...F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the common characteristics of perseverance, hard work, and wealth in 1920s America through the protagonists of The Great Gatsby and how those certain ideals inevitably clash. In a time period swelling with the prospect of wealth and aspiration, The Great Gatsby twists the common ideals of the 1920’s by illustrating the iniquity of these prospects. The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, plays the role of the wealthy cultural icon, throwing grand parties while being adored by many. His intentions, however, resonate on a deeper level than simply rising above in social status. All that Gatsby does is based around winning the heart of his deep-rooted love, Daisy Buchanan. While Daisy is beautiful, her beauty is not what mesmerizes...
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...Color Symbolism in “The Great Gatsby” Color symbolism in the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald has a variety of colors. Some of the colors in the book symbolize more than others. These colors include green, white, yellow, blue, grey, and silver. Each of these colors have a huge role in The Great Gatsby. They all symbolize something important and have their own meaning in the novel. Throughout the entire novel Fitzgerald uses the color green a lot. Green has many different interpretations in the novel. One of the most essential meanings of green in the novel is envy. Gatsby is known as a very envious and jealous person. Once upon a time Gatsby and the love of his life, Daisy, were both deeply in love. Daisy is now married to another man named Tom. He spends all his time and effort trying to get Daisy back and getting her attention. Also, one might say that Gatsby is jealous of the riches around him. He is believed to be “green with...
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...The Great Gatsby, which people consider as Fitzgerald’s best literary work, portrays the journey of a man in acquiring success and love throughout the Jazz age. The protagonist is Jay Gatsby who attempts to win Daisy Buchanan’s love a high-class woman by using illegal ways to become wealthy. This paper uses themes as a literary device as it relates to The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. The most important underlying themes of the novel however are honesty and dishonesty, American dream, class, violence, gender roles, and moral decay. Theme of honesty and dishonesty: As compared to other works, the theme of honesty in Fitzgerald’s novel fails to distinguish compassionate characters from the uncompassionate ones. Honesty and dishonesty is a major...
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...family moved to America from Pakistan before I was born, they chased the American Dream. This dream consists of having a fulfilled life with wealth, happiness and protection for the family. In the novel written by Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 called The Great Gatsby provides a great commentary for the life that people lived in the 1920s. The protagonist, Nick Carraway witnesses corruption with different relationships because of lavish lifestyles. Jay Gatsby, Nick’s neighbor throws lavish parties in hopes to attract his past lover, Daisy. He lost the love of his life when he went to war and came back realizing that she married a man with more wealth and security, Tom. The American Dream is defined as someone with low income or social status...
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...constant partying and scandalous relationships where men had typically held absolute power. In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, both typical and changing gender roles play a crucial part in establishing rocky relationships between certain characters. Tom and Daisy’s marriage is completely motivated by wealth and reputation as Tom is unfaithful and mistreats Daisy, yet he still wants Daisy to stand by him in the public eye. Tom also participates in an abusive affair with Myrtle Wilson, an impoverished woman who makes an effort to act as though she is wealthy and takes Daisy’s place. Gatsby sees Daisy as an unattainable dream that he wishes to achieve. Despite this rising period of rebelliousness in women, Daisy and Myrtle continue to conform to the men who possess all the power. Based on pure...
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...Within F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby In The Great Gatsby, greed is the root of all evil that people in the American 1920’s society that weaves its ways through the lives of many. Gatsby’s greed is evident over his obsession over Daisy which leads to them to several rash decisions. Tom Buchanan cheats his lovers because of his desire for power. And Meyer Wolfsheim pulls Gatsby down with him over his criminal organization. From this, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, greed plays a prominent and dangerous role through Gatsby’s obsessive desire for Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan’s affair with Myrtle Wilson, and Meyer Wolfsheim’s obsession with crime. During The Great Gatsby,...
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...vacuum cleaners, and radio. These inventions were the “must have” items that everyone was now required to own. But this idea of needing more and not worrying about the consequences, led to the Great Depression, one of the hardest economic times in American history. This idea of mass consumerism and materialism is also apparent in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby’s character was largely influenced by his wealth and his need for more. Illustrated by Gatsby’s need for Daisy Buchanan that resulted in his decline and ultimately his death....
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...The Great Gatsby: Summary: Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota, moves to New York in the summer of 1922 to learn about the bond business. He rents a house in the West Egg, Long Island, a wealthy area populated by the new rich, people who made their fortunes due to the economic upswing of the Roaring Twenties. Nick’s next-door neighbor in West Egg is a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby, who lives in a huge mansion and throws extravagant parties on the weekends. Nick is unlike the other inhabitants of West Egg—he was educated at Yale and has social connections in East Egg, a fashionable area of Long Island and the home of the upper class. Nick drives out to East Egg one evening to have dinner with his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and her husband, Tom, a former classmate of Nick during his time at Yale. Daisy and Tom introduce Nick to Jordan Baker, a beautiful, cynical young woman with whom Nick begins a romantic relationship. Nick also learns a bit about Daisy and Tom’s marriage: Jordan tells him that Tom has a lover, Myrtle Wilson, who lives in the valley of ashes, a gray industrial dumping ground between West Egg and New York City. Not long after this revelation, Nick travels to New York City with Tom and Myrtle. At a random, vulgar party in the apartment that Tom bought because of his affair, Myrtle begins to taunt Tom about Daisy, and Tom responds by breaking her nose. As the summer progresses, Nick eventually gets an invitation to one of Gatsby’s legendary parties. He encounters...
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...Clever and captivating, F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is perhaps the most critically analysed American piece of the past century. Arguably this is because Fitzgerald uses many diverse literary devices to fascinate the reader. Gatsby and Daisy embody the theme of complicated relationships, which Fitzgerald uses to make the reader question the legitimacy of Daisy’s feelings and Gatsby’s persistence in chasing his dream. Fitzgerald involves symbolism in many ways including a green light at the end of Daisy’s dock to symbolise Gatsby’s dream and comment on the greed of the people of the roaring twenties. The American Dream is a theme through which Fitzgerald is able to comment on the moral decay of the Roaring Twenties society. Fitzgerald uses the theme of complicated relationships between characters as a symbol of misjudgement, this is especially evident for Gatsby and his relationship with Daisy. When Gatsby and Daisy began their love, Daisy was a symbol of wealth and the upper class of American society. Circumstantially it was the case that for Gatsby to fulfil his dream he would have to work to once again be worthy of Daisy’s love. It is hard not to question whether during their time apart Gatsby had glorified Daisy and it is uncertain as to whether she was worth it. Gatsby strongly desired the past to be repeated. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow...
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...The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that displays love, hate, betrayal and dreams. It takes place in an era of prosperity and wealth known as the roaring 20's. This decade brought many changes to society as well as our world in general, as is seen throughout the book. In the 1920's the 18th amendment was passed which prohibited any intoxicating liquors. This forced a large chain of organized crime in what is known as the "Jazz Era." This particular topic is very evident in the novel The Great Gatsby. My second point being that the roles of women changed drastically in this decade. The actions, as well as descriptions, or many of the female characters in the novel depict the different ways that women had evolved. Also, as another point, due to the economy booming during this time period, people became obsessed with wealth and power. Many of the characters from the novel display this characteristic in they sense that they are all extremely wealthy. Therefore, the novel The Great Gatsby is very representative of life and society during the 1920's in various ways. Prohibition had been passed in 1919, yet there was still high demand for alcohol during the 1920's. F. Scott Fitzgerald displays much of the illegal activities that occurred during this time throughout The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters, is involved in this illegal smuggling and selling of alcohol. He had "bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here in Chicago...
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...In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway serves dual roles. The first one introduced, Nick Carraway is the novel's most well-developed character. The opening paragraphs of the novel reveal Nick's morals and ideals as a person. Though believing himself to have been given a fair amount of the "fundamental decencies [that are] parcelled out unequally at birth", Nick still is inclined "to reserve all judgements" (6, 5). With that inclination, he is then able to get to know most of the characters quite intimately, thus being able to see all the situations as a whole. An example that exemplifies his habit of reserving judgement is just before he meets Gatsby himself. At the first party of Gatsby's that he attends, he had not yet met the host, when already he hears of several rumors concerning Gatsby's past. Unaffected by rumors such as "[Gatsby has] killed a man once" and being "a German spy during the war", Nick still gets to know Gatsby quite well, helping the plot as well as Gatsby's character development (47, 48). Nick's personality qualities qualify him for being a good narrator. The most honest of all characters in the story, Nick is also honest with himself. For example, although Nick cares for Jordan, he admits to himself that Jordan is dishonest and selfish, thereby not letting emotion cloud his judgement. Nick seems to be The Great Gatsby's only uncorrupted and disillusioned character. Every other character, including Gatsby himself, uses money for every...
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...Houses and Cars in The Great Gatsby Francis Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, is full of symbolism, which is portrayed by the houses and cars in an array of ways. One of the more important qualities of symbolism within The Great Gatsby is the way in which it is so completely incorporated into the plot and structure. Symbols, such as Gatsby's house and car, symbolize material wealth. Gatsby's house "[is] a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy" which contains "a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy" is a symbol of Gatsby's large illegal income (Fitzgerald 9). Gatsby's large income isn't enough to keep him happy. He needs "The house he feels he needs in order to win happiness" and it is also the perfect symbol of carelessness with money which is a major part of his personality (Bewley 24). Gatsby's house like his car symbolizes his vulgar and excessive trait of getting attention. Gatz's house is a mixture of different styles and periods which symbolizes an owner who does not know their true identity. The Buchanan's house is symbolic of their ideals. East Egg is home to the more prominent established wealth families. Tom's and Daisy's home is on the East Egg. Their house, a "red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay" with its "wine-colored rug[s]" is just as impressive as Gatsby's house but much more low-key (Fitzgerald 11) (13). East egg and Tom's home represents the established wealth and traditions. Their...
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...themselves through the process of gaining wealth and fortune. America was seen as a place full of opportunities and was an area to be free and prosper, this idea was known as the “American Dream”. However, this was also a time in which crime, racism and war were all still prevalent. The “American Dream” was an idea which moved passed the faultiness in society and focused more on personal gain and happiness. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald critiques the state of the “American Dream” through specific characters who demonstrate different flaws revolving around wealth throughout the entirety of the novel. An important character Fitzgerald crafts to support the claim would be Jay Gatsby. Formally known as James Gatz, Gatsby was just a regular country boy from minnesota who had high hopes of becoming rich from an early age. He has a hard working boy who honorably served his country and later...
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...F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, demonstrates that Jay Gatsby lives a life of the American Dream gone wrong by lowering his morals with the corrupt nature of greed, Jay only focuses on the past to move forward in his own grand dream for himself, and how Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism during the Roaring Twenties exemplifies theme areas in the novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the cars represent a form of status. Nick takes taxis while Gatsby drives his custom made, cream-yellow car. According to Dan Seiters, “It is a rich cream color, a combination of the white of the dream and the yellow of money, of reality in a narrow sense,” (1). After Daisy kills Myrtle a bystander talks about the car and says, “It was a yellow car....
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...F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a great American novel, which criticizes wealth in the American dream. Nick Carraway is the narrator who observes characters such as Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom primarily. Jay Gatsby wants the perfect American dream. He has worked most of his life to get the fame and wealth that will impress Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is his love. In Gatsby’s mind, she is the only girl for him. He is so in love with everything about her. Daisy, however, refuses to accept her love for Gatsby and ultimately chooses Tom in the end. Tom Buchanan is an arrogant jerk who cannot seem to relive his glory days as an elite football player. He tries to feel this void with mistresses, one being Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle wants the life that Daisy...
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