The Great Gatsby

     Title of Book: The Great Gatsby

     Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

     # of Pages: 180

     Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Why This Book has Value:

The Great Gatsby is a book that takes place in the 1920s and really captures the essence of life during this time. The story is told through the eyes of a man named Nick Carraway who had recently moved from the Midwest to West Egg in Long Island, New York. Unlike East Egg, where the rich were rich because of family inheritance, West Egg was a place of newly acquired wealthy men and women. However, Carraway was an exception to the wealth in West Egg. In the midst of all the big houses and mansions, he found a ‘small eyesore’ of a house, as they called it, to rent. The tale that Carraway tells in this book is about a man that he once knew. A man that once lived right next door. His name was Jay Gatsby. Every weekend Gatsby would throw these enormous parties that people from all over New York would come to. One day, Carraway received an invitation to one of Gatsby’s parties; however, it seemed that he was the only one there that had actually gotten one. Most of the time, people just showed up. After meeting Gatsby for the first time, him and Carraway started to form a close companionship with each other and soon, Carraway found out that Gatsby’s sole purpose in life was to regain his relationship with Daisy Buchanan, who happened to be Carraway’s married cousin. This hope to see Daisy again is what drove Gatsby’s every decision and eventually led to the many problems that occurred that summer.

Setting:

The setting throughout the book is used to show the different aspects of the American society in the 1920s. First, we have the Eggs, East and West, where the wealthy lived. As Carraway described it, “I lived at West Egg, the—well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. [...] Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water…”(5). East Egg was said to represent the ‘old aristocracy.’ These were the people that inherited their wealth; they were born into it. West Egg, on the other hand, was full of the newly rich. Next, we have the Valley of Ashes which lied in between the two Eggs. It was "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air." (23). America had shifted from this huge industrial country to one that just wanted to party and have a good time, and as a result, we get this area of ashes that represent the “moral and social decay of America.” Lastly, there is New York City. This represented the quest to become wealthy, to party, and to find satisfaction with life. In a way, it represented the American Dream.

“Real World” issues:

The Great Gatsby can be summarized into one word: Materialism. Materialism is an ongoing issue that was big in the 1920s and is still seen in today’s world. It is defined as “a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spiritual values.” With materialism, money and things is said to be the key to happiness. And, just like back then, people today have been becoming more and more needy and greedy and all they want is money so that they can buy everything they could ever want. "Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry” (88). This is saying that people have lost their sense of moral purpose. They are chasing some sort of material utopia that they think will make them happy even though it really won't. Even if it may make them happy right then, people need to realized that nothing ever lasts forever. This was proven true when the Great Depression hit in the 1930s; however, even though we view this as one of the worst times in American history, we revert back to our old ways and today becomes no different than the way people thought in the 20s.

Importance of the Author:

Writing is often the thoughts of how authors see or wish to see their lives. You can definitely see this in The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald describes Nick Carraway almost as if it were himself. Both from the Midwest who moved to the East and wanted to become writers. Fitzgerald used his own experiences to create this character, as well as other ones, and that is why it is so detailed and well written. When an author has a personal connection with their book, it makes it that much better because they have so much to write about it. During the 1920s, Fitzgerald was considered part of this group called the “Lost Generation.” This was a bunch of writers and artists at this time that criticized the materialism and consumerism that was growing in that era. The Great Gatsby is a perfect example of criticism in the 1920s. Fitzgerald took what he saw in the real world and wrote it down on paper so that everyone could see what was wrong with the society. He did an excellent job of capturing the wrongs of the 20s and that’s something that takes a great author to do. I don’t think anyone could have written this book better than him.

Theme:

The Great Gatsby is a book of many themes and symbols; however, the main theme is about the American Dream and how it became unreachable. Originally, the American Dream was about finding your own way; finding happiness; discovering new things. The typical American Dream was just to have a meaningful life. For example, all people ever really wanted before was to live in a nice house with a loving family. However, that all changed in the 1920s. The stock market was booming and people were getting money from everywhere. As people got more, they began to ask for more. Nothing was ever enough for them because once they got what they wanted, they moved on to wanting something else. Throughout the book, the 1920s is described as a time of greed and materialism and how people’s dreams of the future are unachievable. On the last page of the book, it says, “It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—” (180). What Carraway is trying to say here is that people believe that if they don’t reach their goals today, they will get it tomorrow. They believe that their dreams are just ‘hiding around the corner’ and that they will reach it in no time. But, these dreams have become so big and demanding that they will not be attainable. It shows in this quote that Carraway believes this too when it cuts off after “And then one fine morning.” He doesn’t finish because he knows that that morning will never come. Easy money and relaxed social values corrupted the American Dream leaving people only wanting more and more until what they wanted was out of reach.

By: Sami Guneratne