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 still apply to society and life in general today. Anyone could

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.