The Great Gatsby is one of the most famous pieces of literature in the world. It explores the themes of the American dream, ethics and morals of the Roaring 20s, as well as the questions of love and loss. The Great Gatsby reaction paper below discusses these and more.
Reflection of the Great Gatsby – A Summary
Published in the mid-1920s, The Great Gatsby is often said to be a reflection of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s era, dreams, and ambitions. The book tells the story of Jay Gatsby, an extravagant man whose only desire is to reunite with his first love, Daisy Buchanan. It is told from the perspective of his new friend, Nick Carraway. Gatsby’s relentless pursuit takes him from poverty to riches, and eventually leads him to his death.
Introduction
The essay is a book reflection on the book Great Gatsby written by written by Scott Fitzgerald an American and published in April 1925. The story is during the happening of the First World War characterized by hard economic conditions. The novel works on various diverse levels, providing readers with memorable characters and events.
The story tells of an event involving major characters as Nick, Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, the Wilsons and Jordan. It involves individuals who are trying to rekindle their relationship. For instance, Gatsby tried to win back the love of Daisy although the later is married to Tom.
On the other hand, Tom has a mistress Myrtle who is married to George. The turning of events later led to the death of Myrtle who was hit by a car and the shooting of Gatsby by George Wilson after gathering information about the owner of the car that hit his wife. He also killed himself. Although Gatsby was reach and famous, his funeral arranged by Nick was attended by very few individuals (Fitzgerald, 43).
Great Gatsby: Reflection
Throughout the novel the major character Nick who was the narrator managed to bring out the main themes of the novel as well as developing other characters. Additionally, the manner with which he transformed or changed fascinated me.
The fact that Nick transformed throughout the novel made me like this skillful piece of art that was logically and artistically developed. The flow of sequence of events will always keep one at the edge of the seat trying to unravel what is the next chapter.
Concerning Nick transformation he initially seen as a man who hold high level of morals such integrity, honesty, trustworthy to mention but a few. However, when he tried fitting to his new friends’ lifestyle, for instance Tom and Jordan he losses his moral. For instance he accepted Jordan dishonesty “it made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply-I was casually sorry, and then I forgot” (Fitzgerald, 125). The deeper Nick is drawn closely relating to his friends the less honest he turns out to be. At the end he is rebuked by Jordan for being just as dishonest and careless as the rest of group.
Additionally he chums around with Tom and Mrytle to suit their lifestyle.
Its is worth noting that Nick perception towards people has changed because he encounter individual who engage in adultery, hypocrisy, lying although he tried to fit with them but later sought to distance himself, this is depicted by this statement, “He [Gatsby] was clutching at some last hope and I couldn’t bare to shake him free.” (Fitzgerald, 195). This is probably an indication of Nick being tired of and ready to give up on friends who are not morally upright in the society.
Thus Nick in my humble opinion is the character I liked the most in this novel. The character who was least favourite was Gatsby. His acts of hosting parties with the desire that his former love will attend so that he rekindles the relationship and the manner with which he treated others was not good.
Conclusion
I would highly recommend the novel to individuals in high school, collages as well as those who are over the age of 16. The reasons for this rest on the idea that the novel has a lot of moral teachings and the author managed to bring out his ideas using simple English that can be easily understood. For this artist work, I would rate it 9 out of 10.
Work Cited
Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribners, 1925. Print.