Why I Despise The Great Gatsby

Does The Great Gatsby merit the praise that it has received for many decades? “Why I despise The Great Gatsby” is an essay by Kathryn Schulz at New York Magazine in which Schulz states that she has read it five times without obtaining any pleasure from it. Long viewed as Fitzgerald’s masterpiece and placed at or near the uppermost section of the English literary list, The Great Gatsby has been used as a teaching source in high schools and universities across the United States. The novel is narrated by Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who moved to Long Island, next door to an elegant mansion owned by a mysterious and affluent Jay Gatsby. The story follows Gatsby and Nick’s unusual friendship and Gatsby’s pursuit of a married woman named Daisy.

But Gatsby missed much of this, the character developments feel empty adding to the fact that the novel is being told from a boring point of view of the character Nick Carraway. As a result, the book becomes psychologically vacant. Schulz asserts, “The Great Gatsby is less involved with human emotion than any book of comparable fame I can think of. None of its characters are likeable. None of them are even dislikable, though nearly all of them are despicable” (Paragraph 11). It is sadly true, just look at the main character, Jay Gatsby. He seems like an interesting person who is lovable and charismatic, but it would be wrong and unlikely for the readers to feel connected with him because of his criminal past. Daisy Buchanan also display to the audience uncertain characteristics of likability and unlikability. If she is solely portrayed as a careless character who kills Myrtle Wilson and allows Gatsby to take the blame for her then she would truly be despised, but she is simultaneously depicted as an innocent and naive girl which pacify any intense feelings the readers have for her other than the feeling of disgust for nearly all of the characters. In addition, Gatsby fails to engross the readers to a degree of many books of comparable popularity. The book does not appeal to the interest of readers, in that, it does not strike

No, far from it. Although I will admit that it did create a decent image of the period, but I find the story lacking in substance. It is as Kathryn Schulz asserts, “aesthetically overrated, psychologically vacant, and morally complacent.” The book is widely seen as a Great American Novel, which implies that it has much significant points to convey about the twenties, but it displays an unlikely story that is not close to an exact rendition of the 1920s. It is a short novel with an absurd plot that scrutinizes only the thinnest part of life in America during the twenties. Gatsby was not well-received when it came out and remains an object of controversy and skepticism for a reason. Fitzgerald does not stand a chance when compared to his contemporaries such as John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, and Ernest hemingway. One may argue otherwise, but I do truly believe that many of the claims made by Schulz are justifiable and to a certain extent,