I hate to say it, but the description, picture and arrogance of Tom Buchannans all reminds me of Adolf Hitler. The fear he struck in people, the omnipotent presence and the arrogance that exceeded all men before him. Adolf Hitler had severe prejudice to the Jews - hating them purely for their appearance. He treated them like no man should - in the end being responsible for the death of many millions of Jews. How he slept at night I do not know. Even his appearance was daunting; that deep dark stare, without an ounce of happiness, humour, or kindness. I think, even nowadays, everyone is frightened at the thought of Hitler and at the immense power he had. He treated the Jews like they were worse than an animal – gassing, shooting and whipping them to death. The pictures we see today of the holocaust are horrific.

I think Tom had the arrogance of Hitler, but I do also believe that it was a facade. I think he was similar to Gatsby in that his act of what he wanted to be had consumed him. That the 'roll' as arrogant and ever so scary Tom was covering his insecure, timid, little soul. I do not mean to belittle him but I think we can safely assume that he was thus.

'country of wide laws and friendly trees...'
'so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies...'
'twenty miles from the city a pair of enormous eggs, identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay...'
'they are not perfect ovals...they are both crushed flat at the contact end - but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual wonder to the gulls that fly overhead'


These few examples (and there are many more) are examples of F. Scott Fitzgerald's brilliant way of describing things. He doesn't describe things with just one, or even two adjectives, but with personification, and by alluding to things! I just love how he describes the landforms. He doesn't just go, the land was separated by water and was in an oval shape. He describes them as crushed eggs, that would have entertained the seagulls overhead endlessly. I wish that I could write with him! The writing just makes you drift off to the land where Nick is, and imagine the scenery. The warm sun on your back, the crunch of the leaves under foot, everything is plain for all to see when you read the passage! In a way he allows for the reader to have creativity. To read along and to imagine it, in a way of their own. I imagine Nick in autumn with brown and golden leaves, with the sun a little warmer and things slowly dying away. Yet someone else may imagine him in winter, with deep blues, whites and coldness surrounding him on all sides.

In the introduction Tony Tanner writes of how Nick tries to never say a harsh
word about Gatsby. The quote I have chosen shows that Nick is almost arguing in himself, insisting that No, Gatsby is good, despite what it may appear like.
'No - Gatsby turned out alright at the end...'. It feels, as the reader, that Nick wants me to see Gatsby as a good person. As someone that, yes, has flaws, but no, is good. I think Nick is inspiring, in a way, by doing this. He is a prime example to us all, that despite what it may appear like on the outside, there is always some good in there, no matter how deep. Yes, it may cloud his judgement at times, but he is searching, and searching ever so hard, to see the good in someone - namely Gatsby.

What was F.Scott Fitzgerald's inspiration for The Great Gatsby? 

I started reading the Introduction last night. I began to think that this book sounds like an interesting and slightly peculiar story. The main character, Gatsby, appears to be rich and to have the perfect life but still, to put it nicely, seems slightly insane. In the Introduction I learnt that Fitzgerald's ideas weren't completely unique. He modelled Gatsby off Trimalchio - a character from Satyricon by Petronius, a 1st century AD Roman writer. Trimalchio has a constant fear that there isn't enough time in the world. Gatsby adopted this strange trait. Funnily enough though, Fitzgerald was also time-conscious, apparently even when he was writing, he surrounded himself with clocks. Another similarity is that Trimalchio is obsessed with a green ball. It is on his floor but he never allows himself to touch it. Gatsby is like this with the green light. We later find this green light is at the end of Daisy, a past lovers, jetty. Even the location of the story has stemmed from something in Fitzgerald's life. In 1922 he moved to Long island. He lived in a modest house, or at least modest compared to what everyone else lived in. Similarly to that, Nick Carraway (the narrator of the story) lives in the plain, small house opposite Gatsby's grand, almost palace-like, home. Also, many of Fitzgerald's ideas are similar to that of the ideas in his other publishing's.

More info on F.Scott Fitzgerald: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL05VV040Ls