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Klohie

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The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Klohie said: "

The book I chose for my fourth quarter book club was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Hearing people talk about the upcoming movie and my grandma and Maddy L. reading the book made me want to read it. If I were to compare another book to The

The book I chose for my fourth quarter book club was The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Hearing people talk about the upcoming movie and my grandma and Maddy L. reading the book made me want to read it. If I were to compare another book to The Great Gatsby I would have to pick Pretty Little Liars. If somebody were to read this they would probably think I am crazy due to the fact that the books have completely different plots, settings and more importantly time period and style of writing. Even though the books have a lot not in common, they have a few things in common. One being the genre, I would consider both being realistic fiction. They are both realistic fiction because I believe that what happens to the characters can happen to everyone. Same goes for the Pretty Little Liars series. Another aspect that I read about in both books would be the big difference in the social classes. The example I would give would be between Gatsby and Nick. In Pretty Little Liars it is between the Kahn family and the rest of the community, even though the whole community is loaded. Yet the Kahn family is very, very well off. The characterization in the novel is, in my opinion the most important part in the entire Great Gatsby. The literary make-up used in the novel includes the way Fitzgerald describes the characters physical and emotional traits. This would include him using the emotions of Gatsby’s feelings towards Daisy. This really helps the character development and characterization because it shows the softer side of Gatsby rather than all the rumors spread about him being this terrible person. Not to mention the groups of people who think he is a murder. One thing I like about the characters is the way they speak. Due to the setting taking place at Long island in the 1920’s there are many different adjectives and expressions used. This includes Gatsby’s famous quote of “old’ sport”. Even after reading most likely 40 plus times, I still can’t say I have any more insight as to what it exactly means besides to being a pet name.
Throughout the book there are many conflicts. These include; Tom’s affair, Gatsby’s true identity, Nick’s alcoholism (as he tells the story) and lastly Gatsby and Daisy’s forbidden love. All these conflicts are a chain. For example, Nick’s alcoholism is caused by Tom’s affair. Nick had rarely drunk before the night when Tom introduces him to Myrtle and they drink for hours. Overall the most important conflict would be between Gatsby and Daisy not being able to be together. According to the book, the event that starts the chain of reasons as to why they can’t be together is caused by, originally Gatsby having to go to war and not having enough money to support her. Later on after many other conflicts involving some of the “Jay Gatsby’s life story” rumors Gatsby ends up (purposely) moving across the bay from Daisy and her powerful and wealthy husband, Tom Buchanan. Later on the conflicts changes because now Gatsby is not at war and he is very, very well off. The conflicts changes to Daisy not being reading to leave Tom, even though he is having an affair. Right before this time I was completely team Daisy and Gatsby. Now I really don’t like Daisy, at all. She is cruel, messes with Gatsby’s head and uses her looks and charm to get herself out of crap. But worst of all, everybody else lets her. In the beginning of the book Nick flashes back to a memory he had with Daisy when she had her daughter and said, “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”. Which clearly was her motto for herself when she pulled all the stuff she did throughout the book. After finishing the book, my least favorite character was Daisy. She completely controlled everyone. Every action and decision she made was only for herself. But in reality her choices lead to every conflict in the book! It was her fault Gatsby died, she was at fault when Nick became an alcoholic, and it was her fault that she wasn’t in love with Tom because she didn’t have to marry him which means she didn’t have to love him! I’m still not sure whether or not Fitzgerald wanted the reader to eventually to hate Daisy. If I could ask Fitzgerald anything, that would be it.
In conclusion, I gave the book the amount of stars I did being 4 stars because I completely loved everything besides Daisy having such a big influence and I also did not want Gatsby to die. Then again Gatsby dying probably made the book have more emotion. ...more "

Jun 02, 2013 07:39PM · see review