...October 10th, 2012 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Reading Response The novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald is a book that deals with the American Dream: an ideal presented in American literature where the dreamer rises to wealth, very present in the twenties. In this bestseller, Gatsby – the protagonist – embodies the evolution of one to greatness. Beginning his life as a simple, poor farmer’s boy. James Gatz, upon meeting the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan who is wealthy, decides to rise to success and fortune – and carries the name of Jay Gatsby, who “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself”(95). Through this process really achieves the American dream. In addition, Gatsby becomes great to the narrator and his close friend, Nick Carraway – however, the novel ends as a tragedy, and by having the great Gatsby shot dead. Through the use of the symbol of Daisy Buchanan as well as the significance of the title, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores the idea of the American Dream and that it rarely equaled to absolute happiness. Daisy Buchanan symbolizes the failed attempt at finding ultimate happiness through money: ”For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes” (143). Daisy is the cousin of Nick Carraway, but most importantly Gatsby’s love. Daisy and Gatsby had been romantically involved...
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...Love can lure someone into putting danger on their life. Everyone has something or someone they really love, and can do anything for. Love can take over one and can make them want to sacrifice their life for another. Have you ever loved someone, and thought of making sacrifices for them? In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how an old love became a tragedy, and had the character put himself on blame for his own death. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby puts himself on blame for his own death, by following his “love” and sacrificing himself in danger by following his dream “Daisy”. Fitzgerald uses a character Daisy as something that is really close to Gatsby , which ends up bad for him at the end of the novel. Society today...
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...A book called “The Great Gatsby” is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and is story about Jay Gatsby through the eyes of Nick Carraway. This book is set in the New York City and Long Island in the early 1920s. Throughout the book there are many symbols, but the symbol that is represent the most is the green light that is on Daisy’s dock. The green light in “The Great Gatsby” functions as the hopes and dreams of Gatsby and also represents everything that haunts and lure Gatsby. Also it seems like the green light is symbol by the words themselves. The Green light in the beginning symbolizes Gatsby's hopes and dreams to get back Daisy and also the mystery of him. A way that the light acts as hope and a way of finding Daisy, is just like how a lighthouse...
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...Not all love is running into your true love's arms on a beach while the sun is setting. There are many different kinds of love; the love of friendship, admiration, unrequited love, or young love. Love is real, raw and when it’s not cared for the right way, it can turn toxic. The Great Gatsby not only includes all of those kinds of love, but many more. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald not only writes those loves, but shows how easily they can crumble down. Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby have one of the most confusing relationships in The Great Gatsby. They meet at one of Jay Gatsby's extravagant parties and Nick seems to admire him. ‘"They're a rotten crowd,’ I shouted across the lawn. ‘You're worth the whole damn bunch put together”(45). Nick held Gatsby on a higher pedestal that all the attendants at Gatsby's rager, which starts a his admiration for Gatsby. When Gatsby realizes that Nick has relations with Daisy, Nick's cousin, he seems to really want a friendship from Nick, yet Nick is still wary of Gatsby, not even friends with him until Gatsby proves that he is the man he says he is. Their friendship was rocky for the most part, Nick didn't actually trust Gatsby the whole book. Even less so when it is revealed that Gatsby was not who he said he was. When Gatsby dies, Nick states that he never really thought of him as a friend in the first place, even though he was one of the few who attended his funeral. Their friendship was tainted by lies and trickery, yet it wasn't all much...
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...Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The assumption that wealth makes happiness leads to many characters making drastic measures to find "happiness.” Many characters only care about money throughout the book, Daisy is one of them. She thought that lots of money would make her happy but in reality, it was really Gatsby that made her happy. Daisy loved Gatsby so much but he never had enough money, so once he left for the war she looked for someone who had money. She found Tom, and even though she never really loved Tom she still decided to marry him. Daisy wanted a good, expensive life, someone who could provide for her and give her all she needs and wants, Tom was the person who could do that. "Daisy marries and stays with Tom because of the...
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...The Great Gatsby was written in 1925 by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Although it was his most well known work, The Great Gatsby was only a dip into his collective works where he developed a whimsical way of completing his writing that is seen heavily in The Great Gatsby. It tells the love story between young, married, rich socialite, Daisy Buchanan, and the mysteriously rich and extravagant Jay Gatsby. Their love story is not a very cliche or common one, therefore, some may say that Gatsby didn't actually love Daisy, but was more obsessed with her, or only in love with the idea of her. Although Daisy’s and Gatsby’s love my be slightly unorthodox, it is, in the end, still love. Proof that Gatsby’s love for Daisy isn't genuine, if interpreted just so, does exist. The fact that Gatsby is kinda of obsessed with becoming the most perfect version of...
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...ugly collide together, making The Great Gatsby a novel with a twisted and complicated plot. The main character Nick Carraway, is from the west and moves to the overpopulated city of New York. He settles in the “West Egg” of Long Island and meets his mysterious neighbor who goes by the name of Jay Gatsby. Nick visits his cousin Daisy, who lives in the “East Egg” and soon becomes somewhat engaged within the fast, upbeat, party life. (Fitzgerald) Although he is not fully involved, he disentangles himself from the whole scene near the ending due to his observant behavior and disgusted attitude towards the whole outlook. However, his attraction towards Gatsby is a main focus. Readers are captivated by Gatsby’s admirable perseverance and determination in working towards achieving his goal of winning Daisy’s heart and beyond that, the American dream, yet his greatness predicts his downfall. Gatsby’s desire of becoming wealthy and dedication to this goal reflects how admirable he is because created himself out of nothing; he “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself; he was a son of God-.” (Fitzgerald, 104) He “reinvented” himself, using his imagination and being “faithful to the end” until he was the prosperous man he wanted to become. But this accomplished goal of becoming wealthy was only a small step towards his bigger goal; being with Daisy. Money was only a factor that connected Gatsby to Daisy; if Gatsby was wealthy then surely Daisy would be with him in a heartbeat...
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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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...In "The Great Gatsby," some of Gatsby's decisions had a positive impact on his life. Meanwhile, there were many that produced negative results. Gatsby makes these consequential decisions to pursue his vision of a perfect Gatsby and his love for Daisy. In doing so Gatsby does not consider the repercussions of his decisions upon the people closest to him. In "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys the notion that one is willing to make consequential decisions for the betterment of themselves. As a result, it generates a sense of belonging...
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...are all kinds of love in this world, but never the same love twice. In, “The Great Gatsby”, Jay Gatsby the main character has this false hope of trying to relive his past again with his one true love, Daisy. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the heroic elements of him being the tragic hero because he goes through this continuous cycle of false hope of getting the love of his life. Jay Gatsby came from a necessitous family and in rural North Dakota and wanted something much bigger from life. Gatsby absolutely despised the idea of him being in poverty, he had even worked a janitorial job to pay for his tuition but had to give it up because he was so embarrassed by it. As his dream was always to be rich, the only thing that really helped...
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...fulfilling life. Daisy Buchanan’s character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, symbolizes this truth. Through Daisy Buchanan’s decisions, Fitzgerald reveals his agreement that to get what one wants out of life, one has to decide what they want. Daisy’s indecisiveness is portrayed by wanting to be with Gatsby while wanting to stay married to Tom. Daisy being in love with both men caused tensions between Tom and Gatsby, which led to competition between the two men, he had dreamed that “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to...
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...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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...similar to characters in The Great Gatsby who lie to gain or keep a high social status. Social dishonesty in The Great Gatsby, by F....
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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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...Is Gatsby Really Great? Or is he Another Tom? Jay Gatsby, also known as the Great Gatsby, is a well known, filthy rich man who lives in giant mansion. Jay is so friendly with the other characters, such as his party goers, Nick and Daisy. Gatsby is the mysterious and devilishly handsome protagonist in the story The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. On the contrary, we have Tom Buchanan, the husband of Gatsby’s lover, Daisy. Tom is very different that Gatsby looking from the outside in. What makes Gatsby. so mysterious? You might ask. Well, no one knows about Gatsby. No one knows Gatsby except Gatsby (Great). If you knew him, you might even say he’s more like Tom Buchanan on the inside it is almost as if, what Gatsby is hiding inside, is...
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