The first excerpt that I liked from the article was when Beckerman said, "Not only is Gatsby arguably the greatest American novel, it is also-not by chance- the greatest "pursuit of happiness" story ever written in the country where the phrase was coined"(Beckerman). I liked this quote because from a very knowledgable writer, he exclaimed that this was the greatest novel ever, which is a pretty big honor for the book. Also, I agree with him that it is a great novel, but do not think it is the greatest. In terms of the pursuit of happiness, Gatsby spend the whole story trying to convince Daisy to fall in love with him and as with most tragedies, he fails and ends up dead at the end. The only reason why it isn't the greatest is because the ending was too predictable. I feel that a twist would have put it over the edge.
The second excerpt is one that I 100% agree with. "'We try to use Gatsby as a base, because everyone can relate to it,' Wenzel says. 'The 1920s was a time of having fun, letting loose. The economy was doing well. It seemed like everybody was having a great time'"(Beckerman). As a read through the novel, it portrayed exactly what was going on during the roaring '20s. There was a bunch of partying and bootlegging, but overall, it was a time to have fun. It just so happens that Gatsby was only pretending to have fun to impress the one he really loved. If he were alive, I think he would regret wasting his time during a period where people should have been having the time of their lives.
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