Hubris

According to Garrison Keilor and the Writer's Almanac today is the day that the Titanic left Southampton for New York and also the day that Fitzgerald's book "The Great Gatsby" was published. One event was heralded as the beginning of a great accomplishment in ship-building. The other was questionable. Of course, we know that the Titanic went down and became a great symbol of man's hubris. "The Great Gatsby" went on to be perhaps the greatest American novel of the 20th century. The Titanic was built by Irish ship-builders in Belfast. "The Great Gatsby" was written by a great Irish-American from Minnesota.

"The Great Gatsby" is the novel where Gatsby strives to be something he is not so that he may win the heart of his love. He loses his struggle for Daisy and gets tangled up in the world in which she lives with her husband, Tom Buchanan. In the end he loses his life trying to fit in to the world to which he aspires.

The Titanic was considered 'unsinkable' by its designers. Unfortunately, this was found to be untrue as the design actually caused it to sink when it struck an iceberg off the coast of North America.

Tragic flaws all around. Ireland sure has produced its share.