Reading Response for "The Great Gatsby"

          The Great Gatsby is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925. It takes place in Long Island during the 1920's; the Jazz Age. The novel focuses on Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man who's obsessed with Daisy Buchanan - she's an absent-minded young lady who catches everyone's attention (I should also mention she's married to Tom Buchanan and they're also quite wealthy). This story and its characters are looked upon through the eyes of Nick Carraway, he's a bit of an outsider, really. He's not rich, but he has his connections (he's actually related to Daisy - they're cousins) and Nick is pretty straightforward and honest. I personally think he's the most honest in the whole story. 

           That leads me to another thing; since Nick is the narrator, he meets all types of different people and he really gets a good perspective on everyone and the hypocritical society he lives in. It's kind of hard to explain Nick and his position in this society. He's a part of the inner circle for the rich and powerful, yet he's far away at the same time. He has a strong understanding of the lives of all these wealthy, popular people. Now, onto this society - its corrupt, hypocritical and false. These people lie about their relationships, they lie about their background and they lie about their wealth. Gatsby himself is an example. For instance, no one really knows the truth about him or where all his money came from. Everyone has a different theory/story about him but none of them are correct. It seems to me that Gatsby himself doesn't know the truth. Another example is Tom Buchanan; he's cheating on his own wife and everyone (including his wife) knows about it. No one says anything about it to him though, they just acknowledge it. Through Nick's eyes we can see how lies contribute to relationships and the people themselves and how it leads to a downfall.    

             While reading The Great Gatsby, I liked observing the characters and their deceptive ways through Nick's point of view. It was pretty interesting to see how corrupt and superficial this society was and the things people would do to get it done their way. I also really liked the fact it took place during the 1920's. This book was well-written and it had such a great plot. 

              I wasn't going to do this initially but when I was writing this, I started to really think about this book and how it's been challenged. At first, I didn't really understand why anyone would want this book banned (or something along the lines of that) but then I realized this story has high levels of violence. Domestic abuse/violence, the use of drugs and alcohol, murder. And I guess I didn't realize it at first because it all rolls into the fact that this is a society enveloped around betrayal and lies. Although it has these elements, I still don't think it should be banned. It was written from a great point of view and I think this story has some lessons in it. If you can handle these mature elements, you should definitely read this book.