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‘The great Gatsby’ published in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of Nick Carraway, who narrates the novel from his perspective. He is a young Yale graduate who rents a house in the West Egg. Upon moving to New York, he rents a house next door to the mansion of a millionaire, Jay Gatsby who hosts luxurious parties.
Despite his lifestyle and fortune, Gatsby is unhappy and dissatisfied with his life and Nick finds out that long ago, Gatsby fell in love with Daisy Buchanan, who is Nick’s cousin. Although she has always loved Gatsby, she is currently married to Tom Buchanan. Gatsby asks Nick to help him meet Daisy once more, and Nick agrees, arranging tea for Daisy at his house.
The two former lovers meet and soon rekindle their affair. Soon, Tom begins to suspect and challenges the two of them, also revealing that Gatsby's wealth was made through illegal gambling and stealing. Gatsby and Daisy drive back to New York. Along the way, Daisy hits and kills myrtle, Tom’s secret lover. Gatsby feels that his life would be nothing without Daisy, so he takes the blame for her. George Wilson, who discovers that the car that killed his wife belongs to Gatsby, comes to Gatsby's house and shoots him, and then shoots himself. Nick arranges a funeral for his friend and then decides to leave New York, saddened by the tragic events and disgusted by the way lived their lives.
The themes in The Great Gatsby examine the social influences of the Jazz Age. Its characters embody various classes, values, behaviors, and customs, as well as ideals and ethics. Jordan baker is especially important because she symbolizes the American dream and independence. Fitzgerald’s depiction of women marked significance as the 1920s was a notable change in the social status of women, and they were given the right to vote This time also embraced new fashions, personal freedom, and new ideas that challenged the traditional role of women and these ideas are expressed in the novel.
Fitzgerald’s choice of first-person narration, and how easy he makes it seem to blend internal thoughts with plotting, dialogue, and observation, and his choice for the novel to be from a unique point of view where Carraway is a character within the book but narrates on the main storyline. The book gains the perspective of Carraway’s thoughts on events that take place throughout the book as well as his thoughts on relationships between other characters such as Daisy and Gatsby. The book flips between Carraway’s relationships and other relationships and connects them in a smooth fashion that appeals to readers who enjoy understanding multiple perspectives in a book.
Fitzgerald also takes the reader on a spin as he begins to explore into relationships between Jordan Baker and Carraway as well as Tom Buchanan, Daisy, and Gatsby. The second half of the book reveals more about Gatsby and how he actually made his fortune. Soon after, the reader experiences a shock that gives the reader a fuller sense of the character’s personalities and the role they played in Gatsby’s life.
Fitzgerald creates strong and deep characters throughout the novel which gives each character a truly built-up persona that is a major appeal to any reader considering the book. Even though the characters in the novel like the bunchaans and Gatsby are very flawed and are hard to sympathize with. Fitzgerald makes use of literary devices such as imagery to create unique personalities that stay with the reader. He uses the first part of the book to build up each person and their personality so that the later events in the book become more meaningful and Fitzgerald’s ability to take a character such as Gatsby from being surrounded by people at the start to absolutely no one at the end at his funeral which makes this book a classic.
However, the ending of The Great Gatsby is very depressing because, in the end, those who dream do not achieve their aspirations, and the main message that Fitzgerald message isn't that dreaming will lead to misery but that chasing an unworthy dream will lead to tragedy.
Overall, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, the great Gatsby’ paints a picture of a lifestyle and a decade that is both fascinating and horrific. In doing so, Fitzgerald captures a society and a set of young people and he writes them into memorable characters. The novel remains relevant as it presents the dark side of the American Dream and does so with an unusual style. ‘The Great Gatsby' brilliantly captures the American dream in a time when it had descended into self-indulgence and I recommend it as although the ending is tragic and horrific, it is a classic and a worthy read.
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