Blog Project #5 Personal Review

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a satirical mockery of the American society in the 1920s and although a good piece of literature was not one of my favorite books I have read in high school. This book is the narration of Nick Carraway, who is astounded by his new lifestyle in the detraining east and amazed by the wealth of his neighbors like “the Great Gatsby” but is also astonished by the immorality of this society. This novel is good because it was easy to understand and had a nice flow to it that kept the attention of the reader. The novel also had a surprising twist at the end that I will not disclose in this blog post in case the reader of this has not finished the book yet, but this twist made the reader put more though into the book and allowed the author to further show the corruption of the east and the dilemma in the love triangle (more like a rhombus) that is “The Great Gatsby.” Unfortunately, this book lacks a sense of value that the reader can take with him upon finishing the book. Because the reader is most likely not from the 1920s and does not have to deal with the corruption and sleaziness, all the reader can really take away is a historical lesson of the boom in the economy and the overabundance of wealth of that time period. The contradiction of the narrator can also leave the reader a bit irritated, even though it is the writing style of the author, because the reader is constantly trying to figure out what is truly the narrator’s true belief and feeling about a particular aspect of society or event that was going on during the book.  If I had to give this book a rating on a scale of one to ten, I would give it a six, (where, “The Scarlet Letter” was a four and, “To Kill a Mockingbird” was a nine) because it was an easy and clear read that did a good job of keeping the author interested in the story but I lacked a sense of meaning to the modern day society. Altogether, I did enjoy this book over the majority of book I have read and I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a pure story to read for the fun of reading alone and not looking for a book that is going to leave them with a moral that they can take with them to the outside world and use in everyday life.

Blog Project #4 Text Connections
The Great Gatsby was a novel that was full of contradictions. Throughout the novel, the narrator, Carraway, has contradicting ideals towards what is wrong with society and what he finds fascinating.                                                                                                                                        Text-to-Text: An example of this style of contradiction can be found in the novel, “The Catcher and the Rye,” by J. D. Salinger. Carraway in this novel opens up in the first chapter with his introduction of the man, Gatsby. He originally talks about his wealth and all the mysteries surrounding him and how he dislikes this sort of publicity and mystery about the man, but then he says that he finds him to be a great man and calls him “The Great Gatsby.” Similarly in, “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden Caulfield, a kid who runs away from his family in 1949 tells the story of his adventure.  He repeatedly contradicts himself, one of which being his contradictions about the movies and movie stars. He talks about how movies are not real life and how he does not like the way movies portray what reality should be like, but through his adventure away from home, he continually goes to movies as a way to pass time. This shows that he, like Carraway, finds that which he is mocking and saying he does not like is actually be something that he finds to be interesting.                                                                                                                                    Text-to-World: Another example of this type of contradiction can be seen when people talk about “The Great Gatsby” and make up all of the rumors that surround who he is perceived to be, some rumors that are to his benefit and others that make him out to be a bad individual. These are rumors that even Gatsby tries to get the narrator, Carraway, to believe. The contradiction is that he is actually a man who came from nothing worked his way up to the top, even though it was through a corrupt path. This relates to the world today because, with the up and coming presidential elections, many rumors are being spread about the men who are running for the candidacy. The candidates who have risen to a higher power in society are subject to the rumors that the general public accuses them of, some being to their benefit, and others in the case of Herman Cane, leading to the end of their candidacy. 

Blog Project #3 Syntax

Antithesis- “Their interest rather touched me… I was confused and rather disgusted” (Fitzgerald                          20). “He might have despised himself, for he had taken her under false pretenses… But                                           he didn't despise himself” (Fitzgerald 149).                                                                                                  These examples of antitheses used by the author help to further show the contradicting attitude of the narrator Carraway. Throughout the story, he uses these antitheses to show that he has mixed feelings about the society of the East and that the east is full of people who are immoral with denigrating values. The first quote shows that he is unsure how to take the interest of the Buchanans who although seem to be interested in his love life back west actually seem to be scheming to get him together with their friend Daisy. This at first touches him that they would actually care about his life back east, but eventually disgusts him. The second antithesis shows that the morals of Jay Gatsby have become so corroded in the East that he would no longer feel immoral to take a married woman under the guise that he is actually someone of wealth of importance. This disturbs the author, not only because Gatsby is lying about who he really is, but also because feels no regret for taking a woman who is already married, further showing the corruption of the Eastern society.           Repetition- “Her laughter, he gestures, her assertions became more violently affected by moment by moment, and as she expanded the room grew smaller and smaller…” (Fitzgerald 31).                                              The repetition used by Fitzgerald allows him to grab the attention of the reader and truly permit him to show that the East is changing the character of Mrs. Wilson, who came from the Valley of Ashes as a woman who showed “intense vitality,” but can now be seen to have changed into an “impressive hauteur.”                                            

Blog Project # 2 Diction

The diction that Fitzgerald uses throughout the novel allows him to further explain his disgust for the greed and lust for the East in the early twentieth century.                                                   

When Carraway describes Gatsby’s early life and Gatsby’s encounter with Dan Cody, he says how he “brought back to the eastern seaboard the savage violence of the frontier brothel and saloon.” (Fitzgerald 100). This is a rather blunt way of showing that the East was now had “savage violence,” but allows the author to express his point. Both the words savage and violence have a negative connotation and show the author trying to convey that Dan Cody has brought damaging aspects to the East.                                                                                                       When Carraway is expressing his distaste for the east brings compares it to a night scene by El Greco.  He describes the picture as “a hundred houses, at once conventional and grotesque, crouching under a sullen, overhanging sky and a lusterless moon” (Fitzgerald 176). After this sad depiction of the east, allowing for the reader to see a dark mental picture, he carries on with the depiction of the “solemn men” who are carrying a “drunken woman in a white evening dress” (Fitzgerald 176). Words like grotesque, solemn and sullen, all give a depressed and run-down feeling which further allows the author to show his disgust for the cities and societies of the East. The depiction of the men carrying the drunken woman show that the morals of the society have decayed and that he wanted to show this absence of decency in the East.                             When describing the East through his choice of words and phrases, Carraway can almost always be seen as depicting it as a gloomy, corrupt and immoral place that is superior to the West, although to him, has a “quality of distortion.”

Blog Project # 1 Figurative Language
Throughout the text of the book, it becomes quite clear to see that the book is comprised of contradictions and an over exaggeration of the lust and greed of the early twentieth century. F. Scott Fitzgerald makes this more than obvious through his use of rhetorical strategies to show the decay of the East.                                                                                                                                         Allusion and Alliteration: “I bought a dozen volumes on banking and credit and investment… promising  to unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew” (Fitzgerald 4).                                                                       .                                                     ~ This alliteration and allusion shows that while trying to become successful like the people form the east, the narrator, Carraway, believed that there would be some secrets that could come up that would make him rich. This helps to show that even the narrator believes that the wealth and richness of the east all comes from secrets that have helped to propel them into their wealth. In essence, this could be a foreshadowing for Gatsby himself who had a dirty and dark secret that helped him to obtain his high social class in eastern society.                                         Apostrophe:  “I'll get somebody for you, Gatsby. Don’t worry. Just trust me and I’ll get somebody for you” (Fitzgerald 164).                                                                                          ~ This apostrophe allows the author to show that the people in the east who were supposedly friends of Gatsby were nothing but phony the whole time. These people will not show up to his funeral showing that the people of the east have decaying values and that the position of their social stature is of more importance than friendship. This can be seen through Mayor Wolfshiem, Klipspringer, and the Buchanans not attending the funeral.                                                           Allusion and Symbol:  "A fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the form of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air" (Fitzgerald 23).                                                                                                     ~ This is a perfect example of the author trying to show the decay of both the physical geography of the east, but also of the people who live there. The land is covered in ash and the men are stated to be crumbled which is allows the Fitzgerald  to explicitly state that because of the decaying morals of the society, the people are rotting and the land is being destroyed because of the aftermath of the big cities and the smoke and problems they release.                                    Symbol:  Used throughout many times in the book is the Symbol of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg staring down at the decay of the Valley of Ashes, both literally and symbolically.