The Great Gatsby

[Equality72521]

Heya homies,

We are stepping it up to The Great Gatsby in English now and I was just wondering if any of you had anything that I should be looking out for. I have not got the book yet, so I have not started to read it, but I just want to know some stuff that I should keep my eye out for.

Thanks a bunch mis amigos
KB

[JBI]

Color, unreliability in the narrator, pictures of setting, and a character with "Owl Eyes". That's enough info for a first read - the book gets good on the 4th or so read.

[Big Al]

The scene where Daisy and Tom are devoured alive by evil zombies was clearly a statement about American materialism, and how our dreams are destroyed or "devoured" by greed and the undead.

[Virgil]

I think people make too much of the unreliability of Nick. He certanly has his prejudices, but I don't think he's unreliable in the telling of facts. I think you should look for themes of morality, the color symbolism is something teachers highlight, the contrasts in the characters, and of course Fitzgeral's wonderful prose. He is among the finest prose writers ever.

[JBI]

Most people in high school read for meaning, and with a narrator like Nick, I feel reading for meaning can be clouded by the fact that the "morality" or "immorality" of the events are heavily biased, despite Nick's assertion that they aren't. As for enjoying the book, well yeah, but really, I think the book needs about 6 or so reads before it starts to sink in well, and reach its maximum potential.

But yeah, the prose is fantastic - Fitzgerald supposedly created endless drafts and rewrites, and it shows.

[Virgil]

Most people in high school read for meaning, and with a narrator like Nick, I feel reading for meaning can be clouded by the fact that the "morality" or "immorality" of the events are heavily biased, despite Nick's assertion that they aren't. As for enjoying the book, well yeah, but really, I think the book needs about 6 or so reads before it starts to sink in well, and reach its maximum potential.

But yeah, the prose is fantastic - Fitzgerald supposedly created endless drafts and rewrites, and it shows.

Yes I agree the judgement of the events are heavily biased.

[kelby_lake]

Definitely the colour imagery, the light on Daisy's dock and the reference to boats beating on, the clock falling...
Differences between West and East Egg and Valley of Ashes.
Character of Gatsby- is he great, as Nick says, or is the title somehow ironic?