Reading Journal Gatsby Chapter 4

• At the very start of the chapter Nick writes 'On Sunday morning when church bells rang,' - church bells obviously being holy, and yet he continues to write 'the world and its mistress returns to Gatbsy's house', - contrast between church and holiness and the sinning between the 'world and it's mistress'- maybe referring to Tom and Myrtle. 
• Nick recalls all the names of the people who had been attending Gatsby's parties, showing how observant he is and how actually he's quite interested in the lives of other people - earlier he mentions Myrtle's reading material 'Town Tattle' but here it suggests that even he can be superficial and nosy. 
• Colour - 'rich cream' to describe the car, 'caramel' to describe the suit - colours of sweet things - maybe to show some form of affection toward Gatsby?
• Element of mystery is reinforced with Gatsby - his vagueness when talking to Nick and his sudden disappearance when the meeting with Tom occurs.
•   Nick makes a lot of references to the sky e.g 'a dozen suns' -dreamlike, illusional, perhaps suggesting there is an underlying negativity
• 'There are only the pursued, pursuing, the busy and the tired' - shows Nick's confidence increasing and how he is developing as a narrator, contrasting with how he was called a 'politician'. Now he is becoming more spontaneous and giving in to his desires rather than thinking everything out for long periods of time.

Reading Journal Gatsby Chapter 3

• Nick uses a lot of reference to color and sound which reflects his watchful and observant personality - he speaks of Gatsby's 'blue gardens', suggesting his thoughts are that Gatsby thinks he is royalty. 
• He describes the party goers as 'moths among the whisperings' - this comparison gives the idea that he feels the party goers are just attracted to money and nice things, like moths are to light. 
• Many references to color and light - 'stars, colored lights, glistening, dark gold, primary colours, opal, yellow' - gives insight to the atmosphere, people 
• Description of sound - 'oboes, trombones, chatter, laughter, yellow cocktail music, voices sang,' - reflects the social scale and status of Gatsby and people attending the party, their happiness and the way they revel in money
• Nick uses many lists to convey a certain image or idea - 'significant, elemental and profound, books or insurance or automobiles, whisperings and the champagne and the stars.' 
• He also uses many references to the moon, for example he writes 'a wafer of moon was shining over Gatsby's house' - uses powerful imagery and relates back to chapter 2 where Gatsby is staring up at the sky and as Nick dictates ' deciding which share of the heavens were his.' Gives the impression there is much to be revealed about Gatsby, especially when it is written that 'endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host, who stood on the porch, his hand up in formal gesture of farewell'  -Nick refers to him as a 'figure', and says he is in 'complete isolation', showing mystery and loneliness.
• Nick unknowingly makes a link between himself and Gatsby, when he writes about himself, 'I felt a haunting loneliness', after stating that Gatsby was in complete isolation. 

Reading Journal Gatsby Chapters 1-2

• Straight away in the first chapter we get an insight to Nick's upbrining - very proper, so how will this develop and contribute to the narrative?
• 'I'm inclined to reserve all judgements', - we understand how he is quite an introvert character, who watched and observes, 'I was unjustly accused of being a politician' - gives the sense he may be quite serious - is there an underlying reason for this?
• 'Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn' - foreshadows later conflict with Gatsby, raises questions - how will this affect the story?
• Why does he refer to his cousin in such a romantic way? - 'Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth, but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget; a stinging compulsion...'
• Why does Nick refer to Tom as 'Tom Buchanan' but to Daisy only as 'Daisy?' -  may show status, role in society
• A lot of references to wealth  - 'Lived in France for no particular reason'.
• Tom comes across very arrogant - 'Nice place I've got here' - and racist, 'It's up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things'.
• Daisy and Tom's relationship seems very dysfunctional and showy - the way Tom disregards her
• What is the significance of Doctor Eckleburg?
•  Why does Tom have a mistress?
• Myrtle is portrayed as not very well educated and fairly illiterate - 'I got to write down a list so I don't forget all the things I got to do.'
• Tom is revealed as a violent brute as Myrtle repeats Daisy's name (this could show some sort of regret as to what he's doing or shame) - 'Tom Buchanan broke her nose with this open hand.'
• A lot of characters are revealed in the second chapter which makes me wonder what their significance will be later on in the play