Most people hate the literature that they read in high school. However, I am one of the exceptions. I loved most of the novels that I had to read and The Great Gatsby was no exception. In fact, this was the first novel that helped me to fall in love with symbolism in literature. All the colors that Fitzgerald uses and what they can symbolize is just incredible. I remember very vividly talking about the colors green, yellow and purple, and all that they could stand for. I still hate it when people say, "This obviously symbolizes that..." and so on and so forth, but when it came to the Great Gatsby, it seemed fairly clear what most of the colors symbolized. Not only that, but the plot is great, too. I love the setting and the characters are strong but dysfunctional... which always makes for a great novel. If people haven't read this book by the time they are 20, they need to stop whatever they are doing and read it :)