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  • 'We see things that belong to the world and then we're like, "That's American."'

    Like the Moon.

  • John: Y U NO REVIEW EVERY CHAPTER?!?!?

  • @squishy300 you're in English 3 and you used the word "showed"?

  • I wish this video existed three years ago when i read this in high school

  • My former English teacher must be a nerdfighter because she used Alanis Morissetts song to show us the irony in Tom Buchanans rant...wait...this video came out after I took that class...damn it! haha

  • Caraway as "Care away"? Um no I don't get it. High falutin with words? 'Creepy belief' ahhh, how is THAT a creepy belief? And no, its not a burn. Tom's rant is pretty much on the money. Raining spoons when you need a knife is not irony. The firehouse burning down, that's irony. The line about the daughter should be a fool is completely senseless and not at all interesting and should be struck entirely from the book.
  • @RoyBoyRocket can't tell if trolling or..... 0.o

    

  • SUCH a burn

  • ah my eyes!!!!! they hurt from your fuzzy viseo quality!

  • I tried showing this to my English teacher and she said that she only listened to /scholars/ when it came to the Great Gatsby. She refused to even look at it. Like, seriously, this man's insight is at least ten times more interesting. Oh well. She's missing out.

  • Did we ever do Chapter 2?

  • One of my favorite books out there. Wish he would make videos for all the chapters.

  • I have an English oral exam tomorrow about The Great Gatsby so I had to come and rewatch this. It is unbelievably helpful. Please make more of these John, you are so flawless.

  • We are going to be reading this very soon for Honors American Literature, yay! :)

  • @DoctorWhoBAMF same!

  • My English teacher posted this video on our class website while reading the Great Gatsby :)

    Thanks for making my whole class think I'm strange from getting excited...

  • Suppose to read ch 1 of the GG tonight, hopeing this will sum it up for me enough

  • i wish you'd do more of these videos

    i wanna hear more analysis from you!! D:

  • Because of you, I'm reading this book for my American Romantic English project.

  • "that's american" ... made me laugh so hard. xD i love this book. am i weird? xD

  • John uploaded this video just a few weeks after I had to sit an exam on Chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby. That being said, this video taught me far more than any of my English lessons.

  • Have an english exam on this tomorrow, THANK YOU JOHN!!

  • Anyway, because of you, I think I am going to re-read The Great Gatsby. . . . After I finish re-reading The Hobbit, of course.

  • Thank you, John. I read The Great Gatsby back in high school and detested every minute of it. But after your explanation of the first couple of chapters, I have come to realize just how much I missed out on. Sadly, it has been so long that I do not remember what it was my teacher had focused on at the time, but I know it wasn't any of the things you had talked about. Otherwise, I probably would have enjoyed the book a lot more.

  • man i think I'm going to buy this book!

  • He's a bit highfalutin with words.

    Oh, the irony.

  • Thank you for this. I have to read this book for English and I just couldn't get into it, but your enthusiasm makes me reassured. :D DFTBA.

  • Love this video, but you might find this interesting. Last year, The American Book Review listed The Great Gatsby in their article "Top 40 Bad Books." Yeah, I want to punch a kitten in frustration. I can't seem to post it here, but a Google search can easily find it.

    I would be interested to hear (or read) your thoughts.

  • I showed this video to my teacher who showed it to another English teacher who showed it to another English teacher and apparently it's being showed in almost all the English 3 classes at my school. Hoo-Ha! Nerdfighters!

  • Reading the Great Gatsby, just cause John told me to. When I read it, I hear John reading it to me:D lol

  • I informed my teacher that the epigah of the Great Gatsby was fake. he didn't believe me and came back the next day very embarreassed

  • @TheGummyBearOverLord same thing happened to me. She was like "oh, didn't know"

  • you are a good teacher

  • my english teacher is gonna show this video to my class and that last part about the thread in your pants is gonna be SOOOOOOOO awkward.... looking forward to my peers' reactions! :D

  • wow, this is way better than sparknotes

  • 3:29 i thought he was going to say "But then everything changes...when the fire nation attacks!" :3

  • @TheVal1723 You, my friend, are awesome for thinking that.

  • I thought it was set in West Egg, Long Island, New York...not the mid-west...

  • @anonymous450ify

    It is set in New York, but Nick is telling the story after the fact- after he moved back to the mid-west. (:

  • Well, having never been been fabulously wealthy I couldn't tell you how accurate the book was. The closest thing I have to compare it to would probably be Christmas at my aunt/uncle's house. I remember my cousin's dog had to wear a homemade diaper in the house because it was menstruating and they didn't want it to bleed on the floor... True story... Not very Gatsby.

  • I have a Great Gatsby phone case for my iPhone. That is how much I love this book.

  • do a podcast for the whole book

  • paper towns helped me find themes in the great gatsby which, in turn, helped me write my gatsby paper. thankyou!

  • I'm reading this book for my AP English class because of you. Thank you Mr. John Green!

  • french the Lama! Where is the video where John talks about the Epigraph and first sentence?

  • I hope you continue (after TFIOS signing madness, that is) to do Gatsby videos! My English class is currently reading it and I'd love to hear more of what you have to say about it!

  • wish you were my english teacher...

  • over 4 minutes?

    

  • WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO A VIDEO FOR CHAPTER THREE OR FOUR OR FIVE OR EVERY OTHER CHAPTER OF THIS BOOK?

  • @shileyforealz1212 He already did on September 7th. It's called "The Great Gatsby: Living the Dream in the Valley of Ashes"

  • OHMYOGMGUGTDJDJKDJDJDJFHFJD

    i love you

  • My god, please finish this review. I'm obsessed with The Great Gatsby.

  • i need this book :/

  • An extraordinary gift for hope.

  • @Missingenaction

    I'm not gonna say what sexual orientation I nick to be because I think that would take away from great role that gatsby plays as a symbol by turning him into just a sexual fantasy. Indeed his obsession with gatsby is uncommon in straight males but that could just further the significance of gatsby's role

  • i love this book, but i have a question about the butlers nose, i have obsessed about that section ever since youve said it and i dont understand how its about how money consumes the poor :/ can someone help?

  • favorite book :)

  • It's probably my favourite book ever. I'm Australian and you're right about the "dream" being a universal-- I needn't look far to find the destruction that results from it's falseness, theres evidence of it everywhere in society. It would be interesting to see if this idea was still as prevalent in a non-western nation.

  • Why is this video blurry in places?

  • I'm doing Higher Level International Baccalaureate English (what a mouthful), and one of our major assignments this year is an oral commentary- 20 minutes before, we get a literary excerpt of a book we've read during the year, then proceed to talk about it into a tape recorder for 15 minutes. My main strategy for this is to channel John.

  • Need more of these...

  • I showed this video to my friends. Not related, but here's a question I have for you: Of course, it's speculation, but have you ever thought Nick might be gay or bi-? His relationship with Jordan seems more "for fun" than romantic/ Daisy compares him to a rose/ He's practically obsessed with Gatsby. And each of these is dismissible except his interactions with McKee: with the phallic imagery in the elevator and then the inexplicable "morning-after"-esque scene that has McKee near-naked in bed...

  • @Missingenaction i think he's gay for "gorgeous Gatsby!"

  • I want John Green as my English teacher.

  • @Semian2 psh, forget that; I want John Green as my drinking buddy.

  • @Semian2 me too! :)

    

  • @Semian2 looks like john's going to have a full classroom lol :)

  • @Semian2

    I am an English teacher and I want to turn my class over to John. For forever. A student just gave me The Fault... and I am trying to get copies for all my students to read. Am now officially a fan. "Aggressively vapid"? Oh yes. Nice.

  • Having now read chapter two, the answer to your question is yes.

  • @vlogbrothers

    Just subscribed, and then I find this. couldn't have made my day and better- so thank you. Also, John.... please explain the green light. I was trying throughout out my 7th re-reading to figure out what it meant with no luck.

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  • love gatsby. know you're busy signing books and getting your hand fixed after signing books, but please finish the gatsby series. :)

  • There will be another Gatsby video on Monday! :D

  • @dolphin64575 I wish he'd hurry up and post it!! haha, when I watched Hank's video I was literally like this

    ---> :DDDDD YAYYY!!!! *happydance*

  • We need more discussion!!!! JOHN- Y u no talk more about Gatsby?

  • I LOVE THIS BOOK. <3

  • I couldn't remember if this video was for a set of chapters or for the whole book, so I read half the book, found this video, and realized it was only for chapter 1... and then read the rest of the book. I'm looking forward to discussing the next chapters as well!

  • ....wow. I used to think I was pretty smart, but I missed so much in this book.

  • Where was this when I had to do a project on this book? I hated this novel a lot, maybe because I'm Canadian but mostly because it didn't appeal to me and I was forced to read it.

  • did i miss something or is he alllowed to have an extra 5 seconds?

  • @ITELLlittleLIES Annotation at 0:02 says:

    (Remember: Educational videos are allowed to be longer than four minutes! No punishment! Also, sorry for the blur! I'll work on it.)

  • Doing a project on Gatsby. This is helping.

  • You talk far too fast. Chill.

  • Please, please, please do all the chapters and i will be forever indebted 

  • whell u do stugl u lean how to strive and sced and to live with what litte u have. poor ppl rule. (i am poor myslef. we might be homeless soon.luckly ilive in the drom but mom does not and she cant find a job)

  • is  it just me or is he blurry

  • Comment removed

  • John, please finish this book through these videos. We're growing impatient. =) Thanks!

  • sirisuly can you finish this?

  • Please add more chapters! I love this video!

  • John you're going to get me an A on my paper. Thank you.

  • john, you did a wonderful job...please continue with the gatsby analysis! (i.e., when you´re done signing our books ;) thanks so much for your great videos!

  • I am going to seem like a genius when I have to read this for English class next semester.

  • Please please please write the next summary review!! I watched your review on catcher in the rye that's why I subscribed! I love the way you do these videos! Please (:

  • I finished rereading the book today and still no new analysis from you. Please make more of these John!

  • OMG we just started this book today, i need all the chapters!!!

  • When reading Paper Towns i suspected a Great Gatsby influence (people becoming as fully as possible an idea they have created.) lovely to know i was not mistaken:) This video made me revisit one of my favourite ever novels, so thankyou:D

  • Finished it, loved it, and can't wait for more videos! :D

  • This is so far an amazing book. I keep seeing Gatsby as John Cleese. Especially when he's flipping out with Daisy in the room. Reminds me of when Cleese as Fawlty is jumping through hoops in the Towers to please his guest(s) of honor, completely ignoring the rest of those staying.

  • Do you feel like doing one of these for catcher in the rhy or catch 22? I love those books.

  • I'm not that familiar with American literature (I'm from Europe), but I have heard some marvelous things about the Great Gatsby. Seeing you talk so animatedly about the first chapter is igniting my curiosity and I'm positive that I would love this story. I'm buying the book the first moment I see the chance, so thank you haha!

    BTW, it's been at least 2 years since I watched a vlogbrothers video and you guys still rock! DFTBA

  • CRAZY, Double crazy. double fuck it

  • I LOVED that book.

  • Gosh. I remember "The Great Gastby" being required reading when I was a jr. (6 years ago). I also remember that the teacher did such a piss poor job that we all HATED this book- mostly because we didn't understand it at all-witch is very sad. Now I feel the need to go and re-read it because I feel like I've been cheated out of something beautiful.

  • I was really looking forward to using this as a resource for my English assignment on the Great Gatsby and the Grapes of Wrath this summer. :( John, you've been sick and signing billions of book, so absolutely no hard feelings!

  • heh heh....i was watching the video and then an ad popped up at the bootom of the screen advertising pizza coupons......i giggled alright

  • Makes me wanna read it again!

  • this is so bluuuurry..

  • Gosh, I forgot how much I love this book. Also, my teacher never pointed out the "care away" thing, but please tell me you're going to talk about the fact that everyone is named after things in nature, because that is one of my favorite things ever.

  • @vlogbrothers Ah sorry, missed that. My mistake!

  • @1066anglophile Actually, that theory makes a lot of sense. That's brilliant!

  • Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE finish explaining this book! I just found out I will be reading this book in collage in September and this just make it make so much sense!!

  • It's mostly accurate. Not all rich people are unhappy though.

  • Wait.... Nick has a last name? I read the entire book this summer and couldn't find it...

  • Literally just finished reading this book and recording my thoughts of it. I feel kind'a proud how John mentioned half the things that I wrote.... and then disappointed that I didn't notice the other, seemingly obvious points mentioned. Thankyou for this video, John!

  • I loved this novel. We are all desperately pursuing a green light in our respective ambitions, and that hunt is powerfully portrayed in Fitzgerald's presentation of a popular dream that controls humanity and its actions. I would say so much more, but my supply of characters for this comment is limiting. I read it last year in my AP class, and while others complained of monotony, I wanted more.

  • The Great Gatsby presents an accurate interpretation of luxury, wealth, and especially the American Dream. The pursuit of such goals carries an ever constant motivation of desperate hope and flaming desire, which is portrayed in the dreams of the characters of Gatsby. Gatsby lived for the green light, and hope pushed his spirit. His life was lulled by promise, and that remains relevant today, as those pursuing the "American Dream" and success are motivated by hope, a green light that sustains.

  • I read the first chapter yesterday so that I could participate in the book club. I can honestly say that i did not pick up on half of what you mentioned in this video but it totally makes sense and all fits together when you talk about it. Please do all the chapters! I'll keep reading, and I'd like to keep understanding. DFTBA!

  • This actually makes me want to read The Great Gatsby. :)

  • John I would love an analysis of George Orwell's "Animal Farm".

  • that was AWESOME!

  • And more: about the lawn, "finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run." And, "wedging his tense arm imperatively under mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square." Also, "Something was making him nibble at the edge of stale ideas as if his sturdy physical egotism had no longer nourished his peremptory heart." That was a gorgeous piece of literature right there.

  • I loved the first chapter. Especially this: "...standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens." Also, about Tom, "I had no sight into Daisy's heart but I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game."

  • John, can you do some more chapters? I am up to chapter 8 and I am so confused.

  • I had a really horrible moment where I finished the book and had no idea what fitzgerald was trying to say about it. This starts to clear that up for me!

  • John, I bought The Great Gatsby the other day! I haven't had much time to read it because I have other summer homework, but you've made me excited to read it.

  • This was probably the best book we read in my AP English class. I loved Gatsby.

  • y didn't i see this when i was still in summer school?

    i mean i got a good mark and i wasnt there cause i failed english before..

    it just woulda been convenient :/

  • I passed on my copy of GG to an Italian friend a few years ago, to "spread American culture" -- well no, just to share great literature. Now I want to read it again and have bought another copy! When you are feeling entirely well again, and recover from book signing, can you continue the GG vlog? Thx, Dx

  • Gotta love that green light.

  • This is the Great Gatsby 5times better explained than in my English class... I didn't like the book that much because I didn't see the point of it.... (and the whole old Sport thing really anyed me)... but now it makes much more sense ...Thanks :D

  • Love, love, love this book!

  • At first I was worried about finishing the first six chapters by John's deadline.....but it seems that my concern was unnecessary as I have now finished the book and we have only gotten so far as to discuss the first chapter. Oh well, I still like John and I loved The Great Gatsby. =)

  • I'm a nerd. xD *tells the world* ^^

  • this is awesome just read it and you just enlight me

  • Please do chapter two!

  • I just realized how I found the vlogbrothers in the first place, We had to read The Catcher in the Rye in my 11th grade English class and I wasn't really understanding any of it because my teacher uhh sucked for lack of a better word, anyway, I knew that I would find something on youtube and when I typed in The Catcher in the Rye the video of John showed up, the one about Holden's hatt :) I've been watching ever since and I love me some john&hank green. I pre-ordered the new book today! yahooo0!

  • i never understood why Nick says "he turned out alright in the end..." when Gatsby obviously did not. i dont wanna spoil it for anyone else but Gatsby ended up...not so alright.

  • @Anniebananie1230 I think maybe he means "alright" as in an alright person rather than that he lived happily ever after. Or at least that's my guess =)

  • <3

  • More chapters please!!

  • My English class is reading this next year, and to be honest I was kinda dreading it. Now... I'm kinda looking forward to it ^ ^

  • One of my favorite books ever and I've never had such a deep view on the first chapter alone.

    truly amazing!

    Please continue with the rest of the book soon, I love it!

  • dear john:

    1. move to texas, and go to the lewisville independent school district

    2. ask for a teaching job for 12th grade AP english at Flower Mound High School

    3. make children happy <3

  • my God, forgot how well writen those first few pages were XD.

    gotta read it again :P

    ah, never got the thing wi the nose. thought it was just rather clumsier characterisation than in the rest of the book

  • Beautiful, beautiful book. Thank you John Green

  • this video makes me desperately want to read the great gatsby. like... NOW.

  • @ankyshmanky It's online for free

  • @granfanucci Also, there is a thing called a library.

  • great gatsby is one of my favorite books!! saw both movies!!

  • My Mom got the book,

    My sister took the book from me,

    My sister made me sit through the movie.

  • can you do to kill a mockingbird please?

    

  • Since yourpants is down (insert immature joke here), I'm just going to add my input here: I do agree with the way Fitzgerald portrayed the lives of the rich as being not all it's cracked up to be, because the same can be seen in today's celebrities: not many of them are happy.

  • John, and anyone else who is finding great gatsby troublesome? this might help out. pure awesome which made my life greatgatsbygame. com

  • I live in Astoria.

  • So, uh... there are eight more chapters. Do we get any other videos any time soon?

  • Anyone know when yourpants will be back up? I must consult the forum.

  • I'm gonna summarize the whole novel:

    I got that bitch a car, bitches love cars.

  • I love you for making that Alanis Morissette reference. That's like my childhood; my mother listened to Alanis all the time haha

  • When you talked about his "extraordinary gift for hope" and the idea of "I'll be happy when..." reminded me of this book on Buddhism, which talks about just that. This postponement of happiness seems to be a universal thing, not just Gatsby and not just in the jazz age.

    It's the same for wealth and leisure I think, too much of either leading in fact to depreciation in value of these things. Like in Brave New World where they found too much free time led to increased drug use and unhappiness.

  • lol You make me happy

  • Fashion has changed from that age to this, but we're the same old dreamers we always were. As long as we linger in this condition called human—though "fallen" may be fairer—we will waste ourselves to touch value. And since we've learned to meet pleasure only as mixed with possession, to touch and be touched is not enough, we have to have. To that I add, wealth was always the best word in our low language of value.

  • There are two great tragedies in life, not achieving one's dreams...and acheiving them.