Is Gatsby Truly Great?

I think a literary work is like an Iceberg. What’s on the surface might be great, it might even be majestic, but when you dig deep you realize how truly marvelous it really is.

Many things can be said about The Great Gatsby. No other novel has invaded my life so profoundly. The thing is, I never would have read it unless I wasn’t forced to. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great book that oozes with character. But year after academic year teachers will add it to their curriculum. It’s a literary work because people SAY it is. People BELIEVE it is, and that’s what’s important. 

Here are a couple reasons why it’s a literary work. The Great Gatsby has a wide spectrum of characters that are all somehow related. I think the best example of this is the relationship between Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson and George Wilson. At the surface, it’s a love story between a man and a woman. But when you dig deep you see the so much more than that. It’s the American Dream, It’s idealism in an abysmal time, it’s hope and love and courage —in 5 characters.

I don’t even know how to describe the mix of characters properly. I guess it’s kind of like a mixed drink. Sour, sweet and in charge of the senses.

The book was ahead of its time. It talked about the moral issues of the time. Commenting on the unabashed ostentation of the 1920s. You see this in the parties that Gatsby throws and the world he has bitten his teeth into.

This is a book that was contemporary but also timeless. The poor will always have their plight and the rich will have their emptiness and it’s up to the people of the time to do something about it. I think that’s what makes this novel great. It has a wonderful surface story but once you dig deep. You realize it’s a rather large iceberg.