Two pages is not very long, so you probably shouldn’t try to argue something broad like “‘The Great Gatsby’ represents American society in the 1920’s.” You need more focus than that. Pick one character or one aspect of society. Someone else asked about a two-page “Great Gatsby” paper, and their topic was the American Dream. You might write something more focused than that: Gatsby’s relation to the American Dream. However, that’s not a thesis. Your thesis would be your ARGUMENT about his relation to the American Dream.

Some other ideas:

New money versus old money

Whether Daisy loves Gatsby/ whether Gatsby loves Daisy

What the ash heaps symbolize (or the green light or the eyes on the advertisement)

Pick whatever interests you. And when you write the paper, remember this: literature is subjective, so don’t worry about being “wrong.” If you can back up your argument with evidence from the book and explain it well, then you’re writing a good essay.

I absolutely agree with the previous answer, and would only stress to pick something that interests you. The easiest things (or at least, most common things) to write about are the American Dream, Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, and new money versus old money, so you may want to go there. Some of those are broad, so try to pick something more specific. If you’re familiar enough with the book to draw on a lot of specifics, you may want to consider analyzing Nick’s role in the novel, as a character and a narrator (he almost never has any effect on the story, but does he infuse the narrative with his own opinions, hence affecting the story in that way?). If you’ve studied the archetype of the tragic hero, you can also argue for whether or not Gatsby fills that role. There are a ton of great topics, especially if you’re only doing two pages, but pick something you know you can do.

As an English teacher, I have one major piece of advice for you: don’t say “I think”, ever! If you’re writing a paper that isn’t about you personally, you should not use the first person (“I’, “my”, “mine”, “me”). To express an opinion, just say it. Don’t say “in my opinion, Gatsby loved the idea of Daisy instead of the reality of her”, say “Gatsby loved[…]”. It will make your paper a thousand times stronger. And cite your sources. Okay, done being an English teacher now…I hope that helps!

How approximately disillusionment? Falling in love with a reminiscence of somebody who relatively did no longer exist? Daisy isn’t an identical guy or woman Gatsby recollects her to be. or how abut the Valley of Ashes and how people from the East and West Egg can not get to NYC without passing by using it and having somewhat of that ash grasp to them? Or my own well-known … The owl-eyed guy interior the library who’s the only one from the events to attend Gatsby’s funeral to boot Nick. Who do you think of he became? Pax – C