Chapter 1

I just finished reading the first chapter of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I can admit at first I was pessimistic about reading this book because I am not a strong reader.  Now that I have read the first chapter, I am excited to read this book.  I really enjoy the writing style by Fitzgerald.  I especially like the main character/narrator, Nick.  I commend Fitzgerald for the way he introduced and how he built Nick as a character.  While I am reading, I like to notice how Nick is a non-judgmental man.  I like this because I can relate him to one of my very good friends.  Nick's non-judgmental factor in the story is very interesting to read about because all of the other characters are judgmental and pompous.  Nick is invited over for dinner to Tom and Daisy's house.  Nick is friends with Tom and Daisy, Tom was a very successful athlete and business man, but now his success is declining.  When Nick is leaving Tom and Daisy's house, they ask Nick about how he was engaged.  Nick is not engaged, but this is just another example of how the rich will make up and spread rumors.  "Of course I knew what they were referring to, but I wasn’t even vaguely engaged.  The fact that gossip had published the banns was on of the reasons I had come East.  You can't stop going with an old friend on account of rumors, and on the other hand I had no intention of being rumored into marriage" (19).  Nick explains how the rumors in New York spread because rich people love to gossip and talk about others.  I thought the most exciting part of the chapter was when Nick saw Gatsby.  This is the first time Gatsby has been introduced in the book.  He seems like a very mysterious character.  "When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness" (21).  This part of chapter one makes me want to read the story even more.