The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Summer Reading Response

          The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a classic of American literature that shows what it was like to live in the 20's, what love can do to a man, and that wealth can't buy everything. It's a great book with dozens of interesting parts, themes, and symbols, but what really interested me was how unique each character was. The character the most intriguing and mysterious is Gatsby, who's many different facets are exposed throughout the book. He goes from being the composed and mysterious man with his lavish parties to a man madly and desperately in love, and finally a lonely man clinging on to a last thread of hope that his loved one will return.
           When Nick and the reader first truly meet Gatsby, it's at one of his large parties, where Nick talks with him without even knowing that he is Gatsby. He's a mysterious, friendly and extremely wealthy gentleman whom his guests whisper about, with crazy theories about him, like being a German spy in World War II. Nobody really knows who he is and where he got his wealth from. Throughout the book Gatsby's past is revealed. At first, he lies to Nick and tells him he inherited his wealth from his family, but later in the book he tells the true story of his past. Born to a poor family he made his own living, but once in a while something in the book hints that his business is illegal, showing us he isn't the perfect gentleman he seems like from the outside. But of course, the most intriguing part of Gatsby's character is how madly in love he is for a woman he hasn't seen for decades.
          Under Gatsby's layer of class and polish there is a desperate man. He loved Daisy before he went off to war, and he comes back just to find she has married another man. Devastated, he buys a house across from hers and does nothing but wait, hoping she'll come over until Nick comes along. Nick has Gatsby and Daisy meet up at his house, which results in a shocked Daisy and a incredibly nervous Gatsby. After a while, Tom notices their relationship, and Gatsby tells him Daisy never loved him. Gatsby is desperate to take Daisy back, and its almost pathetic how crazy he is over it. Most of his life has revolved around her, and he starts taking it to far. I think that the whole time, since the beginning, it was doomed to end badly. When Daisy leaves with Tom, Gatsby has the life sucked out of him, and he turns into a desperate and lonely man. Daisy was his lifeline and since the beginning, you could tell that deep inside, Gatsby was vulnerable. Once Gatsby dies, the only ones at his funeral are Nick and Gatsby's father. Nobody else shows up, not even Daisy or anyone from his dozens of parties. It seemed as if he would never be alone, that his wealth and his love for Daisy would make it that everyone would care when he did, but in the end he finishes deserted.