He had possessed the arrogance of a tall member of a short race, with no obligation save to be tall.
Interpretation
The quote critiques arrogance stemming from privilege, highlighting that one's advantages do not justify entitlement.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's quote reflects on how individuals who possess certain advantages, such as height in this case, may develop a sense of superiority over others. This arrogance is portrayed as unwarranted, as it is simply a result of an innate characteristic rather than an achievement or a moral quality. The focus is on how these privileges can distort self-perception and interpersonal relationships.
In practice
In a discussion about social privilege, this quote can highlight how individuals may act based on their inherent advantages.
Don't be so anxious about it,' she laughed. 'I'm not used to being loved. I wouldn't know what to do; I never got the trick of it.' She looked down at him, shy and fatigued. 'So here we are. I told you years ago that I had the makings of Cinderella.' He took her hand; she drew it back instinctively and then replaced it in his. 'Beg your pardon. Not even used to being touched. But I'm not afraid of you, if you stay quiet and don't move suddenly.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
It was about then [1920] that I wrote a line which certain people will not let me forget: "She was a faded but still lovely woman of twenty-seven."
The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby.
But you can love more than just one person, can't you?
A sudden gust of rain blew over them and then another - as if small liquid clouds were bouncing along the land. Lightning entered the sea far off and the air blew full of crackling thunder. The table cloths blew around the pillars. They blew and blew and blew. The flags twisted around the red chairs like live things, the banners were ragged, the corners of the table tore off through the burbling billowing ends of the cloths.
Against the suffering which may come upon one from human relationships the readiest safeguard is voluntary isolation, keeping oneself aloof from other people. The happiness which can be achieved along this path is, as we see, the happiness of quietness. Against the dreaded external world one can only defend oneself by some kind of turning away from it, if one intends to solve the task by oneself.
She is very clever, too clever for a woman. She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness.
We don't have to expect everything from those who govern us; that would be juvenile.
Are not there little chapters in everybody's life, that seem to be nothing, and yet affect all the rest of the history?
War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost.
There is a stream, a succession of states, or waves, or fields (or whatever you please to call them), of knowledge, of feeling, of desire, of deliberation, etc., that constantly pass and repass, and that constitute our inner life.
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