Although jumping into an entirely new story after having
spent so long analyzing The House of
Mirth seemed a little strange at first, I have to say that I already have a
feeling that I am going to enjoy reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. I have already noticed
within the first several pages of the book some techniques employed by
Fitzgerald that I wonder if he will use throughout the book. For example, the
fact that Fitzgerald often utilizes very elevated diction is already apparent
through his insertion of phrases such as “hostile levity” (Fitzgerald, 1) and
“flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of ‘creative
temperament’” (Fitzgerald, 2). The aspect of the beginning to The Great Gatsby which arrested my attention
the most, however, was the novel’s narrator and point of view. I immediately
noticed that the story is told from the first person point of view, and I think
that this will be a nice change considering that The House of Mirth was written entirely in the third person
omniscient point of view. The element of the narration which I found to be most
spectacular, however, was the entertaining voice of the main character Nick
Carraway. Normally, I don’t expect the narrator of a story to be particularly
comical, witty, or insightful. Many novels are obviously not even written in
the first person point of view, but if they are, I would expect nothing more
out of the narrator than for that individual to share their thoughts, feelings,
or reactions to particular events or encounters in the course of the story;
however, I have already noticed that this novel’s narrator, Nick Carraway, is
very intriguing and humorous. Though we do not know a great deal about his
character yet, I can already tell from the first few pages of the novel that he
is a character I respect. The fact that he acknowledges that he has been
granted many luxurious privileges due to his wealth, reserves judgment of
others, and had the courage to travel East in the pursuit of a different career
choice than was anticipated by his family really impresses me. The most
prominent reason that I find him to be such a valuable narrator, however, is
because of his undeniable sarcasm and humor. While I did enjoy reading The House of Mirth, nobody can deny the
fact that the novel contained little humor, and at times I found portions of
the book to be dull or lagging. On the other hand, as I read The Great Gatsby, I’m very entertained
by Carraway’s witty remarks and sarcastic digs at other characters or life
itself. For example, he remarks that, “…just
as things grow in fast movies, I had the familiar conviction that life was
beginning over again with the summer” (Fitzgerald, 4). Additionally, when Daisy
asks Nick if everyone back in the Midwest misses her, he replies dramatically,
“The whole town is desolate… there’s a persistent wail all night along the
north shore” (Fitzgerald, 9). I find his humor and sarcasm to be very
entertaining and definitely a reason to look forward to learning his perception
of the events of the novel as they unfold.
The
last noteworthy aspect of the beginning of the novel that came to my attention
was Daisy’s personality and behavior. While I may be biased because I still
have a picture in my mind of wealthy women of the early twentieth century being
just like Miss Lily Bart from The House
of Mirth, I honestly found Daisy to be a little immature, especially
considering that she is married and has a child. While my judgment of her may
be a little premature (Nick Carraway would probably disapprove of my quick
judgment), she seems to me to imitate the mannerisms of a child, especially
when she whines almost pathetically about insignificant things such as having
candles lit at the dinner table. I will definitely be interested to see how her
character develops as the story progresses!
West Egg, New York
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