What do high school English teachers across America and I have in common? Our overwhelming love for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby.

In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

One of the most recognizable covers in literature!

The Book

If you were to ask a room full of people what they would define as “The Great American Novel”, I’d be willing to bet that over half of them would choose The Great Gatsby. The book has become synonymous with American literature – the great, green light being equivalent to the American Dream. I, like many people, read The Great Gatsby for the first time in a high school English class (shoutout to Mr. Schofield!). My teacher was passionate when reading the book aloud and leading our class discussions. We spent an absurd amount of time analyzing the eyes of TJ Eckleberg and the light at the end of the dock.

The “Eyes of TJ Eckleberg”

At first, I resented all of the characters – the fanciful Jay Gatsby, the shallow Buchanans, and the arrogant Nick Caraway.  However, the more I read, the more I started to sympathize with them – they were simply products of their environment. I often say that the sole biggest indicator of my personality is that I am a staunch Daisy Buchanan apologist. I will defend her until the day I die – I don’t think I’ve ever read something that has resonated with me more than her wishing for her daughter to be “a beautiful little fool” (on that note, a FANTASTIC Gatsby adaptation is Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor).

The Great Gatsby is told through Nick Caraway’s perspective – that of an unreliable narrator, one of my favorite literary tools. Nick moves to the extravagantly rich neighborhood of West Egg on Long Island, where he becomes acquainted to it and its neighboring town of East Egg, as well as all the characters that live there. He sees the stark difference between old money and new money, and how wealth truly can’t buy happiness. Nick bears witness to a whole bunch of shady happenings, all the while being infatuated with Gatsby. It’s a fascinating look into the Roarin’ 20’s, including several autobiographical features from Fitzgerald’s own life.

Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda, who inspired several elements of Daisy

The Great Gatsby also has a movie adaptation staring Tobey Maguire as Nick and Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, which was questionable at best – but any excuse to watch a DiCaprio movie is a win for me.

The Great Gatsby gets five stars from me – it is the definition of a classic, extremely engaging, and questionable characters that evoke intense emotions from the reader no matter what.

The Bop

The Great Gatsby‘s bop is “The Lucky One” by Taylor Swift. The song details someone having everything they ever wanted – only to realize it wasn’t what they wanted at all. This perfectly applies to Daisy as she struggles with societal pressures to marry rich and be the perfect socialite, only to be stuck in a dreadfully unhappy relationship she has no way to escape from. She also realizes that her daughter will have the same fate as her – hence why she wishes her to be a fool: if she’s ignorant, her future won’t be as painful as it is for the intelligent Daisy.

In conclusion, give The Great Gatsby another try – forgive your English teacher for the never ending symbolism discussions and immerse yourself into the Eggs and the 20’s in perhaps the greatest American novel ever written.

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.