"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Over the summer, I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I enjoyed it a great deal. It was a story unlike any other that I have come across. Firstly, the book was narrated by someone other than the title character, and I found that very interesting. Additionally, I found it somewhat bewildering that there was such a reversal of typical character development on Gatsby's part. Instead of becoming a better person towards the end of the book, Gatsby seems to become selfish and detached by the end of the story. Also, I found Tom and Daisy Buchanan's lack of morals and strange behavior very off-putting. For example, they let their daughter be taken care of by a nurse all the time and seem to only show genuine affection for her when guests are around. Tom is in love with another woman (Myrtle), but Daisy knows about it and does nothing to remedy the situation. Also, Daisy keeps driving even when she sees Myrtle in the road, ultimately killing her. I find it strange and very suspicious that Daisy killed Myrtle without prior knowledge of her being Tom's mistress. After finishing the book, I realized that Daisy's actions indirectly led to Gatsby's death. Daisy hit Myrtle with her car, leading Gatsby to take the blame. Because of this, Myrtle's husband shot and killed Gatsby.

I thought it very strange that with Gatsby, the title character dying, there would be a larger portion of the book focused on the event. Additionally, I found it odd that with Gatsby's vast, vast social circle, Nick was the only person who thought to have a funeral for him. I was surprised that the funeral was in such small attendance. I thought that the funeral would be huge because of all the people that Gatsby welcomed to his home. This led me to the conclusion that all of Gatsby's party guests were ungrateful of his hospitality, especially because most of his party guests were not even invited. I would think that they would show some gratitude and respect for the man who welcomed them to his home. I feel that I should make perfectly clear that I do not in any way find Gatsby to be an honorable man. He attempted to end Tom and Daisy's marriage and when confronting Tom, he tried to put words in Daisy's mouth by telling Tom that she never loved him. Anyways, I found The Great Gatsby to be an interesting and thought-provoking novel.