Week Four: The Great Gatsby
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hello! It is crazy how it's already four weeks into 2022! The last week of January! It is really be coming a habit for me to not actually post on Sundays (oops). I am working hard to get my reviews out as close to Sunday as possible.
This week I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He began writing this novel in 1922, and after many reworks and potential rewrites, his story was published in April of 1925. The novel takes place in New York during the "Jazz Age". The story is fiction, but inspired by Fitzgerald's own romances and experiences and luxurious parties in the early 1920s. If you do any sort of research on the this novel, you can see the parallels from Fitzgerald's life! The version of the book I read has a foreword at the beginning of the book, written by Fitzgerald's granddaughter, who gives wonderful insight and history of her grandfather and his works. I highly recommend getting this version of the book!!
The Great Gatsby has made it from book to screen and stage over many decades! Here is a little bit of background on some of he bigger adaptions of this novel on screen!
The Great Gatsby was turned into a film starting in 1926.
Release Date: November 1st, 1926 by paramount pictures
Directed by Herbert Brenon
A silent film that was based on the play adaption by Owen Davis.
Starring: Warner Baxter, Lois Wilson and William Powell
1949 film adaption
by paramount pictures again
Starring Alan Lad, Betty Field, and Barry Sullivan
Directed by Elliott Nugent
1974 film version
Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures
Directed by Jack Clayton
Starring: Sam Waterston, Mia Farrow, and Bruce Dern
2013 version (which gave the iconic GIF of Leonardo pictured below)
Directed by Baz Luhrman
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan
"There are only the pursed, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired."
- Jordan Baker
Initial Response:
I would say one of my very first thoughts while reading was, "wow this is a very intense vocabulary!" And when I tell you that I had to look up at least one word a page, those are 100% words I had never heard before...
When I was in high school I didn’t take a course that told me I needed to read The Great Gatsby. During that time it wasn’t really a major interest of mine to read classics on my own time, so here I am now finally reading it. In my head the story had always been so hyped up, I had big expectations for how I'd feel about it based on what other people told me
and how other book lovers raved about it. Sadly I’m going to say that it didn’t live up to the expectations that I had. I do not believe the story was bad in any way, it kept me relatively entertained the entire time, I will say more towards the second half of the book I became a little bit more invested because that’s when the drama really began. There really just was nothing about the story that really connected with me.
Normally when I’m reading I try to attach myself to something whether it’s part of the storyline or one specific character, in this story I really didn’t have that at all. In my opinion, I didn’t like any of the characters! There wasn’t a time where I went "oh yeah I can really relate to this character", in a sense of what they were feeling or what they were going through
I guess if I had to pick one character that I liked more than the rest it would’ve been the narrator Nick Carraway.
The majority of the time I was reading this story, I felt as though I was searching for the symbolism and huge themes that I had always been told about that appeared in this novel. Maybe I was seeing right through it, but there was nothing that stood out to me in the sense of symbolism. There were two things I was already aware of from hearing about this novel so much. I will say this book covers many themes, hidden and obvious, and I thought those were a little bit easier to spot! I am very disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this more, I wanted to be the kind of person that read The Great Gatsby and felt deeply effected by it. I guess what I will say is that for the time that it was written, it definitely would’ve been a hit.
The gossip and drama in the story I think would’ve grabbed more attention back in the 1920s than it would’ve now. When the book begins to climax and everything begins to unfold, I found that to be rather interesting but not something that I hadn’t read about before.
The end didn’t necessarily surprise me in anyway, and not because I had known about the book already it just wasn’t super captivating or something that you would’ve not expected while reading it.
Overall I think the book discussed some important themes, the two main symbolic ideologies I found pretty interesting, especially when I looked up some more theories and thoughts of others who have read it.
Writing style/Themes/Symbolism:
The writing style of The Great Gatsby is described to be filled with figurative imagery and vast poetic language unlike any book I have read. It can also be described as very sophisticated, based on the extended metaphors and exceptional imagery that Fitzgerald lays for the reader. A good example of this is when Gatsby's parties are described, or when Nick is observing something very much out of his comfort zone. The author uses lengthy, wordy descriptions which gives a very vivid image of the scene. For example:
"There was dancing now on the canvas in the garden; old men pushing young girls backward in eternal graceless circles, superior couple's holding each other tortuously, fashionably, and keeping in the corners - "
I would like to talk about the two major symbolic images from this novel; the Green Light and the famous Eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg.
The eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg, the infamous book cover for The Great Gatsby. In the novel, this image is advertised on a billboard over the valley of ashes. Described as a large pair of fading, speckled eyes painted on this billboard, this image is a major symbol in the story. What do they represent? God. God staring down on American society and judging... though this is never confirmed. It is relevant because Nick Carraway references them many times in a sense of the eyes watching society, as well as when George Wilson is struck with grief after his wife dies. There are other thoughts on the eyes representing meaninglessness of the world, emptiness of dreams and the process of which people invest certain objects with meaning (essentially symbols).
The Green Light, is referenced many times in the novel. The light is located in east egg on the dock by Daisy Buchanan's mansion. The Green Light represents longing. Who's longing? Well, Jay Gatsby's of course. His longing for his hopes and dreams, and his longing for Daisy. Majority of the story I thought the Green Light was linked to Daisy, but others might relate the symbolism of the Green Light to Gatsby's longing for the American Dream, which in some ways correlate with having Daisy by his side. At the end of the novel, I believe the Green Light also stood for Nick's longing for is own dreams.
There is so much to talk about when it comes to themes expressed in this novel. I could go on forever about different theories and varying themes that are important to this story. But, to keep this section shorter I selected some of the themes that I found to be most important in this novel:
The American Dream
Probably one of the main centrals theme of this novel, the story is overall Fitzgerald's illusion of what the American dream was to him. Jay Gatsby is considered to be the embodiment of the American Dream, as a poor man who built his life up from the bottom by changing his name and idea of himself, to flip his life and become a wealthy, high class person.
Class/Status
Old Money Verse New Money. Gatsby competing in a society where there are people who have been wealthy their entire lives and then there are others like himself, which came into wealth more recently. The competitive nature of extravagance and living a certain, expected way.
Societal gender expectations. Adhering to gender expectations as a woman in the 1920s, especially in high society. Daisy and Jordan breaking the norm by identifying as the emerging term "flapper", which were young women who wore more revealing clothing, and "bobbed" their hair. Also drank alcohol and engaged in premarital sex.
Dissatisfaction/hollowness of upper class
Gatsby realizing, that no matter how successful and wealthy he becomes, he will never be truly happy or satisfied. It will not get him what he truly desires. He is always going to yearn for more money, more power, and more extravagance. Relating to the symbolism of the "green light"
Plot:
The story starts off from a first person perspective of Nick Carraway. A man who’s in his late 20s, arriving to northern New York from the Midwest after surviving World War I. He travels to New York to obtain a new job as a bond salesman (very exciting). He rents a small home on Long Island in the village of west egg. Next to a beautiful, expensive estate owned by a man he does not know. His neighbor hosts luxurious parties pretty much every weekend, and Nick watches from a far as people come and go.
Now in the more fashionable wealthy area of east egg, Nick Carraway is invited to dine with his cousin Daisy, and her husband Tom Buchanan. Daisy and Tom live in a beautiful mansion that is a directly across the bay from Nick Carraways‘ mysterious neighbor. The couple has a daughter together who doesn’t live in their estate, but mostly with a nanny elsewhere.
Through Tom and Daisy, Nick meets Jordan Baker, who is a female golf champion and a childhood friend of Daisy. Jordan is a major gossip, and overall hollow person. She informs Nick that Tom has a mistress who lives in the city near what is known as the valley of ashes.
Her name is later revealed to be Myrtle Wilson who lives with her husband George Wilson, who works at a small garage as a mechanic.
Nick eventually accompanies Tom into New York City, and en route they stop at the mechanic garage to meet up with Myrtle, the three of them attend a party in the city.
Nick has to experience a drunk Tom, cheating on his wife with a woman he finds is far less beautiful than his cousin. He realizes Tom has a temper when he slaps his mistress across the face when she mentions his current wife to him.
As the week goes on Nick receives an invitation to one of the mysterious parties that happen at his neighbor's home. Nick decides to attend this party and realizes that he is utterly alone. He does not know anyone at the party, but recognizes people who are actors, producers and generally wealthy folk from around New York City. While he’s there, he encounters Jordan Baker again and as they are chatting a man dressed to the nines approaches them and introduces himself as Jay Gatsby, the owner of the mansion.
After this encounter Nick and Jay begin to meet up more occasionally, Gatsby is always trying to impress Nick with stories of his past, tales of his time as a soldier during World War I, and his days at Oxford. As time goes on more and more mysterious stories begin to come up about Mr. Gatsby, he is known to have rumors about him spreading through his own parties that he hosts, and nobody really knows the truth about him. Not even Nick.
Now one day Jordan Baker reveals to Nick that Gatsby has a job for him and that it is to host afternoon tea at his small home one afternoon and invite Daisy, this is because it’s revealed Gatsby and Daisy had met each other in early 1917 when Gatsby was an officer before going off to the war. When Gatsby was deployed, Daisy was not going to wait for him, and marries Tom in the meantime. Little did she know, Jay Gatsby was not going to give up on her.
Gatsby hopes that his luxurious parties will grab the attention of Daisy from across the way, but it never does which is why he asks Nick to arrange this meeting. After the luncheon, Gatsby and daisy reunite and begin a secret affair for many months.
Gatsby claims that Daisy has had this love for him for many many years, and everything that he had ever done was to try and win her back and impress her with his wealth, but sadly Tom eventually finds out about the affair and addresses Gatsby in front of Jordan, Daisy and Nick on a trip to New York City. Gatsby and Tom argue about this in front of everyone, and Gatsby goes off on a rant about how Daisy has never loved Tom and had always loved him over her husband, Daisy eventually spits out that she loves both Tom and Gatsby but wants to leave Tom. This is when the drama really starts to unfold because Tom had been doing some intense research on Jay Gatsby ever since he had learned about him and his parties, and knowing Daisy from the past. He reveals to Daisy, Nick and Jordan that Gatsby is actually A huge fake, and his money comes from bootlegging alcohol. This throws Daisy into a spiral and she chooses to stay with Tom.
Upon driving home, Daisy and Gatsby take a car together back to East egg and while they’re driving past Wilson‘s garage they accidentally hit Myrtle Wilson, who is crossing the road to the vehicle she recognizes as Tom’s vehicle…
The car strikes her and kills her instantly. Gatsby and Daisy drive off.
Nick confronts Gatsby about the accident, and how they drove away from poor Myrtle’s body and Jay reveals that Daisy is the one who was driving and hit her. Nick trying to be a good friend urges Gatsby to flee west egg to avoid being arrested, but Gatsby claims that he would not let Daisy take the fall and refuses to leave.
Shortly after this occurs a major tragedy happens when George Wilson finds out that the car that hit his wife was belonging to Gatsby. this was because George confronted Tom, and Tom informed him where Gatsby lived.
George Wilson finds Gatsby in his mansion and fatally shoots him while he’s in his swimming pool, and then shoots himself.
This causes some huge gossip about what happened to Gatsby and who he really was, Nick Carraway takes over the funeral arrangements and tries to get in touch with Gatsby‘s friends and family. In the end, Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby‘s father, who reveals to Nick that Jay is actually Jimmy Gatz, are the only two that attend his funeral.
In the end, Nick chooses to move away from New York, realizing that he hates it and that he was a guy from the Midwest who was drawn to eastern life. He returns to Gatsby‘s mansion one last time to stand out on the dock and stairs across the bay to where he could see “the green light” shining from Daisy’s end of the dock.
Characters:
As I mentioned briefly, there were no major characters that I particularly enjoyed. I wanted to give a brief description of each of them:
Nick Carraway:
Nick is the narrator of the story, it is in first person from his point of view. A Yale graduate, He is originally from the Midwest, but moves to NY after serving in World War One. Nick is a trusting and easy going person, who wants to fit in to a higher society even though he is not wealthy. He is relatively optimistic about life at first, because of his reconnection with his cousin Daisy and his fling with Jordan Baker, as well as his new found friendship with Jay Gatsby. As the novel progresses, you begin to see Nick's loss of optimism and overall trust in others.
Jay Gatsby:
Who is the Great Gatsby? Nick Carraway's mysterious neighbor who throws magnificent, extravagant parties inviting wealthy people all over west and east egg. Broadway stars, directors, producers, dancers, you name it, they were attending these parties. What Nick, and everyone else, do not know is that Gatsby's real name is James Gatz, and he did not come into wealth from an inheritance as he says. Gatsby returned from World War One, and began a bootlegging business that granted him his huge wealth. His real identity was hidden by the various rumors and gossip about him, which was a good cover for his business. Before the war, Gatsby met the love of his Life Daisy, who he had nothing to offer. Daisy wanted wealth, and to be swept off her feet by someone who could support her and her rich ways, so Gatsby pretended, and assured her he had wealth before being shipped off. Daisy ends up marrying another while he is away, and upon his return he buys a place in west egg, where he can see Daisy's mansion from across the bay. Everything he does for years to come is to try and reunite and rekindle his love with Daisy.
Daisy Buchanan:
Oh Daisy. My least favorite characters by far...
She grew up in the Midwest like Nick, but had a taste for luxury. A very self absorbed and shallow personality, she is described as a young debutante from Louisville Kentucky. Not too much is known about her past, other than her brief romantic affair with Gatsby. She eventually meets a wealthy man, Tom Buchanan, and instead of waiting for Jay, she marries Tom and moves away to New York. They have a little girl together, and live in a very large mansion in east egg.
Tom Buchanan:
A young, handsome and muscular bachelor and millionaire who played football at Yale University , and now Daisy's husband... known to have somewhat of a temper and not afrai to speak his mind. The entirety of the story Tom feels like a bad presence. He is not always kind to Daisy, or Nick. Keeping a hidden mistress in the city, drinking a large amount of the time, it's surprising nothing bad happens to him.
Jordan Baker:
Young flapper, golf star, and long time friend of Daisy. She is the definition of aloof and hollow. She known as Nick Carraway's "girlfriend, after meeting at a dinner party at the Buchanan residence. Jordan created quite the social reputation for herself. She is the major gossip of their small group, always being the character to spread news about Tom and Daisy as well as Gatsby.
Other secondary characters include:
Myrtle and George Wilson
Gatsby's servants and butlers
Gatsby's associate Mr. Meyer Wolfsheim
Likelihood to recommend:
This is a bit hard! I’m unsure how many people I’d recommend this short novel to… I think the only category of people I’d recommend this to are big Classic Novel buffs who are similar to me in wanting to read some of the most well known classics in the world. It is rare for me to say that I like the movie more than the book, but I’d have to say I probably enjoyed watching the movies more (gasp). This is because I thought it was easier to understand what was going on in the story.
I really do enjoy reading your blog.
Whew. A lot to write. Like a great Cliff note version of the book. Congratulations!