The Great Gatsby

[JaeSon5]

In Francis Fitzgeralad’s The Great Gatsby, the main protagonist, Jay Gatsby had been stationed in a military base at Louisville, Kentucky during World War I. There, he met and won the heart of Daisy, a beautiful and charming girl who was very popular among the soldiers. Before he had left to serve in the war, they had made love, and she had promised to wait for him. From that moment on, Gatsby had devoted his life to Daisy and would do everything in his power to be with her. However, she abandoned her promise to live a life of security by marrying Tom Buchanan, a well-established man of the upper class. After returning from the war, Gatsby learns of Tom and Daisy Buchanan’s home on the East egg of Long Island and rents a mansion on the West egg, which is separated by only a bay. In a struggle to win the heart of Daisy, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby exude starkly contrasting personalities.
While both own lavish mansions on Long Island, they each have very distinct backgrounds. Tom had been born into aristocracy and was a Yale graduate. Gatsby, on the other hand, was born into an underprivileged family in North Dakota. After attending St. Olaf’s College for only two weeks, he dropped out because he despised having to pay for his tuition through janitorial employment. With an intense hatred of poverty, Gatsby endeavored to build a fortune, and he succeeded with the assistance of Meyer Wolfsheim, an unscrupulous man. During prohibition, Gatsby set up various drugstores, which illegally sold alcohol. Because his fortune had been recently built, his home lies on the West Egg. Conversely, Tom’s fortune has been established for many generations, and his home lies on the east egg.
Tom Buchanan, a former football player, who is described to be “a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen” is a supercilious, hypocritical and racist bully. With sincere concern, he declares that “ if we don’t look out, the white race will be – will be utterly submerged,” and during the course of the novel, he makes several other racist comments. In addition, he openly and shamelessly has an affair with another married woman, Myrtle Wilson. When Mrytle refuses to stop repeating Daisy’s name, Tom cannot control his anger and breaks her nose. Clearly, Tom does not display any self-control. Though he maintains this exposed affair, he becomes furious when he discovers that his wife is likewise engaged in an affair.
Jay Gatsby, after moving into the West Egg, hosts many munificent parties, which make him make him a very reputable man. However, no one knows much about him or how he acquired his wealth, which also makes him a very mysterious man. In one encounter by Nick Carraway, Daisy’s cousin as well as Gatsby’s west egg neighbor, Gatsby is spotted at nighttime trembling, with his arms stretched towards a green light across the bay. When Nick is invited to one of his renowned parties, he finally affords an opportunity to meet Gatsby, and he is most impressed by his charming smile and vitality. Later, he learns that Gatsby harbors a love towards Daisy and only hosted the parties to lure her.

[IronParrot]

Yes, I know. And you're telling us this... why?

As for Gatsby itself, let's just say that I sympathize with the title character's motives. Sigh... just another example of idealism trampled under the stinky feet of reality.

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Nice plot description. . .care to read the essay I wrote on it? No? Didn't think so. But I did love the book!

[galadriel]

what was that about? The Great Gatsby was good, but does it warrant spouting spontaneous essays on message boards?

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

That was definitely not an essay there, it was a plot description. Now if you want to read an essay, I'd be glad to post mine

[IronParrot]

Go for it.

[Khamûl]

Wish I'd have found this before I could have read it for a book report. I would have just said that I read it and just read the description up there. Oh well.

[JaeSon5]

Don't worry. I don't spontaneously write essays on message boards for fun Actually, I had an essay due in school, but I couldn't finish it before having to catch my ride, so I had to post it on Entmoot. I used a library computer during my study hall period to copy and paste the essay onto MS Word. I finished it. It was pretty bad. Greenleaf, you were right. It wasn't REALLY an essay since I just summed up the plot and included a little bit of analysis. But to be honest, I didn't have a chance to read the book before writing the essay, and I had to rely on Sparknotes.
My intent was to make a compare and contrast essay between Tom and Gatsby if it's not clear. You(Greenleaf) really could have helped me out a lot with your model essay! But then again, I never asked...
I actually would be interested in seeing a REAL essay, so please post one if you have the time.

Also, I don't enjoy English class too much. Everyone knows math is the true subject. :P

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

I'd be glad to send you an essay via email, and I'm certainly willing to help you with essays if you ever need help again. If you want to read my essay on the Great Gatsby as a model, PM me, and I'll send it to you. . .it's a bit long to post here. Hey, maybe you can help me with math sometime. . .

[Linaewen]

Just wanted to drag this thread up (hopefully for another literature discussion ).

I've just read this for school, and I must admit that it's so much better the second time round. It's quite an interesting book; and so much better after a reread. I'm not sure that I really like Fitzgerald's style of writing; that's probably what made it so ..difficult (for lack of a better word) to read.

Anyone else read it?

[The Gaffer]

I read it in school, and re-read it several years later. I really liked it, especially the little symbolic things like the light on the end of the jetty and The Eyes of Dr TJ Eckleburg.

[sun-star]

I thought it was better the second time I read it, too. I liked it the first time, but I got to the end and realised I couldn't remember much of the story - which is very rare for me. The second time I got it fixed in my mind and enjoyed it a lot more. I wonder why some books work like that?

[Linaewen]

I know why the second time was much more enjoyable for me. The first time I read it by myself, but the second time we're reading it in class, and the teacher's pointing out important elements/themes/symbols etc of the story. You get to see the significance of things that don't seem that important at first. It makes the story so much more interesting. I hated analysing Jane Eyre in class, but this is certainly one of those books that just gets better upon rereadings/analysis.

[Lótiel]

I really enjoyed Gatsby when I read for my english exam last year. But I didn´t have english in school, so I read the sparknotes analysis to get more of the background and symbols. I find the book quite flat if you don´t get the symbolism.

I liked the protagonist and Gatsby, but I quite despised most of the other characters.

[The Gaffer]

So, what were the Eyes of Dr TJ Eckleburg?

[Linaewen]

I completely agree with you Lótiel! That's what I think!

Gaffer- aren't they a billboard or advertisement of some sort? Or are you referring to their symbolism?

[The Gaffer]

Yes, it was a billboard for some defunct optician, in the trash-covered valley where protagonist bloke lives. I could never figure out what it was supposed to represent, but it's a phrase and image that's stuck with me, like so much in great literature does.

Some people said it represented God, others bland commercialism. Theories anyone?

[Linaewen]

'I spoke to her,' he muttered...'I told her she might fool me but she couldn't fool God. I took her to the window...and I said "God knows what you've been doing, everything you've been doing! You may fool me, but you can't fool God!"
Standing behind him, Michaelis saw with a shock that he was looking at the eyes of Doctor T J Eckleberg...

'God sees everything,' repeated Wilson'

This happens shortly after Myrtle's death.

I've interpreted it as a mixture of both God and 'bland commercialism'. My teacher was mentioning something about 'money being the new religion' in the Roaring Twenties. (Whoops, almost put 'Forties' there ).

Hehe, and 'protagonist bloke' Nick doesn't live there. (I assume you're talking about him and not Wilson, who does live there but isn't the protagonist. Nick lives in West Egg.

[Lótiel]

Originally posted by The Gaffer
Yes, it was a billboard for some defunct optician, in the trash-covered valley where protagonist bloke lives. I could never figure out what it was supposed to represent, but it's a phrase and image that's stuck with me, like so much in great literature does.

Some people said it represented God, others bland commercialism. Theories anyone?

(from www.sparknotes.com)
The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg

The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland, though the novel never makes this point explicitly. Instead, throughout the novel, Fitzgerald suggests that symbols only have meaning because characters instill them with meaning. The connection between the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg and God exists only in George Wilson’s grief-stricken mind. This lack of concrete significance contributes to the unsettling nature of the image. Thus, the eyes also come to represent the essential meaninglessness of the world and the arbitrariness of the mental process by which people invest objects with meaning. Nick explores these ideas in Chapter VIII, when he imagines Gatsby’s final thoughts as a depressed consideration of the emptiness of symbols and dreams.

[The Gaffer]

Cool! Kind of ties in with the light on the end of the jetty. How Gatsby ends up longing for the symbol rather than the reality.

Apologies: got the characters mixed up (hey, it's 20 years since I read it!)

groovy.