The first statement within the book says, “among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven” (Chapter 1, The Great Gatsby). The words “most powerful ends” leave one to question how good was Tom?  My one and only question is if the book makes him sound this talented at football why didn’t he go professional? When one reads the “most powerful ends” they think of a Superman type being, a man with no weaknesses.

“His family were enormously wealthy” (Chapter 1, The Great Gatsby). This quotation by itself is quite straight forward. Combining the wealth and the athleticism Tom was what one would call the “All American Boy”. So scratch out Tom being interesting. He is amazing! Boy would I love to be him.

Is what my head was filled with at the end of Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby. Normally after reading the first chapter of a book one can infer if the book is going to be enjoyable. With this book I certainly don’t have a clue. It seems pretty interesting to me, but the chapter left me with a cliffhanger...

Cliffhangers are nothing bad, but in the first chapter?! The chapter ends with this, “When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness.” (Chapter 1, The Great Gatsby). This sends a chilling sensation throughout one's body. It leaves me with many questions such as, where is Mr. Gatsby? Why is poor Nick alone in the darkness? Are both of these characters going to be ok? 

So chapter 1,it was good. Why was it good? After writing this blog I came to the conclusion that I am a sucker for these cliffhangers. Nick went through so much confusion with Daisy and Tom, and he is now in the dark after seeing, then losing his idol the great Mr. Gatsby. This book wants the reader to keep reading and reading, which is exactly what I’m going to do!

What comes to mind when you hear or read the word “grey”? Is it a nice pleasant thought or does it seem more of a gloomy word? When I hear the word “grey” I don’t seem to think either of these things. The color grey itself is a boring color. It's not bright but it’s not dark. So when I heard of the valley of ashes being described as grey I assumed it’s a boring place. But let’s ignore the color grey for a second. The valley of ashes. The name itself can say it all. I don’t want to judge a place by the name just like you don’t want to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes you just have to.

The name itself isn’t all too pleasing and on top of that add grey. So grey and ashes, they go hand in hand. So valley of ashes? A valley full of ashes. Sounds about right. Let’s see what the book says about the valley. “This is the valley of ashes— a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque” (Chapter 2, The Great Gatsby). The book later mentioned that all of New York City’s ashes are dumped in this valley. So my assumption was indeed correct. Would I want to live here? A boring place full of ashes? I would rather not.

Why write about this place then? Well you see the way the book described it, it just sort of caught my eye. Using the color grey just gave me a more vivid image of the place. With this image in my head it encouraged me to write about this place and give my honest feedback. I wouldn’t live there, but I mean the more I think about it, I’ve never seen a “grey” place. So sure I’d visit for research purposes of course.

It’s only been two chapters yet there has been an introduction to four settings within The Great Gatsby. First living in West Egg, we have Nick Carraway and Mr. Gatsby. West Egg is described as “the less fashionable of the two” (Chapter 1, The Great Gatsby). When they referred to “of the two” it’s comparing West and East Egg. Don’t get it wrong tho the people who live in West Egg are still wealthy and own nice mansions. Living in an estate within East Egg is Tom Buchanan and his wife Daisy. The homes of East Egg are more old fashioned than the ones in West Egg.

Now the less pretty of all four locations would be the Valley of Ashes. The Valley of Ashes is described with the color grey, which means it’s a gloomy place and most likely dirty. In chapter two it states, “This is the valley of ashes— a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque” (Chapter 2, The Great Gatsby). All of New York City’s ashes are dumped here. Speaking of New York City is where Tom and his secret lover own a secret apartment. In the book New York City is described as warm and soft with tall crowded buildings. I would assume it is almost the same as it is today.

All these places sound unique in their own way, I wish I could be there in person and explore and experience living within each place. With all this being said West Egg, East Egg, and New York are pretty much the same, so I wouldn’t be picky about living in any of the three, but the valley of ashes...I’d rather not touch that subject.

I’ve never been in a car accident before, but I have come near one quite a few times before. It wasn’t the greatest feeling. My body just stops and I can’t move. I’m numb. I hate that feeling. I hate when my life flashes before my eyes. I understand that one day we will all leave this Earth, but I’m too young. So while reading The Great Gatsby there was a part where Nick and Jordan almost get into a car crash. Nick is freaking out and Jordan is completely fine, she is normal.

After almost getting into the accident Jordan and Nick have this conversation. "I am careful. No, you're not. Well, other people are” (Chapter 3 The Great Gatsby). In this situation I one hundred percent agree with Nick because who doesn’t want to get into a car accident. Well I guess it’s just the difference between me and Jordan’s social class. The way we were brought up. I was taught to be as careful as I can be whether it’s driving, out with friends, or even while taking a walk. Jordan on the other hand says that it takes two to make an accident. Which is the complete opposite of what I was taught. However it makes me realize, you can’t hate someone because of who they are, you don’t know how they were brought up. We see a lot of that today. People today fail to understand others’ opinions, which needs to stop.

Jordan Baker, she is an interesting character within The Great Gatsby. She has a very lively personality, which I enjoy as a reader. In chapter three Jordan says other people are careful, and by saying this she implies that since other people are she doesn’t have to be careful. I inferred this because after this statement Nick had asked “What’s that got to do with it?” She responded with “They’ll keep out of my way. It takes two to make an accident.” So by implying this she means that one person is careful and the other isn’t there still is no accident.

This statement goes a long ways about Jordan as a character. Right of the bat, I can say with certainty that she is a part of the upper class. Her saying others are careful, which means she doesn’t have to be careful; leads me to believe that at some point in her life people would do things for her, so she wouldn’t have to. For example, a butler or a maid. So she became accustomed to this, which is where the driving comes in. The other drivers being careful to make up for her recklessness. On the other hand however, she is quite smart saying it takes two to make an accident. By saying this she could also mean that she is a careful person, but just messed up this one time. One can infer many things based on this conversation, but the most logical reasoning is she is apart of the upper class.

Tom and Daisy live in East Egg, across from Gatsby. Let that sink in for a moment. Jordan said, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be across the bay” (Chapter 4 The Great Gatsby). So, does she stay with Tom hoping maybe she can again cross paths with Gatsby. It could be a high possibility because that is how Gatsby feels. “He wants to know— continued Jordan —if you’ll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over.” (Chapter 4 The Great Gatsby). At first if you were to ask me the genre of the book, I wouldn’t be able to answer, but now I might just know the answer. It’s a romantic story. Daisy and Gatsby are bound to cross paths soon. 

So knowing this we know Wolfsheim is a part of the underworld. It is at this time when Gatsby tells Wolfsheim “this isn’t the man” (Chapter 4 The Great Gatsby). This exchange implies that Gatsby may have some ties to the criminal world, as he is working with a criminal in the form of Wolfsheim. Gatsby was also expected to arrange a meeting between Wolfsheim and one of his associates about “business”. So if my detective work is correct this provides more than a few hints that Gatsby rapidly acquired his fortune off illegal gains. This would not go along with the image Gatsby wants for himself. He wants to be seen as a common rich man. A man who just inherited money from his deceased family, a nice rich man who loves to throw parties. A smart man who went to Oxford and enjoys reading the “books” (they aren’t real books) in his library. He wants to be just your average rich man. But is he? That is a question we don’t have an answer to yet, but we are closing in on it.

In our culture green seems to be a positive color. Representing positive things. Such as “giving the green light”, meaning go for it. There are many other sayings using the color green, however none negative. Just as in The Great Gatsby green represents “hope”. In chapter 5, we got to see Jay Gatsby and Daisy reunited, after not seeing each other for many many years. Gatsby wanted to see her and see if he could rekindle the love they had when they were younger. He was hoping by showing her how rich he had become that maybe she would fall in love with him again. Seeing that he wasn’t rich back then was the issue. 

Just as he expected that is what happened. Daisy seemed pleased by how rich he was. For a long time he had been gazing at the green light across the bay at the edge of Daisy's dock, which until now has symbolized his desire to reunite with her. So after being reunited with her, Nick saw Gatsby stretching his arms towards a green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. The green light being his hope. Now, with all the wealth and money he has, he might’ve gotten Daisy to fall in love with him once more. The color green represents Jay Gatsby as a wealthy, hopeful man.

Why must everything be based off money or financial status? Why is the world and all it’s people all about money? Society today judges every person by how much money they have. The kind of person you are depends on how much money you have. This can be seen in chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby. Reading the book so far we know that Gatsby and Daisy used to have a past where they loved one another, but it all came to an end one day. Daisy then moved on and married a man with money, because that’s what she wanted. A man with money.

Gatsby hoping to win over Daisy became rich. He bought a big house right across the bay from her, hoping that one day he could show her. That day did come. He showed her his big house and she asked him if it was actually his because it was so big and he said yes. Immediately she was astonished. Later in the chapter while showing her around she sees some of the clothes he owns and she started crying. One can only infer it’s because she can see how rich he is now, and she was wondering if they could’ve actually had a future together. But it just leaves me wondering. Does she only love men because of their money? After all is that why she still is with Tom, knowing that he is cheating on her? Is it because he has money? It’s like this today, the more something costs the more valuable it is. To me life shouldn’t be decided by money. Life should be happy, free, and enjoyable. Money can buy this, but doesn’t it also do the opposite?

Now, why does Gatsby lie about his upbringing? In my opinion he is simply afraid of his real self. He does it for every reason stated above. But most importantly I believe he does it for Daisy. It’s sad because this happens nowadays. Nobody can be themselves or certain people won’t like you. Honestly you shouldn’t be afraid of who you are. Everyone is unique in their own way and if someone doesn’t like you, oh well life just goes on, one day after another.

Gatsby obviously lies about his past because he is ashamed of who he really is and he wants to portray himself as a casual rich man. I really believe he does this for the sake of Daisy loving him. He has done everything for her to love him. He literally bought a mansion across the bay from her. I believe Gatsby or Gatz is afraid of who he really is, he just assumes that Daisy won’t like that he was a farmer boy. But who knows? I don’t. The only thing I can infer is that he is ashamed of his true past.

Gatsby was so blinded by love that he didn’t make right decisions. He was so focused on winning Daisy over, that he probably lost his chance. Tom on the other hand might also lose Daisy, someone whom he once loved. Later in the chapter we find out that Tom has lost Myrtle. Seeing that Tom has lost two women he has loved, seems tough. So what is Fitzgerald telling us? As far as I can see he is informing us that love is blinding, it makes us do crazy things without giving it much thought. Love is also a messy thing, as well as tricky. So what’s going to happen with this love story? We are soon to find out.

Did she love Tom? At first I thought she didn’t. She seemed to have been with him only for the money. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. In the book she did mention she loved him at one point. However when did she stop. Was it when she regained her love for Gatsby once she saw he had gained wealth. Or was it when she found out about Tom’s secret lover? Bingo. It was that, yet she still remained with Tom, probably because of the money. How bout Tom? Did Tom love Daisy? I don’t know if he did. At some point I believe he did, but he lost that love and then fell in love with Myrtle. As for Nick? He did mention he was attracted to Jordan’s looks, so he probably does love her, but we don’t know yet. Overall I believe the message Fitzgerald wants to convey to the reader is that love is a tricky and dangerous thing. He isnt wrong though.

For example, if you look at the cover the light would symbolize Gatsby's memories and fantasy of Daisy. It brightens his dark world just as it lights up this dark scene. The black, white and grey colors that are used give the cover a resemblance to a photograph or an image of the past. This would have the same effect as the symbol of the green light, which represents the hope Gatsby has to rekindle what he and Daisy once had. I didn’t fully understand the concept of the book cover until the question was asked. While reading the book it hints at the symbolic meaning of the colors used on the cover. Which is why books shouldn’t be judged by the cover, each cover represents something special to the book, it’s up to the reader whether or not they want to find it

When writing from now on I will take what I’ve learned from the cover of the book and the writing to improve my writing, so others can enjoy reading it, just as I enjoy reading The Great Gatsby. 

Let me use this example. You’re watching a movie between a hero and a villain. And the hero is fighting with this one group of people against the villains. Then the movie decides to say boom the hero’s group was actually the bad guys and then the hero goes to the side that he thought was the villains. Then afterwards you just sit there like “What no way”. You will be left like that reading this book. That is why I one hundred percent recommend this book. This book just leaves you after saying “Wow”. Once you are done reading you will say exactly what I said. “That is not how I expected that to go”. And you will enjoy it and be glad that the author made that a part of the book. If you wanna see what I’m talking about, go grab yourself a copy of this book and start reading. You won’t be disappointed.

So Gatsby in the next few years decides to gain wealth to win over Daisy. Did it work? Obviously it did. While Gatsby was showing Daisy his big mansion she comes upon some of his clothes and says, “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such—such beautiful shirts before” (Chapter 5, The Great Gatsby).The one reason for Daisy’s reaction was that she only cared about the material goods, the money Gatsby had. Let’s take a look at another thing Daisy said. When she first saw his mansion she was shocked asking, “That huge place there” (Chapter 5 The Great Gatsby). She went on after saying that she loves it. So what is Fitzgerald saying about the American Dream? In my opinion after reading this book, I believe that he is trying to say that the American Dream is money, that the American Dream can only be acquired by wealth.