a modern classic
I’ve heard about “The Great Gatsby” before but I never had the chance to read it until recently. I discovered a new copy of the book in my brother-in-law’s bookshelf. He’s supposed to write a literary analysis on it for his English subject. When I asked him if I could borrow the book, he gave it to me willingly and told me that it looks like he didn’t spend money on the book for nothing after all because there is somebody who likes to read it. He later confessed that he based his literary analysis on a translated summary of the story he found in the internet.
I could understand why he did that because after reading the book, I can tell that it is not an easy read for 15-year old non native English speakers. I, myself, had the difficulty reading it to the very end. I don’t know why. I suppose I’m not for these kinds of reads. I was, of course, able to follow the story but I just know that this literary piece has more to it than the story itself and I am not the kind to probe into the meanings of the things in between the lines. In short, I don’t over analyze. When I read a book, I am all for the story and the experience I get while reading it.
“The Great Gatsby” is a modern classic. I’ve read it. I think the story is very interesting but I’ll leave it to the intellectuals to discuss it.
2 Comments
i tried to read shakespeare last week (romeo and juliet, a midsummer night’s dream, hamlet), but those types of reading materials are really not for me. nakakatamad basahin
It might help to know that the book’s original title was something like “Under the Red White and Blue” or “Under the Stars and Stripes” or some similar thing. The book is an allegory about America – about the conflict between ambitious progress and clinging to past desires or illusions. Gatsby is ambitious but all for the sake of an old and dead ideal – Daisy – who is part of a tired and decadent world. Ultimately Gatsby’s wealth is of no use to him because he has lost his soul to his misguided ambition to recover the past. It is summed up so perfectly in the closing line – one of the best in all of literature, I think.