The Great Gatsby

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Reflection of Chapter One
The Great Gatsby was published after the end of 1st World War. The first chapter of The Great Gatsby is quite intriguing. In the chapter, Fitzgerald, the author of the book explores the lack of a stable society, the emergence of a new lifestyle, and a society recovering from the effects of the war. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, depicts his experience with one of New York’s most mysterious people, Jay Gatsby. The plot, narration, characterization, and literary aspects in the first chapter are quite absorbing and impressive as one read The Great Gatsby.
As the chapter begins, Fitzgerald uses Nick Caraway – the narrator as the main character. Nick Caraway presents himself as a thoughtful, traditional, and respectful character. This raised my anticipation of the succeeding chapters regarding Caraway’s interaction with other characters. While narrating, Nick Caraway describes himself as a “guide, a pathfinder, an original settler” (Fitzgerald 4). This also aroused my curiosity to know what Nick Caraway means in the above quotation.
Additionally, while reading chapter one, I felt compelled to further especially after the narrator, Nick Caraway distances himself from his family. Despite Nick Caraway hailing from a well-off family, his character traits seem distinctive from his social identity. Distancing himself from his family to me raises the question of whether the disparity in wealth shaped how the society adapted itself in the post-war period.

In conclusion, Fitzgerald uses a few literary aspects in chapter one. For instance, he uses a simile to describe the “Middle West which seemed like as the ragged edge of the universe” instead of “being the warm center of the world” (Fitzgerald 3). Fitzgerald adopts imagery to describe Jay Gatsby’s car as a “labyrinth of windshields that mirrored a dozen suns” (Fitzgerald 5). These literary aspects together with the plot, narration, and characterization are quite absorbing in the first chapter of The Great Gatsby.

Work Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 1896-1940. The Great Gatsby. Planetebook.com, 1925. https://www.planetebook.com/the-great-gatsby/