The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, though not one of my favorite novels, will definitely hold a significant place in my memory. I greatly appreciated the relative simplicity of the text; however, I found it deceitfully basic. Although it was extremely entertaining and fun to read, the fact that it was so undemanding tricked me into overlooking much of the significant content. I often found myself wondering why the author included so many irrelevant details, not realizing that each of these seemingly pointless particulars held immense weight. This proved true while I was reading the portions about Gatsby knocking over the clock, which revealed itself to being symbolic of Gatsby’s relationship with time, and Myrtle needing to buy a dog leash, which became the tip that alerted her husband of her affair. However, once I realized my mistake of skimming over the details, I was able to appreciate the incredible significance that this book has. Through its tragic storyline and almost soap-opera-like dramatics, Fitzgerald is able to expose the usually romanticized life of the rich for what it really is: empty, lonely, and unrelenting in its monotony and deceitfulness. The lessons that the author teaches hold true in nearly every circumstance. Money is not the key to happiness, living in the past will only cause disappointment, and one should love another for their personality rather than their money and status. These lessons, among others, will stay with me as I make my way through life. In addition to appreciating the lessons that I learned, I found reading about this time period in general incredibly interesting, as the common way of thinking at this time is extremely different from our ideas today. However, one of the topics in this novel that still does hold true was the one that caught my attention the most. In everyday life, whether in small portions or large, the concept of hypocrisy constantly presents itself. By touching on this concept and showing how it affects others, I feel that the author did a fantastic job at realistically portraying the relationships between people and their peers, making the novel extremely believable and making its impact that much more powerful. All in all, I enjoyed this novel very much, and will continue to appreciate it for years to come.
Fitzgerald has a unique ability of expressing reality through his use of symbols and sophisticated style. He tends to mask every detail of consequence from those who live the lifestyle of the rich and famous. An example of this is when Gatsby reaches for the green light, symbolizing his pursuit for daisy and the American dream. He then loses his purpose for what he has worked for when he reveals the significance of the green light, thus the "colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever" (93).
ReplyDeleteI am in full agreement of your personal review. I felt the same exact way while I was reading the novel. Though it is written in a very simplistic language, Fitzgerald also conveys immense elaboration to add to the mystifying plot. If read closely and very carefully, all the small details can be pointed out as symbols and can add more meaning to the plot. I always found myself looking back and rereading chapters to find a significance in the small items such as (the clock, and the dog leash). Although I've never noticed the dog leash before! It is one of the most important and significant symbols in the novel, for if it was never found, the novel would never have reached its' climax, and Gatsby would have never died. Have you also noticed how important the eyes of Dr. JT Eckleberg are? I felt the symbol of the eyes are a prominent 'evil' that contributed to the killing of Gatsby, it was what drove Mr. Wilson to hunt Gatsby down.
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