了不起的盖茨比书评英文

导读：　了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇一《了不起的盖茨比 英文书评》 ...

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇一
《了不起的盖茨比 英文书评》

The Great Gatsby

Reading experience：

I start to read the book about 3 weeks ago ,At first, I searched some information about the author from the Internet, then glanced the basic content of novel, When I read the several chapters ahead of the novel, I feel it was so boring , the complex relationship would kill me. When I nearly finished the novel, everything was suddenly enlightened.

Information about this novel：

The novel is told us the story of Gatsby by Nick’s tone. Nick came to New York from his hometown the America Middle West, and he rent a small house nearby Gatsby’s luxurious mansion where hold a grand banquet every night.

The story began with the meet between Nick and Gatsby. And Nick had an exploratory interest to Gatsby and understood that there was a lost love in Gatsby’s deep heart. Gatsby and Daisy loved each other when Gatsby was young, but because of Gatsby’s poor family they were broken up. Then G. joined the First World War. While Daisy was married to Tom who was a rich dandy, but her marriage was not happy because Tom had a mistress. Therefore, the material couldn’t satisfy her spiritual empty.

Gatsby was very painful and he believed that Daisy betrayed the pure heart for the money, so he resolved to be a man of wealth and a few years later he managed it. What’s more, in the opposite direction of Daisy’s house Gatsby built a mansion. In order to attract Daisy and aroused the lost love, Gatsby spent money like water.

Nick was moved by Gatsby’s passion of love, so he visited to his young female cousin Daisy and told her Gatsby’s mind. Then Gatsby made date with Daisy, often. Finally, Gatsby found Daisy’s vanity, vulgar and selfish. Gatsby’s pink dream finally broke up, but he still insisted it, still retained any illusion about Daisy, and even led to his tragedies.

One day Daisy was in a drunken driving Gatsby’s car ran over and caused an accident that killed Tom’s mistress, and she planned a plot with Tom to put the crime to Gatsby. It led to the mistress’ husband shot Gatsby. Gatsby died, only his father and Nick attended the funeral.

Nick witnessed the virtual mood of human reality. At the end, Nick backed to his hometown with a tragedy mood.

Introduction of the author：

The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was born in1896 and died in Hollywood in 1940, and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the most important representative of the “Jazz Age”. He published the novel Tender is the Night, Paradise, the Last Tycoon and so on; and published over 160 short novels, for instance, Benjamin’s Fantasy Trip, Ice Palace, Winter Dream and so on. The twentieth century, the United States academic community selected 100 the best novels in the river of English literature. The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night are the list. And The Great Gatsby is second. He first published The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925, a story set in Island’s North Shore and New York City during the summer of 1922.

Impression on the novel:

After reading the novel, I was deeply shocked by Gatsby’s persistence,dream, and his miserable ending,and impressed more about the “Jazz Age”.In American history, maybe“ it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way”.

The Gates ratio is the 20's models American youth,he was young and full of passion to realize all his dreams ,which could have been a perfect character in any times.However, he was poor,and this,which made him become a tragic character, also was the focus in that age-“Jazz Age”. Gates compares in order to pursue the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red to exhaust own sentiment and the ability and wisdom, finally ruined own life. “There was a faint,barely perceptible movement of the water as the fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other .With little ripples that was hardly the shadows of waves ,the laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool.” A hopeless ending indicates that the most beautiful dream in that age was eventually

destroyed by the reality,the social.We can clearly know that Daisy did not choose Gatsby although he had become much more affluent than Tom ,but choose her previous life-living with Tom,it may be a bad choise,but it was really the decision made by Daisy herself,a selfish, disingenuous and vain girl,the girl which Gastby always loved and was willing to pay everything he has for ,even she betrayed more than once,and this can be inferred when Gastby showed his love and she hesitated.

Shutting the book,I am deep in thought.The author tries to describe the social,

the so-called up class ,the so-called prosperous country,and certainly the shattered"the American dream".In my opinion,the author not only wants to attack the luxury and hypocrisy of the classes,but also to appeal to people to pursue true love,not the greed of money and

hypocrisy,although this book has a desperate ending.

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇二
《了不起的盖茨比英文读后感》

The Great Gatsby

Mengyan Li, September 15, 2013

The film The Great Gatsby is on in the cinema these days. I watched the film last week and felt interested in the story. So I decided to read the novel The Great Gatsby. During one week, I just have read the first half of the story.

The novel describes the break of American dream of Gatsby who was an upstart by selling wine in the 1920s, which indicates the American society's tragedy. On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the frustrated love between Garsby and a Daisy. But this novel actually wants to criticize the situation of society at that time. The novel is a classic fiction of hope and disillusion.

The author describes the leading character Gatsby through Nick’s eyes. Nick Carraway is the novel’s narrator, a young man who was a tolerant, open-minded, quiet, and good listener. And as a result, others tend to talk to him and tell him their secrets. He is the protagonist Gatsby’s neighbor and Daisy’s cousin.

The protagonist Gatsby was born into a poor family, but he had the great ambition to achieve the fortune and ideal happiness. All his ambitions and illusions are for his lover, Daisy. And his lover Daisy is the symbol of youth, money and rich, the " American dream" which is based on the consistent pursuing of wealth. Gatsby paid all his life to pursue the dream though his lover had became the another rich man’s wife. In my eyes, about love, Gatsby is a pitiful guy. Every night he looked the green light across the river, missing his lover. Every Saturday night he hold big parties, invited all the celebrities to his big house, just want to attact Daisy to come. He asked Nick’s for help, just wanted to meet Daisy. His nervousness and before meet Daisy makes me feel he is a young guy who first meet his little girlfriend. Aside all the other things, for love, he is loyal through thick and thin. That’s the point which makes me feel pitiful about Gatsby and the tragedy.

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇三
《了不起的盖茨比 书评》

了不起的盖茨比 书评

作品背景是上世纪20年代的柯立芝繁荣时期，期间美国经济达到了前所未有的繁荣，在金钱至上的社会里，盖茨比追求财富显符合当时美国民众的想法，我想讲一下主人公的毁灭及他的爱情。

其实，他只是个发了财的私酒贩，却始终无依无靠、受着所谓上流阶层的蔑视、排挤；黛西当然有对盖茨比动心，也只不因为盖茨比能给他提供更多的物质享受和精神慰藉，她的确有过与汤姆分开的想法甚至勇气，但一听闻盖茨比只是私酒贩而非她想象的地位之人时，她吝啬的爱瞬间荡然无存。

盖茨比和黛西的爱情是建立在钱的基础上，但这之间我看是没有爱的，或顶多是单向。他自认用钱便可买到旧爱的心。铁证是，为了掩盖自己的罪行，黛西不念恩情，卑鄙地借刀杀死了盖茨比。

黛西的价值观是遗忘了浪漫和纯真，麻木寄生于金钱。盖茨比的毁灭与其说是被子弹穿过，不如说是将理想寄予错误的对象，最终成为被利用的玩物。

他身上能肯定的也就是他的了不起之处就是能在那个物欲横流，拜金主义之风盛行的时代还坚守着自己的理想——戴西。然而他在发迹前后对理想从未动摇，从未改变。因此了不起之处就在于与别人与众不同，他们愿意为现实而牺牲理想。盖茨比则宁肯为理想而放弃现实。

作者以小窥大，用悲剧的爱情折射出美国梦的破灭，也隐晦地讽刺了上层社会贪婪而腐朽的本质。一个在“美国梦”里忠于理想、被欺骗利用而不自知的小人物就是盖茨比。

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇四
《了不起的盖茨比书评》

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇五
《床头灯了不起的盖茨比的英文读后感》

了不起的盖茨比

The narrator, Nick, begins the book by giving us some advice of his father’s about not criticizing others. Through Nick’s eyes, we meet his second cousin, Daisy, her large and aggressive husband, Tom,and Jordon.While the Buchanans live on the fashionable East Egg, Nick lives on the less-elite but not-too-shabby West Egg.We are soon fascinated by a certain Mr. Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and mysterious man who owns a huge mansion next door to Nick and spends a good chunk of his evenings standing on his lawn and looking at an equally mysterious green light across the bay.

Tom takes Nick to the city to show off his mistress, a woman named Myrtle who is married has an affair with Tom. Then,Nick meets and warily be friends with Gatsby at one of his huge party.Gatsby reveals to Nick that he and Daisy had a love thing before he went away to the war and she married Tom. Gatsby wants Daisy back. The plan is for Nick to invite her over to tea.Nick executes the plan; Gatsby and Daisy are reunited and start an affair. Everything continues swimmingly until Tom meets Gatsby.

when Tom has it out with Gatsby over who gets to be with Daisy.As the party drives home to Long Island, Myrtle is struck and killed by Gatsby’s car. Gatsby tells Nick that Daisy was driving, but that he’s going to take the blame for it. Meanwhile, Tom tells George that Gatsby killed his wife. So George shoots and kills Gatsby.At last,Daisy and Tom take off. Nick concludes that our nostalgia, our desire to replicate the past, forces us constantly back into it.

But the author makes a masterly opening move, compared to the girl which is in love treats as Gates the youth, the money and the status symbol, treats as * the method pursue wealthy material life "the American dream". Gates compares in order to pursue the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red to exhaust own sentiment and the ability and wisdom, finally ruined own life. He naively thought that, Had the money to be able to revive an old dream, redeems the love which lost. He was what a pity wrong. He looked at mistakenly black eyebrow coloring alizarin red this vulgar superficial woman. He looked at mistakenly on the surface the debauchery but the spiritual sky empty bored society. He lives in the illusion, is gotten rid by the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red, is desolate for

the society, finally has cast the tragedy which is unable to recall.

Gatsby is a poor young man from the mid west. He fall in love with daisy, a wealthy and beautiful girl. But he is too poor to marry her. After that daisy married to a rich man, tom.. In order to get her love back, he tried his best, and did something illegal. At last, he became rich and bought a luxurious villa. He had parties every weekend to attract daisy to come. Finally she came and Gatsby meet her. But he found the girl was not the daisy in his dream. Gatsby had a sense of loss. Then daisy killed a woman in a traffic accident. Tom and daisy shift the blame to Gatsby, and Gatsby was shot by the woman’s husband.

From his life, we can see the life of some Americans. First, they have a dream, and they work very hard, but at last, they have a sense of failure. In term of Gatsby, love and daisy is all to him. He worked hard to get wealthy for her. He did something illegal for her. He staged party for her. And even he died for her. Gatsby insisted that daisy in his dream is a beautiful

and innocent girl, and she will love him forever, even he was poor, even she married to Tom. But actually, daisy had changed. She became foolish, selfish and meretricious. She didn’t want to return her love. Even she shifted the blame to him. It is not worthy for Gatsby to love her.

In my personal opinion, death may be a perfect way for Gatsby to relieve. The pure girl daisy was his entire dream. But he found that daisy now is a foolish, selfish and meretricious girl. She can’t live with him, she hurt him and shift blame to him. This is not equal to Gatsby. First he thought that he live for her. But she became such a girl he didn’t live. All the dreams broke. There was nothing he could live with. And his future life would be boring and make no sense, because he had no dream, no goal. The death is his best way to get rid of all the sufferings.

The cause of this tragedy is，we can see, is daisy. But as a matter of fact, it is not just daisy’s fault. Mostly, the blame is American society. We can see daisy like to

have a wealthy life and married to tom, but may be most of the people will do this, because most of the people hate poverty and like to have rich life. And after Gatsby’s death, no one would like to attend the funeral. It is the society cause the tragedy. In that society, the people are all selfish. Another problem the author want to describe is that the people have no relief and no dream, and they lead a life in vanity Even Gatsby, such an ambitious man, excepting the love of daisy, has no other dream. He has a luxurious house, lives a rich life, and attends descent party, but he doesn’t know what he really wants except daisy. It is a pity for him because once he find daisy can’t return back, he will no place to go.

Novel describe and buy to sell through perfect art form wine upstart" American dream" that Gatsby pursue unreal the twenties Kill , has announced the tragedy of the American society. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy and departure is actually a very ordinary love story. But the author makes skilful opening moves, regard girl whom Gatsby loved the symbols of the youth, money and status deeply as, Regard U.S.A. as by means to pursue rich material life" Dream of". For pursue Gatsby Daisy exhaust own emotion and ability and intelligence, ruin one's own life. He thought innocently : Can revive an old dream after having money, redeem the lost love. It's a pity , he is wrong. He has misunderstood this one of Daisy Vulgar and shallow woman . He has misunderstood the boring society on the surface dissipated and luxurious and hollowly on spirit. Whether it live he the dreamlike China, is abandoned by Daisy, treats for the society coldly, Cast the tragedy that can't retrieve at last.

Gatsby is the typical American youth in the twenties. Experience of him whether joyous song smile at portrayal in" knight's times" of dance. Sweetheart Daisy of one's early years such as Gatsby marry rich and life dissolute Tom. For win Daisy,

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇六
《了不起的盖茨比读后感》

The Great Gatsby

The novel described for the 20's through the perfect artistic form to sell "the American dream" which liquor nouveau riche Gates compared pursues

vanishing, has promulgated the American society's tragedy. Gates and bids good-bye compared to and the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red love originally is the very ordinary love story. But the author makes a masterly

opening move, compared to the girl which is in love treats as Gates the youth, the money and the status symbol, treats as * the method pursue wealthy material life "the American dream". Gates compares in order to pursue the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red to exhaust own sentiment and the ability and wisdom, finally ruined own life. He naively thought that, Had the money to be able to revive an old dream, redeems the love which lost. He was what a pity wrong. He looked at mistakenly black eyebrow coloring alizarin red this vulgar superficial woman. He looked at mistakenly on the surface the

debauchery but the spiritual sky empty bored society. He lives in the illusion, is gotten rid by the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red, is desolate for the society, finally has cast the tragedy which is unable to recall. The Gates ratio is the 20's models American youth. His bitter experience is precisely the happy song smiles the dance "knight the time" the portrayal. The author has designed for the novel "the dual leading character" Nick the Carrow prestige. His

importance is not inferior to the leading character Gates ratio in many aspects. He not only is the story narration and commentary, also is in the novel a important personage. He both is having the very complicated relations with contradictory both sides. He is Gates compared to neighbor and friend, also is the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red cousin, Tom's schoolmate, but also is being in love black eyebrow coloring alizarin red good friend Jordan. He acted as Gates to compare after the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red distinguishes the go-between which 5 years remet, the sympathy which also became which the Gates ratio to revive an old dream the criticism and he suffers kills. He although advances into to the Long Island luxurious residential district, but he already is not "wilderness time" which Tom represents inner world citizen, also is not worships blindly the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red which Gates compares represents to be separated from the reality the illusion world fellow traveller. He represents the American mid-west the traditional ideas and the moral criterion. He happiness illusion which loses compared to the pursue has many critical criticisms regarding Gates, regarding was fastidious the

semblance but innermost feelings vulgar Tom and the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red has carried on fair whipping. After Gates compared to dies, former days guest did not make an appearance, the black eyebrow coloring alizarin red accompanied the husband to depart by far, Nick pertinent had pointed out society's false and the heartlessness, caused the reader compared to the

American dream necessity which pursued to be disillusioned regarding Gates had the profound impression.

中文：

小说通过完美的艺术形式描写了20年代贩酒暴发户盖茨比所追求的“美国梦”的幻

灭，揭示了美国社会的悲剧。

盖茨比与黛茜的恋爱和分手本来是个很普通的爱情故事。但作者出手不凡，把盖茨

比热恋的姑娘当作青春、金钱和地位的象征，当作*手段追求富裕物质生活的“美国

梦”。盖茨比为了追求黛茜耗尽了自己的感情和才智，最后葬送掉自己的生命。他天真

地以为：有了金钱就能重温旧梦，赎回失去的爱情。可惜，他错了。他看错了黛茜这个

粗俗浅薄的女人。他看错了表面上灯红酒绿而精神上空虚无聊的社会。他生活在梦幻之

中，被黛茜抛弃，为社会冷落，终于铸成了无法挽回的悲剧。

盖茨比是20年代典型的美国青年。他的遭遇正是欢歌笑舞的“爵士时代”的写照。 作者为小说设计了一个“双重主人公”尼克·卡罗威。他的重要性在许多方面不亚 于主人公盖茨比。他既是故事的叙述者和评论者，又是小说中一个重要人物。他与矛盾

着的双方都有千丝万缕的关系。他是盖茨比的邻居和朋友，又是黛茜的表哥、汤姆的同

学，还热恋着黛茜的好友乔丹。他充当了盖茨比和黛茜分别5年后重新见面的牵线人，

又成为盖茨比重温旧梦的批评者和他惨遭杀害的同情者。他虽然跻身于长岛豪华的住宅

区，但他既不是汤姆所代表的“荒原时代”的精神世界的公民，也不是盖茨比所代表的

盲目崇拜黛茜的脱离现实的梦幻世界的同路人。他代表美国中西部的传统观念和道德准

则。他对于盖茨比追求失去的幸福的梦幻有许多中肯的批评，对于讲究外表而内心卑俗

的汤姆和黛茜则进行了公正的鞭挞。盖茨比死后，昔日的宾客一个也不露面，黛茜则陪

丈夫远远离去，尼克一针见血地指出了社会的虚伪和无情，使读者对于盖茨比所追求的

美国梦的必然破灭有了深刻的印象。

小说采用第一人称的叙事手法，仿佛书中发生的一切都是尼克的亲身见闻，不加虚

饰，令人感到亲切可信。尼克和盖茨比两人从陌生到认识，感情上既有距离，又有融和，

富有多种层次的结合和区别，写得脉络清晰，恰到好处。这种把不同的观点巧妙地统一

在一部小说中，使作品具有深刻的内涵和严密的结构，正是作者独特的艺术成就。 作者在叙述中还运用了许多丰富生动的比喻，使人物的感情起伏和场景的变换增添

了抒情的色彩。精采的比喻常常被用来渲染梦幻的气氛，表达精神的空虚。如尼克初次

到汤姆家，看到黛茜和她女友贝克坐在沙发上“活像浮在一个停泊在地面上空的大气

球”，后来才“慢慢地降落地面”。盖茨比在家里第一次与黛茜重逢时伸手去抓她的手，

以一种创造性的热情投入了他的梦幻。“不断添枝加叶，用飘来的每一根绚丽的羽毛加

以缀饰”。这些梦幻是“牢牢地建立在仙女的翅膀上的”。内涵深刻的比喻把盖茨比对

“美国梦”的追求描绘得维妙维肖，跃然纸上。

小说还运用了象征的手法来揭示人物内心的活动与环境的冷酷。比如：西卵码头尽

头有一盏绿灯，盖茨比常常在晚上孤独地望着它，伸开双手想去拥抱它——那青春和爱

情的象征，仿佛是黛茜的化身。小说末了，尼克又想起了盖茨比信奉这盏绿灯，似乎近

在眼前，他几乎不可能抓不住，实际上却可望而不可即，他的梦想已经远远逝去了。又

如书中六次出现的“埃克尔堡大夫的眼睛”是蓝色的，“若有所思，阴郁地俯视这片阴

沉沉的灰堆”。它象征不幸和灾难。在情节发展的关键之处，这双眼睛好像复活了，它

仿佛看着盖茨比去跟汤姆摊牌，又预见到威尔逊要去杀死盖茨比。浑身铜臭的黛茜爱穿

白色的上衣和裙子，宛如纯洁可爱的天使，其实她的灵魂污点斑斑。这象征纯洁的白色

像一面洁白的镜子，把她的灵魂深处暴露无余。盖茨比重温旧梦的幻想一去不复返了。

作者用五光十色的音符谱出了一曲凄怅的悲歌，给人留下无限的思索。

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇七
《了不起的盖茨比读后感》

Novel describe and buy to sell through perfect art form wine upstart" American dream" that Gatsby pursue unreal the twenties Kill , has announced the tragedy of the American society. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy and departure is actually a very ordinary love story. But the author makes skilful opening moves, regard girl whom Gatsby loved the symbols of the youth, money and status deeply as, Regard U.S.A. as by means to pursue rich material life" Dream of". For pursue Gatsby Daisy exhaust own emotion and ability and intelligence, ruin one's own life. He thought innocently : Can revive an old dream after having money, redeem the lost love. It's a pity , he is wrong. He has misunderstood this one of Daisy Vulgar and shallow woman . He has misunderstood the boring society on the surface dissipated and luxurious and hollowly on spirit. Whether it live he the dreamlike China, is abandoned by Daisy, treats for the society coldly, Cast the tragedy that can't retrieve at last.Gatsby is the typical American youth in the twenties. Experience of him whether joyous song smile at portrayal in" knight's times" of dance. Sweetheart Daisy of one's early years such as Gatsby marry rich and life dissolute Tom. For win Daisy, by buy to sell he wine accumulate first a large sum of wealth again He thought innocently : Can revive an old dream after having money, redeem the lost love .But he fails to gain Daisy's heart finally, has exhausted one's own emotion and ability and intelligence in order to pursue Daisy, Ruin one's own life finally. The illusion that Gatsby revived an old dream has gone for ever. The author composes a chilly and disappointed sad melody with the multicoloured note, leave somebody limitless thinking.

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇八
《菲茨杰拉德《了不起的盖茨比》书评》

Name_____Date_ Fiction Title

Author __Write the new vocabulary words you learned from this book.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10.

Setting: Tell about the time period this book takes place.

Main Characters

_______

Conflict or Problem

Events

1. 2.

3.

4.

Write a short summary about the book.

Conclusion

Fictional books always have main characters: Describe one main character in this book in detail. How did he/she look, what age was he/she, what was his/her personality like, etc.

Who is your favorite character?

Describe the character

What was the importance of this character to the story?

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇九
《了不起的盖茨比 读后感》

《了不起的盖茨比》是一部家喻户晓的美国小说，这部小说和它的作者菲茨杰拉德深深地影响了后来的一大批美国小说家如海明威、塞林格、卡波特，甚至连远隔重洋的日本当代小说家村上春树也十分钟爱这部小说，他在自己的小说中借主人公之言：“兴之所至，我便习惯性地从书架中抽出《了不起的盖茨比》，信手翻开一页，读上一段，一次都没让我失望过，没有一页使人兴味索然。何等妙不可言的杰作！”

《了不起的盖茨比》作为一部经典，在写作技巧上自有其成功之处，结构紧凑，文笔流畅，多运用象征手法，小说随着尼克的叙述展开，既有旁观者超然物外的姿态对现实讽刺批判，又能深入到小说人物之间，感受他们的悲欢。仅仅是文字和技巧方面的成就，就已让人爱不释手。

而一部作品若想成为经典，只靠文字和技巧上的成就是不够的，它必然要在思想层面上具有人类共同拥有的“精神内核”，从而无论是“爵士时代”还是“网络时代”的人们都可以从阅读中有所获得。

“美国梦”便是《了不起的盖茨比》的精神内核。

“美国梦”起源于殖民时期，本杰明•富兰克林曾提出关于追求个人主义，通过自力更生获得幸福的信条。也就是说，任何人，不论他的出身、种族及宗教信仰如何，凭借勇气、勤奋及运气，都能获得成功。 之所以称其为“美国梦”，不过是刚踏上“新大陆”的欧洲人，面对这片富饶的土地，相信他们的梦想可以在这片广阔的土地上实现。实际上，人人平等、公平竞争何尝不是人类共有的梦想。

而《了不起的盖茨比》却给狂热追求“美国梦”的人们泼了一盆冷水，“美国梦”本身并不是菲茨杰拉德责难的对象，菲茨杰拉德批判的是腐化堕落的“美国梦”，是变质为不择手段，追求金钱、追求恣意挥霍享乐的“美国梦”。

小说中尼克、盖茨比、汤姆和黛西都意图从中西部到东部去实现他们的梦想——对金钱、名誉、成功、刺激的追求。黛西不会嫁给一个一文不名的男人，她和汤姆的生活必须由豪华的房子、马球、旅游和每天盘算着如何打发时光构成；而盖茨比也只有在通过各种非法手段赚到大笔的钱，住进海滨别墅，过上一掷千金的生活之后，才感到自己有信心去“赢”回黛西——他的“美国梦”。

正是对这种已然“物质化”了的梦想的盲目追逐，使那个时代的人们陷入了一种缺乏洞察力的状态——追求由金钱、名誉堆砌的成功，却精神生活空虚，外表的繁华难以掩盖空洞、虚伪的社会风气。

盖茨比的悲剧在于他没有意识到他一生追求的“美国梦”的虚伪性和无意义性。作者在结尾也写到：“He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him…”盖茨比渴望用金钱赢回黛西的感情，但却意识不到一个如黛西一般的拜金女子已无真挚感情可言。对金钱的膜拜已使当时社会的大多数人冷酷无情，盖茨比生前宾客盈门，死后却无人参加葬礼，这就是对当时社会风气最大的讽刺。在这样一种社会风气中却痴情或纯情如盖茨比者，只能有悲剧性的结局。而正是因为盖茨不同于当时社会中的大多数人，还拥有自己纯真的梦想，所以才被菲茨杰拉德用“Great”来形容吧。

对梦想的追求是人类永恒的话题，有人狂热追求名利，有人也会为人类平等献出生命。而现实中梦想却极易物质化，追求金钱和优越的物质生活显然比追求人人平等、友爱有诱惑得多。但无论是何种境界的追求，归根结蒂，我认为还是追求精神方面的满足——这也是人不同于动物的方面。纯物质的追求永远不会给人深层次的满足，它只会使人欲望不断膨胀，在追求中丧失对人对己的洞察力，不知道自己真正需要的是什么，把对物质的追求当作自己的全部追求，结局只有更深重的失望。

《了不起的盖茨比》在叙述中不乏伤感的基调，主题思想似乎与时代的进取精神背道而驰，因此纵然是经典，也断然算不上书店里的畅销书。但正是这种冷眼旁观的文字，让人们在“积极进取”的同时，不妨稍停片刻，对自己所追求之物重新审视，不要在当前时代的风气中迷失方向。

菲茨杰拉德自己也了然，他能做的不过是一部小说，人类整体对物质的狂热是无法停滞的。 用《了不起的盖茨比》最后一句话作为结束，这也是刻在菲茨杰拉德墓碑上的文字：

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

盖茨比最终凄凉死去，无人流泪，无人哀悼。然而隔了半个多世纪，我们仍在为盖茨比扼腕，我们追随着他，甚至追随着码头对岸黛西家的那盏绿灯。我们看着盖茨比梦的破灭的同时，也审视了自己——到底什么才是我们的梦想，到底怎样的梦想才不至于让我们倒退？我们时时质问，却迟迟得不到回答。

或许每个人的心间，总是存在过这样的一盏绿灯，我们为之痴迷神往，如飞蛾扑火般的不顾一切。因为我们听到了它的召唤，仿佛一只无形的手，牢牢地抓住我们的命脉——唯有追逐，才得永恒——不管这个梦想，是有着气吞山河的盛大，还是小悲小喜的微末。我们永不会知道结局如何，也无需记挂，就好像盖茨比在跨出了第一步时，势必不会因为第二步的不可知而畏首畏尾。再是虚无的梦，即使存在就是一种幻灭，我们亦是小心翼翼地呵护。但凡我们的心说：“走吧，年轻人”，即使荆棘遍地，我们也要跋山涉水，逆流而上。

菲茨杰拉德曾说：“法国是一片土地，英国是一个民族，但是美国……是一颗赤子之心”我们从这颗赤子之心中看尽哀乐人间，同时也暗暗滋生出自己的梦想。在每一个晴朗的早晨，我们选择张开双臂，看得更远，跑得更快……

了不起的盖茨比书评英文篇十
《The Great Gatsby 了不起的盖茨比》

The Great Gatsby

1. Key Facts

AUTHOR • F. Scott Fitzgerald

GENRE • Modernist novel (modernism), Jazz Age novel, novel of manners

TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN • 1923–1924, America and France

NARRATOR • Nick Carraway; Carraway not only narrates the story but implies that he is the book’s author

POINT OF VIEW • Nick Carraway narrates in both first and third person, presenting only what he himself observes. Nick alternates sections where he presents events objectively, as they appeared to him at the time, with sections where he gives his own interpretations of the story’s meaning and of the motivations of the other characters.

TONE • Nick’s attitudes toward Gatsby and Gatsby’s story are ambivalent and contradictory. At times he seems to disapprove of Gatsby’s excesses and breaches of manners and ethics, but he also romanticizes and admires Gatsby, describing the events of the novel in a nostalgic and elegiac tone.

SETTING (TIME) • Summer 1922

SETTINGS (PLACE) • Long Island and New York City

-West Egg (where Gatsby and Nick lived; the less fashionable; new rich)

- East Egg (where the Buchanans lived, the fashionable; old money)

-The Valley of Ashes (where the Wilsons lived, the desolate wasteland)

- New York City (where anything went, money was made, bootleggers flourished, parties and affairs came one after another) PROTAGONIST(主角) • Gatsby and/or Nick

MAJOR CONFLICT • Gatsby has amassed a vast fortune in order to win the affections of the upper-class Daisy Buchanan, but his mysterious past stands in the way of his being accepted by her.

RISING ACTION • Gatsby’s lavish parties, Gatsby’s arrangement of a meeting with Daisy at Nick’s

CLIMAX • There are two possible climaxes: Gatsby’s reunion with Daisy in Chapters 5–6; the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom in the Plaza Hotel in Chapter 7.

FALLING ACTION • Daisy’s rejection of Gatsby, Myrtle’s death, Gatsby’s murder

THEMES • The decline of the American dream, the spirit of the 1920s, the difference between social classes, the role of symbols in the human conception of meaning, the role of the past in dreams of the future

MOTIFS • The connection between events and weather, the connection between geographical location and social values, images of time, extravagant parties, the quest for wealth

SYMBOLS • The green light on Daisy’s dock, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg, the valley of ashes, Gatsby’s parties, East Egg, West Egg

FORESHADOWING • The car wreck after Gatsby’s party in Chapter 3, Owl Eyes’s comments about the theatricality of Gatsby’s life, the mysterious telephone calls Gatsby receives from Chicago and Philadelphia

STRUCTURE • using flashback; combination of the past and the present

2. Analysis of Major Characters

Jay Gatsby

The title character of The Great Gatsby is a young man, around thirty years old, who rose from an impoverished childhood in rural North Dakota to become fabulously wealthy. However, he achieved this lofty goal by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. From his early youth, Gatsby despised poverty and longed for wealth and sophistication—he dropped out of St. Olaf’s College after only two weeks because he could not bear the janitorial job with which he was paying his tuition. Though Gatsby has always wanted to be rich, his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for Daisy Buchanan, whom he met as a young military officer in Louisville before leaving to fight in World War I in 1917. Gatsby immediately fell in love with Daisy’s aura of luxury, grace, and charm, and lied to her about his own background in order to convince her that he was good enough for her. Daisy promised to wait for him when he left for the war, but married Tom Buchanan in 1919, while Gatsby was studying at Oxford after the war in an attempt to gain an education. From that moment on, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, and his acquisition of millions of dollars, his purchase of a gaudy mansion on West Egg, and his lavish weekly parties are all merely means to that end.

Fitzgerald delays the introduction of most of this information until fairly late in the novel. Gatsby’s reputation precedes him—Gatsby himself does not appear in a speaking role until Chapter III. Fitzgerald initially presents Gatsby as the aloof,

enigmatic host of the unbelievably opulent parties thrown every week at his mansion. He appears surrounded by spectacular luxury, courted by powerful men and beautiful women. He is the subject of a whirlwind of gossip throughout New York and is already a kind of legendary celebrity before he is ever introduced to the reader. Fitzgerald propels the novel forward through the early chapters by shrouding Gatsby’s background and the source of his wealth in mystery (the reader learns about Gatsby’s childhood in Chapter VI and receives definitive proof of his criminal dealings in Chapter VII). As a result, the reader’s first, distant impressions of Gatsby strike quite a different note from that of the lovesick, naive young man who emerges during the later part of the novel.

Fitzgerald uses this technique of delayed character revelation to emphasize the theatrical quality of Gatsby’s approach to life, which is an important part of his personality. Gatsby has literally created his own character, even changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby to represent his reinvention of himself. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality; at the beginning of the novel, he appears to the reader just as he desires to appear to the world. This talent for self-invention is what gives Gatsby his quality of ―greatness‖: indeed, the title ―The Great Gatsby‖ is reminiscent of billings for such vaudeville magicians as ―The Great Houdini‖ and ―The Great Blackstone,‖ suggesting that the persona of Jay Gatsby is a masterful illusion.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.

As the novel progresses and Fitzgerald deconstructs Gatsby’s self-presentation, Gatsby reveals himself to be an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams, not realizing that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations. His dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption that wealth causes and the unworthiness of the goal, much in the way Fitzgerald sees the American dream crumbling in the 1920s, as America’s powerful optimism, vitality, and individualism become subordinated to the amoral pursuit of wealth.

Gatsby is contrasted most consistently with Nick. Critics point out that the former, passionate and active, and the latter, sober and reflective, seem to represent two sides of Fitzgerald’s personality. Additionally, whereas Tom is a cold-hearted, aristocratic bully, Gatsby is a loyal and good-hearted man. Though his lifestyle and attitude differ greatly from those of George Wilson, Gatsby and Wilson share the fact that they both lose their love interest to Tom.

Nick Carraway

If Gatsby represents one part of Fitzgerald’s personality, the flashy celebrity who pursued and glorified wealth in order to impress the woman he loved, then Nick represents another part: the quiet, reflective Midwesterner adrift in the lurid East. A young man (he turns thirty during the course of the novel) from Minnesota, Nick travels to New York in 1922 to learn the bond business. He lives in the West Egg district of Long Island, next door to Gatsby. Nick is also Daisy’s cousin, which enables him to observe and assist the resurgent love affair between Daisy and Gatsby. As a result of his relationship to these two characters, Nick is the perfect choice to narrate the novel, which functions as a personal memoir of his experiences with Gatsby in the summer of 1922. Nick is also well suited to narrating The Great Gatsby because of his temperament. As he tells the reader in Chapter I, he is tolerant, open-minded, quiet, and a good listener, and, as a result, others tend to talk to him and tell him their secrets. Gatsby, in particular, comes to trust him and treat him as a confidant. Nick generally assumes a secondary role throughout the novel, preferring to describe and comment on events rather than dominate the action. Often, however, he functions as Fitzgerald’s voice, as in his extended meditation on time and the American dream at the end of Chapter IX.

Insofar as Nick plays a role inside the narrative, he evidences a strongly mixed reaction to life on the East Coast, one that creates a powerful internal conflict that he does not resolve until the end of the book. On the one hand, Nick is attracted to the fast-paced, fun-driven lifestyle of New York. On the other hand, he finds that lifestyle grotesque and damaging. This inner conflict is symbolized throughout the book by Nick’s romantic affair with Jordan Baker. He is attracted to her vivacity and her sophistication just as he is repelled by her dishonesty and her lack of consideration for other people.

Nick states that there is a ―quality of distortion‖ to life in New York, and this lifestyle makes him lose his equilibrium, especially early in the novel, as when he gets drunk at Gatsby’s party in Chapter II. After witnessing the unraveling of Gatsby’s dream and presiding over the appalling spectacle of Gatsby’s funeral, Nick realizes that the fast life of revelry on the East Coast is a cover for the terrifying moral emptiness that the valley of ashes symbolizes. Having gained the maturity that this insight demonstrates, he returns to Minnesota in search of a quieter life structured by more traditional moral values.

Daisy Buchanan

Partially based on Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, Daisy is a beautiful young woman from Louisville, Kentucky. She is Nick’s cousin and the object of Gatsby’s love. As a young debutante in Louisville, Daisy was extremely popular among the military officers

stationed near her home, including Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lied about his background to Daisy, claiming to be from a wealthy family in order to convince her that he was worthy of her. Eventually, Gatsby won Daisy’s heart, and they made love before Gatsby left to fight in the war. Daisy promised to wait for Gatsby, but in 1919 she chose instead to marry Tom Buchanan, a young man from a solid, aristocratic family who could promise her a wealthy lifestyle and who had the support of her parents.

After 1919, Gatsby dedicated himself to winning Daisy back, making her the single goal of all of his dreams and the main motivation behind his acquisition of immense wealth through criminal activity. To Gatsby, Daisy represents the paragon of perfection—she has the aura of charm, wealth, sophistication, grace, and aristocracy that he longed for as a child in North Dakota and that first attracted him to her. In reality, however, Daisy falls far short of Gatsby’s ideals. She is beautiful and charming, but also fickle, shallow, bored, and sardonic. Nick characterizes her as a careless person who smashes things up and then retreats behind her money. Daisy proves her real nature when she chooses Tom over Gatsby in Chapter VII, then allows Gatsby to take the blame for killing Myrtle Wilson even though she herself was driving the car. Finally, rather than attend Gatsby’s funeral, Daisy and Tom move away, leaving no forwarding address.

Like Zelda Fitzgerald, Daisy is in love with money, ease, and material luxury. She is capable of affection (she seems genuinely fond of Nick and occasionally seems to love Gatsby sincerely), but not of sustained loyalty or care. She is indifferent even to her own infant daughter, never discussing her and treating her as an afterthought when she is introduced in Chapter VII. In Fitzgerald’s conception of America in the 1920s, Daisy represents the amoral values of the aristocratic East Egg set.

3. Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

1) The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s

On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess.

Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals. When World War I ended in 1918, the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America seem like stuffy, empty hypocrisy. The dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained increase in the national wealth and a newfound materialism, as people began to spend and consume at unprecedented levels. A person from any social background could, potentially, make a fortune, but the American aristocracy—families with old wealth—scorned the newly rich industrialists and speculators. Additionally, the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, which banned the sale of alcohol, created a thriving underworld designed to satisfy the massive demand for bootleg liquor among rich and poor alike.

Fitzgerald positions the characters of The Great Gatsby as emblems of these social trends. Nick and Gatsby, both of whom fought in World War I, exhibit the newfound cosmopolitanism and cynicism that resulted from the war. The various social climbers and ambitious speculators who attend Gatsby’s parties evidence the greedy scramble for wealth. The clash between ―old money‖ and ―new money‖ manifests itself in the novel’s symbolic geography: East Egg represents the established aristocracy, West Egg the self-made rich. Meyer Wolfshiem and Gatsby’s fortune symbolize the rise of organized crime and bootlegging.

As Fitzgerald saw it (and as Nick explains in Chapter IX), the American dream was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. In the 1920s depicted in the novel, however, easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted this dream, especially on the East Coast. The main plotline of the novel reflects this assessment, as Gatsby’s dream of loving Daisy is ruined by the difference in their respective social statuses, his resorting to crime to make enough money to impress her, and the rampant materialism that characterizes her lifestyle. Additionally, places and objects in The Great Gatsby have meaning only because characters instill them with meaning: the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg best exemplify this idea. In Nick’s mind, the ability to create meaningful symbols constitutes a central component of the American dream, as early Americans invested their new nation with their own ideals and values.

Nick compares the green bulk of America rising from the ocean to the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. Just as

Americans have given America meaning through their dreams for their own lives, Gatsby instills Daisy with a kind of idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor possesses. Gatsby’s dream is ruined by the unworthiness of its object, just as the American dream in the 1920s is ruined by the unworthiness of its object—money and pleasure. Like 1920s Americans in general, fruitlessly seeking a bygone era in which their dreams had value, Gatsby longs to re-create a vanished past—his time in Louisville with Daisy—but is incapable of doing so. When his dream crumbles, all that is left for Gatsby to do is die; all Nick can do is move back to Minnesota, where American values have not decayed.

2) The Hollowness of the Upper Class

One of the major topics explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce, and does not pick up on subtle social signals, such as the insincerity of the Sloanes’ invitation to lunch. In contrast, the old aristocracy possesses grace, taste, subtlety, and elegance, epitomized by the Buchanans’ tasteful home and the flowing white dresses of Daisy and Jordan Baker.

What the old aristocracy possesses in taste, however, it seems to lack in heart, as the East Eggers prove themselves careless, inconsiderate bullies who are so used to money’s ability to ease their minds that they never worry about hurting others. The Buchanans exemplify this stereotype when, at the end of the novel, they simply move to a new house far away rather than condescend to attend Gatsby’s funeral. Gatsby, on the other hand, whose recent wealth derives from criminal activity, has a sincere and loyal heart, remaining outside Daisy’s window until four in the morning in Chapter VII simply to make sure that Tom does not hurt her. Ironically, Gatsby’s good qualities (loyalty and love) lead to his death, as he takes the blame for killing Myrtle rather than letting Daisy be punished, and the Buchanans’ bad qualities (fickleness and selfishness) allow them to remove themselves from the tragedy not only physically but psychologically.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. Geography

Throughout the novel, places and settings epitomize the various aspects of the 1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the uninhibited, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West (including Midwestern and northern areas such as Minnesota) is connected to more traditional social values and ideals. Nick’s analysis in Chapter IX of the story he has related reveals his sensitivity to this dichotomy: though it is set in the East, the story is really one of the West, as it tells how people originally from west of the Appalachians (as all of the main characters are) react to the pace and style of life on the East Coast.

Weather

As in much of Shakespeare’s work, the weather in The Great Gatsby unfailingly matches the emotional and narrative tone of the story. Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion begins amid a pouring rain, proving awkward and melancholy; their love reawakens just as the sun begins to come out. Gatsby’s climactic confrontation with Tom occurs on the hottest day of the summer, under the scorching sun (like the fatal encounter between Mercutio and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet). Wilson kills Gatsby on the first day of autumn, as Gatsby floats in his pool despite a palpable chill in the air—a symbolic attempt to stop time and restore his relationship with Daisy to the way it was five years before, in 1917.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Green Light

Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, and in Chapter I he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. Because Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American dream, the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal. In Chapter IX, Nick compares the green light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of the new nation.

The Valley of Ashes

First introduced in Chapter II, the valley of ashes between West Egg and New York City consists of a long stretch of desolate land created by the dumping of industrial ashes. It represents the moral and social decay that results from the uninhibited pursuit

of wealth, as the rich indulge themselves with regard for nothing but their own pleasure. The valley of ashes also symbolizes the plight of the poor, like George Wilson, who live among the dirty ashes and lose their vitality as a result.

The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg

The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are a pair of fading, bespectacled eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. They may represent God staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland, though the novel never makes this point explicitly. Instead, throughout the novel, Fitzgerald suggests that symbols only have meaning because characters instill them with meaning. The connection between the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg and God exists only in George Wilson’s grief-stricken mind. This lack of concrete significance contributes to the unsettling nature of the image. Thus, the eyes also come to represent the essential meaninglessness of the world and the arbitrariness of the mental process by which people invest objects with meaning. Nick explores these ideas in Chapter VIII, when he imagines Gatsby’s final thoughts as a depressed consideration of the emptiness of symbols and dreams.

4. Analysis of Chapter3

Summary

One of the reasons that Gatsby has become so famous around New York is that he throws elaborate parties every weekend at his mansion, lavish spectacles to which people long to be invited. One day, Gatsby’s chauffeur brings Nick an invitation to one of these parties. At the appointed time, Nick makes the short walk to Gatsby’s house and joins the festivities, feeling somewhat out of place amid the throng of jubilant strangers. Guests mill around exchanging rumors about their host—no one seems to know the truth about Gatsby’s wealth or personal history. Nick runs into Jordan Baker, whose friend, Lucille, speculates that Gatsby was a German spy during the war. Nick also hears that Gatsby is a graduate of Oxford and that he once killed a man in cold blood.

Gatsby’s party is almost unbelievably luxurious: guests marvel over his Rolls-Royce, his swimming pool, his beach, crates of fresh oranges and lemons, buffet tents in the gardens overflowing with a feast, and a live orchestra playing under the stars. Liquor flows freely, and the crowd grows rowdier and louder as more and more guests get drunk. In this atmosphere of opulence and revelry, Nick and Jordan, curious about their host, set out to find Gatsby. Instead, they run into a middle-aged man with huge, owl-eyed spectacles (whom Nick dubs Owl Eyes) who sits poring over the unread books in Gatsby’s library.

At midnight, Nick and Jordan go outside to watch the entertainment. They sit at a table with a handsome young man who says that Nick looks familiar to him; they realize that they served in the same division during the war. The man introduces himself as none other than Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s speech is elaborate and formal, and he has a habit of calling everyone ―old sport.‖ As the party progresses, Nick becomes increasingly fascinated with Gatsby. He notices that Gatsby does not drink and that he keeps himself separate from the party, standing alone on the marble steps, watching his guests in silence.

At two o’clock in the morning, as husbands and wives argue over whether to leave, a butler tells Jordan that Gatsby would like to see her. Jordan emerges from her meeting with Gatsby saying that she has just heard something extraordinary. Nick says goodbye to Gatsby, who goes inside to take a phone call from Philadelphia. Nick starts to walk home. On his way, he sees Owl Eyes struggling to get his car out of a ditch. Owl Eyes and another man climb out of the wrecked automobile, and Owl Eyes drunkenly declares that he washes his hands of the whole business.

Nick then proceeds to describe his everyday life, to prove that he does more with his time than simply attend parties. He works in New York City, through which he also takes long walks, and he meets women. After a brief relationship with a girl from Jersey City, Nick follows the advice of Daisy and Tom and begins seeing Jordan Baker. Nick says that Jordan is fundamentally a dishonest person; he even knows that she cheated in her first golf tournament. Nick feels attracted to her despite her dishonesty, even though he himself claims to be one of the few honest people he has ever known.

He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. Analysis

At the beginning of this chapter, Gatsby’s party brings 1920s wealth and glamour into full focus, showing the upper class at its most lavishly opulent. The rich, both socialites from East Egg and their coarser counterparts from West Egg, cavort without restraint. As his depiction of the differences between East Egg and West Egg evidences, Fitzgerald is fascinated with the social hierarchy and mood of America in the 1920s, when a large group of industrialists, speculators, and businessmen with brand-new fortunes joined the old, aristocratic families at the top of the economic ladder. The ―new rich‖ lack the refinement, manners, and taste of the ―old rich‖ but long to break into the polite society of the East Eggers. In this scenario, Gatsby is again an enigma—though he lives in a garishly ostentatious West Egg mansion, East Eggers freely attend his parties. Despite the tensions between the two groups, the blend of East and West Egg creates a distinctly American mood. While the Americans at the party possess a rough vitality, the Englishmen there are set off dramatically, seeming desperate and predatory, hoping to make connections that

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