I think The Great Gatsby was an excellent book, and was my favorite book to read so far from the past three. The book really showed the greediness and selfishness that was in the 1920's. Gatsby lied about his past to try and win over Daisy, Tom had an affair, and there was just lots of lying. When I was reading the book it felt like none of the characters could trust each other. Wasn't being wealthy supposed to make everything easier? I think this book contradicts everything about that. The people of West Egg were the "new rich" and were very tasteless, and did not have very good social skills. Gatsby is an example of the West Egg people. The people of East Egg were the "old rich" and they did have taste, but were bullies and very inconsiderate. Tom is an example of the East Egg people. I think this all creates one of the themes in book. That theme is the shallowness of the upper class.
I think a major theme in The Great Gatsby was the fall of the American dream in the 1920's. After the 20's was the 30's and in the 30's was the Great Depression. Fitzgerald potrays the 1920's as an era of declining social and moral values. I think this was shown during Tom's affair. Tom owned an appartment just for the affair. He had no problem cheating on his wife, but when Daisy started having feelings for Gatsby he would not allow it. Gatby's parties showed this too. All of the crazy jazz music and people getting drunk. I know that today it doesn't seem like that big a deal, but back then this was as crazy as people would get. I think all of this ultimately led to the downfall of the American Dream.
Something that really interested me was what Gatsby was doing to try and win Daisy. He lied about his past to impress her. He did criminal things so he could get lots of money. All Gatsby really wanted was for his dream to come true and that dream was to get Daisy back. I think Gatsby really wanted love because he had everything in the world, but he didn't have anybody to share it with. I feel that once Gatsby realized that he wouldn't be able to get Daisy back that his life was over. Then coincidently he is shot and killed. Overall The Great Gatsby was a great book.
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I agree this was a very good book! I like how you used the word shallow for the rich people in this book. I agree with this, the people were very shallow and snobbish. Its sad that these people would go to Gatsby's parties but not think twice about going to his funeral. What a sad life he had with all the riches but no real friends. In my life I'd rather have real friends rather than all the riches.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. :D I love what you've both said about the rich characters being shallow. It's the perfect word to describe them. Not only were they bad friends to Gatsby, but throughout the novel alot of the actions depicted are totally immoral. They all have so many standards they expect everyone else to live up to. None of them, however, make an attempt to live up to those standards themselves.
ReplyDeleteyes i agree this was a good book but for some reason I still like the Grapes of Wrath more. And Gatsby was the only rich guy that wasn't shallow; He was filled with so much life and it's a shame he died so terribly.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so if this is the decline of society how does it compare to Grapes? I think you could write a really awesome paper comparing the social values pre-Depression (1920's), Depression (1930's), and post-Depression (1950's and beyond). I am always interested in social values, the declines or improvements, etc. You would need to do some research, but it would benefit you as well as your audience. Great post!
ReplyDeleteIt was an excellent book. I do agree it was tons better then Grapes of Wrath. The whole story line in this was great. I really enjoyed it and your post was very nice.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed this book and thought it was very interesting to be in the lives of the rich people of the 1920's. Before reading this novel i had a different view of the 1920's, but after reading this novel I realized it was much different than i expected.
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