Book Report on The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, a masterpiece written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is thought to be one of the greatest American fictions. Before I read this novel, I have heard its name in Chinese and it shows that Gatsby is an amazing, extraordinary person. I would like to figure it out and it attracted me at last.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1896. He was good at writing and wrote scripts and lyrics for companies outside his school. He even neglected his studies for this reason. Fitzgerald once joined the army because of war and that experiences enriched his life. He fell in love with a young girl in 1918 but was rejected twice and later he went to New York to seek his fortune. These experiences might be the foundation of this novel because the character Gatsby he described has similar life as his.

The Great Gatsby is set against the ending of the war. Gatsby is the main character in this book, and the stories are told in the first person by Nick. Nick is Daisy’s distant cousin. Gatsby has quixotic passion for Daisy but Daisy marries Tom who is extremely rich but brutal. The reunion between Gatsby and Daisy finally takes place after Gatsby becomes rich and with the help of Nick's. Gatsby still hopes to reunite with Daisy because he is now richer than anybody else. Tom later realizes that his wife is in love with Gatsby, which makes him angry and want to have Gatsby killed. He makes a conspiracy and at last Gatsby is shot to death. No one wants to attend his funeral except his father and Nick. His whole life is such a tragedy though his is once rich. That is the ugly side of the American dream, which costs people’s effects but brings nothing but helplessness back.

When reading this novel, I must say that it is really boring for me in the first and even the second chapter. It starts by telling some information about Nick and the relationship between Gatsby and him. I found it no interesting plots in the first two chapters. But as I continued to read, I found it really deserves to read because it tells something deep, which makes me think about their American dream at that time and ponder about our life.

At the beginning of the book, Nick forwards his father's advice: "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." I think this sentence is really thought-provoking, with profound meaning to anybody who reads it. One should not complain about the world or his own life. Never think that yourself is the most unfortunate, there must be someone who are much more unfortunate than you no matter what situation you are in. On the other hand, you can never be the strongest one in the world. Only self-respect can help us win respect from others. I love this sincerely advice.

Gatsby successfully achieves their American dream, with independence, money, possessions and people hope to make friends with him, which I think, is the reason why the book is named The Great Gatsby.

I do admire Gatsby’s love to Daisy. His love does not change or fade out in spite of her betray. Years gone by, he still has great passion on Daisy and attempts to win her love again. That’s quiet romantic with respect to his love but his ending is miserable because of his silly love. His love reminds me of a phrase spoken by Confucius: going too far is as bad as not going far enough. To love deep deserves our admiration, but one should love with reason but not to love quixotically. Maybe it is unwise for him to challenge reality with his love.

Nowadays, true love is a rare thing in such a materialism society. Love is based on material. It is natural that people tend to be realist instead of being idealism. Faced with love and bread, which one will you choose? It isn’t a question that can be simply answered. Some may choose either side but most people will say they are equally important. I believe in true love, but I must say that true love is sustained by material in most cases. Material decides consciousness and it is true that love is also decided by material, to some extent. Gatsby do not give himself up as hopeless but instead, he devotes himself to the pursuit of wealth after knowing that Daisy has left him and married Tom. Though he goes the wrong way in pursuing wealth and does many illegal businesses, he is admirable because he bestir himself to be promising. No one should be escaped after violating law and he should of course be punished by law for his illegality. He could successfully become rich and appears with great treasure, which proves that he is a person with determination and perseverance. In this respect, he is respectable.

Gatsby is a representative of the American people, with dreams and goals in life and struggles to realize them. I think we all people should also have our dreams as tour guides for us in life. Dreams help us to form our values to the world and to the meaning of life. We have heard that all the time: Dreams are the resource of your inner power and bring you hope. But only few people can stick to their dreams and devote their efforts to realizing them. If they do, they are the great people. I also had my own dreams when I was only a child. But my dreams changed as time goes on. I once told the whole class that I wanted to become a scientist in the future. I admired all the great inventors in the world and was interested in trying to make something new for fun. Being a scientist is a top dream for me, but an untouchable one. I even thought that to be a scientist is as difficult as flying without anything. So gradually I change my dream. And that was not the only occurrence. I changed my dreams one by one and I found no one was suitable for me. Faced with this topic again, I still wonder what my dream is. I am shock that for so many years I actually have lived without a clear dream. They all stand for only a period of time. This character with illegal experience, do wake me up and make me meditate. That is also a reason why I admire this guy-the great Gatsby.

If I could stick to my initial dream, and devoted myself to pursuing this dream no matter what situation I met, what would I be? My life then has a clear target and my values of the world may be different. Being a scientist is not that difficult and maybe one day I will finally success to achieve my dream. Socrates once said: One should eat to live, but not live to eat. I think to have a clear dream is the best way to explain this.

Gatsby do has a strong mind and clear goal: to achieve the American dream, accumulate his wealth and the win Daisy back again. He thought that Daisy leaves him because she loves the other men with good wealth. Daisy is stupid and selfish, but we can understand her choice. Faced with love and bread, she chooses bread. We should not criticize her too much about her choice. What would you choose if you are in such a condition in the real society? But Daisy changes and becomes just a beautiful shell without good nature. She is no longer the lovely girl.

Gatsby is hoping that Daisy will one day choose him again, but that is just his own wishful thinking. Daisy will not come back to him anymore. Gatsby finally finds that his beautiful dream brings him nothing. His heart breaks but he still struggles and with the last tiny hope. I think he should give up Daisy and start his own life. With such wealth and status, he can lead a totally different life without the delusion in Daisy. He can use his money to help the poor instead of holding parties every night. Each of his luxurious party spends a great deal of money, which can help, maybe, thousands of poor people.

Gatsby spends lavishly and holds parties only to attract Daisy’s attention. This reminds me of some stories in Chinese history. Most kings could have almost anything they want, with thousands of girls accompanying them, but they still lack true love. Some may even sacrifice a whole city to make their lover smile. Love is a luxurious and miraculous thing in this respect. To win one’s love is difficult if the person is not the right one. In order to win Daisy’s love, Gatsby waits for a long time and tries all his efforts to make her pleased. His perseverance is respectable but what he does is silly in our view. It is his dream that brings him the courage to make such a fortune, and it is his dream that ruins him totally. One should not only have a clear dream, but also to choose a right one which deserves our life efforts.

The ending is miserable and it reveals the ugly side of the American dream. It is a tragedy in American society. Gatsby sticks to his dream and pays his life efforts to realize it. He does successfully own money, precessions and status, but turns out to have a tragic ending. He dies for Daisy but wins nothing back. Daisy doesn’t even grieve over his death, not to mention attending his funeral. Daisy acts as she has never fell in love with Gatsby and get rid of him as if nothing has happened. Gatsby, a rich man with a good society status, if I may describe him like this, has few people attending his funeral after his death. Even those guests who frequently show up in his house before his death don’t attend his funeral. What a miserable ending. And Nick, the narrator, feels the indifference of the society. The society is to blame. When Gatsby is rich with power and influence, people tend to flatter him. They are not friends but only the attachment of his wealth.

We don’t know what Gatsby’s true feelings are. He devotes all his life in pursuing his dream. The waiting period may be long but he still has hope. He does have experienced the whole process of achieving his goals. That may be rich in his heart and we cannot just judge it by the ending. Experience is a kind of wealth that nobody can offer. Each experience has an influence in our daily life and it may bring positive effects to our future life. The most important is to have faith and believe in it.

The ending brings us a profound impression. It seems that the author thinks himself is helpless in the society. The most important topic in this book, I think, is the American dream. Everyone has his dream once, but dreams are easy to break. Even those manage to achieve their dreams lead a miserable ending. No matter what Gatsby tries, he is still helpless in a material society. This book also reveals the relationship between love and reality. One cannot live without love, but should love under realistic condition. We should believe in love, but we can never forget the material basis.

Anyway, we should remember our own dreams no matter how cruel the society is. Keep walking with dreams, we may find hardness and pain, but he better way is to change ourselves but not the others. A dream deserves our life-long devotion only if it is the right one. We should stick to our dreams and always remember that we are living in the real world but not dreams.