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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

© Kathy Kehrli

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mid 19th to early 20th Century American Literature was the focus of my English class during my Junior year of high school. While I vividly remember reading short stories by Jack London and poetry by Edgar Allen Poe, movies seemed to fill a large part of class time, films that most of us daydreamed through. I’ve always regretted that I didn’t pay attention. Somehow I knew I must have missed out on some great works of literature. My guilty conscious finally caught up with me recently when I decided to read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and then watch the film, this time with rapt attention.

Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby was a social commentary on the roaring 1920’s, when prohibition was entrenched full-swing, bootleggers were earning a killing, the flapper movement was giving way to women’s freedom and the rich were getting richer while the poor were getting poorer.

Enter Jay Gatsby, a product of the war, who by-passed the natural order of life, digging himself out of the trenches of poverty to become one of the richest men on the West Egg side of Long Island Sound. Unfortunately for him, his money came via less than honest ways and his nouveau riche title earned him cruel gossip rather than friendship.

Yet, Gatsby only cares about impressing one person, the girl from his past, the now very married Daisy Buchanan. That’s where Nick Carraway comes into play. A second cousin, once removed, and Gatsby’s next-door neighbor, Nick befriends the elusive Gatsby, helping him "bring back the past of his long-awaited dreams." Sadly, life can’t be put on hold only to be picked up at a later date, and Gatsby’s undying love for the woman he can never have results in him paying the ultimate sacrifice.

The Great Gatsby is full of symbolic visual images from the blinking green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, to the ever-watchful eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckelburg that gaze over the immoral residents in the valley of ashes. While it is hard to feel for any of the characters, The Great Gatsby is a masterful piece of writing, giving the reader a rare glimpse into the social circle of the 1920’s and the downfall of one man’s "Great American Dream."

Think you know everything there is to know about The Great Gatsby? Then check out this trivia challenge to see how right you are: The Great Gatsby Trivia Challenge.

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