The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story
of morals and American idealism, this being a major
theme of the book, which is corrupted by using materials
as its means.
Nick, the narrator as well as one of the main
characters of The Great Gatsby, has moved to the East
coast from the West to learn the bond business. He
rents a mid-sized bungalow on West Egg, where most of
the other residents have adopted their wealth, which
just happens to be next to the palace-like house of
Gatsby, the main character of the story. Nick's cousin
Daisy and her husband Tom are a well-to-do couple who
live on East Egg which is right across the bay from West
Egg.
This story is about a wealthy man Gatsby, who
becomes corrupt, so to say, he doesn't respect the money
which was virtually given to him when he was younger so
now the great wealth is out to destroy him in a way.
Gatsby takes things for granted because he didn't
have to word to get the Upper Class status which he now
has. An example of this is also one of the main parts
of the story. Daisy, Nick's cousin and the wife of Tom
Buchanon, once knew Gatsby when they were in high school
together and they had a thing going. After a while they
separated and Gatsby went into the Armed Forces. Now,
at the time when this story takes place in the spring of
the 1920's Daisy and Gatsby still have a thing for each
other and their growing romance develops throughout.
Taking what he has got going with Daisy for granted,
like almost everything else he's got going for him, he
begins to loose what he wants the most, Daisy.
While Daisy and Gatsby are having their little
affair Tom is having one of his own with Myrtle, the
wife of an auto garage owner. Theirs too develops
throughout the story.
These two secrete relationships go and on through
the book. Meanwhile the backgrounds of the main
characters as well as ideas/morals are revealed. Then
towards the end of the story everything begins to fall
apart.
Daisy kills Myrtle while driving Gatsby's car when
Gatsby was in the passenger seat. Gatsby took the blame
so as not to get Daisy into any trouble then was killed
be Myrtle's husband by Gatsby's pool. Once that is over
the story ends with Gatsby's funeral and the living main
characters live on happily ever after.
The Great Gatsby is a well written book, it shows
how someone can be doomed by their self-delusion when
they try to maintain an idealism based on material
values. Every main character is greatly developed as
daily events continue on so the reader is virtually
drawn into the story. Everything is understandable and
there are no gaps of slow, boring reading in the middle
when the present isn't being talked about then someone's
past is developed through either a flashback or the
telling of a story by one of the characters. The
content of this book is thick and juicy but well
organized like a cross-section of an orange where the
slices are clearly separated but full of juice
(content).
Fitzgerald wrote this story using Nick as the
narrator as well as one of the main characters as well
as other techniques to make this story work. By using
Nick as the narrator all of the action is filtered
through his head so he can make moral judgments of
others and himself. This story jumps from scene to
scene, focusing only on those few incidents which best
support the total structure. For example, Nick moves to
the East to learn the bond business but his business
activities are vaguely covered because they have no
place in the structure of the book. Other things that
make this book what it is includes juxtaposition,
between Tom's and Gatsby's parties, using flashbacks to
reveal Gatsby's background, and a descriptive style
especially when Fitzgerald is trying to create a mood.
Overall, this book made me think of my own moral
values as well as well as the fact that I shouldn't take
things that I have got for granted. If I do then I
could loose what I have got. I liked how the book was
written because it kept my attention and I followed the
events fairly well. I give it two thumbs up for content
and overall readability.
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