A depressing funeral

Chapter 9 is Gatsby's funeral, and it is not a very good one. Nothing seems to be right. For starters, the funeral only consists of a few guests: Nick, a handful of servants, Owl Eyes, and Gatsby's father, Henry Gatz. To make matters worse, it's raining. Henry seems to be disappointed at what his son did not become, but at the same time proud of what he did. This may seem confusing because his father says "If he'd of lived, he'd of been a great man. A man like James J.Hill. He'd of helped build up the country" (168), but later shows Nick a picture of Gatsby's house and Nick says "He had shown it so often that I think it was more real to him now than the house itself" (172). Henry does see is son as successful because of his wealth, but would probably change his mind if he found out it was illegally earned. In the end, Nick breaks up with Jordan and finally realizes that Tom and Daisy are "careless people" and says "they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (179). Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the characters and how each one of them was different, but important in conveying the message of the story. The plot was easy to follow even if there was some mystery mixed in.

Expected yet unexpected

In Chapter 8, we see the end of Gatsby's life and everything coming to an end. In a way, I did expect Gatsby to be killed; it seemed inevitable based on everything he has done and what he has failed to do. However, I was surprised by his killer. I always thought it was going to be either Tom or himself, not Wilson. Wilson was only briefly mentioned and easily forgotten. It is easy to see that Fitzgerald wanted readers to forget about Wilson based on his character description. Fitzgerald was possibly telling us that the rich do not have complete control over the poor and that wealth and popularity is not all cracked up as it seems to be. Gatsby obviously had some problems that showed this, the most blatant one being not able to win over Daisy. Daisy was Gatsby's life and he knew he could never have her. That is why I thought he would kill himself; he had nothing to live for. Nick picks up on this at the end when he says "he must have that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream" (161). I think Nick is trying to say that people should not hold on to dreams too long, especially those that are nearly impossible. As for Nick, I think he will live his life differently now that he knows the effects of money and corruption.

Gatsby living in the past

In Chapter 6, we not only get the true story of Gatsby's past, but how he wants to go back and change it. It turns out that Gatsby was not born into luxury, but instead was introduced to it through chance. He instantly fell in love with it and promised himself he would one day be wealthy and successful. It is obvious that he accomplished this goal, but he also achieved another dream and that was Daisy. It was the reason for most of his wealthy living and now that he had her, he does not know what to do with her. This is seen when Nick says "It is invariably saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your own powers of adjustment" (104). He is referring to how Gatsby pictured Daisy and how he was disappointed in how his dream turned out. He thought is money would be enough to win her over, yet she is still with Tom. Gatsby seems to think that it is too late to get Daisy so he ridiculously exclaims "Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!" (110).  He is pretty much saying that he has the power to change time. I think that this craziness of Gatsby's is ultimately going to make him lose Daisy. I believe Gatsby needs to realize that his wealth should not overpower him and move from the past.

A glimpse into Gatsby

In Chapter 4, we learn a lot about Gatsby's past. We learn that Gatsby was actually educated at Oxford, confirming the rumors. He is able to prove this to Nick when he shows him a picture of himself playing cricket at Oxford. Gatsby was also involved in the war, not as a spy, but as a lieutenant. There are also some shady details told about Gatsby's friend, Meyer Wolfshiem. One of the most important and interesting facts revealed about Gatsby was that he once had a love interest who was none other but Daisy, Tom's wife. Daisy had obviously forgotten about Gatsby because when Nick first mentioned his name, Daisy was surprised because she had not heard it in years. Gatsby, however, never forgot about Daisy because Jordan says "'Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay'" (78). It is now apparent why Gatsby was reaching his arms towards the bay and what the green light symbolizes in Chapter 1. Green is a color of want or greed and Daisy is the thing Gatsby wants. Nick and Jordan plan to set Daisy up so that she can be reunited with Gatsby. However, I do not think things are going to go as well as planned. I believe Gatsby and Daisy will fall in love again and start seeing each other on the side. This may lead into trouble with Tom if he finds out. Knowing Tom's character, he will not take it lightly, even though he is basically doing the same thing with Myrtle. Based on what he did to Myrtle for doing such a small thing, I believe he will punish Gatsby or Daisy way worse than what he did to Myrtle. 

Chapter 2 - Tom's character

In chapter 2, we really get a sense for what kind of person Tom is, and it is certainly not a good one. I always pictured Tom in my mind as being a gorilla because he shares many qualities with one: aggressive, large, and not very smart. He is also very cocky and arrogant  because he flaunts around Myrtle. I also thought it was very rude of him to just show up to Myrtle's husband and just take her away right under his nose. The thing I really do not like about Tom is his short temper. He seems to yell at the dog sales man and is very rude to him. Most importantly, he also breaks Myrtle's nose. This seemed to be a little extreme, even if they were have a little too much to drink. He also appears to be ashamed of cheating on Daisy because he does not want anybody to even bring her name up. I think Tom thinks he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants just because he has money. He seems to not spend it all just so he can have it to show his power. This greatly resembles the idea of "old money" for the East Egg. He also keeps up with the tradition of men having power of women and being able to do whatever he wants with them. I believe Tom's temper will get the best of him and he will end up doing something worse than just breaking someone's nose. Despite disliking Tom's character, I enjoy him being in the book because he adds excitement and scandal to the plot.

Chapter 1

In Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby, readers get an introduction to the main characters of the book. That character that seems to most resembles me is the narrator, Nick. Like Nick, I try to be as nice as possible around people, even if I do not like them at first. I am also extremely tolerant of people, no matter how boring they seem. When Nick first walks into Tom's mansion, he seems very intimidated and feels like he does not belong in such an ornate house. This is the same way I feel in expensive home. I feel that I cannot touch anything because I would either break it or get it dirty. Nick is able to sense a genuine compliment from a fake one, similar to me. When Daisy compliments him by saying "'I love to see you at my table, Nick. You remind me of a - of a rose, an absolute rose,'" and Nick responds in his thoughts "This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose. She was only extemporizing" (14). Like Nick, I can tell when someone is being genuine or just trying to seem nice to impress someone by pretending to be nice. Most of the time, I find it being the latter of the two. I think by greatly relating to the character I will thoroughly enjoy this book. I am excited to see where the story goes with the scandal introduced between Daisy and Tom.