what does riotous excursions mean

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I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.

• Thread starter Zongzi
• Start date Feb 24, 2020

• Feb 24, 2020

The Great Gatsby "And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a limit. Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes, but after a certain point I don’t care what it’s founded on. When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart . Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. " What does the sentence in bold type mean? 1. Why were the excursions "riotous" and glimpses "privileged"? Who compelled the narrator to have excursions? How could the narrator have privilege? 2. Which one is correct, "excursions into the human heart" or "glimpses into the human heart"? 3. What is the sentence's connection with the context? Does it have anything to do with morality? I am so confused, and I do appreciate your help!  

Senior Member

This sentence is a teaser opening line for the novel. You need to read the novel to find out why he feels emotionally exhausted after the events. At the risk of spoiling the plot, the narrator will describe wild parties with the very wealthy (riotous excursions) and being the confidant of people in emotional distress (privileged excursions into the human heart). He will end up disgusted by what he sees but unsure exactly how to assign moral blame. You aren't meant to know all this at the start. Its meant to whet your curiosity. The author is being a bit mysterious. I suggest you read the book and then return to this sentence and see if it makes more sense.  

• Feb 25, 2020

Ponyprof said: This sentence is a teaser opening line for the novel. You need to read the novel to find out why he feels emotionally exhausted after the events. At the risk of spoiling the plot, the narrator will describe wild parties with the very wealthy (riotous excursions) and being the confidant of people in emotional distress (privileged excursions into the human heart). He will end up disgusted by what he sees but unsure exactly how to assign moral blame. You aren't meant to know all this at the start. Its meant to whet your curiosity. The author is being a bit mysterious. I suggest you read the book and then return to this sentence and see if it makes more sense. Click to expand...

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The Great Gatsby

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F. Scott Fitzgerald

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In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’

When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.

Why they came East I don’t know. . . . This was a permanent move, said Daisy over the telephone, but I didn’t believe it—I had no sight into Daisy’s heart, but I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game.

‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret. ‘Can’t you talk about crops or something?’

‘It’ll show you how I’ve gotten to feel about—things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. “All right,” I said, “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”’

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The Great Gatsby

The great gatsby, "riotous excursions".

Could you please tell me the precise meaning of "excursion" and "riotous" in the following sentence extracted from the first chapter of The Great Gatsby?

I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart.

This would mean wild (riotous) trips (excursions) partying like when they went to New York and got drunk.

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The Great Gatsby Quotes

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Source: The Great Gatsby

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn"

When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.

For a guy who says he reserves judgment, Nick is getting all Judgy McJudgerson over here. Nick is the narrator of The Great Gatsby , and here, in Chapter 1, he's telling us how he really feels about the title character.

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If you've ever heard someone say "unaffected scorn," you might be living in an SAT prep guide.

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Definition of riotous

• chucklesome
• hysteric
• sidesplitting

Examples of riotous in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'riotous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Dictionary Entries Near riotous

Cite this entry.

“Riotous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/riotous. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of riotous, legal definition, legal definition of riotous, more from merriam-webster on riotous.

Nglish: Translation of riotous for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of riotous for Arabic Speakers

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The Riotous Excursions of ‘The Great Gatsby’

While F. Scott Fitzgerald is credited with achieving a near-perfect realization of the Great American Novel with The Great Gatsby , the book has been something of an albatross for filmmakers. Adaptation problems arose soon after is publication, starting with a 1926 movie that Fitzgerald himself famously walked out on.

Still, directors keep trying. Since the 1926 flop, as PopMatters writer John Coffey points out in Hey Old Sport (Again) , the material has been fashioned into a 1949 gangster flick; a gauzy, soft-focus 1974 film; a 2000 made-for-tv movie; and, now, a Baz Luhrmann-directed 3D extravaganza.

Despite the anachronisms, director Baz Luhrmann attempts to not only stay true to the spirit of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, but also to the way the book was perceived in its own period. So, if jazz music was the soundtrack to youth culture of the time, it’d be, he figures, analogous to the hip-hop of today; he then loads up the film with period-appropriate jazz courtesy of the Brian Ferry Orchestra, hip-hop tracks by Jay Z (who executive-produced the movie) and his collaborators, jazzy covers of contemporary songs, and modern songs made to sound old-timey, all in varying degrees and combinations.

It’s a lot to bite off. Unfortunately, Luhrmann’s ambition doesn’t let him escape from the number-one trap that plagues any Gatsby adaptation: Fitzgerald himself. Fitzgerald’s words are so perfectly arranged, and so available, it’s tempting just to point the camera at someone reading the book word-for-word (something akin to the Elevator Repair Service’s Gatz ). But Fitzgerald’s narration is best used sparingly, and Luhrmann overdoes it, to the point where the words not only describe what can plainly be seen, they appear as title cards on the screen. Worse, to give narrator Nick Carraway (the suitably boyish Tobey Maguire) someone to recite this narration to, a ridiculous framing device is invented, and becomes the source of the movie’s cheesiest moments.

It’s also tempting for The Great Gatsby adaptors to go overboard with period details and, in order for Luhrmann to fit them all in — and in three dimensions theatrically (which slows down Luhrmann’s usual breakneck editing pace) — there is a reliance on CGI. Sometimes the effect is seamless; a car trip over the Queensboro Bridge gives no clues that everything outside the car is digital. Other times, though, the visuals veer into cartoonishness, especially overhead shots that show an abrupt, color-blocked disconnect between wealthy West Egg, the poorer Valley of Ashes, and Manhattan beyond, looking like three different paintings stuck together with Scotch tape.

But while the connective tissue may have issues, the heart of The Great Gatsby story unfolds at three different parties that punctuate Carraway’s summer in New York, and, with these, Luhrmann delivers. This is quite possibly because the excesses of the period Fitzgerald was writing about gels perfectly with the excesses of Luhrmann’s visual style. At Gatsby’s mansion, Luhrmann packs the frame with extras in glittering Prada dresses; performers that include jazz bandleaders, bedecked dancers, wailing chanteuses, and an amped-up organist; confetti pouring from somewhere up above; and an unfathomable amount of liquor bottles and Champagne glasses. These images are incredibly immersive in the 3D theatrical release, but even flattened for the Blu-ray release, they seem all-enveloping.

You can’t dream up a better introduction to Jay Gatsby (a perfectly cast Leonardo DiCaprio) than Luhrmann’s, with fireworks and “Rhapsody in Blue” — you don’t quite see a twinkle in his teeth when he smiles, but you can imagine Nick perceiving one. These details do pop off the screen, and they do fulfill Luhrmann’s mission of looking both period-appropriate and surprisingly modern. You might admire Gatsby’s cool, beautiful wardrobe not just as a paean to its time, but enough to want to buy it today (and you can, at Fitzgerald’s preferred clothier, Brooks Brothers).

We’re told repeatedly not to admire this world and its “careless people”, but it’s hard not to gawk. If, like Nick, you just want to revel in Gatsby’s orbit, the Blu-ray provides loads of extras to better immerse you in the world, delving into the parties, the clothes, the music, and the historical context of them all. Luhrmann and his producer/production designer/costumer (and wife) Catherine Martin are extremely present in all of these features, and you get the feeling that they really enjoy explaining all of the little details that make up his film.

But The Great Gatsby isn’t just about details. It’s about people. You’d think it’d be hard for any performance to punch through all that art direction, but the assembled cast succeeds in making an impression — not just the shining DiCaprio, who fully earns his reputation as a movie star. Cary Mulligan as Daisy makes for a beautiful object of adoration, but Mulligan also embodies Daisy’s flightiness and superficiality, while Joel Edgerton is a brutal, physical Tom Buchanan. Still, no one projects the sleek, slinky Jazz Age glamour as newcomer Elizabeth Debicki, who plays Jordan Baker.

Luhrmann doesn’t always get at the inner lives of all these characters. Poor Jordan is reduced to best-friend capacity, and her relationship with Nick is barely explored. That’s the other perpetual problem with The Great Gatsby adaptations — even at 142 minutes, your favorite part from the novel has probably been cut or altered. Luhrmann sneaks in as much as he can, but even he knows there has to be a limit somewhere.

But rather than mourning what has been cut, Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is worth it for what he’s able to keep in: the exuberance and longing of people living out their younger and more vulnerable years in a glitzy time. This version of The Great Gatsby is for those who are all about the riotous excursions, not those looking for the privileged glimpses into the human heart.

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Definition of riotous adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• riotous behaviour
• The organizers of the march were charged with assault and riotous assembly .

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Meaning of riotous in English

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• funny She told me a funny story about Max.
• amusing I gave her an article that I thought she would find amusing.
• humorous She wrote a humorous account of her teenage years.
• hilarious It's the most hilarious comedy on television.
• hysterical I've just read his autobiography - it's absolutely hysterical.
• all hell breaks loose idiom
• like mad idiom
• spin out of control idiom
• spread like wildfire idiom
• waywardness

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Examples of riotous, translations of riotous.

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Definition of 'riotous'

riotous in British English

Riotous in american english, examples of 'riotous' in a sentence riotous, trends of riotous.

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[ rahy - uh -t uh s ]

• (of an act) characterized by or of the nature of rioting or a disturbance of the peace.
• (of a person) inciting or taking part in a riot .

riotous living.

riotous laughter.

• hilariously funny.

/ ˈraɪətəs /

• proceeding from or of the nature of riots or rioting
• inciting to riot

riotous living

riotous laughter

Discover More

Derived forms.

• ˈriotousness , noun
• ˈriotously , adverb

Other Words From

• riot·ous·ly adverb
• riot·ous·ness noun
• un·riot·ous adjective
• un·riot·ous·ly adverb
• un·riot·ous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of riotous 1

Example Sentences

Early on, we see Six prowling through a riotous party in Bangkok, dressed in a slinky red suit.

When the phrase “I have kids” pierced their riotous fever and awakened them to the dad and neighbor kneeling before them.

Unlike just about any cop character you’ll see on American TV, the detectives all have witty, bone-dry senses of humor that make scenes that have them puzzling out the case together absolutely riotous.

Minutes into the film, a wide-eyed Buddy is confronted with a riotous, swarming masked mob brandishing torches and homemade weapons, screaming chants of “Catholics Out!”

Before resigning, though, Sund attempted to justify his department’s failure, saying that while the USCP had “a robust plan” to deal with a planned demonstration, the day’s turn to “criminal riotous behavior” was unexpected.

When they grew riotous again, Putin claimed, he himself stepped outside.

His new memoir examines Joplin, demons, riotous—and romantic—antics, and all.

Women worked on their front yards full of the riotous colors of wildflowers.

She reveals the absurdity of notions that “the Muslim world” is a riotous, violent mess, and that “they” hate “us” for being free.

Staging riotous town meetings to protest the Affordable Care Act.

He contrived, it was said, to be at once as rich as Croesus and as riotous as Mark Antony.

The balcony overlooked an inner court, and was hung with riotous moon-vines.

Under the title of ‘Covent Garden Weeded,’ it exposes the riotous doings that prevailed in that joyous locality.

These were days when the trumpets blew and the flags fluttered, days of riotous health and the joy of life.

He had spent the night among the riotous spirits in the guard-house, and had evidently undergone much wear and tear.

Related Words

• disorganized