My first impression of The Great Gatsby was that it was sort of boring. Chapter one was mildly difficult to understand, and it just confused me! I realized a while ago that when I have to read things for school, I go about it completely differently than I go about reading some random book just for fun. I read it in a critical way, always looking for things to write down in my journal. But if I read things for school the way I’d read a book like Twilight, just for fun, then I absorb so much more. That’s how I decided to approach The Great Gatsby. After the first couple of pages, I realized that if I stopped counting page numbers till the end of the chapter, it’d go by much faster, and it really did. I really got into the book in chapter two. The parties and drinking weren’t anything I’d ever thought we’d read about in school, of all places. I really like this kind of book, because you actually have to think, in order to retain anything you’ve read. You have to read between the lines, and infer from the text any subplots that might exist. The only part in chapter two that really sort of confused me was the very end, when Nick is with Mr. McKee in the elevator, and then it switches to the next scene when they are both in Mr. McKee’s bedroom, and McKee is looking at his portfolio of photographs.
One part that really shocked me was when Tom broke Myrtle’s nose. It was just so uncalled for. I think he might have done it because he’s ashamed of the fact that he’s cheating on Daisy. Even though adultery is something that is generally done by choice, in this case…It might not have been something he was 100% secure with doing. When Myrtle starts shouting Daisy’s name, it makes Tom livid. Granted, it was childish of Myrtle to take it that far, but Tom shouldn’t have reacted so rashly.
A second part that confused me was the whole Doctor T. J. Eckleburg billboard. After asking about it, Mr. Fiorini really cleared things up for me. A) it’s a billboard, B) the idea that T. J. Eckleburg is a god-like figure, omnipotent in his glasses, was brought to my attention. Maybe that will become more evident later in the book??
Dani, I agree with your whole first paragraph on reading this novel and reading another book for my own personal enjoyment such as Twilight. The rest of your Journal was really descriptive on parts of the book that were very confusing, and I liked how you put your feelings and emotions into your writing.
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