...The Great Gatsby is considered one of the greatest American classics written. The story of Great Gatsby is so full of emotion and details, that convey what is happening,without the use of dialogue. One of the most powerful descriptive storytelling techniques that Fitzgerald uses to set, portray, and bring out the feeling and mood of a scene is the weather. The weather can be very impactful not only on the physical obstacles characters might face, but also can portray the mood of what is happening. For example a thunderstorm might depict that something bad may happen, or it can reference that characters might get into a fight. Snow can show something might be calm, peaceful, and pure or it could show that there are “cold” feeling between characters or convey the feeling of nothingness. Fitzgerald uses several descriptions of weather throughout the novel that help to set the tone and direction with which a scene is going....
Words: 574 - Pages: 3
...The Great Gatsby In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a man anxiously characterized by a girl he is madly in love and obsessed with. Weather takes a big draw and symbol in the book which brings along nerves, happiness, and reminders of the love and awkwardness between Daisy and Gatsby. The first time weather really becomes a symbol is the day that Daisy agrees for tea at Nick's house. “The day agreed on pouring rain.” The narrator states at the beginning of chapter 5. The rain and fog across the grass and through the air represents the nervousness that Gatsby has for reconnecting with Daisy after five years. Gatsby has always loved Daisy and revolves his life around her. When Daisy arrives at the house the weather is still going strong. As the day goes on and Gatsby makes his appearance and the weather slowly begins to clear up. “The rain cooled about half past three to a damp mist through which occasional thin drops swam like dew.” Now that the two have adjusted to each other the weather is expressing how there is not as many nerves....
Words: 514 - Pages: 3
...In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway joins Jay Gatsby through a trail of lies, love, and deception. Jay Gatsby lives perfectly across the bay from Daisy Buchanan with the green light at the end of her dock leaving a reminder. In the book, Fitzgerald portrays Jay and Daisy’s relationship to be like Zelda and himselfs relationship. While showing the progression through the 1920s of wealth, it shows the differences in the social classes and how they looked at each other. The Great Gatsby shows symbolic messages throughout the reading such as Fitzgeralds past, the use of colors, and the American dream. Nick views himself as underclass, being surrounded by the rich, but that he will rise in his bond business. He becomes fascinated by his neighbor Mr. Gatsby mysteriousness and how he is so widespread known. At Tom and Daisy’s under their high living is love and despair. Tom likes living high but also having the power to broadcast his public affair. Tom’s lover Myrtle lives in the Valley of Ash, representing a much lower class. He shows Myrtle off in New York city to show how much power and authority...
Words: 941 - Pages: 4
...In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the descriptions of landscape reflect the theme of the distinction between social classes that pervades the book. Two vehicles through which Fitzgerald describes the landscape include Gatsby’s house, and the geography of New York and its weather. The descriptions of Gatsby’s house changes as the book progresses, and it should be noticed that they parallel changes in the plot, and highlight the theme. In previous chapters, Gatsby’s house is just as much of an enigma as Gatsby himself. As Nick describes the parties that his neighbor throws, the house becomes a luminous entity in itself. Nick narrates, “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the stars.” (43). Nick's indifferent attitude with a tinge of curiosity reflects his upbringing and temperament that separates him from the aristocrats that frequent Gatsby’s parties. Fitzgerald’s use of the word “blue” to describe the gardens, conjures up images of a crepuscular evanescence, and twilight. It is fitting with the mood of the story: subdued, without the intensity that characterizes later chapters. The changes in weather also illuminate the contrariety between Gatsby and Daisy, two very different people who illustrate the disparity between classes. When Gatsby and Daisy first meet, it is raining outside. Nick narrates, “While the rain continued, it had seemed like the murmur of their voices, rising and swelling a little, now and then, with gusts of emotion...
Words: 606 - Pages: 3
...Literally speaking, weather has the power to directly affect a character, whether they become soaked from the rain or sweaty from the heat. Symbolically speaking, weather means much more than a few drops of water, or a thermometer reaching one hundred degrees. Overall, Foster discusses three types of weather throughout this chapter: rain, fog and snow. Firstly, rain, “the principal element of spring”, possess transformative qualities and can symbolically cleanse a character (73). Rain, when mixed with a little sunlight can fashion symbolic, “divine promise[s]” and “peace between heaven and earth” (74). These celestial pacts, known as rainbows, are literally very rare, but commonly hard to miss. Symbolically, rainbows represent miracles and are just as important as they are beautiful. Although rain can demonstrate symbolic rebirth, and is capable of creating miraculous rainbows, a downpour can also form mud and induce a character to become...
Words: 414 - Pages: 2
...The Great Gatsby (Novel) Author Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald Purpose To show the author’s conflicting feelings about the Jazz Age Relationship with the Author and the Characters Fitzgerald and Carraway Thoughtful young man from Minnesota Educated at an Ivy League school Moves to NYC after the war Found the new extravagant lifestyle seductive and exciting Fitzgerald and Gatsby Idolizes wealth and luxury Falls in love with a beautiful young woman while at military camp Narrator Nick Carraway; he also implies that he is the book’s author Point of View Both first and third person Presents only what he himself observes Tone Ambivalent and contradictory; sometimes he seems to disapprove Gatsby, and sometimes he romanticizes and admires Gatsby, describing events in nostalgic and elegiac tone Background Year written: 1925 (the Jazz Age) American economy soared; great prosperity for majority Prohibition (18th Amendment in 1919) ‘bootleggers’ Money is everything Plot Nick Carraway moves from Minnesota to New York (West Egg) to learn about bond business West Egg: wealthy and fashionable area; where the “New Rich” live Nick has social connections with East Egg, where the “Old Rich” live Nick’s classmate at Yale, Tom Buchanan, lives with Nick’s cousin Daisy in East Egg Tom has a lover, Myrtle Wilson, in the Valley of Ashes Valley of Ashes is a gray industrial dumping ground At one party, Nick breaks...
Words: 863 - Pages: 4
...English 12 Great Gatsby Assignment ASSIGNMENT The questions below are all very open-ended, allowing you a permissive opportunity to reflect on and draw personalized meaning from the text. The key will not be right answers but how you position and support your reply to each question. As a result, responses should not appear as a question answered, but as an insight revealed. There will need to be an investigative quality to how you use the question to interpret the novel and its possible applications to your own personal and cultural realities. Responses will normally require a paragraph or two (200-300 words; more or less is fine so long as responses are complete). Question #1 Identify three scenarios (specific events or experiences) from The Great Gatsby which portray how some imagine and live out the Dream. Then, comment on what the experience suggests about the character’s underlying belief and motivation about “getting ahead” or having “a better life,” in connection with the greater insight of the novel. Finally, depict three expressions/experiences in cultural life today that bear striking similarity to the novel and comment freely on any relationships they have with its larger theme(s). In The Great Gatsby novel Daisy imagined the Dream as a life of popularity, status, and class. She married Tom who she does not love to achieve her idea of the Dream. Gatsby imagined the Dream when he started working for the rich man who took him under his...
Words: 1302 - Pages: 6
...In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism to indicate themes and influence the plot. The valley of ashes, the green light, and the billboard are the three major examples of Fitzgerald’s symbolism. The valley of ashes is a significant symbol used in The Great Gatsby. “About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air…” (Fitzgerald 28). It symbolizes the forgotten poor underclass who enable the lifestyle of the wealthy few. The people who work and live in this valley are the factory employees. Their factory production is what’s driving the construction expansion that supplies the residents of West Egg with their wealth. “The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. There is always a halt there of at least a minute…” (29)....
Words: 656 - Pages: 3
...Chapter five of The Great Gatsby plays a pivotal chapter in the novel, as Fitzgerald gives readers a chance to first handedly see an interaction between Gatsby and Daisy. Before the reunion between the two characters, the story of the relationship solely exists in prospect as Gatsby is consumed with the thought of fulfilling his dream of rekindling the romance and relentlessly pursues his fantasy for the last five years. Starting out, the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy is filled with an awkward tension and unlike his usual calm and collected facade, Gatsby seems unusually nervous and vulnerable. Throughout his interaction with Daisy, we see a couple of awkward gestures, which are in fact, earnest attempts to seem composed and natural. Nick...
Words: 435 - Pages: 2
...In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is a distinct development of emotions and symbols, and one of the key vehicles for illustrating this change is the final line of each chapter. Hidden within each final sentence lies an inner message that either pulls together a major theme in the chapter leading up to the sentence, or is a harbinger of the coming chapters. Beginning with the final word in chapter one, “darkness” (21), and concluding with the novel’s final word, “past” (180), Fitzgerald uses simple closing words to represent a deeper, continuous meaning that pervades the book. By doing this, Fitzgerald is able to outline major themes in the novel, including facial expressions, honesty, and balance. Most clearly and powerfully, however, the outline of lightness through positive imagery and darkness through negative imagery is presented in the final lines of each chapter. By grouping the chapters by hopefulness shown in their respective final lines, a trend is apparent. In chapters one through three, the final lines provide a dark, sullen preview for the chapters to come, while chapter four provides a transition into the final lines of chapters five and six, which signify a brief sense of giddiness that begins to darken. Finally, the last lines of chapters seven through nine mark the development and completion of the violent “holocaust” (162). Supplying a preview at the end of chapter one as to the violence to occur later in the novel, Nick says he is “alone...
Words: 1586 - Pages: 7
...The Great Gatsby a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in New York during the roaring twenties. A man named Nick Carraway move to New York in West Egg of Long Island. West Egg is a society for people that earn their wealth and East Egg is for people that had their wealth passed down for generations. Nick goes to East Egg to visit his cousin Daisy Buchanan who is married to Tom Buchanan, the wealthiest man in East Egg. When Nick returns home he sees his neighbor, Jay Gatsby, a new money multi millionaire. Gatsby seems to be reaching out for something looking across the bay that separates West egg and East egg. Gatsby sends Nick an invitation to his party so he can ask Nick to invite Daisy for tea. When Daisy come over for tea, Gatsby shows his...
Words: 627 - Pages: 3
...what we're gonna have in the garden and about the rabbits in the cages and about the rain in the winter and the stove, and how thick the cream is on the milk like you can hardly cut it. Tell about that George." "Why'n't you do it yourself? You know all of it." "No…you tell it. It ain't the same if I tell it. Go on…George. How I get to tend the rabbits." (Steinbeck). I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads . . . every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Ever’body wants a little piece of lan’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land (Steinbeck). -Analysis of how the example / quotation proves the argument: In Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are determined to work hard in order to own their own farm. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is hopeful to rekindle the love he once had with Daisy. Yet, Gatsby and the working men to not attain these big dreams. George shoots Lennie and Gatsby is murdered by Myrtle's husband. Gatsby loved Daisy so incredibly much, he was willing to go down for her crime. -Concluding sentence where you re-iterate the connection to the thesis: To conclude, the similarity of the characters unsuccessful dreams in Of Mice and Men and The Great Gatsby, enforces how the books are alike. -Introduction of example #4: A happy end is always...
Words: 889 - Pages: 4
...of The Great Gatsby the story is told through the theme of love and relationships as Fitzgerald introduces the reader to the revival of Daisy’s and Gatsby’s relationship, followed by a detailed description of their exploration of Gatsby’s house. It is in Chapter 5 when Gatsby shows his true self, as these emotions are revealed to the reader as the chapter progresses, with Gatsby becoming more confident around Daisy. When Nick agrees to invite Daisy for tea, we see another side to Gatsby when he offers Nick a job, which ‘might pick up a nice bit of money’. This use of voice emphasises the fact that Gatsby’s ‘side line’ business is not likely to be respectable. This glimpse into the gangster side of Gatsby foreshadows Tom’s investigation into Gatsby’s ‘drug-stores’, which is revealed to be bootlegging. Later on Nick describes Gatsby as ‘pale as death’. This violent metaphor foreshadows Gatsby’s death at the end of the novel. Gatsby was ‘glaring tragically’ into Nick’s eyes, which is the first description in the novel that suggests Gatsby is no longer in control. Up until now, Gatsby’s performance is close to perfect, so the sudden vulnerability of the hero is surprising to the reader, and stresses just how strong his feelings are towards Daisy, who is waiting inside Nick’s house. Fitzgerald uses pathetic fallacy as rain appears when Gatsby and Daisy meet for the first time, ominously foreshadowing their relationship and Gatsby's fate. When Daisy finally meets Gatsby, Fitzgerald...
Words: 616 - Pages: 3
...think your day might go? Not only does it apply to many people but it also applies the characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's “The Great Gatsby”. The following will explain how weather conditions in “The Great Gatsby” foreshadow eventual outcomes for the main characters. Foreshadowment can be hard to see when you're not expecting it, and when sunny weather sets in a uplifting feeling it can be especially hard to notice it. A example of this is as Gatsby and Nick go to lunch they drive over the Queensboro bridge. As the drive into the city Nick says “Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge.”. The bridge to Nick is a gateway to adventure which...
Words: 1070 - Pages: 5
...Feminist and Lesbian Criticism in The Great Gatsby No novel gives goose bumps to readers without the sparkle of a powerful woman. In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jordan, Daisy and Myrtle make up the scenario of the feminine force in a world ruled by men. While Daisy and Myrtle are feminine, delicate and live in the constant longing for unconditional love, Jordan is the representation of the modern, feminist woman. Jordan enjoys living life carelessly and does not find it necessary to have a man by her side, she has a masculine appearance and personal characteristics that are commonly found in men, such as dishonesty. According to Lois Tyson, the author of Critical Theory Today, "feminist criticism examines the ways in which literature (...) reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson 83). In The Great Gatsby, while Fitzgerald represents several weaknesses of women through Daisy and Myrtle, he makes Jordan the illustration of Tyson's feminist theory. Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby, defines Jordan as "incurably dishonest" (Fitzgerald 64). Some of the events of the novel that demonstrate Jordan's dishonesty are the "incident" that occurs at her first golf tournament, the fact that she keeps information hidden from Daisy, Tom, Nick and Gatsby, even when she is trying to help them, and the fact that she uses bribery and coercion to fix erroneous attitudes, which are characteristics...
Words: 1313 - Pages: 6
