Book review on The Great Gatsb

Book review on The Great Gatsby

Class: 151304

Student’s number: 15328246

Name: 周逸/Joyce

Introduction

The book report is about the book entitled The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, who was considered as one of the greatest authors in America in the twentieth century. He was also regarded as one of the representative writers of the lost generation of America. Fitzgerald was born in a merchant family. He went to the institution of higher education- Princeton with the aid of his relatives in the east of America. At school, he devoted his time to social life and had no interest in study. But he was still a smart and talented person. At the age of eighteen, he fell in love with Geneva Kim, who was a lady from a wealthy family. Geneva knew inside her heart that they couldn’t make it. During Fitzgerald’s last visit to her home, her father pointed out explicitly that a poor man could never marry to a lady from a rich family. His words broke his heart and leave a mark of humiliation in his mind.    

He fell in love for the second time when he met Sarder at a country party, who was the daughter of the judge of the Supreme Court. After fierily courting, she finally agreed under the condition of being able to live a wealthy life. However, with Fitzgerald working for an advertisement company, she slowly lost patience and put an end to the engagement. Early experiences made Fitzgerald especially sensitive to money. After making a great fortune by writing books, he finally married to Sarder and stood in the spotlight. The couple were buried in the life of entertainment and wealth. Sarder was said to be very unstable and brought huge burden to Fitzgerald by her luxurious life. Shortly after, they had conflicts over issues concerning fame and fortune. With his wife suffering from a psychosis, he died of a heart attack arising from alcohol drinking at the age of 44. Throughout his life, he bore hatred for the rich, complained about the flash of money and satirized hypocrisy of the rich. The heroine in The Great Gatsby is considered the mixture of Geneva and Sarder.

In the book, Gatsby was a rich man trying to raise the attention of his old lover Daisy by spending money like water. However, Daisy had married to a dandy, she took it as entertainment and only cared about the wealth he had. As a sacrifice for love, Gatsby took the responsibility of killing for Daisy and was killed under the provocation of her husband. Throughout the whole event, Gatsby was buried in his ideal dream and couldn’t realize how Daisy truly was. The story was written from the angel of Nick, who was the cousin of Daisy. In the title, ‘great’ refers to the devotion and sacrifice Gatsby made for Daisy. In some ways, the word also serves as a sarcasm that no one can become great merely by owning a great fortune. The word also leaves us to think about Gatsby’s action, whether it was worth it or not.

By showing the process of Gatsby’s dream shattering, the author first showed what an idealist Gatsby in hoping that wealth could win back everything he used to have. Such thought also has something to do with American dream. American dream has been in the spotlight since 1776. In which people have the belief that they could live a better life under the spirit of hardworking, determined, creative and brave. By presenting Gatsby’s death, the author shows the negative side of American dream then, in which seeking for materials is unpromising and without spiritual components, a dream is merely full of vacancy. The book was intended for the young considering the social atmosphere at that time. Young people all wanted a life full of wealth, thus they could be buried in entertainment all day. And they thought that with fame and fortune, they could literally have everything they had wanted. In some ways, happiness has everything to do with money. So the author wanted to drew those young people’s attention and told them that this was merely a dream of fantasy. Still, I think it is significant to people nowadays as well.

I think the story was well-written and the author is very ingenious in presenting the theme. By portraying the image of Gatsby, Fitzgerald actually made readers to feel sympathy and think. It was targeted very well and focused on the frailty of the society.

Summary of the content

The story happened in the 1920s. Nick came to New York from the midwest. He witnessed the luxury of his neighbor Gatsby and became curious about him. Later, he found out that Gatsby was a lieutenant before and fell in love with his cousin Daisy. However, due to the breakout of the war, they got separated and Daisy married to a dandy named Tom. Tom was from a rich family. Gatsby believed that it was money that caused the betrayal. So he worked hard to make a great fortune and caught Daisy’s attention to get her heart back. Nick was deeply moved and arranged a meeting for Daisy and him. Daisy was in contradictions and couldn’t let him go because she was attracted by his wealth. She seduced him and couldn’t give up Tom at the same time though he had a mistress then. Shortly after, Daisy accidentally run over her husband’s mistress. As a sacrifice for love, Gatsby took the responsibility and was killed by the mistress’s husband under the provocation of Tom. Daisy was at ease and went back to her husband in the end. Though realizing that ‘Her voice is filled with the jingling coins’, he still insisted on being an idealist and living his old-time dream.

Analysis of text

Fitzgerald has a unique writing style, which is very simple, very vivid, very obscure and allegorical. In the book, a lot of methods were applied. Symbolism was most commonly used in the book. It helped to express and deepen the theme of the story. For instance, the green light at the end of Daisy's dock appeared several times. When evening came, Gatsby often stood in his garden in darkness and watched the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock with open arms. It was a symbol of his hope and dream. It represented what he sought for in his life- money, social statues and love. Also, the illusory of the green light showed the flash and meaningless of material dreams. Just as the writer said and at the end of the story:’ Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us’. He was trying to pointed out that American dream was simply an exercise in futility. What is more, the author wrote about the west end where Gatsby lived and the east end where Tom lived. The west end represented people like Gatsby who raised to fame and fortune by hard work from ordinary class. The east end represented people like Tom who was born in a rich family in the upper class. The position of the east end and the west showed the differences between the two.

The uniqueness of the book also lies in its way of narration. Instead of making Gatsby the only hero in the story, Fitzgerald presented the story from the angel of a third party-Nick. Since he was the neighbor of Gatsby, the cousin of Daisy as well as the classmates of Tom in college, he became the bridge for connection between Gatsby and Daisy. The moment Nick appeared on the screen, he told us the luxury of his neighbor Gatsby's parties and immediately added mystery to the whole story,making readers wonder what was really going on. As a third party, Nick was able to comment on them objectively. In the book, Nick actually told two stories, one about Gatsby, one about himself of coming to the east from the midwest and finally going back. The character Fitzgerald designed was half inside the story and half outside of it. Also, speaking in first person makes it nature and cordial. In the end, Nick chose to go back to the midwest, which also showed the author’s negative attitude to Gatsby’s dream.

The other feature of his writing was the use of color narration. For example, green is always accompanied with Gatsby. ‘Blue-green sea water’, ‘the green light’ were used to modify Gatsby while white and silver were used to describe Daisy such as ‘white dress’ and ‘white curtains’. Colors like these were used to emphasize the characteristic and inside feelings of them. White stood for the sacred image of Daisy in Gatsby’s eyes and also represented the illusory of Daisy’s beauty.

In order to show the illusory of American dream, Fitzgerald first drew a vivid picture about the social situation at that time. He portrayed the party the rich threw, the overwhelming crowd and the extravagant scenes, which showed the gastronomy after World War I. Then, he created images of people from upper class like Tom: ‘Now he was a sturdy, straw haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward.’ These images helped illustrate the fact that however hard you worked, you would never be able to truly fit in the upper class at those time. Also, the author supported the argument by presenting Gatsby’s death. Throughout his life, he court fortune and love and was buried in a dream of fantasy. He even sacrifice his life for his ideal love but merely gain Daisy’s contempt in return in the end. The ugliness and greatness of Gatsby form a strong contrast to illustrate the argument.

I really enjoyed the last sentence of the novel as it explicitly told us the argument. Fitzgerald wrote: ‘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’. It was very beautifully-writtened.

I think that the argument was quite complete since it explained in an all-round way. Not only did it present the phenomenon of the young focusing on material needs, it also revealed the truth about American dream behind it. And I also appreciated it very much because it is still of great significance today. In some ways, it can also be the portrait of the society nowadays, where people still concentrate more on material needs rather than spiritual needs.

However, there did exist some points which can be added to the novel. I think the novel is quite dreamlike and unrealistic in some ways. I still wonder how someone like Gatsby could easily make such a great fortune while he was such an idealist. And I also think that maybe the novel should have revealed some darkness parts in the society that caused the fantasy and desperation for materials of the young. Just like the novel An American Tragedy written by Theodore Dreiser, which also showed the tragedy of the young living American dreams. Through the process of how Clyde turned to a murderer, the novel showed the evil and darkness of American society and how it corrupted an innocent teenager. Both of the novels shared the same topic and argument, but each focused on the different side of American dream.

Evaluation of text

  I think the novel was quite unique among all the novels I’ve ever read. It was described in such a romantic and dreamlike way. By portraying such a beautiful and snobbish Daisy and such a sensitive, ideal, generous and devoted Gatsby, the author put us into thinking about our own dreams, whether it is something really worth seeking for or simply a flash of light. Also, the novel has a very logic way of telling the story. At first, it caused some mystery by those extravagant parties. Step by step, the true intention behind it was revealed. What’s more, I really enjoy the beautiful words Fitzgerald used to described the story, it drew a vivid picture of what was happening.

  Weakness, if there were any, must as well lie in its dreamlike way of writing. Sometimes, I could feel a little bit unrealistic about the story. But overall, it is an excellent novel.

  I like the book because it makes me do some reflection about personality as well. People sometimes think that we all have our own destiny. But I think that destiny is decided by one’s characteristics and characteristics are decided by providence. Who is Gatsby? He was a German spy. He was a murder. He was the Trimalchio from the West peninsula. But we all know that he was not Joe Gatsby, he was James Gats, son of a farmer. Just like someone said that Sarder destroyed Fitzgerald, people said that Daisy destroyed Gatsby. But what kind of person Gatsby truly was? He was someone that has started planning his own life and achieved his goals since a young age. I always assume that those who plan their lives strictly is are in some ways paranoias while only a paranoia can be successful.

  Gatsby’s success has already been decided by his characteristics. He couldn’t be as aimless as Tom, as dump as Wilson or be just comfortable with his present life as Nick did. When he changed his name to Gatsby at the age of 17, he had no choice but to success. Either to succeed, or to die.

  Just as Dan Cody’s appearance provided possibility for Gatsby’s success, Daisy’s appearance made such kind of possibility concrete, that was to fall in love and live happily with the blonde. Only someone like Daisy could fit Gatsby, could fit his extravagant parties. Only such a blonde girl with her voice sounding money could fit in Gatsby’s dream. Sadly, Gatsby’s perfectionism couldn’t stay with Daisy. She said: ‘Though I love you, I love him, too’. Her love was like coins in hands while she threw some of them to one person and some to another. The looked all real but they were fake. Though Gatsby knew everything, it couldn’t make any differences. Without Daisy’s infinite love, his dream was a broken one. For a perfectionist, the scar would never disappear. Nothing would be crueler than giving perfectionist the personality and enough intelligence. He would still in the end fail somehow.The novel almost put us to think about our choice of making everything perfect, whether it is worth it or not.

  In the end, I couldn’t agree more with the argument given by the author. It is important that we be able to stand aside and see everything clearly and not to get crazy in this material world. In this sense, Nick was a luck guy. He got the chance of witnessing Gatsby’s choices and therefore had the luck to see everything thoroughly and not to get fooled. What we can learn from him is that sometimes we should step back and see the whole thing from the angle of a third party, only in this way can we not get too obsessed with something and maintain who we are in such a material world.

Sources: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby. http://baike.baidu.com/view/2186243.htm

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袁平 《了不起的盖茨比写作技巧》。http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=2vwzBokuSni_o43zAW-7XBsLTkJtjAqGwRiIsFLJTbFfJStjnFd7Nnw_3f7nUyaPVkkyUiLXdTKS8xuo5XTGI6TvH9BzQ83iFlAGKJH_evmPHFAKSb3qD5juBjQIlgLPQuXTW8Fh1yMHPOipptCb672D7uEcRtQ1yKUYWIDxju American dream

2016-01-03

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