1f GATSBY Creative Task

 

The Patient Who Feared the Future

By: Noah Nishihara E05	Inspired By: The Great Gatsby, 1925
Theme 1: Time Passing, Change, Mortality	Theme 2: Critical social ‘documentary’(of Technology and its effects upon us)

As Maksim’s head rests against a sofa, heremembers that remote morning when he lay on a soft polyester pillow cover, in a sterile bed smelling inexplicably of soap, years afterwards.

‘Maksim, please say that you’re feeling fine,’ says Ivan,Maksim’s father.

Vocal chords vibrate but what comes out is mangled rubbish.

‘Humble bond,’ Maksim answers as tears well in his eyes.

Ivan turns to look at Jones, the medical specialist, momentarily. Ivan hands over the Walkman with ‘Ravel’s String Quartet’ showing on its screen. As Maksim expels air, barely containing his joy, his lips loosen, as though there was less energy in them than an exhausted bird.

Ivan saw himself as the smaller prey in the jaws of a larger fish opening its mouth.

‘How’s life? Feeling pressure and the cruelty of superiors?’ asks Jones.

‘I’ve been pestered really badly, and I’m quittingthe Gravelines Nuclear Power Station.’

‘So you’re leaving Nord, all because of your past residency in Pripyat until the Chernobyl nuclear disaster?’

‘My only thought is my son,’ says Ivan. ‘He was an intelligent youngster.’

Maksim, eyes closed, resonates with the melody showing grace and fluency. But sentences weren’t blurted out, and what they’d suffered was factual forever.

Maksimthen notices the album jacket image, and a mystery wheel stands out from the chair and vase of flowers set against the cottage wall. He wonders what it could mean, even the intent of the photographer, and stretches his arms as the morning sunshine hit him.

He remembers. Slowly, as a stationary Ferris wheel might begin its rotation from nowhere, Maksim steps out of the Kawai Clinic, filled with a mild and unnecessary hate. It is an overcast day – suddenly – a short man on a motorcycle pushes Maksim onto the ground, onto his bottom. Maksim cringes, unable to move, digesting the sudden impulse. The short man asks Maksim, ‘You alright?’

Alright.Maksim and his aggressiveness are knocked out. He can’t stand. Seeing him helpless, the motorcyclist can’t help grinning, and departs, leaving a lovely black disgusting fume for Maksim. All ends as the sky is dark, the lights go out, all except the bluelight in the centre of the wheel.

 

The audience is darkened, the packed stage illuminated. The violinist sits, tentatively adjusting his wooden pegs, head cocked, perceiving the slightest intonation. Maksim stands elevated, peering over his dominion; forests of strings, cityscapes of brass, and mountainous percussion. This world is Maksim’s to shape. He rehearses, he performs. Gradually, the tension builds. Eyes are widened and backs tilted forward throughout the concert hall. Soaring sound reverberates, rising as Maksim finishes the phrase, breaking through the barrier between the real and the imaginary. Pure, unrestricted happiness for the first time.

Silence. The image of winged victory, his gaze at the invisible people in front, he weeps.

Maksim wakes, eyes sparkling, feeling the fatigue of his bottom. The room is orange.

 

Caudaequina: “numbness of the groin and inner thighs, and for Maksim, partial speech disability.”

 

Maksim began to feel as if it couldn’t have been helped, as if this had been his fate all along. Like dry ground welcoming the rain, he let the silence, solitude, and loneliness soak in. Happiness? He wasn’t sure what that meant.

‘You’re awake, Maksim’, says Ivan.

Tanya, Maksim’s mother, looks at Maksim with eyes of sincere worry.Tanya had seenMaksim bravely undergo extensive surgery, including an inevitable long-distance operation. Tanya didn’t share Ivan’s faith in technology, but she was overjoyed upon its success.

‘You look well,Maksim’ says Jones. ‘I think it’s about closing time now.’

‘Maksim, you’ve had those plugged in for a day now,’ says Ivan. ‘Get some real rest.’

‘That’s right,’ says Jones. ‘You need a balance of real activity and your illusionary technology.’

‘Even music? Should we take his player away?’ says Tanya.

‘Everything will pass Maksim with time,’ says Jones. ‘Technology isn’t the remedy.’

‘Goodnight, Maksim,’ said Tanya.                                                                                               

Her glance left him and sought the lighted top of the radio tower, where a blue light shined. What would happen now in the silent, chilly night? Perhaps some miracle, a side-effect of medication would occur, something to bring back the dazzling past.

Jones stayed late that night. When Jones rounded the rooms, Maksim turned a corner and stepped into him. ‘You’re  awake,’ Jones said immediately.

‘O cours.’

Jones nodded and led him down the corridor of creaky floorboards and lemon detergent. One afternoon, two weeks previously, he…

As Maksim gazed at the stars, he hopes for better things.Maksim dislikes change. The change of your routine.The change of houses, street layouts, and friends. The change of products, tastes, and interests. It’s that change reminding all beings of their steady flow of life towards extinction.

And Ivan was immersed in a phone conversation.

‘Yes! My application to CSL Paris is approved! We can leave tomorrow, Tanya.’

‘You happy now?’

Word count: 789

 

My purpose in writing about a psychologist and a family of threeis to explore the underlying theme of timerepresented in the novel The Great Gatsby in greater detail.Time flows at different speeds, and has a special quality suited to narrative. Dialogue incorporating references to time have not been attempted.