Literature Analysis #2

My response to The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    The Great Gatsby is a story about a secretive millionaire,Jay Gatsby, told through his neighbor Nick Carraway. This story starts when nick is invited to one of Gatsby's extravagant parties and meets Jay himself and learned they were in the same battalion during the war. The rising action happens when Gatsby asks Nick to invite his cousin, Daisy, over to his house but to come without her husband. Later we find out that Gatsby and Daisy used to be a thing before the war, and Gatsby wanted to pick things up where they left off. We also learn Daisy's husband has a mistress. The climax is when Nick,Daisy,Gatsby,Daisy's Husband, and Nick's girlfriend go to town on a really hot day and go to a hotel suite in attempts to cool down. Gatsby goes after Tom,Daisy's husband, saying she never loved him that she always loved Gatsby, and Tom tries to expose Gatsby saying his life is a lie and he just wants to impress people.After the hotel argument, Daisy and Gatsby go to her house, but Daisy accidentally runs over Tom's mistress. The resolution is that Daisy and Tom move to the East away from Long Island and Gatsby is killed by the mistress' husband.

     The main theme of the novel is money doesn't buy happiness. Gatsby throws many extravagant   parties, but rarely attends them. Even being extremely rich doesn't make him happy. All Gatsby wants is a women to love and to love him back.This is why he wanted Daisy.

     The protagonist of the story is Jay Gatsby.Gatsby is a dynamic character, he stays calm,cool,and collective. Once he sees Daisy after five years he is like a nervous wreck.The other major character of the novel is Nick Carraway. He is important because he is the one telling the story.

     One significant symbol is the green light on the end of Daisy's dock. This symbol represents Gatsby journey to get Daisy, She was so far away but now she is with him.It also represents Gatsby's hopes and dreams for the future. About the characters, it reveals Gatsby has a burning passion for Daisy he wants he, for the longest time she was just out of reach but now he can see her clearly, just like the light.

     I chose this book, because I knew my brother had read it and he thought it was good. I also chose The Great Gatsby because I know there is a newer movie adaption and I like reading a book before the movie. The book also came to my attention because I asked my brother to help me find a book. I kept wanting to read the book because Gatsby was introduced and then I knew things were going to unravel and get good.

     Since one possible theme is money vs. happiness that can apply to famous people's lives. You think money makes you happy, it doesn't. The rich buy things they do't need, not happy. What do they do? Use drugs, still not happy.Once they get better, they are never happy, fame and fortune come with a price. Money changes people, mostly for the worse.

     One idea from the book I except to remember for a long time is the ideal of reserving judgment. Sometimes judging something to quick can cause trouble.Judging can also cause someone to have a bad rep, when reality is they're a nice person. A passage that helps is this, "In consequence I'm inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because i was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men" (19)