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Thematic essay the great gatsby
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“Among the Ash Heaps and Millionaires”
The actions, resulting events, reactions and interactions of the characters thought the novel The Great Gatsby help derive the works meaning. Over the 189 pages of The Great Gatsby all characters are surrounded by the wealth and opulence of the roaring twenties. They never overcame the stranglehold of martial wealth and fell short of the true American dream.
All the main characters are from the west brought east in pursuit of great wealth. Nick Caraway was brought east to learn the ways of the bond business. Jordan Baker was brought east in pursuit of fame and golfing prestige. The Buchanan’s went east to experience the grandeur of the east. Jay Gatsby was brought east from Minnesota in pursuit of wealth and status in the process changed his name upon arrival to the east from the war.
Upon arrival to New York nick is astonished by the lavish parties of his neighbor. with the crates of lemons and limes entering his house every Friday, a large party Saturday night, leaving the grounds to be cleaned up the following Sunday and restored to perfection. After a while Nick experiences the grandeur of the high life after being personally invited to one of Gatsby’s parties. The ignorance of the upper class he finds strange as with the car crash in the driveway when the car had lost its wheel its owner quickly replied,”Back it out …put her In reverse.
But the wheels off! He hesitated no harm in trying replies the owner.”(60) this crash is a strange foreshadowing and brings to mind the reality that cars are a new technology and people do not quite understand the mechanics or the risks leaving automobiles a status symbol. In short order Nick is quick to understand the moral shortfalls of the hig...
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...tpone the funeral until he came.”(175) Henry Gatz is I character in stark contrast to all other characters in the book and it is only in the last few pages that the message of the book becomes apparent. An uninvolved outsider’s perspective takes the story into a new light as well as changing the perspective of the reader.
All of the events in the novel The Great Gatsby lead to the meaning in a slow but driven manner. The events expose the hollowness of the upper-class and the emptiness the pursuit of the American dream can bring. Those who solely strive for material wealth are misguided for they parted with virtues in the struggle for great wealth and in doing so have missed the American dream. The hollowness of the upper-class and the drive to outdo their neighbors by surrounding themselves with material wealth is self defeating to attaining the American dream.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby provides the reader with a unique outlook on the life of the newly rich. Gatsby is an enigma and a subject of great curiosity, furthermore, he is content with a lot in life until he strives too hard. His obsession with wealth, his lonely life and his delusion allow the reader to sympathize with him. Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth.
Gibb, Thomas. "Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby" The Explicator Washington: Winter 2005. Vol. 63, Iss.3; Pg. 1-3
The main characters, Daisy, Nick, Gatsby, and Tom are all from the Mid-west. While Tom and Daisy Buchanan live an East Egg, being attracted by its glamour, excitement and promise of success, Nick enjoys living on West Egg. He mentions the friendship between Mid-Westerners, who are brought together by their extremely long and cold winters (in contrast to the New York summers' heat).
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of a man of meager wealth who chases after his dreams, only to find them crumble before him once he finally reaches them. Young James Gatz had always had dreams of being upper class, he didn't only want to have wealth, but he wanted to live the way the wealthy lived. At a young age he ran away from home; on the way he met Dan Cody, a rich sailor who taught him much of what he would later use to give the world an impression that he was wealthy. After becoming a soldier, Gatsby met an upper class girl named Daisy - the two fell in love. When he came back from the war Daisy had grown impatient of waiting for him and married a man named Tom Buchanan. Gatsby now has two coinciding dreams to chase after - wealth and love. Symbols in the story, such as the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, the contrast between the East Egg and West Egg, and the death of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Wilson work together to expose a larger theme in the story. Gatsby develops this idea that wealth can bring anything - status, love, and even the past; but what Gatsby doesn't realize is that wealth can only bring so much, and it’s this fatal mistake that leads to the death of his dreams.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the unbelievable story of a man who was forsaken by his one true love, and his ongoing struggle to reclaim her heart. Fitzgerald does a outstanding job of capturing the idea of the true American dream. The novel highlights the concept of the affluent spending without consequence; this thematic structure of the text parallels the concept of the American dream in current popular culture and for this reason this story is a classic novel shared all over the world.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is an absurd story, whether considered as romance, melodrama, or plain record of New York high life. The occasional insights into character stand out as very green oases on an arid desert of waste paper. Throughout the first half of the book the author shadows his leading character in mystery, but when in the latter part he unfolds his life story it is difficult to find the brains, the cleverness, and the glamour that one might expect of a main character.
The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is a novel that eloquently summarizes what the entire American society represents through Fitzgerald’s view. This novel develops its story in New York, at a time when the jazz age was at its peak. The roaring twenties, the era of glamour, infringed prohibition, conflict, growth and prosperity. The main concern in that age was materialism, sex, booze, and entertainment. The American Dream was the idea that anything, especially success, was possible through hard work and determination no matter where the individual comes from. On the other hand, in Fitzgerald’s perspective, he was aware of the falsity of the values in the American society; and also he was aware of the importance of honesty and sincerity. The argument is poetically obvious, through his novel Fitzgerald shows us that reality will always end by demolishing any idealism; because the American dream is untouchable, intangible, a hoax, a fraud, and a lie that only leads to the destruction of those who believe in a single dream for too long.
The Great Gatsby was a major success in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s writing career. With more failures than successes, Fitzgerald’s determination to achieve a best seller had become a reality by reason of The Great Gatsby published 1996. The novel is written with many twists and hidden mysteries. Nick Carraway, a young and said to be attractive man, finds himself mentally captivated by Jay Gatsby, his neighbor who is seen to live this wild lifestyle. Carraway receives an invitation to one of Gatsby’s parties. Intrigued by Gatsby’s ambitious lifestyle, Nick attends. Although seeming to be wild and overwhelming, he realizes something about this atmosphere seems phony. Nobody knew the real Gatsby; most guests couldn’t identify him if he was standing right next to him. Taken back by all that is happening around him, Nick is determined to find this Gatsby everyone speaks so highly about, but no one really knew. Further on Gatsby’s side, his heart ached for Daisy Buchanan. Married to Tom Buchanan with a child, it was not as easy to love him as it was for him to love her. Gatsby truly believed Daisy never loved Tom, and pressed for her to admit it throughout the novel. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the concept of the cliché upper class living in the 1920’s along with the act of illegal importing; this thematic structure of the text parallels the concept of the American Dream and hustling in current popular culture and for this reason the text is a classic still read and respected today.
He criticizes the worsening of family structure by choosing characters that have little or no value of the bond accepted during marriage. He questions the power that accompanies wealth, and reveals the shallow values of the era. Finally, Fitzgerald denounces the pursuing of an American Dream, suggesting that it is unattainable, and merely a fantasy fuelled by the urge to fulfill it. However, he acknowledges its importance to American society. The Great Gatsby is not considered the great American novel solely because it criticizes the lifestyles of the 1920’s, instead, it can be considered a success because it reveals the true meaning of pursuing an American Dream. It presents the idea that an American Dream is not a dream of prosperity, but a dream of perseverance, because the dream will always “beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (172)
The central focus of the story is the enigma of Gatsby, his past life, and his perusal of Daisy. Desperate to rekindle their former love, Gatsby works tirelessly to achieve the pinnacle of the American dream, settles in a large, posh house, throws lavish parties, and seems on excellent terms with the world at large. That, however, is not what makes him truly happy. All he did, he did in pursuit of Daisy, and initially it appears to work. She insists that she still loves him ardently. However, when pressed, she chooses Tom once more, and Gatsby is shattered. Nick says that, “If that was true, he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream,” (161). In the end, Gatsby’s dream turns on him, betraying him to the caprice of the world. He had sincerely believed in the American Dream, and believed it would help him secure Daisy’s love. When both failed him, he was left with a lavish but empty house, and to Gatsby, his wealth and prosperity were nothing without someone to share them with. The final nail in the coffin is Gatsby’s funeral, where it becomes clear what his immense wealth gained him in terms of the human affection he was truly after. Nick Carraway jumps through all sorts of hoops and harasses many people in order to get them to go to Gatsby’s funeral, to no avail. When it came time for the burial,
It is New York in the 1920s. Nick Carraway moves to the West Egg from Minnesota. He lives in a small house next to Jay Gatsby, a mysterious man who throws lavish parties, and decides he wants to know more about him. Then conflicts ensue about affairs and the secrets about all of the characters’ pasts. Nick, Daisy, and Tom (Daisy’s husband) “hang out” and later on, Gatsby joins on their travels. One day, when they are on an outing, Daisy hits Myrtle (Tom’s mistress) accidentally with Gatsby’s car and Myrtle dies. Tom then assures Daisy that they will cover up who killed Myrtle. Wilson thinks Gatsby killed his wife, so in a fit of madness goes to Gatsby’s house and kills him and
A soft breeze lifts off the Sound and brushes Nick Carraway’s face as he emerges from the shadows into the moonlight. His eyes first gaze across the bay to the house of Tom and Daisy where Nick sees past the walls to people who “...smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together...” (Fitzgerald: 187- 188). Nick’s head then turns to his side where he views Gatsby’ s mansion. His heart swells for the man who was unable to let go of the past, and move toward his future. With the two houses juxtaposed in his mind’s eye, Nick ponders his experiences in the East, and enters the car to take him home with a new perspective on life. Nick’s maturity becomes evident as his perspective of society becomes more realistic as a result of his observing the consequences which occur in unhealthy relationships.
... Nick makes a small funeral for Gatsby and Daisy does not attend it. He took the blame for her, and he is dead all because of her, he sacrificed for her. She and Tom decide to travel and take off. Also Nick breaks up with Jordan, and he moves back to Midwest because he has had enough of these people, and hates the people that were close to Gatsby and for bareness, emptiness, and cold heart they have of the life in the middle of the wealthy on the East Coast. Nick realizes, and reveals that Gatsby’s dream of Daisy was ruined by money and un-loyalty, dishonestly. Daisy all she cared about is wealth, she chased after the men that have a lot of money. Even though Gatsby has control, influence, and authority to change his dreams into making it into real life for him this is what Nicks says makes him a good man. Now both Gatsby’s dream and the American Dream are over.
This essay discusses the role of social mobility in The Great Gatsby. It argues that not all people can reach the highest social class, this is a class you must belong to from the beginning of life or marry in to. However, the characters are living the American dream which makes social mobility to the other social classes available. The essay addresses the American Dream, the difference in social class between the main characters and how some social mobility is unreachable.
In brief, the world of The Great Gatsby can seem as sordid, loveless, commercial, and dead as the ash heaps presided over by the eyes of dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Indeed, this atmosphere is so essential that one of the alternate titles Fitzgerald considered was Among the Ash-Heaps and Millionaires.