...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...
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...The Narrative Art of The Great Gatsby Introduction The Great Gatsby was written in 1925. The author, Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is one of the most outstanding writers in America. As a member of the “lost generation”, Fitzgerald made the short life of Gatsby epitome of the rise, boom and decline of the “American Dream” in “Jazz Age”. This novel shows us unusually rich literary and aesthetic connotation is has by its unique narrative perspective, the ups and downs of plot, superb accurate language, various rhetorical devices and vivid character images. To some extent, the reason why The Great Gatsby can become a famous classic work is that the author uses extraordinary narrative techniques in it. All the techniques are employed skillfully by Fitzgerald. The study of narrative art in this work has been highlighted in the research area in these years. Zhang Jinfeng(2001) analyzes the role of Nick in the novel from the its structure, themes and other aspects. Cheng Xilin(2009) uses the spatial narrative theory to discussed the space narrative art in The Great Gatsby from three aspects: the geography space, social space and the text space. Xiao Dongbo(2009) starts with the analysis on author and characters and expound the connotation of "American dream" and profoundly reveals the historical process of the formation, development and burst of the "American dream". Shang Guanghui(2011) analyzes The Great Gatsby from the narrators of the role and argues that the communication...
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...The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (published on April 10, 1925) is one novel that anyone would regret not reading. It has gone down in history as one of the most important works in American literature — and, to many, the great American novel. Fitzgerald has succeeded in offering up commentary on a variety of themes — justice, power, greed, betrayal, the American dream and so on through Nick as a narrator. There are two most impressive symbols in the novel. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock and the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg remains obsessing in readers’ minds. The first is a perfect example of the manner in which characters The Great Gatsby. Situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock and barely visible from Gatsby’s West Egg lawn, the green light represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams. Gatsby associates it with Daisy, to whom “ he bought house to be near her, he threw all those parties hoping she would wander in one night”. In Chapter 1 he reaches toward the green light on the other side of the river, in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is broadly associated with the American dream: “all man are created equal and that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness”, the green light also symbolizes that more generalized ideal. Though, The Great Gatsby illustrates the downgrade value of American Dream, instead of...
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...The Great Gatsby ; Gatsby definition of love In The Great Gatsby by Scott F.Fitzgerald(1925) the novel displays the relationships Jay Gatsby conveys to Daisy Buchanan.In the novel the author shows Jay Gatsby love obsession through Daisy's materialistic status with the new wealth he has brought to the West Egg.He changes his old ways to become a high social class man to gain Daisy love back.In the tea scene we see Gatsby keeps pictures from Daisy to show them off to her .Then we have Nicks home where Gatsby spends money on Daisy by arranging Nicks home. Next Gatsby home is across Daisy but he never is notice by her so he uses his parties to bring up her attention. Ms.Wilson tragic death becomes a reason for Gtasby in protecting Daisy from...
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...1. Francis Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940) was an American author of novels and many short stories. He is worldwide recognized as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and the time called the „Jazz Age”. His most famous works are „The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and „The Great Gatsby” which have been adapted into films. The Great Gatsby has been the basis for many movie adaptations of the same name in 1926, 1949, 1974, 2000, and the latest in 2013. 2. Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann (1962 - ) is an Australian film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for directing Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Australia and the newest version of The Great Gatsby released in 2013. 3. „The Great Gatsby” – the plot of the novel The Great Gatsby is an American novel written in 1925 that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young, handsome and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his unrealistic illusion and passion for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Major characters Nick Carraway – a Yale graduate originating from the Midwest, a World War I veteran, and, at the start of the plot, a newly arrived resident of West Egg, who is about 30 years old. He serves as the first-person narrator of the novel. He is Gatsby's next-door neighbour and a bond salesman. He is an easy-going, occasionally...
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...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a 1925 novel about complex characters and their intricate relationships. Both the characters and their relationships are central focuses in the purpose of the book; however, those focuses can be understood differently in terms of the unique values of Eastern and Western cultures. An understanding of the text can change drastically based on those interpretations. Jay Gatsby is a prime example of a character that is subject to diverging interpretations. Gatsby’s significance in the text makes a reader’s analysis of him incredibly important to understanding the text. A central theme is observed in his character: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone...remember that all the people in this world haven’t...
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...often consider the lower class less pleasing, and often less than human than themselves. Through a Marxist reading of The Great Gatsby, we can see how Fitzgerald portrayed the “elite upper class” as lacking a sense moral responsibility. To these characters nothing is of value unless it furthers their elite status, they show little concern for anyone but themselves and place little value on human life. Marxist theory asserts that in Capitalism, desired people are perceived as desirable objects. Often in Gatsby, human beings are treated as objects to be obtained. When we see Daisy’s daughter she is brought out as a show piece. Daisy shows her off and then sends her away with her nurse even though the child asks to stay with her mother. Daisy treats her like an object talking about her as though she were an inanimate object. She wants her daughter to look perfect, like a "little dream" (Fitzgerald123). Her daughter is nothing more than another way to establish her social status. Daisy demonstrates that clearly wealth and class are important rather than just wealth or love. Gatsby himself seems to be obsessed with wealth and image and obviously takes any measures necessary to attain them. He is very proud and boastful regarding his mansion and Rolls Royce, “It’s pretty, isn’t it, old sport…Haven’t you seen it before?” (Fitzgerald 68) In pursuing Daisy, Gatsby seems more concerned with showing her his house and...
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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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...materialistic vision of a big house, nice car, and living the easy life. As represented in the novel The Great Gatsby and Baz Luhrmann’s, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was more focused on instant gratification of material things and needing material things as an indication of success. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby and Baz Luhrmann’s, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a renaissance man; a man who has it all but started out with nothing. His plan was to achieve his dream. He was so blinded by his possessions, in front of him, that he could not see that money could not buy love or happiness. Fitzgerald demonstrated how a dream can be corrupted by one’s focus on accruing wealth, power, and expensive things. Gatsby’s dream was “ambiguous, contradictory, romantic in nature, and undeniably beautiful while at the same time grotesquely flawed” (Hearne 189). His American Dream had become tarnished and corrupted by the culture of money and opulence that surrounded him. Gatsby was ‘new money’, and his romantic view of the wealthy did not prepare him for the self- absorbed, snobbish, group of people he was about to associate himself with. He threw lavish parties every night, yet he had no real friends to surround himself with. Gatsby bought expensive things and entertained a lot of people, but he was hoping for something more. Nick Caraway realized that Gatsby was involved in a few...
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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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...The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that shadows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on the prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story focuses primarily the young and mysterious bachelor Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby offers a vivid variety of social commentary, dwelling heavily on the theme of the abandoned American dream, Fitzgerald exposes this due to the apparent blind fixation on the past that the story exhibits with the characterisation of Jay Gatsby. Perhaps none is more sophiscated and well established than the sense of social stratification. The book is regarded as a remarkable piece of writing as it conveys the moral issues different social classes had to deal with in the 1920’s. Through exposing distinct social classes Fitzgerald delivers a strong sense of elitism circulating the society. Fitzgerald’s first method of approach was to create the riches and place them into distinct groups, new money and old money. New money were the people who benefited from the ufrom prohibited business trades such as the illegal selling of liquor Gatsby participated in. Characters in the story that acquired the majority of their wealth through inheritance include Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker – these characters are referred to as examples of “old money.” Their family were rich and...
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...The Great Gatsby is full of ideas and disappointment. It portrays the American life of those among different social classes. The author, F. Scott Fitzgerald drives you through the ups and downs of... Daisy Buchanan is one of the main characters of The Great Gatsby. She has a lot of money. While the setting around her is corrupt, Daisy gives off the impression of being pure. Her dress, accessories, and car are all white. Fitzgerald presents her as a person of innocence. Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan used to have a relationship in the past. Gatsby now wants her to leave her husband, Tom Buchanan, so he tries to win her heart. In fact, Nick Carraway, the narrator, describes her as Gatsby’s green light. The green light is something that Gatsby tries to achieve throughout the story. He does this by throwing big parties in order to attract Daisy. The time period varies throughout the story. It starts with the end of World War I. Some characters, such as Gatsby and Carraway, participated in this Great War. The war caused many lives and homes. The Jazz Age, a post-war movement had begun. Many people celebrated by playing jazz music and dancing. Americans adopted a new lifestyle and embraced cultural and economic ideas. Sadly, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 soon ended this. Though the rich did not as much those in the...
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...The Great Gatsby Oct 26, 2012 “Dishonesty” Dishonesty in a relationship exists when one person withholds or manipulates information about themselves or others and presents the facts as a truth. Being dishonest or bending the truth may seem favorable initially, but when the truth is finally revealed, you will have to spill back on more lies which will eventually push the relationship further apart. The Great Gatsby is a novel that shows the reader slyness and fraud around every corner. All of the main characters are dishonest people who portray their lives as nothing more than living in a self obsessed world while making adolescent decisions about love; all these people care about is living in the now. They lie, cheat, and deceive. This was a time when the economy was booming, spreading prosperous jobs in big town cities. This era saw the large-scale diffusion and use of automobiles, telephones, motion pictures, electricity, and unprecedented industrial growth. People dreamed big, and expected better. Everyone was breaking traditions and experimenting with advanced and diverse goods. Fitzgerald depicts Nick Carraway as a moral guide throughout a novel infused with lies and deception. Fitzgerald utilizes many themes throughout the book; truth versus lies, illusion versus reality, or compassion versus apathy. Within the novel, virtually all of the main characters are dishonest to others or to themselves, which exposes each character’s true self to the reader. Deception...
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...commitment can be seen in Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby,s and Barret Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese, where love, and commitment take two very unique forms. Fitzgerald’s 1920’s America craved opulence and material possessions. This can be seen in Gatsby’s obsessive commitment of Daisy, based in his idealised dream. As Nick poetically describes, Gatsby “believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” The green light represents the life Gatsby craves for himself, one where Daisy lives with him in his mansion, creating the ideal 1920’s couple. And yet despite Gatsby’s apparent love and commitment to Daisy, he appears more committed to this “green light” and the image he has created for his future. Daisy admits that Gatsby “wants too much” begging that it be enough that she loves him now, admitting she can’t escape her past. But Gatsby reveals himself to be more...
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...Women learn to become attracted to the man they fall in love with.” Looks are one of the most important things to men. Because of this, men tend to judge women based on their looks instead of getting to know them. In the 1920’s, where The Great Gatsby is set, many stereotypes against women are present. Women started going to parties, smoking, and wearing shorter skirts. This drastic change from the stereotypical housewife caused many people to view women as foolish and scandalous. When I was a child, I used to believe that everyone was treated equally. Whether it be your race, gender, religion, I always believed that everyone deserves the same amount of respect. But this is clearly not the case with most people and a big reason for this is stereotypes. A siren is a mermaid like creature that is often described as being evil and enchanting. Sirens are known for their magical voices which draw in men for the purpose of viciously destroying...
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