The Great Gatsby

Hi friends, I wanna introduce one of my favorite novels and a one that I took in my fourth year . The Great Gatsby is written by F.Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925.This story deals with the [b]American Dream which is a very important element in American Literature. I will give u just the main idea and its characters and let u read it then discuss and criticize together. It is ammmmmmmmmmmmazing, trust me.
The novel treats the corruption of the American Dream by money in America during the 1920's, precisely during the summer of 1922 i.e. during the Wall Street Crush. It is about the narrator Nick, a young man of 26 years old, coming from the Middle West and moves to the East looking for a job, meeting his cousin Daisy and her husband who is very rich.
The most important character is the protagonist (Jay Gatsby).
The second one is Daisy(the golden girl or the fun fatal).
The narrator (Nick Carraway), who is sometimes a character also.
The husband of Daisy (Tom Buchanan).
The mistress of Buchanan (Myrtle).
Myrtle's husband (George Wilson).
Diasy's friend (Jordan Backer).
Enjoy it. Saha Ftorkom w Sehorkom.

Hi princess, saha ftourak too

That's one of my favorite novels too So I'm in !
I studied it some years ago and I still have my favorite quote in mind


"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..."


I was so much intrigued by Daisy at that time

So was I.

of course nasrocena94, I'm not saying that it's just for educational purposes. I read it several times after my graduation just to have larger thoughts about it because it's my favorite .

I thought Nick Carraway was 30_ 31 yrs old, not 26
It is believed to be the most representative novel of the twenties, it gives you the feel of the times, the zeitgeist (if you like). eg. Myrtle requesting Tom to buy a puppy (of all things) and for TEN DOLLARS just so as to look rich and coquetish. women drinking hard, smoking, partying, etc, a heady decade indeed, though dramatically brought to an end with the 1929 disaster.

Hi mates

@ Aspire: When you've talked about Myrtle's wish of buying a puppy to look rich, this just raised some inner views I have had about the novel (and other novels) which tended to describe women of that period as 'depraved'. I do agre that values have changed and that this might have been shocking at that time (the sudden shift from the rural values to these 'depraved' ones). But the period was really really crucial in terms of history, women started getting some rights! And It just annoyes me to think that these writers might have reduced these changes to simple excessive emancipation.

Don't you think Aspire???

Let us agree first that no woman character in the Great Gatsby is positively rendered, least of all Jordan Baker. They don't really attract our sympathy, regardless of their gaudy exterior and white dresses. even jay gatz has one or two redeeming qualities that make him "great" of sorts. but does this mean the writer was against their emancipation and voting right? I really doubt it, not only on the grounds that he himself was married to the princess of her generation in terms of free emancipated lifestyle (Zelda), and then a hollywood journalist. my belief is that women in the novel are "hypocrite" not due to their emancipation after the war, but because they lived in an age of hypocrisy, a period that prized materialism, and cinema, and parties, etc. Witness Tom Buchanan, who (in my view)is the least appealing character in terms of morals and principles. he is beyond compare and no woman character can outdo him in racism, opportunism, conceit, and rudeness.
This is how i see it amigos, and the opening lines of the novel are classic to me.

Any different interpretations?
salam

Great Gatsby is a novel that focus on many themes mainly the American dream I still remember I studied it hardly I read many Memoirs dealing with both Great Gatsby as it’s theme and American dream in another hand In addition to the novel twice I mean I read the novel in two versions English and Arabic versions and once I watched the Movie of (Great Gatsby) I just rushed to call my friends to watch it because it was the nightmare of so many students at the time. The time length of the film was 3 hours and few minutes but I did not stand up till I finished it and that helped a lot to memorize the events and characters you know.
I was inspired by the Strength and smartness of Gatsby and his decisive plans to get rich as they say (Get rich or die trying) and he did. I liked the plan of reading two magazines each week and a book or two each month and practicing sport the schedule that found in his Agenda told by his father.

@ Aspire: I must confess!!!! You're right in almost everything you said. But the word hypocrisy is very confusing to me??
The age, yes, was an age of hypocrisy and materialism but the women felt obliged to comply with that! So yes they are victims but not victimized -behaving as victims to get some power- like the writer wants us to see them (like he pictures Daisy! )

@ Karim: I wanna see the movie!! Some friends told me it's a great one

Well guys, it seems to be serious here, I can see you very motivated. I prefer this novel exactly, first bcoz of its timing: Jazz Age and that corrupted period. Second, its female characers give the sense of no pity on them, they are cruel, harsh and merciless, taking Daisy ( my favorite one ) as a prototype, so lead Gatsby to try or to die ( as Karim said ) to move from the West Egg to the eastern with any kind of mean.
I like also the quotation said by Nick Carraway and with which the novel starts: " Whenever you feel like chriticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you have had". Symbolism in that novel is the most attractive element, I think. what do you say?
By the way, to all Leonardo Dicapreo funs ( like me of course ) and that novel readers also, get ready for Leonardo as THE GREAT GATSBY character in a new movie which will be released on December, so don't miss.

@ nasrocena94: well, there is no precise genre, for me I like that books ,and novels especially, of the period starting from the Jazz Age till the the 70's and those of monarchies periods.

Hola amigos!
Well Sassy, I know what you mean! But if we forget this fiction for a while and read about reality, about flappers in the twenties, we confirm this "negative" representation of women of society in the novel. Well, you say they were victims, I agree! but only to a point. I cannot blame my faults and weaknesses (all of them) on my age. Would your Soledad do the same as Daisy? i doubt it. (smiles)
Karim my friend, good of you to see the movie, I didn't. is it in the movie, this programme of two magazines weekly, and one book monthly? (for it 's not in the book).
Pricessa! i too like the colour symbols (along with other things) in the novel, the pink suit, the green light, the white dresses, etc
and I can't wait to see Leonardo as Jay. Thank you for the tip!

@ Aspire! OH MY GOSH! Nobody could ever stop me or convince me when it come to literary matters before, but machaAllah "un vrai fleuve de connaissances". Ok, hats off I must say you convinced me

Where have you been before???!!! WELCOME AGAIN to the forum, I won't say "I hope you'll enjoy yourself here", we certainly do enjoy ourselves in your company

Aspire ......it was in the book I'm sure about it exactly in the last pages

Oh yes I do remember that!!!! WOW so moving ! You pushed me to look for the chapter and read again when Gatsby's father came after the death of his son. So moving!!

Then he returned
the wallet and pulled from his pocket a ragged old
copy of a book called ‘Hopalong Cassidy.’
‘Look here, this is a book he had when he was a boy. It
just shows you.’
He opened it at the back cover and turned it around for
me to see. On the last fly-leaf was printed the word SCHEDULE,
and the date September 12th, 1906. And underneath:
Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 185
Rise from bed … … … … …. 6.00 A.M.
Dumbbell exercise and wall-scaling … … 6.15-6.30 A.M.
Study electricity, etc … … … … 7.15-8.15 A.M.
Work … … … … … … … 8.30-4.30 P.M.
Baseball and sports … … … …. 4.30-5.00 P.M.
Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it 5.00-6.00 P.M.
Study needed inventions … … …. . 7.00-9.00 P.M.
GENERAL RESOLVES
No wasting time at Shafters or [a name, indecipherable]
No more smokeing or chewing
Bath every other day
Read one improving book or magazine per week
Save $5.00 [crossed out] $3.00 per week
Be better to parents
‘I come across this book by accident,’ said the old man. ‘It
just shows you, don’t it?’
‘It just shows you.’
‘Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves
like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got
about improving his mind? He was always great for that. He
told me I et like a hog once and I beat him for it.’
He was reluctant to close the book, reading each item
aloud and then looking eagerly at me. I think he rather expected
me to copy down the list for my own use.

Apologies Karim, and thx fot the correction.

Thank you Sassy for the evidence and the nice words
God bless you all

hey Sassy86 you're so interested more than I thought Allah bless you and guide you through the successfull path....
the things that I'm not sure about is the number of books and the magazine coz I really still remembering that I passed by the point where "Jay" read one book in a month and two magazines ina week but still I'm not sure coz I'm little bit suffering from a "amnesia" hehehehe
I'm kidding around ....I just forget things easily hhh

Yow aspire

don't say that it's a general discussion no problem right
thanks for sharing us your views

^^"