I think onethat can be
extracted from this quotation, spoken by , the narrator, in , is that one only feels new until
someone newer comes along. Further, the present is always moving into the past and we can never
go back.
Nick says that he felt lonely after he moved to West Egg until one
morning, a man asked him for some directions. Nick told him what to do and then realized that he
no longer felt lonely. The man "had casually conferred on [Nick] the freedom of the
neighborhood." Thus, Nick stopped feeling like the new guy as soon as a newer person came
along. At this point, he might as well have been an "original settler" because, to the
new guy at least, he seems that way. Instead of feeling lonely, as Nick did prior to being
stopped for directions, he began to feel free. It seems, then, that it was all a matter of
course: new eventually becomes familiar and loneliness turns into freedom, all when viewed
through the lens of one interaction.
always hoped...
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