The Great Gatsby, busy and tired

Question

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, busy and tired

Could you please tell me the precise meaning "busy" and "tired" in the following phrase extracted from the chapter 4 from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald?

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 my arm. 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.”

Does "busy" refer to characters like Tom, Jordan, frantically busied with social functions, activities, and "tired" those who are disillusioned, detached, like Nick?

Thank you.

Asked by eric c #312325 on 4/4/2013 6:34 AM

Last updated by judy t #197809 on 4/4/2013 8:37 AM

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Answered by judy t #197809 on 4/4/2013 8:37 AM

I think both meanings are applicable - on the one hand they are weak and exhausted by trying to find something meaningful in life and being unable to do that. But in not finding the "meaning" they are weary of the monotony of a life which has no meaning and which, apparently, will have no meaning.

Answered by judy t #197809 on 4/4/2013 8:07 AM

The words, while they describe a particular lifestyle - that of people like Tom and Daisy - really help Nick figure out what these people are really like. They, those people like Tom and Daisy, are described by all of the adjectives, but more importantly the words explain that people like Tom and Daisy are almost "running in place" and getting nowhere. I think these words do not describe someone like Nick simply because he is more engaged at this point in his study of how "the other half" lives than he is in wondering about his own lifestyle and his own beliefs.

Answered by eric c #312325 on 4/4/2013 8:12 AM

Ok, but in this case what is the meaning of "tired", just weak and exhausted by action or "weary of something"?

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