Isabella Estrada

Storer
English 3 Honors Block 4
21 January 2020
Socratic Reflection on The Great Gatsby
Our inner circle’s first question discussed was about the reliability of Nick’s narration
throughout the The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Carlos started off the discussion by
pointing out that Nick is actually very biased, and we can see this progression from the
beginning of the story to the end of the story where he calls Daisy and Tom, “careless people”
(179). By saying this, it contradicts what Nick said in the beginning where he said that he
refrains from judging others. Sara pointed out backing up Carlos’s point that there should have
been an outside third person narration instead of just Nick. By hearing Sara say this, I sparked a
thought in my head which I asked the group which was if they thought certain characters in the
story were actually better people than they were but because it was in Nick’s point of view, they
could have been painted as a “bad person” such as with Tom. The next question we moved on
was the question to end all questions: Does Gatsby love Daisy? Louis started out strong with his
hard opinion that Gatsby doesn’t love Daisy because it was only after her power and status
because he had to build his wealth. Mostly everyone in the group agreed with this and Carlos
added to the conversation by saying that the green light which is mentioned throughout the book
is actually a metaphor on who Gatsby is actually jealous of what daisy has rather than loving her.
I also had the same opinion on this argument, but I thought that Gatsby did at one point love
Daisy and now at this point in his life, he was merely obsessed with the nostalgia and past
memories that he had with Gatsby. He was also obsessed with the fact that he never was able to
seal his fate with Daisy which is why he is trying to relive the past and doesn’t truly love Daisy
now like he did before.
The two most original arguments presented in our circle was by both Carlos and Julie. I
believe that Carlo’s connection between the green light and Gatsby’s love for Daisy was really
insightful because he brought in the ideas that we learned about in color symbolism into his
argument. Since green represents jealousy and envy, the green light represents how Gatsby is
jealous of Daisy and the status she has. Because he grew up poor and has had to work his way up
in the world, he is actually jealous of Daisy’s being born into money and how she has never had
to break rules or do illegal things to gain wealth. This can be seen in Gatsby’s quote where he
says, “It excited him too that many men had already loved Daisy—it increased her Free eBooks
at Planet eBook.com 159 value in his eyes” (149). The other argument came from Julie where
she was talking about the definition of love and she connected it to a quote in the Bible which
was “It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). She described
how Gatsby’s actions do not mirror this image of love which she believes in. Since Gatsby is
worried about the materialistic life even if it is for Daisy, he does not truly try to love her by
giving his trust and heart over to her. The most original use of the argument which my partner
wrote was my use of the quote “she never loved him” which Gatsby incitingly tries to get Daisy
to say to Tom which proves that Gatsby does not love Daisy now but is rather obsessed with
trying to fix the memories he had of the time he lost with Daisy. The word choice is critical
because he doesn’t want Daisy to tell Tom how much he loves him but rather hoe much she
never loved Tom which is distinctively on the past.
 Even though poor the initially poor and initially wealthy characters in The Great Gatsby
learn that one can escape their fate, the initially poor are left dead either in body or spirit while
the rich are able to continue their lives.
In my essay, I would first compare the fates of the characters showing how neither of
them, no matter how much money they originally had, are able to achieve their dreams because
they are predestined to a fate due to their social class. Old Money are not able to escape the
lifestyle and the “expectations” set by them. New Money/poor are not able to move up in the
world or achieve the happiness they want. An example of this is Myrtle who tries so hard to
move up in the world and be with Tom and is eventually is killed by “old money” because she
would never be able to fit into that lifestyle because of where she started. In a similar way, Daisy
tried so hard to hold out for Gatsby and truly be with him but in the end she couldn’t find him in
time and was left with the life she had with Tom instead due to the preexisting expectations set
on her by the people in her class. I would also discuss the difference in their fate because all of
the initially poor characters end up dead because they tried to achieve their dreams and move
from their current, miserable state to a better one however, the rich ones like Daisy and Tom are
given a second chance by society because they have notability.
The song Someone like you by Adele encompasses the feelings that Gatsby has
throughout the story about trying to get Gatsby back. Just like Adele, he is stuck in the past and
reminisces over his love of Daisy. The lyrics, “I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be
reminded that for me, it isn't over” (Adele) watches with Gatsby’s plan to convince Daisy that he
still loves her by planning the tea party at Nick’s house. The main hook of the song also relates
to the love Gatsby has for Daisy because he believes that he will “Never…find someone like
you” (Adele). Gatsby was never able to get over Daisy because he felt that they both loved each
other truly. Even though this might be true, they were together five years ago and due to Gatsby
being in the military, she had to leave him behind. However, Gatsby is still trying to get her to
love him like they used to which is the central theme of the song as well.