批的廚師等著她去發號施令。_** > > （原文P22） > 'You McKees have something to drink,' he said. 'Get some more ice and mineral water, Myrtle, before everybody goes to sleep.' > 'I told that boy about the ice.' Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the lower orders. 'These people! You have to keep after them all the time.' > She looked at me and laughed pointlessly. Then she flounced over to the dog, kissed it with ecstasy, and swept into the kitchen, implying that a dozen chefs awaited her orders there. > > >

稍後，她在聽到自己妹妹講起她以前有段時間很迷她現在的老公之後，矢口否認，並道出對於嫁給一個窮小子，自己是如何地悔不當初：

『迷他！』默特爾不可置信地喊道。『哪個講我迷他？我對他的著迷從來沒超過我對坐在那邊那個男的的著迷。』 她突然拿手指著我（尼克），然後每個人都用質疑的眼光看著我。我盡量做出一副受寵若驚的表情。 『我跟他結婚那次才真的是我唯一一次「著了迷」了。我立馬就知道我這是犯了錯了。他借了別人的最好的一套西裝來結婚，他哪怕連告訴都沒告訴我這件事，然後有一天他不在的時候人家來取了：「哦，那是你的西裝？」我說。「我第一次聽說這件事。」我把西裝還給了那人，然後我躺下來，整個下午哭得聲撕力竭。』 > > （原文P24） > 'Crazy about him!' cried Myrtle incredulously. 'Who said I was crazy about him? I never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there.' > She pointed suddenly at me, and every one looked at me accusingly. I tried to show by my expression that I had played no part in her past. > 'The only crazy I was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. He borrowed somebody’s best suit to get married in, and never even told me about it, and the man came after it one day when he was out. ‘oh, is that your suit?’ I said. ‘this is the first I ever heard about it.’ But I gave it to him and then I lay down and cried to beat the band all afternoon.' > > >

後來，

默特爾把她的椅子拉過我這邊來，然後突然間，她軟語呢儂地向我傾訴起她第一次和湯姆相遇的情形。 『那天是在火車上，我和他坐在兩個面對面的狹小的座位上，坐在那個位子的人都是一些要坐很久才下車的人。我是去紐約我妹妹那裡，打算在她那邊過夜。他穿了套禮服西裝，漆皮皮鞋，我眼睛老想盯著他看，但是每次他一看我，我就假裝是在看他頭頂上的廣告。當我們來到車站時，他就在我的後面，襯衫的胸部壓著我的手臂，所以我跟他說我要叫警察了，但他曉得我不會。 **_我跟著他一起上了一輛的士，我太興奮了，根本連我上的是的士還是地鐵也分不清了。我只是不停地想，一遍又一遍，我想，_**「 **人不就這麼一輩子嘛；人不就這麼一輩子嘛。**」』 > > （原文P24） > Myrtle pulled her chair close to mine, and suddenly her warm breath poured over me the story of her first meeting with Tom. > 'It was on the two little seats facing each other that are always the last ones left on the train. I was going up to New York to see my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit and patent leather shoes, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, but every time he looked at me I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement over his head. When we came into the station he was next to me, and his white shirt-front pressed against my arm, and so I told him I’d have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. I was so excited that when I got into a taxi with him I didn’t hardly know I wasn’t getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever; you can’t live forever.’' > > >

『我只是不停地想，一遍又一遍，我想，「人不就這麼一輩子嘛；人不就這麼一輩子嘛。」』威爾森夫人的這句話給人留下極其強烈的印象，也許就像她豐腴的肉體帶給人的感官刺激一樣，這句話仿佛不停地在勸誘大家：人生苦短，及時行樂！人生苦短，及時行樂！及時行樂！及……

突然，她又被體內的慾壑攫住了，

『我親愛的，』她叫道，『等我一穿完我就把這條裙子送給你（麥基夫人）。 **_我明天就要去買條新的來。我要寫個清單，把我要買的東西記下來。要去做個按摩，要燙頭髪，還要買條狗項圈，還有那種可愛的帶彈簧的煙灰缸，還要買個下面有個黑色的絲綢蝴蝶結的花圈，可以在我媽媽的墓上擺上一整個夏天。我要寫個單子才不會忘記。_**』 > > （原文P25） > 'My dear,' she cried, 'I’m going to give you this dress as soon as I’m through with it. I’ve got to get another one to-morrow. I’m going to make a list of all the things I’ve got to get. A massage and a wave, and a collar for the dog, and one of those cute little ash-trays where you touch a spring, and a wreath with a black silk bow for mother’s grave that’ll last all summer. I got to write down a list so I won’t forget all the things I got to do.' > > >

等她用湯姆的錢再一次把她的慾壑暫時地填滿，她又會再一次地感到無比快樂。

喬丹·貝克

喬丹·貝克在故事第一章就出場了，那時候尼克去黛西湯姆兩夫婦家做客，喬丹就寄居在他們的家。初次見面，她給尼克的映像是：

她是個苗條的小胸脯女孩子， **_腰板挺得筆筆直_**，她向後甩肩的動作更強化了這一印象，活像個年輕的陸軍學員。她用她那灰色易感光的雙目回視我，在 **_她蒼白、迷人、桀驁不馴的臉上_**，顯示出 **_禮貌性的_**好奇的神情。 > > （原文P9） > She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, discontented face. > > >

接下來，在第三章，尼克對喬丹有了更詳盡的映像，

我有一段時間沒再看見過喬丹•貝克，然後在仲夏時節我又重新見到她了。起初我和她一起去這兒去那兒，覺得挺榮幸的，因為她是個高爾夫冠軍，所有人都知道她的名字。後來事情似乎又更進一步了。我並非當真戀愛了，只是覺出一種 _溫柔的好奇_。 **_在她向世人展現出的那張沉悶而倨傲的臉孔當中隱藏著一些東西_**——大多數不自然的背後最終都隱藏著一些什麼，即便它們一開始沒有——後來有一天我發現了那是什麼。那次我們一起在沃里克參加一個家庭聚會，她把一輛借來的汽車敞開著頂棚丟在雨裡沒管，然後撒了個謊把事情掩蓋過去——我一下子記起了我在黛西家沒想起來的那個關於她的故事。在她的第一場重要的高爾夫球淘汰賽中，有一個差點就上報了的爭議——說她在半決賽裡偷偷把自己的球移到了一個更好的位置上。這件事曾引起公憤——而後又銷聲匿跡了。有個球童撤消了他的指控，另外，唯一的一個目擊者也承認存在看錯的可能。這個事件和人名在我腦子裡又重新合在一起了。 **_喬丹•貝克本能地避開聰明、敏銳的男人，現在我知道了這是因為她只有在一個對命令言聽計從，出現任何異議都被視為不可能的情境下，才感到安全。她無可救藥的不誠實。她忍受不了自己處于不利的境地，并且為了這個緣故，我想她從很小的時候起就開始要通過耍花招來維持她向世人展現出的那種冷艷、倨傲的笑容，與此同時，滿足她那僵硬而得意的身體的需求。 這對我來說沒什麼大不了。女人的不誠實，你永遠犯不著太過責備——偶爾我會覺得遺憾，再後來就忘了。_**還是在那個家庭聚會上，我們在開車這件事上產生了一段有趣的對話。對話的起因是，她間隔奇近的從一隊工人身邊開過，以致於我們的擋板擦掉了其中一個的外套上的釦子。 『你是個糟糕的司機，』我抗議道。『你要麼就小心一點開，要麼就乾脆不要開。』 『我很小心。』 『你不小心。』 『好吧，但其他人是小心的。』她漫不經心的說。 『其他人小心和這個有什麼關係？』 『他們會給我讓道的，』她堅持道。『要兩方面才能造成一起事故。』 『要是碰到一個跟你一樣粗心的人呢？』 『我希望我永遠不會碰到，』她說。『我討厭粗心的人。這也是我喜歡你的原因。』 她那灰色、易感光的眼睛直視著前方，但她有意地轉變了我們之間的關係，有一度我以為我愛上她了。…… > > （原文P38） > For a while I lost sight of Jordan Baker, and then in midsummer I found her again. At first I was flattered to go places with her, because she was a golf champion, and every one knew her name. Then it was something more. I wasn’t actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity. The bored haughty face that she turned to the world concealed something—most affectations conceal something eventually, even though they don’t in the beginning—and one day I found what it was. When we were on a house-party together up in Warwick, she left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and then lied about it—and suddenly I remembered the story about her that had eluded me that night at Daisy’s. At her first big golf tournament there was a row that nearly reached the newspapers—a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round. The thing approached the proportions of a scandal—then died away. A caddy retracted his statement, and the only other witness admitted that he might have been mistaken. The incident and the name had remained together in my mind. > Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. She was incurably dishonest. She wasn’t able to endure being at a disadvantage and, given this unwillingness, I suppose she had begun dealing in subterfuges when she was very young in order to keep that cool, insolent smile turned to the world and yet satisfy the demands of her hard, jaunty body. > It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply—I was casually sorry, and then I forgot. It was on that same house party that we had a curious conversation about driving a car. It started because she passed so close to some workmen that our fender flicked a button on one man’s coat. > 'You’re a rotten driver,' I protested. 'Either you ought to be more careful, or you oughtn’t to drive at all.' > 'I am careful.' > 'No, you’re not.' > 'Well, other people are,' she said lightly. > 'What’s that got to do with it?' > 'They’ll keep out of my way,' she insisted. 'It takes two to make an accident.' > 'Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself.' > 'I hope I never will,' she answered. 'I hate careless people. That’s why I like you.' > Her gray, sun-strained eyes stared straight ahead, but she had deliberately shifted our relations, and for a moment I thought I loved her. ... > > >

至此，對於喬丹，我們自然地得到了一個極其不好的映像，她虛偽、做作、倨傲、冷冰冰，更重要她『無可救藥的不誠實』。對於她我們要下判斷了，她——，多麼討厭的一個女人！但是且慢。我們也許還記得尼克在一開始就曾提醒過我們要『保留判斷』，尼克告訴我們講，

保留判斷，相當於給自己無限的希望。直到現在，如果我發現自己疏忽了這一點，仍會隱隱擔心自己不要錯過了什麼，一如父親不厭其俗地提醒，我亦不厭其俗地重申的那樣：要知道每個人打一生下來，就處在千差萬別的環境裡。 > > （原文P3） > Reserving judgements is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a little afraid of missing something if I forget that, as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth. > > >

那我們就暫且保留判斷，從原文字裡行間認真地來看看，喬丹到底是一個怎麼樣的人？

第一章喬丹上樓去睡覺以後，湯姆說起：

『她是個好女孩，』湯姆過了刻子說。『他們不該讓她這麼跑來跑去的。』 『誰不該讓她？』黛西 **_冷漠地_**問。 『她家裡人。』 『她的家裡人是一個已經一千歲了的老姨娘。…… > > （原文P14） > 'She’s a nice girl,' said Tom after a moment. 'They oughtn’t to let her run around the country this way.' > 'Who oughtn’t to?' inquired Daisy coldly. > 'Her family.' > 'Her family is one aunt about a thousand years old. Besides, Nick’s going to look after her, aren’t you, Nick? She’s going to spend lots of week-ends out here this summer. I think the home influence will be very good for her.' > > >

在第六章尼克說他

…… 呆在紐約，在喬丹身邊打轉，並試圖討好她的那一位老姨媽 …… > > （原文P65） > ... mostly I was in New York, trotting around with Jordan and trying to ingratiate myself with her senile aunt ... > > >

我們看出，她家除了她自己以外，似乎就只有一位『已經一千歲了的老姨娘』了，可以講，她孤苦伶仃。後來在第七章，她無意間，波瀾不驚地，提到了他父親的死，

『他們把他（那個名叫比洛克西的人）抬進了我家，』喬丹接嘴道，『因為我家離教堂只隔了兩個門。他在我家呆了三個星期，直到我爸要他必須搬出去為止。他走以後第二天我爸就死了。』過了刻子她補充道，『這兩件事沒什麼關聯。』 > > （原文P81） > 'They carried him into my house,' appended Jordan, 'because we lived just two doors from the church. And he stayed three weeks, until Daddy told him he had to get out. The day after he left Daddy died.' After a moment she added as if she might have sounded irreverent, 'There wasn’t any connection.' > > >

我們推算，她父親死的時候，她可能十七歲，而她開始職業打比賽那年，也應該是十七歲，在第四章中有提到，

那年是一九一七年。之後接下來的那年，我自己也交了幾個男朋友，並且開始打比賽了， …… > > （原文P48） > That was 1917. By the next year I had a few beaux myself, and I began to play in tournaments, ... > > >

我們無從知道這兩件事是否有關聯。但毫無疑問，她從那個時候就開始要四處奔波了，顯然她的家境並不太好，因為她要，就像上面湯姆講的『這麼跑來跑去的』，她要自食其力。就在尼克第一次去湯姆家玩的那天，她也是要早早地睡覺，因為第二天有比賽，

『十點鍾了，』她提醒道，顯然她看到了頂上的鍾。『是這位乖女孩睡覺的時候了。』 『喬丹明天要打比賽，』黛西解釋說，『在威斯特徹斯特。』 > > （原文P14） > 'Ten o’clock,' she remarked, apparently finding the time on the ceiling. 'Time for this good girl to go to bed.' > 'Jordan’s going to play in the tournament to-morrow,' explained Daisy, 'over at Westchester.' > > >

就算是在跟尼克交往的期間，她同樣是忙得不可開交，除了在尼克午休的時間打擾他，給他去電話外，她別無它法，因為她實在分身無術：

…… 是喬丹•貝克； **_她總是在這個鐘點打給我，因為由于她在旅館和俱樂部還有私人住宅之間的活動的不確定性，使她很難找出其它辦法。_**通常她從電話那頭傳過來的聲音是活潑清爽的，好像高爾夫球場裡的一塊草皮漂到了辦公室窗外，但是這天早晨它聽上去毛糙而乾枯。 『我不住在黛西家了，』她說。『我在斯特德，今天下午我會去南安普敦。』…… > > （原文P98） > ... It was Jordan Baker; she often called me up at this hour because the uncertainty of her own movements between hotels and clubs and private houses made her hard to find in any other way. Usually her voice came over the wire as something fresh and cool, as if a divot from a green golf-links had come sailing in at the office window, but this morning it seemed harsh and dry. > 'I’ve left Daisy’s house,' she said. 'I’m at Hempstead, and I’m going down to Southampton this afternoon.' > > >

連她跟尼克（在書裡頭的）最後一次見面的時候，她身上都穿得是『打高爾夫的服裝』，可能在見面後又要去哪裡打比賽。其辛苦可見一斑。膚色也曬得很健康，

第七章提到她曬黑的手指，

喬丹的手指，曬黑的地方搽上了白色的粉末，在我的手裡停留了一刻子。 > > （原文P73） > Jordan’s fingers, powdered white over their tan, rested for a moment in mine. > > >

還有和尼克（在書裡頭的）最後一次見面時，

她穿著打高爾夫的服裝，我記得我在想她看起來像一尊不錯的塑像，她的下巴有點神氣地向上抬著， **_她的頭髮是一片落葉的顏色，她臉的顏色是跟她膝蓋上的無指手套一樣濃淡的棕色。_**…… > > （原文P113） > She was dressed to play golf, and I remember thinking she looked like a good illustration, her chin raised a little jauntily, her hair the color of an autumn leaf, her face the same brown tint as the fingerless glove on her knee. ... > > >

要是講黛西作，大家還記得，『溫室裡的花朵』，那喬丹當然就可以算是『暴露在大自然裡的花朵』了。

喬丹小的時候很羨慕跟崇拜黛西，在第四章，她對尼克回憶道，

最大的旗幟和最大的草坪屬於黛西•妃伊家的宅子。她那時還只十八歲，大我兩歲，在當時是路易斯維爾的所有年青姑娘裡最受歡迎的。她穿白色服裝，還有一輛白色敞篷跑車，她家裡的電話一天到晚響個不停，來自泰勒軍營的激動的年青軍官們要求預訂晚上能和她獨處的優先權。『不管怎樣，就一個小時！』 …… 『喬丹，你好，』她出人意料地叫住了我。『麻煩你過來一下。』 我很高興她想要和我說話，因為在所有比我大的女孩子裡面， **_我最崇拜她_**。…… > > （原文P48） > The largest of the banners and the largest of the lawns belonged to Daisy Fay’s house. She was just eighteen, two years older than me, and by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville. She dressed in white, and had a little white roadster, and all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night. 'Anyways, for an hour!' > ... > 'Hello, Jordan,' she called unexpectedly. 'Please come here.' > I was flattered that she wanted to speak to me, because of all the older girls I admired her most. ... > > >

等她長大後，我們看出，她嚮往的是繁華的都市生活。在第三章，蓋茨比的舞會上，尼克跟她討論蓋茨比到底是何許人的時候，說道，

『管它咧，反正他總搞這種大型派對就是了，』喬丹轉換了話題，以一種城市的品味看待事物。『反正我喜歡大派對。大派對的氛圍就是好，不像在那些小派對，一點私密空間都沒有。』 > > （原文P33） > 'Anyhow, he gives large parties,' said Jordan, changing the subject with an urban taste for the concrete. 'And I like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy.' > > >

她也喜歡大城市給人的感官刺激，

『五十大道附近的電影大片很酷，』喬丹建議道。『我喜歡紐約在夏天的下午，所有人都走開了。有一種感官的刺激——熟透了，好像各種各樣好玩的水果都會自己落到你的手裡來。』 > > （原文P80） > 'Those big movies around Fiftieth Street are cool,' suggested Jordan. 'I love New York on summer afternoons when everyone's away. There's something very sensuous about it - overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands.' > > >

貴族的地位也是她的追求。還是在第三章，在蓋茨比的大舞會上，她也辦起了自己的小派對，她的

…… 這個派對上的人並非魚龍混雜，而保持了一種高貴的同質性，並以彰顯古老的鄉紳貴族地位——東蛋屈尊俯就於西蛋——為己任，且小心地守護著它的尊榮。 > > （原文P29－30） > ... Instead of rambling, this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside - East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gaiety. > > >

講到此，我想起了尼克剛認得喬丹時，他對她的『溫柔的好奇』，因為現在縈繞在我的心裡的，也有一種說不清的溫柔，也許是一種『溫柔的憐惜』。但就像尼克沒辦法愛上她一樣，對喬丹這個角色，我也很難讓自己喜歡上她，最起碼，在她『向世人展現出的那張沉悶而倨傲的臉孔』跟『冷艷的笑容』前，會是這樣。在凌厲的現實面前，喬丹選擇了做一個現實的人。正是由於她自己或許是清楚地，或許模糊地，意識到自己底子不足（不自信），所以她過度地保護自己，即便在自己做錯事的時候，也硬頸地維護自己。實際在她心底是想討好所有人，想要所有人不但看得起她，而且喜歡她，覺得她聰穎、漂亮。為此，如上文所講，尼克在與她接觸過一段時間後，就感覺到她『本能地避開聰明、敏銳的男人』，她『只有在一個對命令言聽計從，出現任何異議都被視為不可能的情境下，才感到安全。 _她無可救藥的不誠實。_她忍受不了自己處于不利的境地，并且為了這個緣故，我（尼克）想她從很小的時候起就開始要 _通過耍花招來維持_她向世人展現出的那種冷艷、倨傲的笑容』。

她不誠實，她的這種不誠實源於她是一個弱者，她的謊言是怯懦的謊言。好多時候，『女人的不誠實』不過如此。

另外，由於她的這種底子不足，她還非常得敏感，對任何人的看法她都及其在乎。這一點倒是讓我想起了林黛玉，黛玉孤苦伶仃之身，一進賈府便想著『常聽得母親說，他外祖母家與別家不同；他近日所見的這幾個三三等的僕婦，穿吃用度已是不凡，何況今至其家，多要步步留心，時時在意，不要多說一句話，不可多行一步路，恐被人恥笑了去』。當然，我在此並不是說她和黛玉之間還有更多的可比性。我們回過頭看下面這一小段發生在蓋茨比舞會上的，喬丹和黃衫女孩對話：

『你好！』她們齊聲嚷道。『你沒贏太可惜了。』 說的是高爾夫球賽。她輸掉了一禮拜前的總決賽。 **_『你不認得我們，』其中一個黃衫女孩說道，『不過我們差不多一個月前也是在這裡見過面了。』 『你們染頭髮了，』喬丹說，_**我（尼克）倒是吃了一驚，可是女孩們已經漫不經心地走開了，她的說話倒像是對著那輪提前捧出的月亮——像晚餐樣的從經理的菜籃子裡直接拿出去，掛在了天上的。 > > （原文P28） > 'Hello!' they cried together. 'Sorry you didn't win.' > That was for the golf tournament. She had lost in the finals the week before. > 'You don't know who we are,' said one of the girls in yellow, 'but we met you here about a month ago.' > 'You've dyed your hair since then,' remarked Jordan, and I started, but the girls had moved causually on and her remark was address to the premature moon, produced like the supper, no doubt, out of a caterer's basket. > > >

我們看到，即便對只打過一次照面的人，喬丹都會加以留心，這一點讓尼克『倒是吃了一驚』。說起尼克，他和喬丹最後還是友好地分手了，我們來看尼克和喬丹在書裡頭的最後一次見面的場景，

蓋茨比死後，東部就是以那樣的形象浮現在我的腦海裡，其扭曲超出了我的眼睛所能矯正的範圍。所以當脆弱的葉子卷起藍色的煙霧，風颳動著晾衣繩上掛著的尸體般的濕衣服時， **_我決定要回家去了_**。 在我走之前還有一件事要做，一件令人尷尬不快的事，也許不去管它會好些。不過我想讓事情有條不紊，而非任由那有意無意的大海把我的遺穢沖刷而去。我去見了喬丹•貝克，跟她聊了發生在我們之間的事，和後來發生在我身上的事，她一動不動地，聽著，靠在一張大椅子裡。 她穿著打高爾夫的服裝，我記得我在想她看起來像一尊不錯的塑像，她的下巴有點神氣地向上抬著，她的頭髮是一片落葉的顏色，她臉的顏色是跟她膝蓋上的無指手套一樣濃淡的棕色。 **_當我說完後，她二話沒說馬上就告訴我她和另外一個男的訂婚了。我有點懷疑，雖然她確實有幾個只要她一點頭就可以結婚的，我還是裝出很吃驚的樣子。_**有一刻子我想著我到底是搞錯了沒有，然後我很快就又想清楚了，站起身來向她說再見。 **_『不管怎麼講，你確實把我甩開了，』喬丹突然說。『你甩了我的電話。我現在對你根本不屑一顧，不過那對我也是一個新的體驗，我當時覺得眩暈了一段時間。』 我們握了手。 『噢，你可記得』——她加上一句——『有一次我們聊到關於開車的事？』 『怎麼嘞——記不太清了。』 『你講一個差的司機是安全的，除非當她遇到了另一個差的司機？喏，我就遇到了另一個差司機，不是嗎？我是講我不該太大意事，錯看了你。我以為你是一個蠻誠實，蠻直爽的人。我以為那是你私底下引以為豪的品質。』 『我三十了歲，』我說。『再早五年的話，我還能騙自己說這是一個光榮。』 她沒有回答。_**夾雜著生氣，和對她的一半半的愛意，及深深的歉意，我轉身離開。 > > （原文P112－113） > After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home. > There was one thing to be done before I left, an awkward, unpleasant thing that perhaps had better have been let alone. But I wanted to leave things in order and not just trust that obliging and indifferent sea to sweep my refuse away. I saw Jordan Baker and talked over and around what had happened to us together, and what had happened afterward to me, and she lay perfectly still, listening, in a big chair. > She was dressed to play golf, and I remember thinking she looked like a good illustration, her chin raised a little jauntily, her hair the color of an autumn leaf, her face the same brown tint as the fingerless glove on her knee. When I had finished she told me without comment that she was engaged to another man. I doubted that, though there were several she could have married at a nod of her head, but I pretended to be surprised. For just a minute I wondered if I wasn’t making a mistake, then I thought it all over again quickly and got up to say good-bye. > 'Nevertheless you did throw me over,' said Jordan suddenly. 'You threw me over on the telephone. I don’t give a damn about you now, but it was a new experience for me, and I felt a little dizzy for a while.' > We shook hands. > 'Oh, and do you remember.'—she added——' a conversation we had once about driving a car?' > 'Why—not exactly.' > 'You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad driver, didn’t I? I mean it was careless of me to make such a wrong guess. I thought you were rather an honest, straightforward person. I thought it was your secret pride.' > 'I’m thirty,' I said. 'I’m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor.' > She didn’t answer. Angry, and half in love with her, and tremendously sorry, I turned away. > > >

在這一次的會面裡，喬丹還是展現了很多她一貫的性格：冷艷、桀驁、硬頸、不遺餘力地維護自己，等等。關於尼克和喬丹的分手，其實是很正常的。尼克雖說對於『女人的不誠實，你永遠犯不著太過責備』，但對喬丹『不可救藥的不誠實』，他也不是那麼欣賞；喬丹最中意地是大城市的聲色犬馬、感官刺激，而尼克卻說，繁華的東部，『其扭曲超出了我的眼睛所能矯正的範圍。所以當脆弱的葉子卷起藍色的煙霧，風颳動著晾衣繩上掛著的尸體般的濕衣服時， 我決定要回家去了』。

在第四章末尾，尼克有一段感觸，

天已經黑了，當我們（尼克和喬丹）顛簸著經過一坐小橋下面的時候，我把手臂搭在了喬丹金色的肩膀上，並把她往我這邊拉了拉，邀她和我一起吃晚飯。我一下子不再去想黛西和蓋茨比他們了，而只想眼前這位乾淨、冷酷、局限，對一切抱持懷疑態度的人，她則俏皮地向我靠過來，鑽進了我的臂彎。一些詞句突然蹦出來，衝動地撞擊著我的耳膜：『世上的人無非是已經得到的和想要得到的，忙忙碌碌的和疲憊不堪的。』 > > （原文P51） > It was dark now, and as we dipped under a little bridge I put my arm around Jordan’s golden shoulder and drew her toward me and asked her to dinner. Suddenly I wasn’t thinking of Daisy and Gatsby any more, but of this clean, hard, limited person, who dealt in universal scepticism, and who leaned back jauntily just within the circle of myarm. A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: 'There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired.' > > >

而喬丹無疑是那些『想要得到的』和『忙忙碌碌的』世人裡面的其中一個……在這個凌厲的現實中，喬丹會凌厲地活下去——

…… 但喬丹尚還坐在我身邊，這一位，不像黛西，她才不會年復一年地帶著早該遺忘的舊夢生活下去。…… > > （原文P87） > ... Jordan beside me, who, unlike Daisy, was too wise ever to carry well-forgotten dreams from age to age. ... > > >

其他，浮花浪蕊

書裡頭還浮光掠影地提到過其他一些女人的名字，像壞女人埃拉·凱伊、威爾森夫人的妹妹凱瑟琳、麥基夫人露西爾、舞會上的又一個露西爾……不論是她們，還是黛西、喬丹、威爾森夫人默特爾，都只是時代洪流裡的點點浮花浪蕊。

五、尼克，透過尼克的敘述，一個場景（灰燼之谷 / Valley of Ashes）

在本文第二部分的末尾我講蓋茨比『是一個優秀的年青人，甚至我不願意講什麼「他走上了一條歧途」之類的話。因為他如果不走這條路，還有什麼其它的路他可以走呢？只有一條。那就是像他爸爸一樣，做一個「不長進的失敗農民」，而這條路正是他當初離家出走時，想要逃離的那一條』，可能有的人會提出異議說，不走這條路，也除了他爸爸那條路，他蓋茨比完全還可以走別的路呀。對此我的意見是，蓋茨比當然可以走別的路，但前提是，蓋茨比如果不是蓋茨比的話。具體來說，蓋茨比如果不是出身在底層，並且如果不出身在底層， 外加不是那麼得優秀（他懂事得早、他有一個迷人的笑容、在機會來的時候他善於把握等等），並且——，如果不出身在底層外加不那麼得優秀， 外加不是那麼得努力，並且——，如果不出身在底層外加不那麼得優秀外加不那麼得努力， 外加不是那麼得不甘心，那麼——，他還會有很多其他路可以走。更進一步，我們來對比，如果是尼克——

尼克·凱樂威，出生於底子殷實中產家庭，在第一章尼克自己介紹道，

我的家族在這個中西部城市裡作為一戶有名的殷實人家，已經有三代了。我們的宗族傳承自巴克劉淇公爵，凱樂威家算是其中一支，但實際上我這一支的創始人是我爺爺的哥哥，他五十一歲時來到這裡，派了個替身去參加內戰，然後開始了如今由我父親接手的這個硬件批發生意。 我從未見過我這位堂爺爺，但我長得應該蠻像他——根據掛在爸爸辦公室牆上的一幅相當嚴肅的畫像。我於一九一五年從紐黑文畢業，正好比我父親晚了四分之一個世紀，…… > > （原文P4） > My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for three generations. The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we’re descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch, but the actual founder of my line was my grandfather’s brother, who came here in fifty-one, sent a substitute to the Civil War, and started the wholesale hardware business that my father carries on to-day. > I never saw this great-uncle, but I’m supposed to look like him—with special reference to the rather hard-boiled painting that hangs in father’s office I graduated from New Haven in 1915, just a quarter of a century after my father, ... > > >

就尼克本人來講，他是一個非常有教養的人，他的這種教養，不僅體現在他所受的教育（畢業於耶魯大學），更重要在於他的家庭教養同傳承。在前文我們了解過蓋茨比的父親，而且從中我們可以看出蓋茨比和他父親的關係很不好。蓋茨比從十來歲離開家裡之後，跟他父親就再沒有任何聯繫，除了後來在經濟上對他父親有過接濟外。而且他從小就不大看得上他的父親，在他童稚的浪漫想法裡，他把自己想像成上帝之子，而不願意承認他的父親。他同他父親在精神上不但毫無交流，更有巨大的、無法跨越地鴻溝，所以蓋茨比就談不上有什麼家庭教養了，從他父親那裡，他唯一傳承過來的就是窮人對『好的生活』的渴望。

情況在尼克身上是截然不同的。『在我年輕且脆弱的年月裡』，故事一開頭尼克就講道，

我的父親給了我一些建議，從那以後它們始終在我的腦海裡，無法磨滅。 『在你想要責怪其他人的時候，』他對我說，『你要曉得，世界上沒有哪個擁有過像你這樣得天獨厚的條件。』 他沒再說什麼，我倆一直以來都是以一種不尋常的、有所保留的方式來交流，但我知道他所說的別有深意。我亦因此養成了保留自己的判斷的習慣，正是這一習慣開啟了我好奇的天性，…… > > （原文P3） > In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. > 'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.' > He didn’t say any more, but we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence, I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me ... > > >

當他『決定到東部去學習債券業務』後，他回憶說，

…… 我所有的大姑大姨和叔叔舅舅們像是要替我選擇一所預讀學校似的，對此事仔細討論了一番，最後臉色憂傷而猶豫地說：『那——，好、好吧，』爸爸答應資助我一年，諸多拖延之後，我來到東部了，…… > > （原文P4） > ... All my aunts and uncles talked it over as if they were choosing a prep school for me, and finally said, 'Why—ye—es,' with very grave, hesitant faces. Father agreed to finance me for a year, and after various delays I came East, permanently, I thought, in the spring of twenty-two. > > >

很明顯，尼克同他父親的之間關係才應當是正常的父子關係——父親作為一個長者，在孩子需要的時候，適可而止地給出一些建議，不過分干涉，亦非完全放任。不僅如此，不僅正常的父子關係應當要是這樣的，而且尼克所成長在的這種樣的家庭，也才應該是正常的家庭，應該是每個普通的家庭所該有的樣子。即，一個普通的家庭應當有一個正當的、正常的，而且穩定的收入，無論是做生意也好，是醫生、工人、各行各業也罷；在家庭裡面，上一代和下一代之間有正常的溝通乃至傳承，家庭成員之間有較為融洽的氛圍，每個家庭成員當然也是自由獨立的個體。當然首先，必要的，上述話的前提是講在一個正常的時代底下。然而恰恰尼克，及故事裡的所有人，所處在的都是一個並不正常的年代。我們感覺到，在那個年代裡，像尼克這樣的家庭階層反而成了少數，而像蓋茨比父親這樣的貧窮階層和像湯姆·布坎南家、黛西·妃伊家這樣的富翁一族，還有丹·科迪、渥夫斯罕、蓋茨比這樣的暴發戶，卻在同時間多得不靠普！

在第一章，我們跟隨尼克去到了東蛋，看到

穿過這道小港灣，在時髦的東蛋那頭，一幢幢白色的豪宅沿岸閃耀著，…… > > （原文P6） > Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, ... > > >

接著，湯姆帶尼克和我們去參觀了一個地方，

『我有個好地方，』他說，他的眼睛躁動地閃爍著。 他用一隻手臂把我轉過來，寬大的手掃過前面的景觀：那是一個下陷的意大利花園，方圓兩千多米，裡面深深地長著茂密且香氣襲人的玫瑰花，另外還有一輛短鼻摩托艇不時地被離岸的潮水拍打著。 『這是迪麥納的，搞石油的那傢伙。』…… > > （原文P7） > 'I’ve got a nice place here,' he said, his eyes flashing about restlessly. > Turning me around by one arm, he moved a broad flat hand along the front vista, including in its sweep a sunken Italian garden, a half acre of deep, pungent roses, and a snub-nosed motor-boat that bumped the tide offshore. > 'It belonged to Demaine, the oil man.' ... > > >

如此『景觀』真是嘆為觀止！不過到了第二章，緊接著，我們又見到了另一個嘆為觀止的景象，那是『一片特殊的荒園』，一個『灰燼之谷』——

在西蛋和紐約的半道上，機動車道匆忙地向鐵路靠攏，直至相隔不到一里地時才轉而與之擦肩而過，以此來繞過 **_一片特殊的荒園_**。 **_那是個灰燼之谷_**——一片奇異的田地，在它上面，灰燼像麥子樣地生長，長成了田埂和山丘以及奇形怪狀的花園；在它上面，灰燼變幻成了房屋和煙囪以及扶搖直上的炊煙，最後更是驚人地變幻出了模糊的、破碎了的灰白人形，穿梭在滿是塵土的空氣中。時不時地，一列灰朦朦的車隊沿著一條看不清的軌道爬行著，發出一陣令人反感的咔乞咔乞聲，接著又安靜一陣子，然後馬上就會看到一大群灰白人形拿著沉重的鐵鍬湧現出來，倒騰起一片濃重的霧靄，從而又將他們怪異的行為隱匿在你的視線之外。 但是再過一陣子，你就會注意到，在這片灰白的土地和變幻莫測的昏暗的塵埃之上，T•J•艾考博格醫生的一雙眼睛無休無止地飄動著。T•J•艾考博格醫生的兩眼是藍色而且巨大的——他們的視網膜足有近一米高。他們沒有鼻子也沒有臉，卻戴了一副巨大的黃色眼鏡，架在那個不存在的鼻子上面。顯然，這是個被荒廢掉的廣告計劃，眼科醫生為擴大他自己在皇后區的業務而放置，後來他卻任由自己沉入永恆的黑暗中而不顧，又或他搬到別處去，把他們記不得了。而他的那雙眼睛，在歷經日曬雨淋和許多個一成不變的日日夜夜後，雖然已經有點子褪色了，卻依舊耿耿地注視著這片沉悶又枯燥的大地。 灰燼之谷的一側與一條惡臭的小河接壤，當河面上的吊橋剛好被拉起來給駁船讓道時，要過橋的火車只能停下來等著，車上乘客們望著他們面前這幅陰沉的景象，多則可能長達半個鐘頭。一般，火車在這裡最起碼要停上一分鐘，正是這個原因使我初次見到了湯姆•布坎南的情人。 > > （原文P16） > About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight. > But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground. > The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and, when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. There is always a halt there of at least a minute, and it was because of this that I first met Tom Buchanan’s mistress. > > >

湯姆的情人威爾森夫人和她老公就生活在那個除了灰什麼都沒有了的地方。聽聽從威爾森的加油站裡出來後湯姆對尼克講的話吧：

『討厭的地方，是吧，』湯姆說，並朝艾考博格醫生那雙眼睛皺了皺眉頭。 『討厭透頂。』 **_『離開這裡是對她好。』_** 『他老公不反對？』 **_『威爾森？他以為她是去紐約看她妹妹。他太蠢了，他根本連自己是個活人都不曉得。』_** 所以湯姆和他女人還有我一起到紐約去——也不能說是一起，因為威爾森夫人謹慎地搭了另一班火車。湯姆很在意東蛋那些人的看法，而他們很可能也坐在這列車上。 …… > > （原文P18） > 'Terrible place, isn’t it,' said Tom, exchanging a frown with Doctor Eckleburg. > 'Awful.' > 'It does her good to get away.' > 'Doesn’t her husband object?' > 'Wilson? He thinks she goes to see her sister in New York. He’s so dumb he doesn’t know he’s alive.' > So Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York—or not quite together, for Mrs. Wilson sat discreetly in another car. Tom deferred that much to the sensibilities of those East Eggers who might be on the train. > ... > > >

我不得不講湯姆這段話令我反感。好像這個地方如此討厭是威爾森的錯，威爾森要負全責樣的。在威爾森面前湯姆那麼得目中無人，因為連威爾森他自己老婆喜歡的都是他，因為他有能力、有財力把他老婆帶離開這個鬼地方，帶她到紐約，給她開一套公寓，給她開party，給她錢實現她的shopping-list，她的wish-list，給她也做一回主子，對下人發號施令一回，叫按摩師為她按摩一回……金錢和地位，給了湯姆光榮和正確，又有哪個反駁得了？

在紐約車站，我們還看到生動的一幕，裡頭有個賣狗的老頭子，

『那些狗，我想要一只，』她熱誠地說道。『我想要一只放在房子裡。能擁有一——一只狗、真好。』 **_我們退回到一個灰白的老人旁邊，那人長得和[約翰•D•洛克菲勒](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BA%A6%E7%BF%B0%C2%B7%E6%88%B4%E7%BB%B4%E6%A3%AE%C2%B7%E6%B4%9B%E5%85%8B%E8%8F%B2%E5%8B%92)相像得近乎荒唐。一打剛生下來不久的小狗蜷縮在掛在他頸脖子上的籃子裡。_** 『牠們是什麼品種的？』威爾森夫人熱切地問，那人走到的士的車窗邊上來了。 『什麼品種都有。這位女士，你想要哪一種？』 『我想要那種警犬；我猜你恐怕沒有吧？』 **_他不確定地往籃子裡面細看_**，然後伸手一把抓在其中一只的後項上，將其拎了出來。 **_『那不是什麼警犬，』湯姆說。_** 『嗯，牠不完全算是只警犬，』 **_那人聲音裡有點失望地說。_**『牠應該算是一只[萬能㹴](http://baike.baidu.com/view/257387.htm)』他摸了摸牠抹布樣的毛茸茸的棕色後背。『看看這皮毛。少有的皮毛。這只狗，我包你不用擔心牠會感冒著涼。』 『我覺得牠很可愛，』威爾森夫人熱情洋溢地說。『牠要多少錢？』 **_『這一只？』他用讚賞的眼光看著牠。『這一只要花你十美元。』_** 這只——毫無疑問，這一只確實，在不知道的什麼地方，肯定有一只純種的萬能㹴跟牠是親戚，雖然牠的四只腳都是[令人醒目的白色](http://www.jiqiyu.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/%E3%80%8A%E4%BA%86%E4%B8%8D%E8%B5%B7%E7%9A%84%E8%93%8B%E8%8C%A8%E6%AF%94%E3%80%8B%E8%AE%80%E5%BE%8C%E2%80%94%E2%80%94%E4%BA%BA%E7%89%A9%E3%80%81%E6%83%85%E7%AF%80%E3%80%81%E5%A0%B4%E6%99%AF%E6%B7%BA%E6%9E%90.html##)——總之，不管怎麼樣這只『萬能㹴』反正是易手了，牠現在被安置在威爾森夫人的大腿上，後者正喜不自禁地愛撫著牠那身能遮風擋雨的皮毛。 **_『牠是男孩還是女孩？』她充滿憐愛地問道。 『這條狗？這狗是男的。』 『牠是個母狗，』湯姆_** **果斷地** **_說。『給你錢。拿去再買十只。』_** > > （原文P19） > 'I want to get one of those dogs,' she said earnestly. 'I want to get one for the apartment. They’re nice to have—a dog.' > We backed up to a gray old man who bore an absurd resemblance to John D. Rockefeller. In a basket swung from his neck cowered a dozen very recent puppies of an indeterminate breed. > 'What kind are they?' asked Mrs. Wilson eagerly, as he came to the taxi-window. > 'All kinds. What kind do you want, lady?' > 'I’d like to get one of those police dogs; I don’t suppose you got that kind?' > The man peered doubtfully into the basket, plunged in his hand and drew one up, wriggling, by the back of the neck. > 'That’s no police dog,' said Tom. > 'No, it’s not exactly a polICE dog,' said the man with disappointment in his voice. 'It’s more of an Airedale.” He passed his hand over the brown wash-rag of a back. 'Look at that coat. Some coat. That’s a dog that’ll never bother you with catching cold.' > 'I think it’s cute,' said Mrs. Wilson enthusiastically. 'How much is it?' > 'That dog?' He looked at it admiringly. 'That dog will cost you ten dollars.' > The Airedale—undoubtedly there was an Airedale concerned in it somewhere, though its feet were startlingly white—changed hands and settled down into Mrs. Wilson’s lap, where she fondled the weather-proof coat with rapture. > 'Is it a boy or a girl?' she asked delicately. > 'That dog? That dog’s a boy.' > 'It’s a bitch,” said Tom decisively. 'Here’s your money. Go and buy ten more dogs with it.' > > >

第二章他們在紐約的公寓裡時，威爾森夫人的妹妹凱瑟琳也講道：

『 **_她_**（威爾森夫人） **_真是應該離開他_**（威爾森），』凱瑟琳又開始對我說。『 **_他們在那個加油站裡住了有十一年了。_**湯姆是她的第一個貼心情人，也只他這一個。』 > > （原文P24） > 'She really ought to get away from him,' resumed Catherine to me. 'They’ve been living over that garage for eleven years. And tom’s the first sweetie she ever had.' > > >

終究，那個鬼地方，那個灰堆，是個連名字都沒有的地方。在車禍發生以後，一個警察問道：

『這裡是叫什麼地方？』警察問。 『還沒有名字，這個地方。』 …… > > （原文P89） > 'What's the name of this place here?' demanded the officer. > 'Hasn't got any name.' > ... > > >

在此，我想繼續拿湯姆來和尼克做一個對比。湯姆也受過大學教育，跟尼克是校友。尼克提到過湯姆在大學時的表現，即『他的紐黑文歲月』，

在各式各樣的體育成就裡，黛西她老公湯姆，有一度是足球場上最具影響力的球員之一，甚至成了國家形象代言，他那時是在紐黑文踢球；不過此後，事情的走向正如好些在二十一歲年紀就達到了成就顛峰的那些人那樣，後來的所有事情都著帶點每況日下的味道。他的家境極其富裕——早年間在大學裡，他在金錢上的自由就足以引起非議了…… > > （原文P6） > Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven—a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterward savors of anti-climax. His family were enormously wealthy—even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach ... > > >

從中我們可以看出，他的家庭、他的父母對他從小有多麼得放縱。難怪他會養成他那種（前文有過介紹的）對別人的毛躁的、輕蔑的、耀武揚威的態度了，像以前一些老人家對小孩子，甚或年紀輕的人不滿意的時候會講的那起話，叫作是『沒教沒養』，那算是講得很重的話了，父母要是聽了要麼是會臉紅，要么是會記恨在心的。實際上這裡我看到的是，湯姆跟父母的關係同蓋茨比跟父母的關係是如出一轍的。他們父母對他們都是放任自流（或者管不了），他們之間的交流溝通多半是局限在金錢上的，少有精神關懷。進一步講，湯姆的家庭跟蓋茨比的家庭相比，一個共同點是經驗上的極度貧乏，當然，一個顯見的不同在於物質上，前者是極大的豐富，後者依然貧乏。

當然湯姆的父母想必認為無需對兒子有任何約束，因為他們的金錢跟地位。在湯姆結婚的時候，黛西周圍就充斥著關於他金錢和地位的美好傳說。況且湯姆不管玩什麼，在花錢上也確實出手大方。根據湯姆總是對那些走私販、那些蓋茨比、那們渥夫斯罕們，甚至那些搞石油的，表現出一種站在道德高位上的優越感，而不管他們是多麼有錢這一點來看，我有理由猜想他家裡的那種『地位』一定是非常正當的，他家走的道路一定是一條堂堂正道，所以我想他父親或許是什麼政治人物呢。以我小婦人之心，我願意猜想他的父親是一位國會議員。

不過崇高的地位和雄厚的財力，並不會對一個人的幸福感做出任何保證。幸福，在我看來是一種完全內在的感受，是內心的充盈，英文裡有個詞叫做『fullfill』非常貼切，當然中文裡也有個詞叫滿足。無奈短暫的滿足感很容易獲得，但滿足過後往往留下更大的空虛。湯姆好似就有點空虛，有點不滿足——

『文明就要破碎了，』 **_湯姆激烈地破口而出。_**『我已經是一個可怕的悲觀主義者了。你看過這個戈達德寫的《有色帝國的崛起》嗎？』 『沒有，怎麼，』 **_我為他激烈的嗓音感到吃驚。_** 『喔，那是一本好書，每個人都應該讀一讀。這本書講的是如果我們不小心點，那我們白種人就會——就會被徹底淹沒。裡面講的都是科學的東西；被證實了的。』 『湯姆最近變得很高深了，』黛西說，臉上掛著一副不可思議的悲傷神情。『他看一些個裡面有很長的句子的，很深奧的書。那個詞叫什麼來著——』 『哦，那些書都是很科學的，』湯姆 **_堅持_**說， **_有些氣急敗壞地_**看了她一眼。『那個傢伙把所有事情都搞通了。決定權在於我們，我們是佔主導地位的人種，我們要警惕，否則就會被其他種族的人把持一些事情。』 『我們要把他們打垮，』黛西低語，朝燒得發紅的太陽凶狠地眨了眨眼。 『你們應該住在加利弗尼亞——』貝克小姐才起了個頭，就被湯姆打斷了，後者在椅子上重重的挪了一挪。 『重點在我們是北歐民族。我是、你也是、你也是，還有你——』經過瞬間的猶豫，他稍稍點了下頭，把黛西也包括了進去，而黛西又朝我眨了眨眼。『——是我們創造了所有這些文明——哦，像科學啦、藝術啦，所有這些。你們明白沒？』 **_有種可悲的東西藏在他這種專注的態度裡，好像他的洋洋自得，他自以為老練的洞察力，這些、再也不能叫他滿足了。_**…… > > （原文P10－11） > 'Civilization’s going to pieces,' broke out Tom violently. 'I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read ‘The Rise of the Colored Empires’ by this man Goddard?' > 'Why, no,' I answered, rather surprised by his tone. > 'Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.' > 'Tom’s getting very profound,' said Daisy, with an expression of unthoughtful sadness. > 'He reads deep books with long words in them. What was that word we——' > 'Well, these books are all scientific,' insisted Tom, glancing at her impatiently. 'This fellow has worked out the whole thing. It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.' > 'We’ve got to beat them down,' whispered Daisy, winking ferociously toward the fervent sun. > 'You ought to live in California—' began Miss Baker, but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair. > 'This idea is that we’re Nordics. I am, and you are, and you are, and——' After an infinitesimal hesitation he included Daisy with a slight nod, and she winked at me again. > '—And we’ve produced all the things that go to make civilization—oh, science and art, and all that. Do you see?' > There was something pathetic in his concentration, as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more. ... > > > …… 對於湯姆，他『在紐約有了其他女人』的事實，真的不比他竟會對一本書有感觸更叫人吃驚。 **_某些東西促使他咬住一些過了時的蹩腳觀點不放，似乎他那具強壯而狂妄的肉體，已經不足以滋養他那顆專橫的心了。_** > > （原文P15） > ... As for Tom, the fact that he 'had some woman in New York.' was really less surprising than that he had been depressed by a book. Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his peremptory heart. > > > …… 『我在別的地讀到過，講太陽現在變得一年比一年更熱，』湯姆友好地講道。『看起來，地球很快就會要跌進太陽裡去了——或者是，等等——正好是反過來——是太陽一年比一年變得更冷了。』 …… > > （原文P75） > ... 'I read somewhere that the sun’s getting hotter every year,' said Tom genially. 'It seems that pretty soon the earth’s going to fall into the sun—or wait a minute—it’s just the opposite—the sun’s getting colder every year.' ... > > >

湯姆從小就討厭別人講他蠢笨，

『你們看！』她（黛西）抱怨道，『我弄傷它了。』 我們都看了看——她的指頭青一塊紫一塊的。 『都是你，湯姆，』她譴責道。『我知道你不是故意的，但這的確是你弄的。 **_就因為我嫁給了一個殘忍野蠻的人，一個四肢發達、彪悍，一個蠢笨的一個——』 『我討厭蠢笨這個詞，』湯姆生氣地反駁道，『從小我就討厭別人用這個詞。』 『蠢笨，』黛西堅持說。_** > > （原文P10） > 'Look!' she complained; 'I hurt it.' > We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue. > 'You did it, Tom,' she said accusingly. 'I know you didn’t mean to, but you did do it. > That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen of a——' > 'I hate that word hulking,' objected Tom crossly, 'even in kidding.' > 'Hulking,' insisted Daisy. > > >

也許，在他心裡面有一絲一毫的自卑，也許，他是羨慕尼克的，大概因為在他眼裡尼克從來不『蠢笨』，

…… 我們同在一個成年人的社會裡，雖然我們的關係從來不是很親密，我（尼克）卻始終有種印象，就是他（湯姆）很認同我並想要我喜歡他—— **_出於他那強烈而感傷的自尊。_** > > （原文P7） > ... We were in the same senior society, and while we were never intimate I always had the impression that he approved of me and wanted me to like him with some harsh, defiant wistfulness of his own. > > >

到這裡，相信大家不會覺得尼克父親對尼克講的那句話有多夸張了，

『在你想要責怪其他人的時候，』他對我說，『 **_你要曉得，世界上沒有哪個擁有過像你這樣得天獨厚的條件。_**』 > > （原文P3） > 'Whenever you feel like criticising anyone,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.' > > >

還有，尼克父親『不厭其俗地』提醒的那句，

…… 一如父親不厭其俗地提醒，我亦不厭其俗地重申的那樣： **_要知道每個人打一生下來，就處在千差萬別的環境裡。_** > > （原文P3） > ... as my father snobbishly suggested, and I snobbishly repeat, a sense of the fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth. > > >

也因此尼克，總是以一個觀察者和自省的態度出現在眾人面前。也因此有時候，他顯得那麼孤獨，好似『眾人皆醉我獨醒』，在他說——

每個人或多或少地，都覺得自己身上至少有一樣傳統的美德，而我的這樣美德就是： **_我是我所認得的少數誠實的人裡面的一個。_** > > （原文P39） > Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known. > > >

的時候，在他說——

**_即便是在東部最讓我激動的時候，即便是在我最狂熱地意識它的優越，相較於那些無聊的、散漫的、臃腫的，位於俄亥俄上方的那些鎮子，它們對小孩和老人採取沒完沒了的盤根問詰態度——即便在那些時候，它對我來講總還是有一種扭曲的特質。_**西蛋，尤為特別地，自始至終出現在我綺麗的夢幻裡。我把它看做是艾爾•格列柯的一個夜間場景：一百所房子，曾經一度既傳統又古怪地蹲踞在一片高高在上的陰沉的天空，和一個毫無光澤的月亮之下。在前方，有四個穿著西裝、表情嚴肅的男人，用擔架抬著一個穿白色晚禮裙的吃醉了的女人，走在人行道上。女人的手，懸掛在一側，和著珠寶閃爍著冷艷的光澤。更嚴重的是這些男的轉進了一間房子裡——一間錯的房子。但是沒有人知道這個女人的名字，也根本沒有人在意。 **_蓋茨比死後，東部就是以那樣的形象浮現在我的腦海裡，其扭曲超出了我的眼睛所能矯正的範圍。所以當脆弱的葉子卷起藍色的煙霧，風颳動著晾衣繩上掛著的尸體般的濕衣服時，我決定要回家去了。_** > > （原文P112－113） > Even when the East excited me most, even when I was most keenly aware of its superiority to the bored, sprawling, swollen towns beyond the Ohio, with their interminable inquisitions which spared only the children and the very old—even then it had always for me a quality of distortion. West Egg, especially, still figures in my more fantastic dreams. I see it as a night scene by El Greco: a hundred houses, at once conventional and grotesque, crouching under a sullen, overhanging sky and a lustreless moon. In the foreground four solemn men in dress suits are walking along the sidewalk with a stretcher on which lies a drunken woman in a white evening dress. Her hand, which dangles over the side, sparkles cold with jewels. Gravely the men turn in at a house—the wrong house. But no one knows the woman’s name, and no one cares. > After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home. > > >

的時候，在他說——

我沒法原諒他（湯姆）或者喜歡他，但我明白他所做的，就他而言，是公平的。 **_所有一切都非常得輕率跟困惑。他們就是一些輕浮子，湯姆和黛西——他們把人和事搞得一團糟，然後就撤退回他們的金錢，他們的巨大的輕率，或者隨便什麼把他們聚在一起的東西裡，再讓其他人給他們來揩屁股，收拾殘局……_** 我跟他握手了；不握手似乎很傻，因為我突然覺得我是在跟一個小孩子講話。然後他進了珠寶店去買一串珍珠項鏈——又或許只是一對袖釦——永遠地擺脫了 **_我的迂腐的神經質_**。 > > （原文P114） > I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made... > I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child. Then he went into the jewelry store to buy a pearl necklace—or perhaps only a pair of cuff buttons—rid of my provincial squeamishness forever. > > >

的時候，在他說——

『他們是一伙討厭鬼，』我（尼克）隔著草坪喊道。『他們全部加起來都不如你（蓋茨比）。』 > > （原文P98） > 'They're a rotten crowd,' I shouted across the lawn. 'You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.' > > >

的時候。在蓋茨比死後他發現——

**_我發現自己站在蓋茨比這邊，獨自一人。_**從我打電話把這個事故通知西蛋村開始，每一樣和他有關的猜測，每一個實際的問題，都指向了我。一開始我很吃驚也很迷惑； 後來，當他睡在他的房子裡，沒有動也沒有呼吸也沒有說話，一個又一個小時過去了，我開始覺得我有責任，因為沒有其他人會在意——在意，我意思是，那種強烈的個人關懷之於每個人在其最終的時候都應該享有的某種權力。 > > （原文P104） > But all this part of it seemed remote and unessential. I found myself on Gatsby’s side, and alone. From the moment I telephoned news of the catastrophe to West Egg village, every surmise about him, and every practical question, was referred to me. At first I was surprised and confused; then, as he lay in his house and didn’t move or breathe or speak, hour upon hour, it grew upon me that I was responsible, because no one else was interested—interested, I mean, with that intense personal interest to which every one has some vague right at the end. > > >

的時候……

像尼克隔著草坪對蓋茨比喊出他的心聲一樣，我要隔著時空對尼克喊：『在這個扭曲的時代裡，尼克，你鶴立雞群！』

六、扭曲的時代

法制漏洞、貪腐、社會不公，物質的極大豐富，經驗的極度貧乏，龐大的窮人階層，膨脹的富人階級，單薄熒弱的中產階級，這就是那個時代——一九二零年代的美國社會，那個『爵士時代』。那個年代離我們現在已經快一百年了，今日的美國不同往昔。前不久發生在美國的『佔領華爾街』大規模遊行，人們舉的標語說：『WE ARE THE 99%. （我們是那百分之九十九。）』抗議那百分之一的富人，這百分之九十九裡當然也包含窮人，但中產階級必定是佔多數的，可見當初窮人和富人分庭抗禮，中產階層熒熒弱弱的時代畢竟過去了。中產階層雖然還是辛苦，卻已人數壯大了，他們顯然有新的問題要去面對。不過，今時今日，中國人不會同意那個對很多人來講是該死的年代、對另外很多人來講卻是大好的年代已經久遠，中國人個個都想必早已在這個百年前的故事裡找到自己的位置，情愿或不情愿地坐好在那兒了嘞。（完）

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