The Great Gatsby

It took me a while to absorb the beauty of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" - and to understand that why it became a milestone novel in American literature. (It took Americans themselves many years to appreciate this work after his death). While I was finishing last pages of novel - tears floated in my eyes and I had to close the book to understand the emotional life and psych of its central character Gatsby. What amaze me more than anything is that he wrote this legendary novel at the tender age of only 29. He died at age of 44. No wonder many very sensitive and good people die early like Nasir Kazmi, Parveen Shakeer, Mustafa Zaidi and others.

There is so much written about this novel (you can google), I will just write my perspective shortly in Urdu as I felt this story is not based in America of 1925 but its a tale of India or Pakistan in year 2011.

'Gatsby' aik aesa kirdar hai - jise duniya ne kuch nahi diya magar usne sirf mohabbatain hi baanti. Ye kahani hamare ikhlaqi iqdaar ke us zawal ki hai- jisme aik saada dil shkas jeeta hai. 'Gatsby' zindagi ko bagair kisi muzahayemat (resistence) ke wese hi accept ker leta hai jese woh use milti hai - magar woh phir bhi halat ko behtar banane ki koshish kerta hai. Us ka dil mohabbat se pur hai. Woh badalti duniya ke saath chalne ki koshish kerta hai - magar uske chaaroN taraf daulat, anaa, be-wafaai, jhoot, aur munafiqat ki kaali chadar hai. Us main aurat se mohabbat kerne ka jazba to hai magar aurat ki be-wafaai ko samjhne ki 'chip' hi nahi. Use to dhang se jhoot bolna bhi nahi aata. Woh yunhi logon pe bharosa ker leta hai.

Gatsby un logon ka kirdar hai - jo hamare aas paas baste hain - hamari aankhon ke saamne - magar hamare 'blind spots' unhe dekh nahi paate. F. Scott Fitzgerald ka kamal yahi hai ke woh jhoot aur fareb ki dhund main - hame sache, meethe aur piyare logon ka chehra dikhata hai!

Achha writer novel ke shuru aur aakhir main poora 'theme' kuch lafzon main samo deta hai. I will put those 2 quotes:

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. 'Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,' he told me, 'just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.'..

"...They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. . . ."

You can read novel : https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/the-great-gatsby.pdf