America.

Growing up in an area such as ours, I think it’s hard for us to truly understand the bigger picture of the United States. We tell ourselves that we understand the world around us, but as I have matured, I’ve realized that where we live is less than one percent of what life is really like in our beautiful country. After reading The Great Gatsby, I have come to realize that it speaks to our country from a historical period, but it correlates to our lives today as well. America is the land of opportunity, yet in presenting opportunities to many, it does this at the expense of others. It pushes some down to the darkest parts of our country, never to be seen for the talents that they have, and live in the shadows of the people who were given the opportunity to do something bigger than them. During the beginning of the book, Nick becomes fascinated with Gatsby, yet knows and sees little of him; “fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbors mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars” (20). The idea of a “shadowy figure” in the night explains the ideology that in the United States, some people are shadowed by things bigger than they are. Yet, in the same quote, the idea of “regarding the stars” makes me think about the idea of dreaming, and yet being overshadowed and forced out of your dreams by outside factors, whether that be money, location, etc. Personally, I feel like location plays a huge role in the way people view the world. For example, if you live in the inner city, such as Coates in Between the World and Me, you may believe that “you are trapped, that we could not escape” (BTWM). Growing up and living the area we live in, we never have to be scared walking to school or to the 7-11 down the road, but in the city that could be life and death for some of the children and even adults. Kind of crazy to think about. Back onto the idea of shadows, this year I embarked on my largest intellectual journey, formally known as the Junior Theme. I took a look at oil companies, and their efforts to stop talks about global warming, in an effort to keep their companies thriving in the economic and political world. In fact, “Over roughly the last three decades, five major US oil companies have spent a total of at least $3.6 billion on advertisements” (The Guardian/Junior Theme). The idea of using their power to overshadow the protests and views of hundreds of thousands of Americans further emphasizes the idea that people, while they have the ability to believe what they want, are unable to share it due to the constant pressure faced by the opposition, specifically capitalism in the United States. Lastly, I would like to conclude with my personal favorite quote from The Great Gatsby. “So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (98). The idea of this fictional character, a goal and the endgame of what Gatsby needed to reach in order to have purpose in his life, directly correlates to the idea of the American Dream, such as many other texts from this year. The idea of growing up, getting a good education, getting a good job, making a lot of money, having a big house in a nice neighborhood. This idea consumes the people of America, and drives some to top, while leaving others at the bottom, to do the work that those people say “oh, I could never do that!” It takes a lot to understand what the world is like outside of the North Shore, simply because it’s not like here pretty much anywhere else. However, Gatsby, and the other texts from this year, have shown me how the U.S. is great for some, and how it’s a trap for others.