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A Tumblr person posted about his difficulty in trying to enjoy "The Great Gatsby". He had read it a couple of times, but the novel does not click for him. He asked for tips that might help him get more out of the book. He received a pretty good answer.
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The way I would recommend anyone approaching The Great Gatsby is to look at it as a warning. The characters are purposefully written to be shallow - representatives of how hollow the dream they search for is. The fact that there is a valley of ashes through which everyone passes is symbolic. It's not a text you can enjoy from the point of view of it being a good tale. But it is a good warning about searching after empty dreams. And the writing is so poetic.
-- Tumblr
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I feel that something important is missing from that. The wealthy people, the people born and steeped in it, your Tom and Daisy Buchanan and that lot. They aren't chasing dreams. They are it. The pinnacle of civilized society. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They are shallow and brutal. Or maybe this should be taken as a statement on the whole idea of the American dream.
_ _ _
The way I would recommend anyone approaching The Great Gatsby is to look at it as a warning. The characters are purposefully written to be shallow - representatives of how hollow the dream they search for is. The fact that there is a valley of ashes through which everyone passes is symbolic. It's not a text you can enjoy from the point of view of it being a good tale. But it is a good warning about searching after empty dreams. And the writing is so poetic.
-- Tumblr
_ _ _
I feel that something important is missing from that. The wealthy people, the people born and steeped in it, your Tom and Daisy Buchanan and that lot. They aren't chasing dreams. They are it. The pinnacle of civilized society. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They are shallow and brutal. Or maybe this should be taken as a statement on the whole idea of the American dream.
