Is The Great Gatsby Really Worth Your Time?

The Great Gatsby

I am generally not an avid reader, but when I started reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it sounds cliché, but there were honestly times when I couldn’t put it down. The book touches on many different subjects such as materialism, romance, and desperate actions to turn back time. The book’s narrator, Nick Carraway, is an outstanding outlet as he is the book’s wallflower and observer. Having him as the narrator instead of an ominous figure adds realism and personality that otherwise would not have been present. Taking place in New York during the 1920’s, the book starts at the end of the actual story, and backs up to go through the entire string of events that led to the final conclusion. The Great Gatsby is also a very personal book as the reader can follow along and find out different things alongside Nick just as he is finding them out.

  Because we are on the journey with the narrator, the book lacks dramatic irony, which, in many ways, makes it more of a cliff hanger when you have to put it down. It’s very dissimilar from plays like Romeo and Juliet and Death of a Salesman, in which we know from the start (in some cases, from the title) that someone is going to die. With different flashbacks, each character takes the reader through different parts of their lives to give the audience a full view of the story. The descriptions and imagery are consistent through every chapter and create the setting in an imaginative way.

Readers can also find an abundance of symbolism throughout the story regarding Gatsby’s hopes and dreams, Nick’s personality, and the materialistic world that was the 1920’s in America. I’d say any age above the eighth grade year of school should be able to go over the concepts of The Great Gatsby and be able to discuss the symbolism and meaning of different aspects in the book. Because younger ages should be able to grasp the concepts discussed in the book, returning to the book over time is something that can bring up new ideas in discussion years later. The Great Gatsby is a timeless classic and really affected the way I think about today’s society as materialism is still very prevalent today. If you have not yet read Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, I highly recommend you pick a copy up, you won’t regret it. It’s something that you will come back to time and time again.

~Blair Christine~