APRIL BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION: THE GREAT GATSBY
Ah, The Great Gatsby! Possibly my favorite book of all time and you chicas voted to read it for our book club this year. That's why I love you. You're smart cookies.
The other day my mom asked me why I liked this book so much, and it surprised me that I couldn't really answer her. "It's just good..." I stumbled.
"What's it about?"
"It's basically about all these really despicable people ruining their own lives and each other's lives."
I could tell I wasn't exactly selling her on it.
"It's like the Kardashians of the 1920s." I tried to elaborate. I was selling it to her even less.
"Yes, but what lesson does it teach?"
And I guess that's the problem with Great Gatsby. There is no lesson. No moral. No "now I want to be a better person" from the book. Instead, the whole time you read the book you feel sort of sorry for all these pathetic characters and their pathetic lives. It's a book full of booze, cheating, and partying. And yet, I love it.
It's not just me, either. America decided that this is one of our classics. This is in our American literary canon as one of the greatest American books. So then it has to be about more than just drinking and cheating, right?
CARELESS DRIVERS
I love Gatsby because of the way it is set up. Early in the book Nick and Jordan have a conversation where Nick tells Jordan she's a bad driver. Jordan says she agrees, but the thing is that everyone else will watch out for her on the road and so she'll never get in a wreck.
"And suppose you meet someone as careless as yourself?" Nick asks.
"Oh I hope I never do! I hate careless people!" Jordan answers.
I think this is the perfect metaphor for the entire book. The whole lot of them- Jordan, Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Myrtle- they're just the worst drivers- metaphorically speaking. They're just living their lives, cruising around, not caring who they hit or cut off or how recklessly they drive. I feel like the first six chapters are us just watching all of these careless drivers and holding our breath because we know that they are all going to crash at some point. I love telling my students, "You've got six of the worst drivers on the road together. You know at any second they are all going to come crashing into each other! Just hold your breath and wait!"
FAVORITE PARTS
The scene where Gatsby gets Nick to arrange a meet up for Gatsby and Daisy: I especially love how Gatsby runs out the back door and around to the front door because he's so nervous to meet Daisy. My students always laugh out loud at that part and there is something magical about students laughing out loud at a book.
The scene where Daisy throws all of Gatsby's shirts and cries, "They're such beautiful shirts!" I know it's just a little, short scene, but I feel like it symbolizes everything Daisy wanted with Gatsby and lost. The shirts! The shirts! There are beautiful shirts! As if somehow because Gatsby has such a beautiful wardrobe everything can be returned to what it once was. This shows Daisy's unsatisfiable lust for money, but also her desire to be with Gatsby.
The flashback to the day before Daisy marries Tom: She's crying in the bathtub, grasping onto a letter from Gatsby, the letter getting totally soaking wet. She throws away the $300,000 pearls and yells, "Tell them Daisy's changed her mind! Daisy's changed her mind!" This is the one time where I think you can see the complexity of Daisy's situation. She loves both men, perhaps Gatsby more, but feels such intense societal pressures. It's not always just about "love"- there are so many other things that play into the equation. I have to admit, though, I do hate her for going through with it all.
The scene in the hotel where Tom finally comes out with it and asks "What kind of a row are you trying to cause?" to Gatsby. I love Tom's character because he's so bold and outright- just straight up asks Gatsby what is going on. And Gatsby's reaction is so classic, "She never loved you!" . The entire battle that ensues over who Daisy loves more is priceless.
The scene where Myrtle is hit by the car, Gatsby killed by Wilson and Wilson killed by himself. Who could ask for a more dramatic ending?!? I try to hype my students up for the ending as much as possible, "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE HOW THIS THING ENDS!"
NICK AS NARRATOR
One thing that makes The Great Gatsby so unique is that it has such an unusual narrator. The book isn't third person- it's first person because Nick is telling it. Yet it almost feels like third person because Nick isn't directly involved in anything that happens. It almost feels like some stalker who follows these guys around and writes down everything that happens to them.
I always ask my students how they feel about Nick- if he should be more involved. He says one of his "stengths" is that he doesn't pass judgment. But should he pass judgment? Should he try to stop the madness, try to help the people, or is it okay that he just watches all the tragedies unfold?
I HATE THEM ALL
What absolutely amazes me about this book is that I hate every single character in it, and yet absolutely adore the book. As far as book recipes go, having every character be despicable is a sure fire way to have a failure of a book. Yet somehow I love them for my hatred for them? Makes no sense. The only one I kind of like is Gatsby because he's just so dang desperate for Daisy that you have to feel sorry for him.
Everytime I read the book I try to figure out who I hate the most. Nick for never intervening? Jordan for being a dumb blonde idiot? Tom for cheating on Daisy in the first place? Daisy for letting both Tom and Gatsby fall in love with her? Gatsby for never leaving his past?
I think my answer is Daisy. But I'll change my mind soon, I'm sure. I hate Daisy because she is responsible for Gatsby's death- because she leads him on (twice!) when it's pretty clear she never has much intention of marrying him. I hate her because she is the one who hits and kills Myrtle but she doesn't fess up to it, causing Gatsby's death. She's so selfish and spoiled and refuses to take responsibility for her actions, resulting in the death of one of my favorite characters ever. Oh Gatsby, Old Sport, you didn't deserve it.
THE FALLEN HERO
The great tragedy of the book is what happens to the "Great Gatsby". Throughout the entirety of the book there is a suspcious air about him and you never really know if you should trust him or fear him. My heart breaks when I realize how much he must have loved Daisy, how much he held on to that dream, even after she had been married five years. The fact that he moves in to the mansion across the lake and watches her constantly is just awesome. The line from the book that I think captures Gatsby's character perfectly is, "You can't repeat the past? Why, of course you can!" Gatsby lives his entire life trying to recapture what he once had with Daisy and it results in his demise. Gatsby IS The American Dream. The constant chasing for something bigger, better than you currently have. The end of the book states, "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year receds before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning--"
AFTER THE TRAGEDIES
One of the saddest parts of the book for me is how Daisy and Tom just go on with their lives after all the tragedies. As if none of it ever happened. These careless people living their careless lives. They leave all the mess behind and just kind of move on. In the last pages of the book Nick runs into Tom months later and sees him living his life totally as it was before. Nick comments, "It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..."
WHY IS IT AN AMERICAN CLASSIC?
This, I believe is for two reasons. One is the way it is written. I don't care who you are, you can't read this book and not agree that it is absolutely beautifully written. Fitzgerald is a master of the written world. It didn't come naturally to him, either, the man drafted and redrafted and edited and re edited everything he wrote. By the time we see what Fitzgerald wrote it was likely rewritten as many as six times. I admire that about the man- his commitment to finding the perfect word, the perfect sentence. I read so much that has been written in the past twenty years and I just think, "Lazy! This author was so lazy! It was just all about making a buck!" (The third Hunger Games. The book was all about money, not about the story whatsoever) Fitzgerald's writing is totally cleaned up and every part of the story comes together. seemingly effortlessly to leave you feeling completely satisfied.
The second reason I believe this is a classic is because of what it represents. It represents Americans. The American Dream. We are a people who are never satisfied, who always want more, who can't forget the past, no matter what the cost. This book is such an accurate description of what lies in the hearts of American culture- the desire to be rich, beautiful, and happy. All characters are seeking these things throughout the book, but sadly, come up short.
Whew! I talked your ear off on that one! My apologies. That's what happens when book club chooses my favorite book ever!
If you are having trouble knowing what to write about in your discussion of Gatsby, here are some questions to get you started:
- Who do you hate the most in the book? Why?
- Why is Gatsby so focused on Daisy? What is it about her that makes him love her so much?
- Is Daisy's affair excusable because Tom is having an affair? Why do people cheat and is it ever justified?
- Why is this book an American classic?
- Why do you think Fitzgerald chose Nick as the narrator instead of someone more directly involved in the action
- Did you like the book? Why or why not?
Get reading, darlings.
P.S. If you do a post on the book, leave the url for the post in the comments so we can all check out the other reviews. Or just comment it up in the comment section! Whatever floats your boat, people. Can't wait to hear your thoughts!
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