The book I am responding to is "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The book was about Nick who just graduated from Yale and becomes a bond salesman in NY. He lives next to a mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby who does not attend his own frequent parties. After meeting up with his friend Tom and his wife daisy, he becomes introduced to Jordan baker and later has a romantic relations. Jordan tells nick that Tom is cheating on his wife and soon meets up with Tom and his mistress, Myrtle, who holds a lavish and bizarre party that ends when myrtle repetedly says "Daisy". Later, Nick finally is invited to one of Gatsby's party and learns they were in the same division during World War One. From Jordan, Nick learns Gatsby was in a relationship with Daisy, is in love in her, and holds the parties to impress her. Later Gatsby invites Nick out and meets one of Gatsby's friend who allegedly rigged the World Series. Soon after Gatsby asks Nick to invite Daisy to tea and not tell her Gatsby still be there. Nick agrees and after an initial awkward reunion, they rekindle their love. Later, during an outing of all five of them (Nick, Jordan, Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby) Tom realizes that Daisy is in love with Gatsby and exposes that Gatsby is a criminal. Daisy realizes that she wants to be with Tom, but Tom tells Gatsby to drive daisy home. Driving home, Daisy runs over myrtle. Myrtle's husband believes that the driver is her secret lover and shots Gatsby at his home. Tom and Daisy mysteriously move and Nick moves back to the west.
After reading the book, I learned something that suprised me. Apparently Tom was suppose to be the big bad guy. I never saw this. I saw two different kids of evil fighting over someone. Tom was evil because he cheated on his wife. He lied to her about his love. Gatsby was evil because he committed crimes for money. He lied to her about his life. They have both done something wrong. Personally I believe that Daisy was right to go back to Tom. While she might not be the happiest with Tom, Gatsby would make her have to live with a man who is a criminal and it is apparent she doesn't love Gatsby when she learns he is a criminal. It's not really a tragic love story for Daisy, as it is more for Gatsby.
Another idea I don't understand is why Nick was the protagonist. I think that another character could have been much more interesting. To me, Nick seemed more like an onlooker than a character. He was merely there to do tasks. "Go step up a meeting" "go meet with my mistress" " go learn about my shady past by talking to my friend. He really just watches and exsits for the reader to learn. I notices he rarely takes action and only does so because others tell him to. I think the book would have been more entertaining with the other main characters as narrators, telling certain events from certain people's perspective. Also It's no wonder Nick and Jordan got together. Jordan's only job is to tell Nick (AKA the reader) something she had heard.
