The Social Conventions From the Early Twentieth Century- The Great Gatsby

        The Jazz Age is the decade of prosperity and riotous living and of bootleggers, gangsters, flappers and jazz music. Even though there were many social and cultural conflicts during this era, the novel The Great Gatsby doesn’t focus on the conflicts and the social chages but primarily focuses on the people, society and the social conventions/ morals of the time period. Although the 1920s were a time of cultural battlefields and was a time of struggle between the old and new America, the novel The Great Gatsby accurately reflects the American social conventions from the early twentieth century. With regards to all the social changes and cultural differences at the time, Fitzgerald only focuses the book on certain things that effected those times, such as bootleggers and the conflicts in American society that involve geographic regions. The novel shows the glamorous lifestyles of the era. The Jazz era is the era of change for the American society, which has significant differences in sexual morals, gender roles and fashion. But most importantly the Jazz era is the time, which morals started to decay and many people of the era thought that the changes were in undesirable ways. Fitzgerald does a good job of showing his readers about the undesirable changes in morals for the society, especially with the help of the characters of Tom, Daisy and Gatsby.                                                                                                                        

We can see the decaying morals through the relationships of Gatsby and Daisy and Tom and Myrtle. Even thought Tom and Daisy are married they both see and have feelings for other people too. This is an unappreciable behavior for me because I don’t believe that it is correct for married couples to have intimate relationships with other people of the opposite sex. Daisy doesn’t complain or get divorced with Tom because she has a mistress and neither does Tom, even though he knows about the relationship between his wife and Gatsby.                                                                                 

Street crime is an important part of the Jazz era, and it was mainly caused with the consumption of too much alcohol. Although it was illegal to sell and consume alcohol at the time, bootleggers, such as Gatsby made money by selling illegal alcohol to the society, which affected the society a lot. The novel doesn’t give insight to the problem of alcohol but we know that Fitzgerald focuses on the Gatsby’s mysterious job that is referred to as bootlegging. Bootleggers were an important aspect in the Jazz era because it was alcohol that affected the Jazz era the most, even more than Jazz music.                                                                                                                                                

Fitzgerald uses the characters as a way of showing the social conventions of the era. Different people refer to different changes or perhaps problems of the era and the relationship between all the characters show the difference in perspective and how people used to interact with each other. For example, the character of Tom also refers to the problem of ethnicity in America at the time. We know that there are many people that feel the same way about black people and people who don’t want black people society to get stronger. These people can be true racists like Tom and be disrespectful towards people that are not from the same ethnicity, race or even religion with them.
As we can see, Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby accurately reflects the American social conventions from the early twentieth century with use of characters and the characters relationships. It neglects the social changes and the conflicts of the era and primarily focuses on the morals of he society, which completely change in this era.

“Face to face with something commensurate to your capacity for wonder”

“Face to face with something commensurate to your capacity for wonder”Last year I experienced something that will never be able to forget. Something that I will never be able to forget. Something that many people would like to do but can’t. I went to Cuba with my family and friend Naz. Staying there for over a week I really got to experience something no one has ever experienced. I had the opportunity to be, and live in a communist country, where it feels like everything and everyone have been put into a time machine to travel back in time. The trucks, cars, trains are all different and so old, it feels like technology is so far away from them. The country felt like another world to me, so different from everywhere I’ve ever been to. Currency for the tourists is more valuable and different from the citizens’ money/currency. Everyone feels and knows that they are equal in every way and tourists really see that. This also makes people feel safer in their environment and houses. The food is also very different, gross & same at times but it’s worth the experience you face. Coming back from Cuba to Turkey I had learnt many things.  I wouldn’t want to exchange my experience and the time I spent there with anything in the world. Even though we went there as group, I was the only one interested and was the only one who wanted to go back there. Everyone except for me found it unappealing and displeasing but I felt connected to the place. I wanted to go back there because I want to live through that lifestyle once again before that lifestyle is fully gone. But obviously I was the only one who felt this way, which kind of made me feel unique...

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 9

Tom and I decided that we are definitely leaving. We haven’t told anyone and we are not going to. We are not even going to tell Jordan about us moving away. They can all understand what we did when the right time comes and I’m sure that they will all understand why we had to do such a thing. It was hard to say good-bye to everything and everyone without letting them know. But the most difficult part of it all was to go up to Gatsby, look him in the eyes and tell him that I was leaving. I was difficult because I wouldn’t be able to say it. The moment I would see him ı would thrown myself in to his arms and tell him to never open the back again. I knew myself so I decided I wouldn’t say anything to him. He is a smart man; he will understand why I had to do this.  The dream ends here. This is officially the end of Gatsby’s dream of a life we could have had together. Yes, I crushed his dreams and heart once again. I don’t know what life has for me in the West but I am ready for yet another risk. It’s time to open the new page, a white sheet of paper ready to be filled with more stories to come…

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 8

It has been hard to sleep at night these days. I haven’t ever been in a situation like this in my entire life. I’m in pain and suffering and have no clue about what to do rater than wait. I haven’t been out these couple of days. It makes me nervous to hear car sounds from the front of the house. Tom also agreed that it would be better if ı stayed in the house for these couple of days. I wish Nick came over to keep me company but I understand how hard he has to work. Gatsby and I have grown apart these days because I’m sacred to face the truth that firstly I don’t love my husband. Secondly I don’t want to be with my husband. Thirdly I killed a woman and fourthly the guy I want to be with is my one and only true love.  The dilemma is killing me. I don’t know what to do, what to say for to react to things anymore. Tom and I are talking about leaving the East to move somewhere else where we can live a silent life together, raising our child in peace. I don’t know how I’m going to tell Gatsby about my choice. My place is where my husband is and I’m scared to separate from him. Tom tells me that it’s better that we don’t tell anyone, and move to a place where we can open a fresh, new page and start all over again.

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 7

I invited everyone over to our house for lunch. It was a big assembly. Everyone showed up and we had a nice lunch all together. The best part of the entire day was the kiss right there in the middle of our living room ı gave to Gatsby. It was the simple most amazing way to let myself, him and other to understand the actual true way I felt about him. It was the hottest day of summer and also probably the most boring one. I wanted to spend time with Gatsby alone. Even though I told myself that ı would never leave Tom, my heart melted to the sight of Gatsby and my feelings changed instantly.  I suggested that we go up to New York to have more fun. Of course Tom, “the lover he is of New York” he is jumped into the idea and decided on his own that we should all go to New York. At least I got some alone time with Gatsby in the car on the way to New York. We drove up together and the rest followed us with Gatsby’s car.  It was a nice drive to New York where we went to the Plaza Hotel. We sat down to Tom’s embracing “interview” for Gatsby. He started forcing him to tell the truth about his life and constantly tried to bring him down so I could understand that Tom was much better than Gatsby. Like I cared… When someone is truly in love it doesn’t matter if that person is anything. It doesn’t matter the fact how he makes the money. But I though Gatsby’s come back came out to be way to strong.  I mean he might not be the greatest guy or the greatest husband, but Tom is my husband and it was inappropriate for Gatsby to tell him how ı felt about Tom and Gatsby. I have a mouth too, and ı could have told everything myself too. But Gatsby just had to rush it. But as Gatsby told Tom about the way I felt, I suddenly started feeling the opposite way again. I mean Tom was my husband and we have a child together for God’s sake! The rough evening ended by us driving back to West Egg. I really wanted to apologize to Gatsby about the way I felt now but I just couldn’t find the right words. Gatsby gave the steering wheel of his car in to my hands and told me that it would take my mind off things. But this was the worst idea that he ever had. Driving through the valley of ashes, my mind was totally of the road focused on the dilemma of my life, trying to find a solution out of everything I had recently been through when a young woman accidentally jumped on the car. I couldn’t hit the breaks or turn the steering wheel to the other side. Blood rushed to my brain with the sight of the poor woman’s sudden death. Like all the problems weren’t enough now I had this trouble too. We drove away. We were too scared of all the things that might have happened if people saw what we were responsible for. Gatsby said he would take the blame for me. He said he would lie to people that he was driving but there is still a bad feeling within me.

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 6

After all the hard work and effort I put in to convincing, I could finally convince Tom to take me to the party that took place in the Gatsby mansion. The party started out fun but lead from being mediocre to a disaster. I mean all the  lower class people joined together, having fun and all the simple ladies getting drunk in front of everyone.  I really didn’t want to be rude to Gatsby and definitely didn’t want to disrespectful so I tried to look like I was having a good time and was enjoying the party, but I didn’t seem to get much out of the party. It seemed like Tom wasn’t feeling the same way as me. He was off talking the to other people that were in the party, who have obviously not been formally invited. Why would he want to talk with people like those who don’t know anything and rudely show up to a party they haven’t been invited? I really tried my best to have fun but I guess these parties are not for me anymore. I wanted to spend time with Gatsby after all the things we went through the other day and also re-embrace and live the past we had together. I missed him but he was nowhere to be found all night long. I guess this was just a lesson from God to me, telling me that it would never be sensible for me to leave Tom, because it would also mean loosing my social status and giving up the glamorous upper-class life and I was definitely not ready to give up all that I had thanks to Tom. I told myself over and over again that night that I could handle small problems in my marriage; I mean which couple in this world doesn’t have problems?  The party showed me the right way to shape my life, which definitely includes being with Tom, till the end.

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 5

I was so happy when Nick called me over for tea in the evening. You know it’s just great to spend time with family and especially family which shares common interests with me and keeps me company and my mind off Tom’s dirty business going on in New York. I was overwhelmed with happiness when he especially told me to come alone because the last thing I needed was tom’s presence with me. I feel like we’re growing more apart every day, every hour and even every minute. His presence makes me think about complicated situations that hurt my brain.  It was great timing to go to Nick’s house especially with Tom being God knows where. The driver dropped me off at Nick’s house with the rain pouring down on me like a glass of water being poured down from the sky.  Walked in through the door of the house with a big smile on my face, as I was just too happy to see Nick once again. From his face I felt that he had a lot to tell me about. Probably because of all the time he spent with Jordan in the past few days.  But before I could go up to him to give him a hug, I heard the door opening behind me. Turning around I saw something that had been in my heart for years.  I saw Gatsby, the only men in this entire world that showed my entire body, from my to nail to each and every strand of my hair what love is and how it feels like. I felt my fingers shaking and felt unconscious; I didn’t know what to say or how to respond to this sudden shock that surrounded the whole room. I chose to stay for a second but I wanted to drop myself in to his arms and live the days we had together in the past once again. It was the moment I realized that we belonged together. It was the moment I realized that Tom wasn’t the one. It was him. It was Gatsby. We were together the entire day, eye to eye never looking anywhere else but each other’s eyes. After staying for a couple of hours we went back to his house, which by the way is the mansion that my house looks at and where all the great parties are held.  He showed me all the rooms in his mansion and we lived through the rooms one by one. I was a fool and now I am well aware of it. I don’t want my daughter to be a fool. I didn’t want to back to the cold, unbearable atmosphere of my house that night, but here I am once again, alone in my house with no one who cares about me as much Gatsby. He was also kind enough to invite us to a party in his house which I doubt Tom can decline because it's a formal invitation.  I would love to see Gatsby at one of his parties and get a taste of the parties that go on in his mansion! I'm extremely excited!

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 4

          Tom is such a spoiler sometimes, I mean obviously I kind of knew that he would definitely refuse to go to one of these parties but why ruin it for me too? I can’t believe he can’t trust me with anything, when all I’ve ever done is be there for him when he needs me, I mean he wasn’t even there when I gave birth to the most amazing girl baby in the whole world and now he can’t even trust me? He’s the one who has a mistress way up in New York and goes to see her every week while I stay at home taking care of the baby and just look after the house. Sometimes I just wish I could live a life like Jordan but then I realize that I wouldn’t be able to. I miss those days when all the guys wanted to be with me and marry me but I made the wrong decision. I just married the first guy with a social status good enough and money to take care of me. But I clearly remember that night of the marriage. It was the first time I was piss drunk. That was the only way to get me through that night that I sometimes regret with all my heart. I wanted to run away. Run away till no one could ever find me again but Jordan held me there. I guess it was good of her to stop making people remember me as a disgrace but still… Enough about me and more about Nick and Jordan. I hear they got to spend lots of time together this past week in the amazing parties and also outside of those. But I knew it, I knew that they could form a good couple together. Well to be honest, I didn’t really want them to be together just for their sake but also because Tom and I never have friends over or we never go to someone’s house or not even meet our friends outside for dinner, lunch, breakfast, brunch, anything. We just don’t have friends we can lean on or have fun with. They might be our first couple friends that we can have fun with. I would really enjoy some company especially with Tom running of to New York to the arms of her mistress and Jordan traveling for golf, I could even spend time with my Nick! I’m so happy I finally got to see him after he moved so close to us!

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 3

One of the things that I’ve started to enjoy these couple of weeks during the summer has been the great sound coming from the huge mansion in West Egg. I’ve of course, never got to taste one before but even the music and the smell of fresh food and alcohol is simply enough to keep one happy. I’ve always wondered what if would feel like to go to these parties like the hundreds of people that go, dress up in your prettiest dress, put make up on and step out of your boring life and in to world of fun and partying. But of course, I’ve always been afraid of asking Tom to go because I know for a fact that he doesn’t really enjoy these types of occasions, but I personally believe that we should make our best effort to go to every single party, I mean we have the couple, the money, the social status and on top of that we have our great sense of fashion that would never fail us in such kinds of events. I mean Jordan goes to every single one of the parties and it makes me rather jealous to hear about all the great time she spends in those parties, making me envious of her pathetic life style. I mean she’s a great friend and all but, I’ve got so much more to give to people and parties compared to her. Well I guess life isn’t really fair sometimes… I think I should break it to Tom that I really want to get a taste of one of these parties especially at the big mansion we can see from our bedroom. I’ve always felt some kind of sympathy towards that house for some reason. Anyway, I’m going to tell Tom that I deserve to have fun and live a little. I mean I always though that we moved all the way to the East to have a better life, so why not make it happen? I made this crazy plan in my mind! So how about we follow Jordan to one of the great parties at the mansion and we can also take nick with us on the way to the party since he also lives in that area and I’m pretty sure he would be happy to spend time with Jordan and me. Also making it easier for me to make something happen between them! Wow, when I want to I can be so smart sometimes; I hope my daughter also has a mind like mine rather than a mind like Tom’s.

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 2

It’s so quiet in the house with Tom gone off to God knows where. Well actually I’m pretty sure about where he might be. He had stopped visiting that woman for a week, which had made me happy, but with the phone call he suddenly flew back in to her arms, and I just don’t understand what she has that I don’t have.  You know it always makes me curious what they do in New York but God, I just hate thinking about him being with another woman, you know? I’ve always been loyal to him. Never even though of some other guy in my life all this time. Well I mean it hurts me when I lie to myself, I need to teach myself to be comfortable in my own world but I simply can’t because all this time I’ve been judged by everyone around me especially Tom. Going back to lying to myself, I must admit that there has been this one, single guy that I do sometimes think about. But I faintly remember it; you see I’ve always had this thing for this guy that I used to know back in the days when I lived in Louisville. Promised I’d wait for him, but got rushed in to marriage with my said to be husband who is never with me, when he went to war… I didn’t make the right decisions at the right times and now, I suffer the consequences of my young foolish mind. Well I guess it’s not that bad, maybe I’m just being a bit over sensitive, I tend to that a lot when Tom leaves the house for that woman and comes back home like nothing happened, and he acts like he just comes back from work. But he just underestimates me way too much. 

Jazz Era!

Daisy's Point Of View- Chapter 1

Nick is like the brother I’ve never had. Even though he’s a cousin whom I haven’t talked in a really long time, something in my heart tells me that we are actually bonded and together and I feel like I can trust him with all my secrets, my doubts and my concerns that no one, especially tom should never know of.  It was definitely exciting to have him over for dinner and meet my family since he missed my wedding with Tom, to the excuse of not returning from war. Having Jordan over with him was also my idea. Sometimes, I can’t even believe how smart I can get. ı mean I knew they would bond instantly, I felt their chemistry even when they were miles and miles away from each other! Anyway what I thought might have ended like a awkward night actually turned out to be perfect except for one tiny little detail. Oh I actually I can’t call her a tiny problem because she is more dominant than me even in my family life. But I knew it. From the moment I heard the ringing of the phone, I knew that it was her ı mean who else is uneducated and ignorant to call during dinner? Obviously, no one. Worse of all I didn’t want Nick to learn about it, I mean for sometime at least. I wouldn’t want him to thin that his cousin Daisy Buchanan turned out to be a women with no dignity and self-respect! But he would be smart enough to understand that I have my reasons for letting this go. Having Nick all to myself for the rest of the evening was just amazing. Cause he s the only family that is close to me that I can moan and talk to. I know that he listens carefully to every word that comes out of my mouth and this makes me happy. All evening I talked and he just replied shortly to what I had to say to him. Feels so different than usual when I can barely talk because I know Tom’s never listening and Jordan just can’t close her mouth. I tell her one thing and I can be sure that half of the world also knows it. Like she told Nick about Tom's mistress, like she doesn't even know the guy properly and would tell him a secret about my family without any  little doubt or hesitation. But it's different with Nick. Way different…

Post-Reading Reflection

I enjoyed reading The Great Gatsby, because it was a book that was different from any other book I have read, especially because of the era/time it takes place in. I knew little about the glamorous and rich America of the time. The book was short, and every single word and sentence had a meaning to it and the author also didn’t use a hard language or vocabulary to make the book easy to follow and understand by all the readers. I personally liked the tone of the author so recently I got another book, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald called The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. It is interesting to read different books from the same author because you start noticing styles of writing and can pick out the reader without even knowing its written by him or her. I liked the twist the book had at the end of it, but I guess this is open to interpretation since people might have not felt the same way about the ending as me.

           

Reflection for Chapter 9

           Chapter 9 was the end of the book and was for me the worst chapter of the book. The chapter is about Nick looking back at everything they have been through after two years. It seems like a summary of all that has happened to them and felt very distant for some reason.  With the change of what I imagined the ending would be like, the ending of the book was way different than I expected it to be. With Daisy and Tom leaving without leaving an address behind to no one coming to Gatsby’s funeral was not the kind of conclusion I had for this particular book. For some reason the ending I ad in mind was way different than a summary o a look back. It would have taken place the next day after the murder of Gatsby.

To me, it felt like a really depressing chapter especially because no one makes it to Gatsby’s funeral except for Nick, owl eyes and Gatsby’ father who is proud of his son for becoming who he was. With the different ending to the book, it felt like everyone just falls apart from each other. Nick returns to his silent life with no one around him, Tom and Daisy move away with their daughter with irony of both loosing their loved ones. For Tom this is his mistress Myrtle and for Daisy it’s Gatsby, the guy she promised to wait but didn’t. I think that it wasn’t bad that Tom and Daisy moved away especially after the entire trauma they had but it’s hard to understand why they don’t tell Nick about it. Jordan Baker and Nick also separate their ways and we learn about Jordan Baker is actually engaged to another man.

Reflection for Chapter 8

For me chapter 8 was the most crucial, interesting and yet the most important chapter of the whole book. It starts out like the rest of the chapters, the reader learning about the characters pasts. This time Gatsby is telling Nick and the reader about Daisy’s younger days and the love they had for each other. We learn about Gatsby’s feelings towards Daisy and how they never actually changed, even with years passing by and people changing, we learn that Gatsby has always stayed constant, still loving Daisy like the first day they met. Daisy symbolizes everything that Gatsby has, especially because he became what he is know because of her.

The first nice girl that Gatsby meets is Daisy and she is the only person he has to lie to about his income. Even though Daisy promises Gatsby that she will be waiting for him after the war finishes, Gatsby comes to learn that during the time he was gone, Daisy has already married someone else. He is crushed with sadness and lives through the rest of his life by dreaming about the days Daisy and he would spend together. Losing Daisy makes him feel like he has lost the entire world. He suffers with the pain and can only live through life simply by just dreaming about her and the life he would have with her. The author also uses seasons and the weather to work with the events that go on. For example, Gatsby and Tom have a heated argument in the hottest day of summer and Gatsby’s murder occurs on the cold day where it feels like autumn is ready to kick in.

The death of Gatsby, for me was the most dramatic part of the book. More than anything the vivid description of Gatsby’s motionless body floating on the water had great imagery and the reader could image the devastating, scene happing in their heads. The descriptions used by the author really affect the reader because it is hard to say good-bye to the rich extravagant; especially after one starts to have feelings about the cliché “happily ever after”. I think Gatsby’s death in particular really shifts the ending that we imagine is going to happen. This is both a bad and a good thing I think, since it makes the book more interesting and really drags the person in it to read the book but, also lets the reader know that this book is actually not the typical book we were expecting it to be.

            

Reflection for Chapter 7

 Chapter seven is one of the pivotal chapters of the novel. It shows Gatsby and Tom’s personalities in a new sort of way and shows the desperate life of Daisy.  The chapter starts by the reader learning about the changes Gatsby has made around his house. He changes all the servants and workers in his house with shady individuals which are all brothers and sisters that used to run a small hotel that have connections with Meyer Wolfshiem. We later learn that Gatsby does this in order to avoid any future gossip about him and Daisy since Daisy comes in to his house very often.

This chapter then continues with Nick going to Daisy and Tom’s house for lunch. He also sees Jordan Baker and Gatsby there as he goes inside the house. During their afternoon all together, Daisy and Gatsby fail to hide the love they have for each other, kissing one another when Tom leaves the room and so on. After lunch they decide to go to New York after Daisy’s idea. Daisy and Gatsby go in one car and Nick, Tom and Jordan take the other car together. When they arrive in New York, Tom starts trying to make Gatsby look bad in front of everyone and especially Daisy.  He accuses him of running a bootlegging operation. He also makes it look like Gatsby is lying by telling everyone that he actually did not attend Oxford. Daisy seems very uninterested. As the discussion for Daisy between Gatsby and Tom heats up, Daisy feels that she is strongly attached to Tom and less to Gatsby. Clearly knowing that Daisy is still in love with him and chose Gatsby over him, Tom lets Daisy and Gatsby drive together back to New York.      
                                                                                                                      
On the way back to Long Island, from Plaza hotel, Jordan, Nick and Tom are terrified to discover that someone has been run over by a car near the border of the Valley of Ashes. They are unfortunate to discover that it is actually Myrtle, Tom’s mistress that has been run over by the car. We learn the details of the incident from Michaelis, a Greek man who runs the restaurant right next to Wilson’s garage. We also learn from him that it was a yellow car that ran over Myrtle. Tom is terrified to learn about what has happened, and knows instantly that it was Gatsby’s car. Tom thinks that Wilson will remember the yellow car from that afternoon. He also assumes that it was Gatsby who was driving the car. Driving back to their house after learning the awful news, Nick realizes that it was his birthday. After coming back to East Egg, Nick asks Gatsby about the incident but before he can say anything Nick understands from Gatsby’s countenance that Daisy was the one driving the car. The gentleman he is, Gatsby tells Nick that he will take all the blame and charge.                                                    
 
This chapter shows the reader the true face of Daisy, a typical woman of her era. She cannot give up her position next to Tom in the society so she refuses to be with Gatsby, the man she actually loves. This chapter can also show us that she is too desperate and needs constant care by a man, in her case Tom. She is unable to have a “position” in the society without Tom and she is well aware of this fact. This chapter also shows us that Gatsby is actually living his dream, but the dream is crushed by the sudden change in Daisy’s character. I think it’s a good thing to live in a dream but Gatsby I think has taken it too far than it should have gone. Basing your dreams on just one person is not a good idea because you can never know what might happen to that person. 

Reflection for Chapter 6

Chapter 6 focuses on Jay Gatsby, legally known as James Gatz’s childhood and clears out certain rumours we have heard about him throughout the novel. It clarifies possible question marks in the readers mind thus showing the truth about what he faced as a child and also gives insight about his hopes and dreams. We learn that his wealth is not inheritance but he earns all this money and wealth by setting up goals for himself and trying very hard to get away as far as he can from poverty. We also learn that he is inspired by Dan Cody, a former rich man who takes Jay out in his yacht so Jay can help him around.                                                                                                   

What this chapter seeks on telling the reader is that Gatsby got everything he dreamt of in his life. He went from being a janitor in College of St Olaf’s in Minnesota to a rich bootlegger. He fell in love with the money and the luxury as a child and knew that he wanted a life surrounded by the two. Dreaming about this made him work hard and he made his dream partially true. We as the reader know that he almost got everything he ever dreamt of except for one thing, that being the love and marriage with Daisy.

During this chapter Nick is surprised to see Tom, Daisy’s husband in Gatsby’s house. I think Gatsby likes spending time with tom and tries to learn more about him to understand what Tom has that he doesn’t have, which makes Daisy love Tom. He is curious to learn about their family. At this time, Gatsby finds the courage to ask Daisy and Tom to come over for a party he is hosting. Tom and Daisy kindly accept his invitation and come to the next party together.

This chapter also showed the insecurities of Tom because he gets very paranoid about Gatsby knowing Daisy and spending time with her. He also doesn’t want to loose his modern view so he tells people they shouldn’t leave their wife’s wonder around freely too much. He is afraid of loosing Daisy and afraid she might do the same thing she has been doing to her for sometime now. We can understand how jealous he is of Gatsby by the way he tries to bring him down by his weaknesses like what kind of job he does and how boring his parties are. This creates a lot of tension between many characters with in the book, which makes the book even more interesting.

Reflection for Chapter 5

           Chapter 5 sheds light upon many possible events that might occur during the novel. As Daisy and Gatsby have a day from the past all to themselves, this might take the story line in many different ways and routes. This is why this chapter is the chapter that spices up the story, making the reader want to reader further ahead in order to figure out what’s going to happen next, especially with Daisy and Gatsby, the old lovers.

            In this chapter we also see another side of Jay Gatsby, we haven’t seen before. Each chapter in the book is organized to show the reader the different aspects to Gatsby’s personality and how he manages to fool us every time we think we know him. One of the things that took me off guard in this chapter was how embarrassed and a timid person Gatsby was. I always imagined him to be a confident person with all that money coming to him by heritance. The chapter also shows Daisy, Nick and the reader the romantic and lover side of Gatsby. I never thought that he would even consider giving Nick a job so he can earn more many in return for his favour of calling Daisy to tea.

            Another thing I found surprising was Daisy asking Nick who Tom is on the phone when Nick invites her over for tea but tells her specifically not to bring Tom with her. I think this might be cause by Tom’s attitude towards her and because he leaves to New York very often just to see Myrtle. This shows her fed up side with Tom’s freedom and her giving up on trying to have him all to herself.

            One more thing that I found to be interesting in this chapter was the repetition of the “green light” example, which I think, has become a persistent motif of hope in the novel. Fitzgerald uses the examples of green light also in the first chapter of the book in which Nick hopes to talk to Gatsby from the distance but can’t. During this chapter Gatsby tells Daisy how he sees a green light from her house from his bedroom window and this symbolizes the hope Gatsby has in Daisy to pursue their life together in his great mansion where he lives alone in misery with the lack of love.

            After tea in Nick’s house, Gatsby invites Daisy and Nick over to his house so Daisy can see his house. I thought that this was also another trick for Daisy, thought of by Gatsby in to fooling her with his substance and materialistic world. Of course in tricking I don’t mean in a bad and evil way but more like a strategic way to get Daisy in his life again. It also surprised me that Gatsby even remember how long they haven’t seen each other so precisely.

            This was a rather shocking chapter for me and I’m eager to see what happens in the next chapter. The books makes me learn even more interesting new things about the characters in every chapter, thus giving a brief insight on fashion, business, transportation, history and basically the lifestyles of the era.

Reflection for Chapter 4

Chapter 4 focuses on the mysterious Gatsby and his past from two different perspectives. The chapter starts by Gatsby coming to Nick’s door with his car offering him to have lunch with him. During this lunch he meets with another friend of Gatsby, Meyer Wolfsheim.  After having lunch with them and hearing their stories of the past Nick starts to realize that Gatsby may not be what he thinks he is, due to his friends, especially Meyer Wolfsheim who is a gambler that the police can’t track because he’s too smart. Nick has a hard time understanding why Gatsby has such friends. As the lunch breaks out, Nick sees Tom, Daisy’s husband. As he starts talking to him he realizes that Gatsby is nowhere to be found. This I read it made me think that something might of happened between Tom and Gatsby that may have caused Gatsby to disappear.                                                                                                                       

After Gatsby disappears, the story changes its narrator for a couple of pages. Now the narrator of the story is Jordan Baker. She talks about her own past and also Daisy’s past together because they had lived in the same town in Louisville when they were younger. She tells Nick about a lieutenant that looked at Daisy, like every girl would have liked to be looked at. We than learn that the name of the lieutenant is Jay Gatsby, the neighbour of Nick.  Nick finds this story very interesting and becomes amazed with the coincidence of close together they have ended up living. But he is struck with the truth that Jay Gatsby moved to West Egg knowing that Daisy would be here and because he wanted to be close to her. Coming from this point I also thought that he might be throwing his huge parties because he wants Daisy to walk in to one of them so they can run in to each other one more time.

Jordan Baker shows Nick another side of Jay Gatsby that he doesn’t and probably no one knows. Jordan shows the lover side of Gatsby to Nick also telling him what they talked about in private during the party.  Jordan tells Nick that Gatsby wanted him to invite Daisy and him to his house for tea like a coincidence. The chapter ends with yet another mystery of what Nick is going to do about Gatsby. Is he going to do a favour for Gatsby or just forget what Jordan told him about it?

Reflection for Chapter 3

During chapter 3, we finally get the taste of what Gatsby’s life is like. We witness one of his legendary parties that bring both the East Egg and the West Egg socialites together. Fitzgerald does an amazing job with the imagery of the party with lots of detail and description, thus making as feel like we’re also in the party. We can see the materialistic world of the 1920’s clearly with the descriptions of the people and the party’s descriptive imagery but also with the attitudes of certain guests, for example Lucille tells Jordan and the rest of the table how much money she paid for her dress which is considered to be very inappropriate in this kind of environment.                       

Even though this chapter is supposed to make Gatsby less mysterious, I think it was the exact opposite. I was even more confused about Gatsby because I didn’t understand why he invites people he doesn’t know and doesn’t even talk to his guests.  The reader has seen Gatsby, heard people talk about him but meets with the rich extravagant towards the end of the chapter for the first time.

During the chapter Nick is being told plenty of “rumors” about Gatsby but no one is sure about what is true and what is not. Nick is told that Gatsby has killed a man, was a spy during the German War, and grew up in Germany and that he was an Oxford man. These rumors make Nick even more eager to meet this mysterious neighbour of his.        
Like the entire night wasn’t weird enough, the way Nick meets Jay Gatsby was even more bizarre.  He doesn’t know that the guy sitting in his table is Gatsby. Descriptions of Gatsby were very different from what I expected it to be. I always imagined that he would be an old guy that was pompous and an extrovert but Jay Gatsby was exactly the opposite of what I had imagined him to be. It’s also funny that he calls people “old sport”, an aspect to him that was also different from his lifestyle. The chapter leads us of to a mystery by Gatsby calling Jordan Baker in order to talk to her in private, leading the reader and Nick himself with question marks about what they had talked about. I’m pretty sure that we will learn what they talked about pretty soon because if it weren’t important Jordan would have told Nick about what they talked about. Another event that surprised me towards the end of the chapter was Nick’s descriptions toward Jordan Baker. He tells the reader that; “He wasn’t actually in love but, he felt a sort of tender curiosity” towards her (pg. 38).

Reflection for Chapter 2

Chapter 2 continues the story by Tom and Nick’s travel on the train and Tom forcing Nick to come with him to the valley of ashes – “a fascinating farm where ashes grow like wheat” (pg. 16), the exact opposite of what West Egg is. Poverty and desperation take over the valley. In this chapter we get introduced to even more characters, but most importantly we meet Tom’s “girl” and basically his second life when away from Daisy.  We also see how his life, actions and habits change with the environment he is in and also shows the narrator the other side of Tom. After forcing Nick out of the train with him, Tom leads Nick to a garage owned by George B. Wilson. During the short time they have in the garage, “the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She was in her middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her flesh sensuously” (pg. 18.) The woman described by Nick is Myrtle, the wife of George Wilson.                                                                                    ,

 After Myrtle is ready Nick, Tom followed by Myrtle goes to the train where Myrtle does not sit in the same car as them. After going off the train they all together go to Tom’s apartment, which he keeps for his affair with Myrtle. Nick gets dragged in the apartment with them even though he doesn’t really want to be a part of this. After some time inside the apartment I liked the part where Nick tells the reader that Ms. Wilson was switched to Myrtle after one drink, showing that this kind of life style is different from what they are used to, informal, not as polite and less demanding than what they, especially what Nick is used to. Myrtle also calls his sister Catherine and Mr. and Mrs. McKee to the party.                                                                                     

Catherine has bright red hair and lives with a girl friend in a hotel. She tells Nick more about Gatsby’s family, where she thinks the money comes from and tells Nick that she has met him in a party. As more time passes in the party, Nick gets more and more repulsed by this life style as to the people and their actions. More people get drunk and Myrtle starts talking about Daisy angry, Tom tells her she is not speak off Daisy and this makes Myrtle more furious and starts repeating the name of Daisy which leads the conflict to Tom accidentally breaking Myrtle’s nose with his open hand. This is the last straw for Nick. He leaves the party with Mr. McKee who falls a sleep during the party and ends up waiting for the train at 4.00 o’clock.                        

The second chapter introduces a different perspective of people and life styles, showing the reader the two opposite lives that are present in the novel. This also shows why Tom might me different from Daisy and Nick. It also shows the reader two different dinner/parties with different types of people. It also shows how Tom acts differently to Daisy than Myrtle. He treats him more harshly as compared to Daisy. But even though Nick is Daisy’s cousin he doesn’t seem to mind Tom’s secret affair even though it’s not really discreet. He is just confused slightly by Catherine’s comment on Tom wanting to divorce Daisy but she says she can’t because Daisy is a Catholic but Nick knows that she is not. So this might mean that Tom is not ready to leave Daisy and loves her so much that he had to lie to Myrtle about why he can’t divorce her. He is protective of Daisy toward his “family” and “friends” there.

Reflection for Chapter 1

           The book starts of by introducing the first character, being Nick Carraway both the narrator and the author of the book. He starts off by talking about some of the morals he had learnt from his father as a little child. He tells the reader about an important advice he has received from his father about criticizing people, which I think will be important as the novel progresses relating to some of the events that Nick will go through. He also talks about Gatsby, the hero that gives the title to this book and talk about what he feels about him and what kind of a person he is. During this he tells the reader that Gatsby is representing everything that he scorns. He also doesn’t forget to add a sentence describing Gatsby’s personality, which I have found to be a very interesting way; “ If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him” (pg. 1).  I think the quote refers to the sympathy the narrator has for Gatsby, a kind of man opposite from him in many ways.

            He than moves to the story beginning from the time he graduates from Yale University to him deciding move to the East during the summer of 1922 to be in the bond business like the rest of his family. He moves to a part of Long Island called West Egg. As the story progresses Nick goes to East Egg a part of Long Island that is more fashionable than West Egg, where Nick lives. During this part of the story I really like the comparison of the two places because of the differences and the similarities they had. He goes to East Egg to visit his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan an arrogant and racist man. As Nick goes to Daisy and Tom’s house he finds Tom, who I though is very different from Nick with his behaviors and habits, in his riding clothes waiting for him in the porch. Tom greets Nick and takes him inside, where Daisy and her friend Miss Baker, a competitive golf player sitting inside. As they sit for dinner talking about many things including Daisy and Tom moving to the East permanently to Tom suggesting that they all read a book called “The Rise of the Coloured Empires. The dinner is then disturbed by the phone ringing and Tom going away to get the call and Daisy following him inside. Ms. Baker, who wants to overhear Tom and Daisy’s conversation, informs Nick impatiently that Tom had a girl in New York. This event leads to Nick and Daisy talking privately as cousins about what Daisy is going through. In one part of this conversation Daisy tells Nick that she wishes her daughter will be a fool she grows up, because Daisy believes that women live best as beautiful fools. After leaving Tom and Daisy’s house, Nick goes back to his house, which is the first time we see Gatsby in the book. Even though Nick wants to call out to Gatsby because he has spoken about him in dinner he can’t. I think this is because he is scared about him as he doesn’t know anything about him and what type of person he is.                                                                            
          Reading the first chapter made me feel like Nick cares a lot about Daisy, not just as a cousin but I think much more than that. I don’t know if this is true or if its just because Nick is an extremely nice person that is just trying to follow the advice his father has given him. I also think that Tom and Daisy want Nick to have something romantic with Ms. Baker. I feel like there are many characters in the novel but all of them have different ways of living and personalities. 

Pre- reading Reflection; “Preflection”

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, which sets its story in Long Island, New York. The novel it self takes place during the summer of 1922, which has been a time when the American society enjoyed the prosperity due to the economy. The novel as for as I know is a story based on the prosperity of the American society and the rich people that lived during that time era, which is the Jazz Era. The title of the novel is significant to a character in the book, that being Mr. Gatsby, a rich and extravagant man. Even the cover of the book is enough for the reader to understand what type of life style the society has, and refers to the rich Gatsby’s life most probably.

Even though I don’t know a lot about the book, I am really curious to read about the Jazz Era and learn more about this mysterious man, Gatsby also learning why he’s “Great” as the title refers to him as. I am also eager to learn about the others characters that are in the book and their relationships with Gatsby. As many of the people I have talked to about The Great Gatsby told me that most girls like the book more than guys, it made me feel even better about the book and now I can’t wait to read this American classic to see what it’s all about!