The Great Gatsby

As I began reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I noticed right away that it was written from the viewpoint of the narrator in first person. This person was Nick Carraway. I enjoy books written like this because even though the reader may only be given one side of the story for the majority of the book, the language and characters are consistent throughout. I feel like the stories can become a lot more personal when one character from the story itself is telling his part. 

These first few pages already began to confuse me. I realized that Gatsby was in fact a person. This person, though, I could not decide if Nick liked. On page 2, nick explains, "Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction-Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn." From this quote I already felt that Nick Carraway had a story to tell us to fill the reader on what he exactly meant by this statement. Nick later on in the same page admits that he ended up liking Gatsby; I just felt it was a different way of starting out the novel- leaving out information that would be explained later on.

Just within these first 10 pages, I began to meet and understand a few characters. I am still a bit confused on Nick. He seems to be a man of modest income who owns his own home but isn't at all wealthy. He is a man who doesn't judge people without knowing them and doesn't place importance on material wealth. Nick lived alone and just came to America. 

The next character was was able to make up was Tom Buchanan. This is Nick's cousin Daisy's husband. I took away from these pages that Tom could not let go of his college football career and lived his life as a very proud man. It seems to me that Tom would do anything to remain popular and well respected amount his peers and community.

And Daisy. This young woman appears to be extremely naive and warm hearted. She comes off as lovely and cheerful but perhaps has this facade to cover up deep emotional issues.