'The Great Gatsby' Reading journal, chapter one

In the opening paragraph, we are aware that the story is being told in first person. This is clear as the narrator, Nick Carraway, beings the book with the words 'In my'. He then goes on to share what is to be a sentence that details the reader with something about his personalty - 'Whenever you feel like criticising anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had'. He even goes on to say that he is 'inclined to reserve all judgments' which further suggests that as a character, he is not judgmental and that he respectful of everyone around him. However, this statement soon becomes one to question, as the text makes it quite clear that he is in fact, judgmental. This is proven when he states that he has an 'unaffected scorn' towards Gatsby, and that he as titled the entire book because of him - obviously this means that Gatsby has dome something quite significant and memorable and therefore he reflects on him with some from if disrespect, which instantly makes Nick judgmental. Also, later on in the paragraph, he goes on state that 'Gatsby turned out all right in the end' which implies that somewhere in the story, Gatsby took some form of drastic action that Nick found to be unpleasant, but in the long run, wasn't actually that bad. This makes me question - 'What did Gatsby do that was considered to be 'not alright'?' In the final sentence of this paragraph, Nick makes it clear that Gatsby did so something significant and memorable, but disguises what it is exactly in his choice of wording - 'what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and and short-winded elations of men'.

In the next paragraph, Nick goes on to tell the reader about his family. He says that the Carraways are traditionally 'descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch', a royal, historical and prestigious Scottish name, and that the 'actual founder' of his line in the family was has 'grandfather's brother' and that he also started the hardware business that Nick's farther continues to run at the time of writing. I begin to get bothered by Nick at this point as it seems that he has become distracted from telling the story of Gatsby - a tale that looked like that it was coming up shortly at the end of the last paragraph. Now, it just seems as if he is bringing up irrelevant manners about himself and his family. What I have enjoyed, however, is Nick's ability to inform the reader of location and time - he provides figures throughout the chapter, such as 'I graduated from New Haven in 1915' and 'I came East, permanently, I thought, in the spring of twenty-two'. This also tells us something about him. New Haven is a very prestigious university in America, so this suggests that Nick is quite a wealthy character. He also mentions that that he learned 'the bond business' which has a lot to do with business and statistical figures, and that 'Everybody I knew was in the Bond Business'. This makes me feel that Nick is in no way a unique character, he is simply following the bond business because everyone he knows does it, he simply follows the latest trend. He mentions that it was his farther that financed him for a year and that is why he was able to do all of this - which again takes away any sense of independence from Nick. He talks of himself very highly, but reveals that he had a lot of support for nearly every aspect of what he has achieved.

He continues to share information about himself, but again I cannot help at this point but ask this - is he sharing? or is he bragging? It just seems as if that the reader does not nee to know that that Nick was 'rather literary in college'. He makes another interesting statement, I find, when he says 'life is much more successfully looked at for a single window, after all'. He could be looking at the world from a financial aspect, thinking that if you a specialize in one aspect, you'll be much more likely to find job and financial security. However, this could also be viewed as Nick being narrow-minded and unadventurous because by only having knowledge in one area of something, you are automatically limiting your own knowledge. Nick then uses a metaphor to describe the class divide of West Egg and East Egg. He describes them as 'identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay' meaning that while in terms of landscape they may appear strikingly similar, they actually both contain a missive difference in terms of personality. West Egg is apparently 'the less fashionable of the two' so he means to say that it is a dull place. In terms of narrative, we can see that he quickly changes between present and past tense when he says 'It was Gatsby's mansion. Or, rather, as I didn't know Mr Gatsby, it was a mansion inhabited by a gentlemen of that name'. It seems that Nick uses far more complex language than is required of him when he says 'consoling proximity of millionaires - all for eighty dollars a month.' He could have easily used a much simpler form of wording here, it is as if he is trying to 'fit in' with the wealthy friends he has that are soon introduced, which makes Nick's personality potentially false. This next sentence, however, agitates me a great deal as it confirms my previous thoughts of Nick bringing up irrelevant subjects - 'the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans'. It looks likes Nick is only just begging to tell the story of Gatsby now, which imposes the question - if you are only just starting the story now, what have you been telling us for the past few pages?' Again Nick proves that he is judgmental character when he said he wasn't when he says that Daisy is his 'second cousin once removed' and that he had known Tom since college. He draws more attention to his own family, making himself appear obsessive about status.

Nick goes on to speak a bit more about about Tom. he states that Tom has 'brought down a string of polo ponies' with him, which, and still is today, considered a sport only to be open to the most wealthy of characters, and therefore gives me the impression that Tom is a wealthy character himself. Nick shows both jealousy and confusion towards him, stating that 'it was hard to realize that a man in my own generation was wealthy enough to do that'. Mick makes it sound as if his 'generation' of young people were nowhere near as wealthy as Nick was during his college years, so therefore it is a mystery as to how he has been able to afford the things that he has. Nick also gives the reader the first visual description of Tom. 'Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch'. This creates quite a cinematic picture - it sounds as if Tom is very much powerful and confident. However, Fitzgerald's writing style makes use of vague descriptions - it is as if he wants the reader to be picturing the action taking place in the story in their heads. 'Just because I'm stronger and more of a man than you are' is one of the first sentences that the reader hears from Tom. Instantly, I think that he is a very arrogant man, he is obviously keen to point out what he thinks is so great about himself. Once again, we see that Nick is a character that is easily distracted when he goes on to describe the two women (Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker) sat on a couch at at Tom and Daisy's house. He pays a lot of attention to the 'rippling and fluttering' of their white dresses, and makes a note of the sound he hears 'the whip and snap of the curtains'. I wonder if this entire passage needed to be shared with the reader or not - Nick could have easily gone on with the narrative of the story instead engulfing his mind into something irrelevant to the tale of Gatsby once again.

We soon get our first impressions of Daisy, and they seem to be very false. This is obvious when Nick details that she looked up into his face as if 'there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see. That was a way she had.' It seems like she only engages in this sort of activity for fun, and to trick who she is addressing as Nick has said. Daisy also appears to be very self-obsessed as well - When Nick tells her that he had 'stopped off in Chicago' on his way to the East, 'a dozen people had sent their love through me'. The first question that Daisy asks Nick is 'do they miss me?' which shows that she not interested in his story, she is only interested in finding out how 'missed' she is. She wants it to be all about her. In response to this, Nick humors her, saying that 'the whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath...'. What Nick is saying is that without Daisy, chaos breaks lose, and Daisy obviously finds this to be a rewarding thing to learn. She responded with 'How gougers!'. She is simply delighted at what Nick has told her, unaware that he is only humoring her, and it again proves that she is very concise about herself. Next, it appears that Tom is also an impatient character, as well as arrogant, when the text says that he has been 'hovering restlessly about the room'. The image that is created for me here of Tom, pacing up and down the room rapidly, with his arms crossed, and stopping every so often to sigh in an aid to show his frustration. It also appears as if he is rather 'manly' - he next 'rested his hand on my shoulder' says Nick. Here, the image I see is of Nick appearing quite casual, quite relaxed, and suddenly Nick comes along and placed his hand on his shoulder unexpectedly, possibly making Nick jump.

Daisy continues to chatter and draw attention to herself she she complains with 'Look! I hurt it!'. She is indicating her little finger, which is 'black and blue' from the bruising it has endured. She states that Tom was the one who caused it, stating that 'I know you didn't mean to, but you did do it'. During the 1920's in the US, however, the treatment of women was very poor and they were just seen as being objects, so it more likely that Tom did mean to do it, weather she had aggravated him in some way or not. He sees Daisy as one of his possession, like a trophy or a candle, and feels that he can do whatever he wants with it. Daisy, however, is aware that Tom won't be happy by making him look like an inflicter of pain, so she attempts to compliment him, say that he is a 'brute of a man, a great, big, hulking, physical specimen of a-' Tom interprets, showing that he is clearly not pleased with her comments when he says 'I hate that word hulking'. I think that this is because he has seen that Daisy in trying to make him look like a villain in the eyes of Nick and Jordan, and Daisy goes to insist the word 'hulking'. I noted earlier that Daisy is one to draw attention to herself and manipulate her guests, apparently for fun and to get herself attention. However, based on what she has said about the way Tom treats her, It may well not be for fun as I earlier thought - it cold well be a distress call. She is unhappy it the way that Tom treats her, and therefore wants attention out of insecurity, so when she looked at Nick earlier as if 'there was no in the world that she so much wanted to see' this could have been out of desperation, maybe she wants someone to talk to, away from the eyes of her violent husband.

Nick tells Daisy that she makes him feel 'uncivilized', over his 'second glass of corky'. His choice of adjectives seem far more expressive about sense than need be. Tom once again impatiently interrupts and goes to express views of racism and white supremacy. He has been influenced by a book called 'The Rise of the Coloured Empire'. This, accompanied with his comment of 'It's up to us, who are dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things' tells the reader Tom doesn't just want control of Daisy, he also wants the entire white race to be in control of society. Daisy then whispers 'We've got to beat them down'. However, I do not believe that Daisy shares the same views on this manner as Tom does, as the text details that she is 'winking ferociously toward the fervent sun'. Daisy sees how intense Tom's opinion is, armed with the intensity of the sun, and feels that she has to support Tom - she fears that if she doesn't, she may suffer another violent attack from Tom. As well learning that Tom treats Daisy poorly, we next learn that he also having an affair with another women - 'Tom's got some women in New York' says Jordan, which furthers to idea of Tom only seeing women as objects - just as he feel sees that it is fit to own more than one, say, candle, he also feels it is fit to 'own' more than one women.

Daisy then tells Nick about the birth of her daughter. She tells him that when the baby was born and she found out that it was a girl, she turned her head away 'and wept'. she further expressed that she hopes that her daughter will 'be a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world - a beautiful little fool'. Because Daisy herself has been treated poorly by Tom, she is expressing her fears for her daughter, thinking that she will have to endure what she has endured. Women, as I said earlier, were simply seen as objects during the 1920's - they could as pretty as they wanted to be, but they were still treated like objects. This could also mean that Daisy wants her daughter to be as pretty as she can be - she thinks that she will have a great deal of mistreatment to deal with, so she wants her daughter to have at least one things that she can feel good about - her looks. Daisy then express that 'everything's terrible anyhow...And I know. I've been everywhere and seen everything and done everything'. Nick then comments that he felt 'uneasy' when he felt 'the basic insincerity of what she had said'. This suggests that Daisy has made Nick realize an horrible truth about the society in which they live in - she has painted a grim reality for him taking away the sense that society is okay or, as Nick puts it, 'as though the whole evening had been a trick a trick of some sort to exact a contributory emotion from me'. Daisy has expressed that she is trapped in this world and that there is nothing she can do about it - she simply has to nod along to whatever Tom says and hide her true feelings. I find that this is best expressed in the following text: 'she looked at me with an absolute smirk on her lovely face, as if she had asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society to which she and Tom belonged.' The cinematic picture that this creates is of Daisy, desperately telling Nick about how she needs help. Suddenly Tom enters, and it is as if nothing was wrong - she suddenly becomes happy, showing know trace of sadness in her expression.

In the closing section of the chapter, Nick realises who Mrs Barker actually is - 'Oh - you're Jordan Barker'. It is revealed that Nick remembers her for her well-known sporting career and 'a critical, unpleasant story, but what it was I had forgotten long ago'. This sentence, along with many others, lets the reader know that Nick's perspective, which the story is being told from, is unreliable and faulty. He tells the story entirely from memory, and as he cannot remember the 'critical' and unpleasant' story he had of Jordan Barker, I can't help but question - is there anything else that he has forgotten? perhaps something that is incredibly vital to the understanding of this story? Jordan then departs, saying goodnight to everyone. However, when she addresses Nick, Daisy responds for him saying that they will most certainly see each other again soon, and 'arrange a marriage' for them, and 'fling you together. You know - lock you up accidentally in... all that sort of thing'. Daisy is making a clear innuendo towards the fact that she wants Nick and Daisy to have a romantic relationship. It is as if she is making this decision for Nick as well - she sees something that she think fits, so therefore she will do her best to make it fit. Jordan responds with 'I haven't heard a word' which paints the image of a women playing 'hard to get', or with a sarcastic but soothing tone of voice. either way, I can imagine her expresses these feeling towards Nick, in a flirty manner. Tom again expresses his supremacist views, but this time, towards men over women, by saying that Jordan's family 'oughtn't let her run around the country this way.' meaning that he disagrees with not just her sense of freedom, the feeling that all being free - he thinks that women are objects and should be restrained, as I mentioned earlier. Daisy further insists that Nick and Jordan must start a romantic relationship, saying that 'Nick's going to look after her, aren't you, Nick?' although she is asking Nick a question, it seems like he does not get a say in the matter - Daisy just wants them to be a couple, and, If I were to picture the dialogue being spoken in real life, I could imagine Daisy using a confident, yet patronizing tone of voice and directly looking at Nick. In her mind, she would have already answered the question for him (yes) and she would be looking at him with a wide smile, lightly nodding her head. She would have forced Nick to say yes. Daisy says that Jordan is from Louisville and that they formed their friendship there ('our white girlhood was passed together there.') This expands on the sense that, compared to Daisy, Jordan is in fact quite a free character, as Louisville, geographically, is quite distant from New York.

Getting towards the end of this chapter and Nick is about to go home. Before he does this, however, Daisy and Tom stop him, and tell him that that had heard that Nick had become engaged to someone in the Mid-West. Nick denies this (It's a libel. I'm too poor.') Daisy then says that had heard of this 'from three people, so it must be true.'. Nick then responses by saying something that both bothers and interests me somewhat about his character - 'I knew what they were referring to, but I wasn't even vaguely engaged'. This bothers me because it find it is suggesting that Nick is hiding something about his character - does he have relations with someone in the West that for whatever reason he does nut want to share with us? This could also be a use of play-on words, in another sense. This well could be a rumor, and Nick uses this sentence to express that he is not engaged, and also not interested in this rumor. When he states that this was 'one of the reasons I had come East. You can't stop going with an old friend on account of rumors'. I think that he is suggesting that there was something in the West that troubled him, that he wanted to get away from, but he does not feel comfortable to share it with the reader. This heightens the sense that the reader should not put all of their trust in Nick, but also, it may be a turning point for his character - maybe he has chosen not to share it this because it is irrelevant to the story of Gatsby, and he had a tendency to share irreverent information throughout this chapter.

On the drive home, Nick reflects on everything that he has learnt in the evening. He mentions that Tom's affair was 'less surprising' which could mean, when comparing him to the Tom he knew during their time at New Haven, this type of behavior was a dominant feature that Tom had then, too. When he arrives home, he is confident that he has spotted Gatsby himself for the first time, 'with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars'. However, Nick says that 'the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself'. Again, because Nick is only telling the story from memory, we cannot even be sure that it is Gatsby stood outdoors. However, the figure that Nick sees, weather it is Gatsby or not, is a mysterious one, because the next Nick looks at it 'when I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished'. Nick had heard comments of Gatsby earlier in the chapter at Tom and Daisy's house, so therefore he was probably desperate to meet him and find out about him. As a reader, I am now too, because the comments made earlier suggest that their is something prominent and mysterious about Gatsby. I just hope that Nick is in a position not to tell more irrelevant details.