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Tuesday, February 6, 2018

is Gatsby a mystery?

The first question: Is Jay Gatsby a mystery?  On one hand, he's out in the open-- everyone goes to his house, everyone recognizes his car.  On the other, what does anyone really know about him?

The second question: Is The Great Gatsby a mystery?  On one hand, it's not a police procedural or the story of solving a crime.  One the other, aren't we following Nick as he's handed clues about why people are doing what they're doing?  Does that make this a "whydoneit" instead of a "whodunit"?  [Hey. Not so fast. Click that link.]

Please comment to this post with your thoughts on both questions.

18 comments:

  1. Gatsby’s name isn’t a mystery, but his personality is, no one truly knows who he is, or what he does, that part of him is a mystery.
    The book is sort of a mystery, because of nicks’ experiences

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  2. Jay Gatsby is a mystery because nobody knows who he is. He is never seen by others. Everybody knows that he is rich, but they don’t know why. The Great Gatsby is a mystery as well because we join Nick Carraway on his journey while getting involved in the truthof others’ lives.

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  3. Gatsby is mystery because everyone knows his name, but they don't know who he is. They make crazy assumptions, but no one knows anything real about him. The Great Gatsby is a mystery because plot is barely building up and we don't really know the main purpose of the book, the characters also add to the mystery because they only show us what they want us to see, so we're constantly questioning who they really are.

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  4. In my opinion, Jay Gatsby is a mystery, we know that he is a young man living in a Gothic mansion in West Egg. But in chapter two we begin to hear rumors about Gatsby involved in some type of illegal activity, which is where he may be getting his money. However, we don't know the truth yet. For this reason I consider the Jay Gatsby a mystery.

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  5. What I think is that Jay Gatsby is a very mysterious person because No one really knows who he really is or how he is physically. People try to fit in by saying what they be believe is true about Gatsby.

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  6. Jay Gatsby is a mystery, because no one really knows who Gatsby is. No one knows how he got his money or where he is actually from.
    The Great Gatsby is a mystery we don't really know each character. For example who really is Gatsby,is a mystery

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  7. In my opinion I do believe that Gatsby is a mystery because the narrator Nick never really gives us a full complex explanation of Gatsby. They never really talk about his background they just say he's a rich guy that throws awesome parties.
    This would make this a "why don't it" because the narrator is giving us clues that will later lead up to a huge revealing or something to discover.

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  8. I do believe Gatsby is a mystery because nobody knows how he looks like & how he is. People do know about him but haven’t seen him. The book itself is also a mystery because we get introduced to new character & don’t know if they’re honest, rude or anything.

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  9. I feel like Jay Gatsby is a mystery but isn't. He's known and I think he's known by the things he wants people to know him by. He wants to be secretive about his personal life and so he does but at the same time he doesn't care if people know his name and know where he lives and even know what car he drives. So yes he's a mystery but then again he isn't

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  10. In my opinion I do think Jay Gastby is a very mysterious person. No very many people know about his background ... Better said,no one knows about him. The Great Gastby is not a mysterious book it's not very out of the ordinary events, YET.

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  11. In my p.o.v Jay Gatsby is a mystery because he doesn't really show how his personality really is and is reserved but at the same time he's out in the open but keeps his things a secret. On the other side the people just know he's a wealthy and popular well liked man but they don't know any further deeper information of to why he has all that. The story is also a mystery because it's full of clues that Nick gives out and wonder what the story really is about.

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  13. Gatsby has not fully been described to us by the narrator in a sense that we can make predictions of who he is. The book mentions that people at Gatsby's party make assumptions about him which means people do not really know his story nor background, just the luxuries he owns. In my opinion, Gatsby and The Great Gatsby is a mystery because Nick feels confused about his surroundings in which he begins to discover more and more about the reasons why people act a certain way in the roaring 1920's.

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  14. Jay Gatsby is not a mystery because he seems like a nice enough guy to respond to any questions about him. Now, I don’t think The Great Gatsby is a mystery because Nick isn’t going detective trying to find out what everyone does or why they’re doing what they’re doing. He’s just living his life normally but got invited to Gatsby’s house.

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  15. Only Gatsby's whereabouts are a mystery, the name itself seems to be quite known, because of the huge bashes he throws. Although Gatsby does seem like a talkative fellow and instantly reveals who he is to Nick so i'm somewhat doubtful of his level of mystery. Now, the book The Great Gatsby itself is not so much of a mystery because we kind of have an idea of what's going on some things are surprising and hit like cold water, but nonetheless, this book isn't about mystery it's about social differences and how all the money in the world can never make a man happy unless he's contempt with himself first. You can have everything but nothing at all.

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  16. In my opinion Gatsby is a really mysterious person, for some reason I related to "Richard Cory" because everyone saw him and want it to be like him, he was super rich but "nobody" knew his personal life and his problems so he killed himself. This make some connection with Gatsby but have not killed it self yet, however both characters are very mysterious.

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  17. Gatsby is a mystery. Nobody knows him personally even though they recognize his status and class. This book is looking a bit like a "whydunit" since we are only able to interpret what's happening through Nicks perspective.

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  18. I think Jay Gatsby is a mysterious person because nobody actually know how he get his money and why he so important

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