I didn't like and couldn't understand why this is considered great, am I dumb?

I didn't like and couldn't understand why this is considered great, am I dumb?

Yea.

it's overrated tbqhwy senpai

Anything that garners as much acclaim as Gatsby is overrated, it's still great. OP is still dumb.

The themes and symbolism in it are fairly easy to pick apart, which is why it's read so often in school. No big deal if you didn't like it, but I am curious to hear why.

Strive for the American dream you are in the land of opportunity, but remember peasant, just because you are extremely wealthy doesnt mean you will be happy, because what if you really like this one girl ya know

I found it shallow. Gatsby it's incredible self absorbed, Daisy is cynic and lazy, Tom is dumb and Nick, the only one i kind of had some sympathy, looks bored most of the time.
I just found it shallow desu.

great might be a slight overstatement, but I agree on the OP part

lel

I felt the same way, until my English teacher got up in my face and said
"That's the point!"

duh, the title its "the great" Gatsby, user.

How retarded can you be not to notice that?

>The Good Gatsby

ironic shitwriting is still shitwriting

>The Mediocre Gatsby

>English teacher
>instantly discredited

I don't have much to contribute, but great post senpai

>“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter–tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning– So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

it's too pale, but yes, it's always the best if you start searching for mistakes at yourself

thats the point tho it's shittalking hedonism in the post ww1 era

Is this the greatest line in the history of literature?

Lmao you dipshit, that's the point

I see. Unfortunately that's not what i look for in literature. It only got me depressed.

that fact is that each one of them shows one side of the lost generation, they are basically the natural consequence of the american dream.

Gatsby: the man from nowhere who got fame and riches through lies and crime

Tom: the rich without values that likes to show greatness but still likes to dwell in the scum.

Daisy: spoiled rich flapper that only goes where she feels the most comfortable

Nick: the ones that see the loss of values of their generation and grows apathic in response

If you think about it, it can't really be any other way.

Also, Tom dumb? He gets away with the girl, the money and technically murder without even breaking a sweat.

If reality gets you depressed then you shouldn't be trying to be Veeky Forums

It's fine if you didn't care that much for it, I didn't either but it is fairly easy to understand why it was monumental at the time of it's publication

Seriously, it's fucking prescient at times
How did my boy F Scott Fitzgerald do it?

>I didn't like the characters!
el oh el
what's up mom

Because Americans were desperate to produce works that could enter literary canon. This is what they produced.

I don't know about all of literature, but I'm pretty comfortable saying they're among the best written closing lines of any early twentieth century American novel.

Protagonist is gay. Simple literature for dumb teenagers?

That's a bit off a cop out

Which part?

your whole post

There is nowhere near enough evidence to say that Nick is queer. And regardless, his sexuality is entirely besides the point of the novel.