The Great Gatsby Essay, Research Paper
Book Review
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in the 1920 s during
the Jazz Age. Nick Carraway is a man in his late twenties residing on West
Egg island in Long Island, New York living a normal life. That is, until he
meets his mysterious neighbor, a wealthy man named Jay Gatsby. He is a
man of mystery, living in a mansion that is constantly full of people, music,
and fun. Nick s normal life gets thrown topsy-turvy when he gets involved
in the life of this extraordinary millionaire. Marred by jealousy, cheating,
and lying, Nick begins to feel the essence of living a glamorous life in the
20 s. He showed this when he said, Everyone suspects himself of at least
one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest
people that I have ever known.
All along, I felt sorry for Nick being dragged into more and more
tragedy, but I especially felt bad for him during one instance. His friend
Daisy was married to Tom, but Tom was having an affair with Mrs. Wilson
and Daisy had a thing for Gatsby. Daisy and Gatsby were driving home from
town after an argument amongst the group of friends when they passed the
Wilson s gas station. Mrs. Wilson ran out to Gatsby s car, because they were
driving Tom s car, and was hit. Mr. Wilson went positively crazy, and Nick
felt torn by his mixed feelings towards his supposed friend Gatsby. I
disliked him so much by this time that I didn t find it necessary to tell him
he was wrong. Gatsby s insensitivity brought on by his lifestyle made Nick
despise him. This is the part where I think Nick really started opening his
eyes to how Gatsby really was.
This book really displays how the life of an important person is,
especially in that time period. At first, Nick is awed and drawn in by the
glamour and prestige, but he eventually figures out for himself how rough it
really was. Although this book was set back in the 20 s, the lessons you
learn from it stil
read this book and draw a few lessons about life from it.
Summary
The Great Gatsby was set in the 1920 s. It s about the lives of a
group of people who all become entangled in a web of, lying, scandal, and
cheating together. Nick Carraway lives a normal life on Long Island, until
he meets his neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Parties went on every weekend, and Nick
gets caught up in Gatsby s glamorous lifestyle. Soon, everyone is involved
in scandal, Daisy s cheating on Tom with Gatsby, Tom s cheating on Daisy
with Mrs. Wilson, and Nick s caught in the middle.
Gatsby ends up convincing Nick to get Daisy to come to Gatsby s
house, because they had a history together. Daisy comes, and both she and
Gatsby find out that their love for each other never went away. The trouble
really begins when Tom finds out that Daisy s love for Gatsby has rekindled.
One day while in town, Tom and Daisy fight, so Gatsby drives Daisy home in
Tom s car. On the way, they hit a woman who turns out to be Mrs. Wilson
who was thought the person in the car was Tom, and was trying to talk to
him. All the while, Nick starts realizing how terrible a life like Gatsby s is
despite the outer glamour. He also becomes emotionally attached to golf
player, Jordan Baker. After Mr. Wilson finds out who was in the car that
killed his wife, he goes crazy and kills Gatsby. In the end, two people wind
up dead, and everyone winds up hurt in one way or another. Daisy and Tom
remain together, Mr. Wilson is crazy, and Nick is hurt by Jordan who never
loved him back. After all of this emotional suffering, Nick realizes that he
learned a valuable lesson about life: Some of the supposed happiest people
with the best lives often are a lot worse off, or end up a lot worse off than
people with normal lives. The only thing he can do is go on living his life the way it was meant to be lead: not as a millionaire, or a prestigious person in society, but as a normal guy-the only way he knows how.