Brandon Schmidt

Introduction To Fiction

May 1, 2014

10:50-12:05 A.M.

The Great Gatsby

Fiction novels are not only fun to read, they also take me to a place beyond my

own reality, almost like an escape. As for choosing my favorite book, now that was

something I had to think about for some time. After contemplating between Of Mice and

Men and The Great Gatsby, I finally chose The Great Gatsby to be my favorite fiction

novel. I chose this book because like I said before, it is greater than any reality I could

ever imagine for myself and takes me to a place I could only dream of being. Although it

has been a while since I have read this book, I was very excited to see that I got to write

about it because it meant going back and skimming through the dusty old paperback

novel sitting on my bookshelf. I will admit, since this is my favorite novel, I have

obviously seen the old and new movie so I am going to do my best to talk only about the

book, although the book and the movies are extremely similar. I chose to write about The

Great Gatsby because it is a novel about the good times and also the adversities of the

American dream in the 1920s. This book is about a young man named Nick Carraway

who moved to New York after graduating from Yale. He moved into a house in West Egg,

not realizing that he was moving into a house next door to the mysterious Jay Gatsby,

who held a party every Saturday night. This book inspires me because it tells a story not

only about the American dream, but the true reality of the hardships of what it is like to

have everything, and then to lose everything. It also has a great love story incorporated in
it and horrible tragedies beyond my own experiences. I hope with my paper you will

understand my love for this great fiction novel, and will want to read it too.

The first character that I am going to analyze is Nick Carraway. For starters, Nick

Carraway is the narrator of this book and this is important because this book is based on

the perspective of Nick and Nick only. Mr. Carraway is the definition of the ideal

gentlemen. He is honest, kind, genuine, and a bit naive. After moving to New York, Nicks

eyes were opened up to parts of life he knew nothing about. The first event to take place

is when Nick goes to East Egg, where his cousin Daisy Buchanan lives, to have dinner

with her and her husband Tom Buchanan. Daisy was sprawled out on the couch with her

friend Jordan Baker. Tom and Daisy want Nick to ask Jordan Baker out on a date. Nick

had no interest in Jordan and he says, I had no intention of being rumored into

marriage. When Nick got home the night dinner with his cousin it was the first

encounter of Jay Gatsby. After seeing his silhouette in the distance, Nick became very

curious. Nick and Gatsby eventually become best friends and Nick sees a side of Gatsby

that no one else has ever seen. Nick realizes that Jay throws the parties but doesnt have

many friends. Everyone that comes to the parties is there for the free food and beverages.

Nick is special to Jay because Jay knows that without Nick he is just a lonely person with

great parties. Jay says in the book, The loneliest moment in someones life is when they

are watching their whole world fall apart and all they can do is stare blankly.

Another one of the characters in this book that is important is Daisy Carraway.

Daisy is married to Tom and cousins of Nick and has one daughter. Throughout the whole

book, you can tell that she is not truly in love with Tom. She has very low confidence in
herself and doesnt believe in love. She is constantly belittling herself I hope shell be a

fool-thats the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.

This paper wouldnt have any structure for this book if I didnt talk about Jay

Gatsby. Gatsby was a man who kept to himself but threw lavish parties at night. No one

ever sees the man but they know where he lives and that his parties are great. Many

people make up stories of who Gatsby really is. One of the rumors that goes around at

parties is that I heard that from a man who knew all about him, grew up with him in

Germany. People had their suspicions of who Gatsby was but no one truly knew. There

were whispers about him from those who found little that it was necessary to whisper

about in this world. When I first read this book, every time I thought of Gatsby, I

thought of a man who walked around his house waiting for some of his friends to come

by and visit. The only person that did that was Nick. Gatsby was killed at the end of the

book by George because he was the one who George though was driving the car that

killed Myrtle. One of the reasons why Gatsby was a genuine man was because he told

people that it was him driving the car when really it was Daisy. Gatsby also had a love for

daisy that was unconditional. He never stopped loving Daisy even when she couldnt

decide between Jay and Tom.

The eyes of T. J. Eckleburg is a major symbolism in this book because every time

someone drives from the West Egg to the East Egg, the eyes can see everything that

happens in both Eggs. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic-their

retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but instead, from a pair of enormous

yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. The eyes symbolize God and

George explains to Myrtle that she cant fool God.

 Another symbolic feature in The Great Gatsby is the green light. When Nick

looks out his window towards Gatsbys extravagant mansion, he sees a flashing green

light. This light represents Gatsbys hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby believed in

the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then,

but thats no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.And one

fine morning-So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the

past.

The Great Gatsby is an exceptional novel because it depicts the lives of people

who think they have it all together but they learn the hard way that reality is not just jazz

music, dancing, and mansion style parties. Life is more complicated and in order to

accomplish your goals, you must overcome the hardships of life. This is the reason why I

like this book and why I chose it. It reminds me that no matter what I get or how I act,

everything can end in a split second. Everything that you own is nothing unless you have

friends who are there to hang out with you because of you not because of how large your

house and parties are. This book can really relate to people my age because in college

people think that they are invincible and think that life is surrounded around them. I

believe that Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby are people who I look up to because they are

honest, genuine humans. I hope that I have portrayed the reasons why I chose this book to

be my favorite fiction novel and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone of all

ages.