The Great Gatsby

Fall Independent Reading Assignment
Personal Response to The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel filled with high and low points that will ultimately not only keep you on the edge of your seat, but will pull on your heart strings, myself being no exception. Fitzgerald’s style of the writing was something unlike any other that I’ve seen before, increasing my level of interest throughout the entire novel. Fitzgerald chose an interesting concept of having the narrator be somewhat of an outsider looking in on the lives of the rich and famous. To me, this created and developed situations I feel like could arise in todays world, as well as organic relationships between the characters. Everyone had a different outlook on life, representing the many kinds of people in our society today. From the beginning of the novel, the imagery Fitzgerald used to describe Jay Gatsby created a mysterious sense about him and his life, constantly alluding that there’s more about him we don't know, or anyone knows for that matter. The scandalous affairs going on with the characters of The Great Gatsby showed that the wealthy are human as well, and they experience problems and conflicts like any other person. Towards the end of the novel, I began to feel great disappointment when Daisy decided to stay with Tom and not Gatsby; I felt a strong connection with Gatsby, and was sad for his character. The mystery of Jay Gatsby intrigued me, however, the novel could be quite plain at some points. The beginning of the story seemed to start slow with the future Caraway talking about Gatsby, who he was, and their friendship. It would eventually escalate and climax in chapter eight leading up to Gatsby’s death. Throughout the novel, I grew to like many of the characters such as Gatsby and Jordan Baker, for their consistent personalities and how relatable they could be. However, Gatsby was a special case for me. I believe Fitzgerald wrote Gatsby as someone who has...