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I'm sure most of any discussion that will happen about this article is about dissatisfaction with copyright law. I just want to say that of every book I was re
by polka_haunts_us 6y ago
I'm sure most of any discussion that will happen about this article is about dissatisfaction with copyright law.
I just want to say that of every book I was required to read in high school, The Great Gatsby is the only one that I never understood why we read it. The only thing I got out of it is "Being a vapid rich asshole isn't all it's cracked up to be". I understand it as a product of its time and a portrait into the Roaring 20s, but that subtext works better in an actual History class than an English class.
- tomatocracy 6y agoI was educated in Britain and didn't read it for school (but did read it during that time in my life) but I always took the point of it to be that the "American Dream" wasn't ever real - it still mattered (at least in the 20s) where you were from, how you grew up and whether you were "old money" or "new money" and moreover the idea of the rags to riches story was in reality a fiction, in contradiction to the ideal Americans told/tell themselves about their country and society. This is, I think, why it's said by some to be an exemplar of "the Great American Novel" - a novel which says something meaningful about America as a country and society.
- WheelsAtLarge 6y agoGatsby is a master work in writing. Fitzgerald was a master writer so that in itself is why English teachers love to recommend his book. The story is less powerful now than when it was written close to 100 years ago. Society is different and the basic ideas have been rehashed many times in different works over the years. At the very least, it's worth reading for its simplicity and poetic writing. I don't think there's an English language book that can match it.