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| Daisy Buchanan |
Pages thirteen through twenty-four
of
The Great Gatsby introduced me to
an element that, no offense to author F. Scott Fitzgerald, I never expected to
see in a novel written over seventy-five years ago. That element is humor.
Truthfully, I expected reading this book to be an unpleasant experience, but I actually
found myself laughing from time to time! Main character Nick Carraway’s witty
personality got a smile out of me more than once during these chapters, and his
distant relative Daisy Buchanan also was a source of amusement. Although I found
the other novel this summer, Edith Wharton’s
The House of Mirth, interesting, it lacked the humor that I have
found so far in
The Great Gatsby and
became rather dull and boring at times because of it. I believe that, whether
he intended it or not, Fitzgerald’s clever humor added to the popularity of his
book and the legacy it has left behind. For example, in answer to a question
about whether he wanted to hear about the butler’s nose while having dinner at
the Buchanan’s house, Carraway sarcastically replies, “That’s the reason I came
over tonight,” (Fitzgerald, 13). Also, Daisy Buchanan adds her own comedic
elements to the novel through her entertaining and ridiculous exaggerations and
suggestions, including the prospect of arranging a marriage between Carraway
and one of her friends. I have found that the humor present in the book has
sparked my interest and kept me interested, which was most likely the intention
of the author. Taking place in the 1920’s, a prosperous and exciting time in
American history, it is likely that humor did play a large part in the people
of that decade. When money is not a problem and families are not struggling to
get by every day, humor and laughter replace the stress that usually comes with
poverty. By incorporating this element into his novel, not only did Fitzgerald
portray the Roaring Twenties with accuracy, he also captured the reader’s
attention and drew them into the setting and time period of his story.
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