While reading, The Great Gatsby, my overall reaction of the story was that I would recommend this novel to other people.  Even though the novel depicts lies and deceit, it can show people how none of these examples can come out positive in the end. Gatsby’s love for Daisy, in which she was married to Tom, made the plotline intense.  Since they were both from two very different sections of town, West Egg and East Egg, it made Gatsby and Daisy impossible to be together.  Even though Daisy was married to Tom she was not in love with him or happy with their relationship.  Her past with Gatsby had always been in the back of her mind.  An important symbol that was seen in the story was the significance of the green light.

     At the end of chapter one, the green light is first mentioned when Tom sees Gatsby from his house standing out by the end of his lawn.  Tom quotes, “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling” (Fitzgerald 20-21).  Gatsby was reaching toward what was Daisy’s dock in which a single green light was being emitted.  When I first read that line, I did not know what the green light signified until further on in the reading.  It symbolized Gatsby’s goal of being with Daisy.  It was as if he was trying to reach her and get to her as he raised his hands from his lawn to the green light by her dock.  Gatsby may have had a great deal of wealth and money associated with him; however, he did not appear to be happy with anything he had.  He wanted to acquire the American Dream, which everyone during that time wanted that consisted of a spouse and children.  Gatsby longed for being with Daisy and the green light symbolized something he could not attain. Unfortunately, Gatsby died a lonely man with only the hopes of ever being with Daisy on his mind.

     While finishing reading, The Great Gatsby, there were numerous themes that I found throughout the novel that I thought were very interesting.  The most important theme that was often seen in the book was the geographic influences of the two sections, West Egg and East Egg.  West Egg was known as the part where people with “new money” lived and East Egg was represented as the people who had inherited “old money”.  Nick had lived in West Egg, being the neighbor of Gatsby; however, he lived in a much smaller house than him and did not really have that much money.  Gatsby was materialistic and was very proud of his money; however, as the novel goes on, we learn that Gatsby did not graduate from Oxford College and his family did not have a lot of money or who he said they were. Gatsby was just an ordinary person, working as a Janitor to pay for college, but since he was lucky enough to come upon money, he forgot the person he once was. Now, all he cared about was his fortune and winning the love of Daisy back.  Living on West Egg he thought he was better than all people and used his money to gain the love of Daisy.  The 1920s represented a difficult time for most people because after the war many were left with little or no money, plus the war had left people devastated. Gatsby’s lavish parties he threw at his house, in which anyone could walk in, made people wish they were living the “American Dream” in which ultimately, every one wishes they could attain; however, most people never will.  Gatsby according to Nick in the beginning of the novel, “represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn” (Fitzgerald 2).

     The geographic influences are what did not allow Gatsby to be with Daisy.  Since they were both from two different sections, he could not be with her.  Their social classes and Daisy’s marriage to Tom, prevented Gatsby from being with the woman he once loved.

In my opinion American Literature is literature that is written by authors from the United States only.  I think about writings that deal with issues that are seen in the United States that people express and write about.  It can range from anywhere from the colonial era to the comtemporary period.