The Great Gatsby

Me again!

This classic novel took me at max. an hour to read and I absolutely loved it and had to share it with you all. FYI this is the 3rd time I’ve read this book.

The Great Gatsby. Set in 1920’s New York, the roaring twenties, nicknamed this because of the economic boom following the end of World War I. Coinciding with this boom was the rebellion of women, where moe traditional views expected housewives, stay at home mums and getting married young; with the 20’s, young women attended social clubs and participated in other activities such as drinking and smoking. (These feature a lot in the book). Despite this, F Scott Fitzgerald still manages to portray the racist nature of the time as well as actions others would condemn.

The book is written in a narrative structure, narrated by Nick Carraway who moves in next door to the infamous Jay Gatsby. This is important as we should bear in mind that this book is written from Nicks point of view and his bias and this can be seen in the book. We should also be aware that our own conclusions should be drawn as to if he is a reliable author, remember, he’s writing this to start his writing career. We are then introduced to this mysterious character, who stands at the end of the pier at night, looking across the water, staring aimlessly at a green light. Jay Gatsby appears to be very mysteriously wealthy, with the parties he hosts representing the superficial nature of the time. However, we soon come to learn about Gatsby’s humble beginnings and how he transforms himself, along with everything he’s loved and lost.

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter–tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning– So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

The green light is a symbol – a visual representation of hope, desire, longing, an illusion, a quest for the unattainable – something we can all relate too.

The above was image depicts how each of the relationships in the book, represents a theme. I won’t go on too much about that as 1) I don’t want to bore you all with my analytics but also, 2) I also want you to come to your own conclusions, about the characters and the relationships.

Most of you will have probably seen the film with Leonardo Di Caprio in (if you haven’t, I highly recommend you do). As with all films which are based on books, there a bits missing in the film but overall, I think this is one of the the BEST film adaptions I’ve seen. Each of the characters portrayed in the film, play their characters immensely well and I’d like to think Fitzgerald would be proud.

Overall, I love this book. I love the history, the accuracy, I love the descriptions and the narrative structure. I love the characters. This book is a wonderful period piece, displaying the: social; cultural and political tensions of 1920s America. There is a lot in this book that even us today can take from this and relate too.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

D x