--Authors Note--
My final response to The Great Gatsby is finally here! After a pretty confusing ride with this complicated and symbolic book, my group and I finished it with a pretty good grasp on what we had read. Though it was a good book by the end, I'm still not sure if I truly did like it or not. I believe that if I was to read it again, I would come to like it more because in reading over some parts after it was finished I found myself caught in the overall style of heavy message writing that Fitzgerald has.
The Great Gatsby, how can it even begin to be described? With so many surprises, so many gifts to us as readers it is not even possible to describe it in full. In this novel,
F. Scott Fitzgerald takes us through the emotional and typical life of a complete American man, Jay Gatsby.
I can honestly say that when I began to read the book, I didn't exactly see how it was said to be, "the greatest American novel" by many whom discussed it with me. There was hints of greatness where I thought I would finally be getting into it, or where the story would finally start moving along, but this failed all until the end where in the last two chapters, I truly saw the genius behind the masterpiece of The Great Gatsby.
"I tossed between grotesque reality and savage, frightening dreams." It was on the first page of the eighth chapter in fact that I realized with this quote that every sentence, every word that Fitzgerald had chosen was chosen to affect the reader, to truly and deeply get to him or her. It was then and there that I started to page backwards through the book, and found many beautiful things that I had missed the first time reading through it.
Maybe the first time reading something doesn't always make us realize how great something is. Maybe it just takes a little patience, and the rereading and thinking about it at the end that makes us truly love it. Not all books can be about teenage love and vampire stories. Most novels are more complicated than this, and actually make us think about what we are reading. All novels whether we like them or not are made for this purpose. Some are sad, some are happy, some are indescribably just enjoyable. But The Great Gatsby is none of these, it is all of these and so much more.
In a story that makes us think about what we really want in life, F. Scott Fitzgerald brings on multiple emotions. At a mere 180 pages, this book sprawls the emotions of a whole lifetime within its enthralling chapters. As an eighth grader, I can't say much about where I want to go with my life, but when I get to an age when I do need to start thinking about it, I will always remember The Great Gatsby and what it made me realize; life shouldn't be lived off of things any greater than what we as individuals can handle. It should be lived day by day, with no worries about tomorrow.
--Authors note on poem--
One of the most important parts of the book was when a green light was constantly discussed. The green light symbolized the dream of Jay Gatsby who was so close to getting what he wanted but failed in the end. This also symbolizes how the American Dream that we all think pertains to our lives really doesn't because it isn't possible for everyone to achieve the same things. We must simply take our own paths in life, and discover what it is that we want to achieve with it. This poem, though using different topics, (such as the moon to represent the green light) talks about basically the same thing as the novel does. It discusses how if we accomplish what we think we want in life, our life is basically over, leaving us with nothing to do but sit and wait for something else to arise out of the dark. But we really know, that because what we wanted to achieve was done, we have nothing else to live for but life itself.
My final response to The Great Gatsby is finally here! After a pretty confusing ride with this complicated and symbolic book, my group and I finished it with a pretty good grasp on what we had read. Though it was a good book by the end, I'm still not sure if I truly did like it or not. I believe that if I was to read it again, I would come to like it more because in reading over some parts after it was finished I found myself caught in the overall style of heavy message writing that Fitzgerald has.
Love it, Love it not?
The Great Gatsby, how can it even begin to be described? With so many surprises, so many gifts to us as readers it is not even possible to describe it in full. In this novel,
F. Scott Fitzgerald takes us through the emotional and typical life of a complete American man, Jay Gatsby.
I can honestly say that when I began to read the book, I didn't exactly see how it was said to be, "the greatest American novel" by many whom discussed it with me. There was hints of greatness where I thought I would finally be getting into it, or where the story would finally start moving along, but this failed all until the end where in the last two chapters, I truly saw the genius behind the masterpiece of The Great Gatsby.
"I tossed between grotesque reality and savage, frightening dreams." It was on the first page of the eighth chapter in fact that I realized with this quote that every sentence, every word that Fitzgerald had chosen was chosen to affect the reader, to truly and deeply get to him or her. It was then and there that I started to page backwards through the book, and found many beautiful things that I had missed the first time reading through it.
Maybe the first time reading something doesn't always make us realize how great something is. Maybe it just takes a little patience, and the rereading and thinking about it at the end that makes us truly love it. Not all books can be about teenage love and vampire stories. Most novels are more complicated than this, and actually make us think about what we are reading. All novels whether we like them or not are made for this purpose. Some are sad, some are happy, some are indescribably just enjoyable. But The Great Gatsby is none of these, it is all of these and so much more.
In a story that makes us think about what we really want in life, F. Scott Fitzgerald brings on multiple emotions. At a mere 180 pages, this book sprawls the emotions of a whole lifetime within its enthralling chapters. As an eighth grader, I can't say much about where I want to go with my life, but when I get to an age when I do need to start thinking about it, I will always remember The Great Gatsby and what it made me realize; life shouldn't be lived off of things any greater than what we as individuals can handle. It should be lived day by day, with no worries about tomorrow.
--Authors note on poem--
One of the most important parts of the book was when a green light was constantly discussed. The green light symbolized the dream of Jay Gatsby who was so close to getting what he wanted but failed in the end. This also symbolizes how the American Dream that we all think pertains to our lives really doesn't because it isn't possible for everyone to achieve the same things. We must simply take our own paths in life, and discover what it is that we want to achieve with it. This poem, though using different topics, (such as the moon to represent the green light) talks about basically the same thing as the novel does. It discusses how if we accomplish what we think we want in life, our life is basically over, leaving us with nothing to do but sit and wait for something else to arise out of the dark. But we really know, that because what we wanted to achieve was done, we have nothing else to live for but life itself.
Life...Life and Death
It is light,It is eternity,
It is fidelity,
It is proof of our existing,
And It is death.
It is…
The moon.
I can't imagine,
What the moon has…
Endured.
Seen.
Encountered.
And what knowledge it holds,
In its writhing grip.
For it is ancient...
Timeless.
Assuring,
Beyond belief.
And with its luminescent green glow,
We all look upon in awe
As we try to…
Determine.
Discover.
Realize,
Where we want to go,
What we want to do.
I had a dream,
An American dream.
But thinking upon it now,
I don't really know…
What it was,
How I decided to live that way,
The way it ended.
And now all I have is this spot,
This lonely, poor spot,
Where troubles from others like me linger yet.
Forever more,
I will stay,
Sit and wait,
"among dying orchids on the floor".
Sometimes I wish…
I was a bird.
Soaring,
Flying high through the sky.
D
i
p
p
i
n
g
Into the luscious carpets of protecting trees.
Then reality sets in,
And brings me back to this spot,
This spot where I can ponder my own monstrous complexion,
In the soft ripples of the quiet waves.
Here I will stay
Within the darkness of the night,
Watching the "little ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves".
Until I figure it out,
Rebuild from my lingering pile of ashes,
But it doesn't mean I will forget,
Forget the things I did to everyone,
The way I hurt the people I once loved.
And maybe one day I will realize that there is no American Dream
There has only ever been,
The dream of my life,
My life that truly has yet to begin.
Or let it end,
For I will no longer live with these regrets,
I want change,
And I will follow my,
And only my dreams.
If it doesn't work,
So be it.
Because my life must come to me,
As easily as it must go.
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