This summer one of the books I read was the Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. Not only is the Great Gatsby a great book itself but it shows an interesting metaphor. The book begins with Nick Caraway, an educated man from Minnesota. Nick goes to his friend, Daisy, and her husband Tom's house, and becomes good friends with Jordan Baker, a young famous golfer at the time.
The group of friends soon meet Gatsby, Nick's mysterious neighbor who throws huge parties weekly. Later, we discover that during the war Gatsby and Daisy had gone out a few times and ever since then Gatsby has been searching for Daisy. Eventually Daisy and Gatsby reconnect, and once again fall in love. Tom, however, is also having an affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson.
One day Tom, Daisy, Nick Jordan and Gatsby all decide to go into the city. After getting there Tom, who'd been suspicious of Daisy and Gatsby for a bit, gets into an argument. After Daisy admits that she loved Gatsby, Tom Nick and Jordan get into Toms car and Daisy and Gatsby gets into his. Daisy drives back and accidentally hits Myrtle Wilson after she had just gotten into a fight with her husband George Wilson, and Daisy kills her without even stopping. They return home and Tom and Daisy aren't heard from. The next day Nick hears shot coming from Gatsbys pool and finds Wilson dead, having shot himself and Gatsby.
After Gatsby's funeral (which no one attends) Nick sees Tom in the street and we find out that Tom had set Gatsby up to die. Apparently Wilson had came to Tom wanting revenge for his wife's death, and not wanting him to kill Daisy Tom lies and tells him it was Gatsby who was driving, not Daisy.
I think that "The Great Gatsby" doesn't only have a good plot to it, but it also expresses how selfish and careless Americans were at the time and sometimes still are. Tom and Daisy for example didn't care that Gatsby was the one to die as long at it wasn't themselves. They are "careless people, they smashed up things naif creatures and then retreated them bad into their money on their carelessness or whatever kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made", says Nick in the last chapter.
The novel is an example of what the American mind was like by showing how Tom and Daisy only cared about their own well being. However, it also expressed that Americans were hopeful and optimistic, by showing that Gatsby "believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes us. It eluded us then, but thats no matter--- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms father… and one fine morning--- so we beat on, boats against the current borne back ceaselessly into the past."
The reason why i enjoyed and appreciate "The Great Gatsby" is not only because of the plot, but because of the fascinating message it sends to its readers.
