F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

This is my second time through The Great Gatsby. This time, I was reading to annotate it so that I'm ready to teach it. I really enjoy this book!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an American classic set in 1922 at the height of the Roaring 20s. Nick Carraway is new in New York City. He moves into a dumpy house next to this gorgeous mansion owned by one Jay Gatsby. Across the bay, in the upper-class East Egg lives the Buchanans, a distant cousin of Nick Carraway. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are "old money," while Gatsby is "new money," with no one actually really knowing where he got all of his cash. Gatsby and Daisy dated for a time before he went to Europe to fight in WWI. While he was gone, Daisy married Tom, and Gatsby is trying to win her back. He throws elaborate parties at his mansion in an attempt to impress her. Will he win her back and get the happily-ever-after he wishes, erasing the past few years?

I love The Great Gatsby. Maybe that's the English teacher in me talking. I'm so delighted by how despicable all of the characters are. Daisy is dumb. Jordan is dishonest. Tom is a philanderer with a double standard (and racist to boot). Nick and Gatsby are really the only likable characters - and even they have their flaws. Gatsby is so stuck in the short time he dated Daisy that he can't see that her future has changed. Not only that, but he's obsessed with her wealth. It's hard to know if he loves her, or the fact that she comes from "old," legitimate money. It's so enjoyable to watch students get to the end of the book and declare how much they hate Daisy for what happens.

This book is incredibly indicative of the upper-crust culture in the 1920s. People spent money like it grew on trees and ignored Prohibition as if it didn't exist. The ominous ending almost predicts the ominous ending to the era - the stock market crash in 1929. Fitzgerald of course had no way to know what would happen in 1925 when he published Gatsby, but he clearly could predict what the debauchery would get them.

The Great Gatsby is a fantastic book as long as you approach it with the appropriate cynicism toward the characters.

Comments

Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

This is a book that I read for the first time around four years ago when I first started teaching. This novel is one that I have loved ever since then. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak takes place in World War II in Nazi Germany. Liesel Meminger is not quite an orphan, but she is placed in foster care because her mother can't provide for her. Liesel goes to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann, and they completely change Liesel's life. On her way to the Hubermann's, Liesel's younger brother dies on the train. In the graveyard where he was buried is where Liesel steals her first book: The Grave Digger's Handbook. Hans teaches her to read it, and inspires her love of the written word. The Hubermann's will then hide a Jew in their basement for a time. What will become of that hidden Jew? What will become of Liesel? What will become of Himmel Street, her friends, and her family in the wake of a violent and terrible war? This book is probably one of my all-time favorite...

Brene Brown: Daring Greatly

Brene Brown is one of my favorite TED speakers of all time. I have listened to her TED talks numerous times and used them in my classroom each year. I love her message: that we can't have success, innovation, change, and creativity without first having vulnerability. I love that she is seeking to demystify vulnerability and teach what shame is and how it destroys our ability to accept ourselves and others. I am not normally into the self-help kind of books, but of the books I've read this year, this is one of my favorites! Daring Greatly by Brene Brown discusses the concepts of shame and vulnerability and how we need vulnerability, but not shame. She gives strategies for combating shame and becoming "shame resilient." She gives strategies to use as parents, teachers, friends, and spouses. For one thing, I love Dr. Brown's Texan accent (she narrates the audiobook herself! 💗). Her voice and personality are all throughout this book. She is not afraid to use persona...

Brandon Sanderson: Mitosis - The Reckoners Book 1.5

I read Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson years ago, and it's a series that I'd love to finish at some point. It's also one that I find students enjoy. Mitosis takes place soon after the end of Steelheart . The Reckoners have set up a government in Newcago and are welcoming people into the steel city. David and Abraham go to greet some of these newcomers, only to be faced by an Epic: Mitosis. Mitosis can make copies of himself, and begins to do so, spreading them throughout the city. His target? David, nicknamed Steelslayer. Will David be able to outwit this Epic as well? This short novella (only five chapters) was well-written, and for some reason, I feel that it has Brandon all over it. I can practically hear his voice coming through David's character, which I found interesting. I thought that this was a clever interlude in between Steelheart and Firefight , and I'm wondering if it leads into Firefight ? Since I have finished the original trilogy, I'm excited t...

Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

Search This Blog