Personal Review

I found this novel to be a great story about what extent people would go to to realize a dream, no matter how improbable, as well as the overall bad impression that society gave in this book. It seems that society was just bad all around, whether it had to do with affairs, taking advantage of the lives of others, or just not caring about other people, society’s woes were definitely portrayed throughout the novel. Nick seemed to be the one who had to hold it all together; help Gatsby through his life and not entwine himself in any malicious practices. I liked the fact that Fitzgerald’s story had a lesson behind it as well. Gatsby lets his desires get in his way and in order to achieve them he engages in illegal practices. Although he was madly in love with Daisy he should have never given into selling alcohol and even though I was sad when he was killed I could not help but feel it was right that he did not end up the way he wished because he had got to where he was through unlawful deeds. I thought it was extremely cool as well to read a novel by an author who thought that America was obsessed with material wealth. While learning about Fitzgerald and the Lost Generation in history, I was able to connect this with the book about how Gatsby gained so much wealth in order to gain the life he always wanted only to realize it was not what he imagined; instead full of cruelty and pain. This is likewise the view Fitzgerald held of America at the time. A country that one could no longer seek self-fulfillment, but could only be disillusioned by its riches. I could also not help but feel bad for Nick. He comes to a new place with a starting job and the beginning of his life, only to be pulled into the many affairs of Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. Overall, I thought the book was written beautifully, with many twists, mysteries, and rhetorical strategies that added to the overall appeal of the novel. I could honestly say it was one of my favorite books I have had to read in high school.

Text Connections

• Text to World: East Egg is home to those who are older and have had their wealth and money passed down through family for many generations, while West Egg is home to those who have just recently earned their wealth. It seems comparable to today’s political affiliations as conservative people are often people who are older or have larger amounts of money who want the system to stay the same because that’s how they earned their money. On the other hand, many young scholars who are new to the world often lean towards a more liberal political affiliation.
• Text to Text: Gatsby’s situation seems to be relatable to that of Romeo’s in Romeo and Juliet. Just as Gatsby can not be with Daisy, Romeo is forbidden to be with Juliet. Regardless, they both try to desperately to be with the one they most love and can not stand to be without them. Ultimately, although in different ways, this leads to their untimely death as Gatsby is somewhat of a wreck after his rejection by Daisy and Romeo is crushed after he believes Juliet is gone forever
• Text to Self: Overall Gatsby is trying to recreate the past. He wishes he could go back five years and make life just the way it was. However, he realizes this is never going to be the case and that he will never be able to relive it. I sometimes try to relive my childhood by watching some of the TV shows I used to deeply love as a kid. Although they can be nice memories, it is ultimately never the same and usually boring. In both cases, the past will unfortunately never be repeated so just enjoy it while it lasts.

Syntax

In the beginning of the novel, The Great Gatsby, Nick goes over to Tom and Daisy’s house for dinner. During a conversation, Tom begins to talk about the demise of the white race and how he read about it in a book called, “The Rise of the Colored Empires” (12). He is extremely intrigued by the topic and as he explains it to Nick ignores any type of distraction Daisy or Jordan offer. As Jordan stops Tom’s story with another, Tom cuts her off and continues his as Jordan states, “You ought to live in California-” and Tom interrupts “This idea is that we’re Nordics” (12). Fitzgerald includes these interruptors in his novel in order to show to show the reader that Tom likes to be in control and is also very dominant. He can not stand the thought of the white race being taken over nor can he stand letting anyone else be in control. Just as he likes to have control of the conversation, he likes to have control of his wife by hitting her whenever she does something that is displeasing to him. Fitzgerald includes these interjections in the conversation to demonstrate and reveal the dominating side of Tom’s character and how he loves command any situation. Toward the end of chapter six, F. Scott Fitzgerald writes about Gatsby’s obsession with repeating the past and his longing to recover his relationship with Daisy. When Nick tries to explain to Gatsby that you can’t repeat the past, Gatsby becomes both restless and frantic. His sentences become choppy and short like “She’ll see” and “She doesn’t understand” (109) in order to illustrate that he is becoming defensive and self-conscious over his desires and hopes. Fitzgerald also ends some sentences with explanation points like “Why of course you can!” (110), in order to further emphasize the fact that Gatsby is both defensive and anxious about his situation. This sentence structure helps portray Gatsby’s character somewhat like the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland; very whimsical and sporadic.

diction

•  When describing Gatsby’s earlier relationship with Daisy, Fitzgerald switches to a much more lulling, soothing, and luscious tone. Using phrases like, “quiet lights” (110), “humming out of the darkness” (110), “stir among the stars” (110), and “blossomed... like a flower” (111), Fitzgerald is able to create a dream-like quality of how things were before Daisy was married to Tom. His luscious tone allows the reader to better understand the feelings Gatsby has for Daisy and the reasons as to why he wants her so badly. It forces one to step back and not think of Gatsby’s goal as something crazy but as something he’s longed for for an extremely long time.
• In contrast, Fitzgerald uses a more “finite” and less dreamy diction when talking about the confrontation of Tom and Gatsby over Daisy now five years later to create a desperate and almost hopeless tone. Repeatedly, Gatsby accuses Tom that Daisy, “...doesn’t love you. She never loved you. She loves me” (130-131) and then Tom exclaiming to Gatsby, “There’s things between me and Daisy you’ll never know” (132). He uses the words “never” and “no” repeatedly in order to convey a sense that Jay is at first anxious and almost desperate towards Daisy leaving Tom for him and later for Tom to put down Gatsby’s last hopes of being with Daisy. This change in feeling from earlier in the book which was described above allows the reader to again connect with Gatsby, this time feeling the rejection and loss that he feels. The almost opposite tone in this situation allows Fitzgerald to bring Jay Gatsby’s whimsical dreams and hopes to an end. Ultimately, he is portraying that his wishes to be with Daisy were never meant to be and that his purpose for life seems to have come to an end. The words “never” and “no” really create this hopeless tone because their is no leniency for another “chance”. Fitzgerald makes it so that Daisy and Gatsby can no longer be together, that hope has completely disappeared.

Rhetorical Strategies

• Alliteration: “Fantastic farm” (23). “Obscure operations” (23). “Grotesque gardens” (23).
• Simile: “...a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills.” (23).
• Personification: “... a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track” (23).
• Hyperbole: “...drift endlessly over” (23). “...gigantic retinas” (23).
• Imagery: “...the ash-men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud..” (23).

Fitzgerald seems to begin most of his chapters with topics that relate more to the overall picture rather than a continuation of the previous chapter. With his uses of hyperbole, somewhat of disturbing similes, and dismal personification, he is able to create a vague and obscure scene that makes the reader wonder what is going on at the beginning of most of his chapters. This ambiguous style of Fitzgerald contributes to the overall theme of his novel, in which people, like Jay Gatsby, chase vague dreams and whimsical hopes that when realized ultimately lead to their demise and destruction. His use of imagery also bolsters the obscurity of the scenes, as in chapter 2, when he describes the desolate and abysmal land between East and West Egg as a “fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens” (23). This discrepant picture portrays the land between the two places as uninhabitable and ultimately uncrossable, which emphasizes the overall idea that it is impossible for Daisy and Gatsby to be together. Fitzgerald uses this style to keep the overarching idea of the novel relevant throughout.