Controversial Classics: The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was the required summer reading the summer before sophomore year. I still remember reading it every day on summer nights at my local starbucks.

The novel is centered around Nick Carraway, who is the protagonist, but he mostly serves as a vessel to describe the elusive Jay Gatsby, who is in love with his ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan, and throws extravagant parties in hopes that she will attend one of them. The novel is a tragedy, in which Gatsby dies an empty death at the end.

The novel is challenged and banned in many parts of the world due to its critique of American society, economics, and traditional values.

The central philosophy of the novel is of moral decay, and the price of the "American Dream". It is centered around materialism in contrast with idealism. Virtue is replaced by wealth, as Gatsby is blinded by his greed. The green light that he is constantly reaching for symbolizes this greed. An unreachable, perfect goal.