The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is one my favorite books of all time. There is no way that I could even do it justice with my own words, but I'll try. To me, it's one of those books that you can read over and over again; and every time that you do, you'll see it in a different light. The roaring 1920's is my favorite decade, which is partly to do with the reason I love this book so much.

Nick Carraway is the narrative voice of this book and throughout the entire book, he is trying to remain moral but finds it's hard to do. He is surrounded by people who place wealth at the center of everything. Gatsby met a girl and loved her so fiercely, that he then became the person he thought he needed to be in order for her to love him. He chased this dream endlessly. He built Daisy up to be someone she could never live up to and the dream that he had for their future was so disconnected to reality it was borderline insane, but he couldn't see this. Nick represents morality, while many of the other characters (i.e. Tom, Daisy, Jordan) represent moral decay and obsession with material things. Gatsby represents the American Dream and the drive to do anything in order to achieve it.

This books examines wealth in so many senses. Old money verses new money. High class society, pseudo high class society, and the poor and desolate. Superficiality is a very prominent theme is this book, as well as, double standards. Societal expectations are also something that play a strong role in the plot. Daisy married Tom because he was a well off man from old money, not because she necessarily loved him. Gatsby might have done a million and one things wrong, but it was all done so that he could get Daisy in the end. He would do anything for his dream of love. Gatsby's death was wrought with irony. However, I grew to like Gatsby's character despite everything and choose to think he died in his pool still thinking he and Daisy would end up together. So at least he died happy, or in my opinion anyway. He died still clinging to his dream, which isn't a half bad thing.

To sum it all up, since they're supposed to be short posts. Even though this book was written many, many years ago, we still struggle with these same issues in society. Our basic human emotions can't really change too much over time. Love is a power strong enough to make some people do almost anything. The internal struggle to be a good moral person is something I believe we all deal with. The obsession with wealth is as superfluous as ever. The need to save face in a sticky situation is something everyone has experienced because it's never easy to say you were wrong. The desire to be loved by all is a timeless quest we all deal with.

This book just speaks volumes upon volumes about human behavior and societies direct influence upon our lives. It just worth reading, over and over again!