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<p>How dare you question the awesomeness of chocolate bananas? Surely you jest. </p>
<p>And I still maintain it was condescending…I hate the whole “you’re too young to understand” argument. Especially when someone is 15+.</p>
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<p>Your point is invalid on an insane number of levels.</p>
<p>Great Gatsby is my favorite book of all time</p>
<p>I dare anyone to cast judgement upon it in this thread.</p>
<p>choc: It sounds mean to say that to someone, especially if you are in that age group</p>
<p>but the weird thing is, you dont even know what you dont know</p>
<p>its not like you should be ashamed of yourself for being young</p>
<p>but its realizing and accepting that you cant know that much, and being ok with that as a stage of growth</p>
<p>its just part of the process of growing, and its not your fault, its just a part of life</p>
<p>Look up research on cognitive development and the prefontal cortex if you think im just being a poophead :)</p>
<p>(and 15+ is lulz)</p>
<p>^How old are you?</p>
<p>im 98 biaatchhh</p>
<p>^ my first response was totally gonna be calling you a poophead! how did you know?</p>
<p>Seriously though, I think that just because I don’t care for a book you might value means I’m immature. I actually do understand the themes of Gatsby but I don’t like the book itself and it seems kinda played out in literature to me. Whatever.</p>
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<p>Actually, I do know lots of what I don’t know. But, of course, I will never know everything–but this applies to ALL humans, adults included. </p>
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<p>I never said I was “ashamed” and I’m not “ashamed.” What a weird statement to make.</p>
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<p>Did I ever say I’m not okay with growth? That I wouldn’t grow? Once again, a truly strange statement that seems to be a reaction to nothing. </p>
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<p>What’s not whose fault? HUH? Yes, you grow. Again…your statements are just getting weirder and less relevant.</p>
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<p>You thinking I would call you a “poophead” says it all. Obviously, your brain develops more.</p>
<p>You are missing the entire point. I am not saying one doesn’t grow, but that young people can understand more, have more insight, and contain more depth than many people give them credit for.</p>
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<p>No, it’s not. People can have very deep understandings and great intellect at this age…I would venture to state that even younger kids can show the depth it takes to “understand” The Great Gatsby.</p>
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<p>Well, the days of you having to deal with the “ashamed” youth is almost over.</p>
<p>Enjoy it. </p>
<p>And by the way, your mind might be deteriorating.</p>
<p>lucky: its ok if you dont like the book, </p>
<p>im also talking in general</p>
<p>@lucky2010, I have NO problem AT ALL with you disliking it.</p>
<p>But you stated:
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<p>so I’m not sure you “understand the themes of Gatsby,” as you say…</p>
<p>But it’s fine to dislike it!</p>
<p>I was just joking. I mean, on my paper the thesis wasn’t “Rich People: Dicks?” it was something about responsibilities. </p>
<p>At school though everyone was like “damn, rich people are diiiiicks”</p>
<p>^Okay, good. </p>
<p>I kind of assumed you were joking, but I had to check. :)</p>
<p>It’s too bad you don’t like it! But I understand. There are many classic books that I dislike.</p>
<p>I’m fond of the book.</p>
<p>I think that you’ll find it to be more intriguing as the novel progresses.</p>
<p>Yep. I hated it lol. I read it on my own, so I didn’t really have the advantage of classroom discussions and stuff.</p>
<p>But my reading was pretty cursory, and I didn’t really sit and think about themes and dilemmas and such. But isn’t “all rich people are dicks” indeed one of the themes? Maybe I’d rephrase it to “the superficiality of the upper class and how it relates to the apparent decline or distortion of the American Dream” or something along those lines, but I thought that the lifestyles portrayed in the book made it rather clear. Perhaps not the most important or prevalent theme, but still a theme.</p>
<p>I always thought the theme was more of “Don’t get too caught in with your dreams”. Didn’t he say something to that effect in the book?</p>
<p>^^I mean…here’s a statement from the novel that I think is more telling of that “theme”</p>
<p>“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made…”</p>
<p>^^@Harvey</p>
<p>“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”</p>
<p>I have memorized this quote because it is so awesome. The whole last few pages of the novel are incredible.</p>
<p>When I wrote a paper on it, a million and five years ago, it was about how Gatsby was unable to accept the passage of time. If I wrote it now, it would be about the green light, with which I have become obsessed in the interceding years. I am now thoroughly convinced that the green light is among the more beautiful symbols in all of literature and possibly the most beautiful in American literature of its period. </p>
<p>But the book is so short that I don’t see how anyone could get bored during the exposition. It’s a three hour read. Perhaps less.</p>
<p>The book elaborates on the concepts of judgment and the American Dream. The American Dream during the 1920’s was to acquire wealth, which was believed to be the direct cause of contentment. Fitzgerald portrays a contradictory perspective through wealthy characters in an effort to elaborate on this misconception. </p>
<p>He exhibits the failure of money and power through Nick’s perspective, which is supposed to lack judgment (but inevitably possesses it). In addition, he elaborates on the descending of moral values in an effort to acquire wealth, fame, and recognition.</p>
<p>I think that Gatsby serves as a symbolic representation of that dream and the unpredictability of the new generation. Ultimately, Gatsby is just a mystery, similarly to society’s future.</p>
<p>^Yes, I love the green light. It almost serves as some form of an unquenchable dream, as Gatsby attempts to replicate the past.</p>