The pocket watch previously owned by his parents, now belongs to James Gatz/Jay Gatsby himself. It is the only item he keeps from his past. It has practically been through every experience he has had, the good, the bad, as James Gatz, and as Jay Gatsby. The pocket watch will not only symbolize where Jay Gatsby came from, but also the person he is today. The introduction of the pocket watch will alter the feelings that Gatsby has on his upbringing and will show just how deep the emotion he carries for Daisy is. The symbol being inserted into chapter 6 is a simple 1900s gold pocket watch with a mirror. It was the only valuable to his family’s name, and it was given to him by his father just before he left home at the age of seventeen. Over the years it has aged with Gatsby, becoming compatible to him, compatible to his emotion. The pocket watch is forever set at one time, the time in which his true love Daisy slipped from his fingers. There is a tiny crack in the glass of the clock symbolizing Gatsby’s …show more content…
On page 104 where the description of his outfit is written, is where it will be implemented. It will be “It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants with the chain of his pocket watch sticking out.” This changes the character of Gatsby, changes how he actual feels about his background. It will also be described when talking about his parents and his history. It will essentially state that even though he doesn’t like his past and that he doesn’t consider his biological parents his actual parents, that he is grateful for them. The reason being is that they assisted in the creation of Jay Gatsby and without them he wouldn’t be the man he is. So it changes the plot by changing how he preserves his family. He keeps it as a memory of the transition from who he was to who he
Jay Gatsby is the main character in The Great Gatsby. He is the mysterious character that the story revolves around. Nick is his neighbor that gets invited to Gatsby’s party that set in on Gatsby being a mysterious person that has so many people talking about him and talking about different stories about Gatsby that unravel how big of a mystery Gatsby is. In The Great Gatsby, “Gatsby’s notoriety, spread about by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality and so become authorities on his past, had increased all summer until he fell just short of being news” (Fitzgerald 105). In chapter six, the real truth is revealed about the great Gatsby. The stories of the mysterious Gatsby in the parties were not true. The stories about Gatsby also went around New York, which made Nick ask Gatsby about his past ("The Great Gatsby," Fitzgerald). Nick also asked about Gatsby’s past hoping Nick would finally hear the truth. According to The Great Gatsby, “This was the night, Carraway says, that Gatsby told him the story (its factual details have been told earlier in the novel) of his early life. The purpose of the telling here is not to reveal facts but to try to understand the character of Gatsby’s passion. The final understanding is reserved for one of those precisely right uttera...
Both Gatsby and Ethan suffer from isolation in society, great loneliness, and emptiness, never ending up achieving their dreams. Everything that Jay Gatsby has done in his adult life has been with the sole purpose of fulfilling the more unrealistic of dreams – to recapture the past. However, as he grew into a young man he had little to nothing, having voluntarily estranged himself from his family, and was left on his own to reinvent himself. Although he became a different man, changing his name from Jimmy Gatz to Jay Gatsby, becoming extremely successful, being prodigal, and throwing extravagant and outrageous parties all the time, Gatsby was still in a sense, alone. After he moved to his house on West Egg. Long Island, even though he would see thousands of people at his house every week, Gatsby was more alone than ever. He did not have any close friends and people did not know much about him. Rumours erupted about the “Great” Jay Gatsby who was oblivious to the nature of the lies and where they evolved. It was commonplace for Gatsby to be the topic of conversation after his death, as everyone knew of him, but in reality, no one really knew him. Parties at Gatsby’s house were frequented by many people, however, when it came to his funeral...
The motif of time is evident throughout the story as it represents Gatsby’s attempt to go back to past. Specifically, the scene in chapter five when Gatsby and Daisy are having an awkward conversation and Mr. Gatsby is leaning against the “mantelpiece clock” (86) reflects a need to go back into the society of the earlier period; to avoid a people of greed, cynici...
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby many characters are not as they seem. The one character that intrigues me the most is James Gatsby. In the story Gatsby is always thought of as rich, confident, and very popular. However, when I paint a picture of him in my mind I see someone very different. In fact, I see the opposite of what everyone portrays him to be. I see someone who has very little confidence and who tries to fit in the best he can. There are several scenes in which this observation is very obvious to me. It is clear that Gatsby is not the man that everyone claims he is.
The story of Jay Gatsby is a romantic one that actually began years before. However, his romantic story turns into a troubling one when we realize that he is not the man he seems to be. The story of Jay Gatsby is not only filled with romance, but with secrecy, obsession, and tragedy. The symbol of Jay Gatsby's troubled romantic obsession is a green light at the end of the dock of Daisy Buchanan, a woman to whom he fell in love with five years earlier. The green light represents his fantasy of reuniting with Daisy and rekindling the love they once had. This light represents everything he wants, everything he has done to transform himself, and ultimately everything that he cannot attain.
Jay Gatsby is a man who does not wish to live in the present because it offers him nothing.He spends the majority of his adult life trying to recapture his past and,eventually,dies in his pursuit of it.The reason he wishes to relive the past is because long ago he had a love affair with the rich Daisy Buchanan,who he fell deeply in love with.However,he knew that they could never get married due to the difference in their economic and social statuses.He wants to marry her,but because of this problem he leaves her to gain wealth and social status in order to reach her standards.
When looking at Jay Gatsby, one sees many different personalities and ideals. There is the gracious host, the ruthless bootlegger, the hopeless romantic, and beneath it all, there is James Gatz of North Dakota. The many faces of Gatsby make a reader question whether they truly know Gatsby as a person. Many people question what exactly made Jay Gatsby so “great.” These different personas, when viewed separately, are quite unremarkable in their own ways.
...have changed his clothes, look, accent, and manner but that does not change heart. In his heart he is still this poor boy in love with the beautiful, pure southern belle, Daisy. When Gatz becomes Gatsby that is the start of his american dream. Nick eloquently states the start of Gatsby’s american dream by saying, "James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career.”(Fitzgerald 98). James Gatz’s dissatisfaction with his whole being leads him to strive for more and work hard and become Gatsby. He leaves his past behind when he takes on this new name because he was not happy then. He only thinks he will be happy as Gatsby. As it turns out he isn’t in the end.
Gatsby is not so great because he is a liar. From the very start Gatsby is said to be an alumnus from Oxford, who fought in WWI, hunted big game, and had parents from the Midwest. He even justifies himself when Nicks asks and Gatsby pulls out a picture of him at Oxford and a WWI medal that he carried around in his pocket. He even changed his name, James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, but why? “James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career” (6). Gatsby is mysterious and mystifying, known for his large parties yet no one knows why he has them. Keep in mind this is the prohibition era, but at Gatsby’s parties there is always plenty of alcohol to go around and no one knows where it comes from or how he acquires so much, one of the many mysteries. In attendance at these parties there are people like Meyer Wolfshiem “the man who really did fix the 1919 World Series” (118), to the mayors and governors. More questions arise in this company as to how Gatsby is associated with gangsters and why they attend these large parties. It is completely ironic how so many attend these parties but none ...
Jay Gatsby’s appearance seems to be very clean cut and young looking man. As described by Nick he has “tanned skin [which was] drawn attractively tight on his face and [has] short hair looked as though it were trimmed every day.” (54). Gatsby also seems to dress in very expensive clothing and has “two hulking patent cabinets which held his masses suits and dressing gowns and ties, and his shirts piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high”(97).
Jay Gatsby believes he can buy happiness. For example, Gatsby's house is “ A factual imitation of some Hotel De Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (The Great Gatsby 9). His house is nothing more than an perfect symbol of his vast income. Gatsby uses the house in an attempt to win happiness and respect from his peers. Furthermore, Gatsby also tries to impress others with such unimportant possessions as his clothing, as when Daisy emotionally comments, ”beautiful shirts… It makes me sad because I have never seen such beautiful shirts before”(98). Crying over articles of clothing is outrageous, yet it is not the shirts that overwhelm Daisy. Their symbolism of Gatsby’s unlimited wealth and faith in money is truly saddening. Also, Gatsby realizes that Daisy’s main and only concern in life is money. Gatsby pursues immoral and often illegal actions in pursuit of wealth, subconsciou...
Gatsby’s car and Gatsby’s clothes simply represent him and his lifestyle. His white flannel, silver shirt, and gold tie represent his wealth. It is always hard to keep flannel white. To keep it clean, it requires the number of laundry and it tells his wealth. The silver shirt and gold tie represent his wealth as well. Not many people can get silver shirt and gold tie by that time. His car is depicted as big yellow car. It is unusual to have a big car during the time period in this book. The car is also depicted shiny car which tells us his wealth to clean up periodically.
Another symbol used in the novel is colors. The first was the green. light. The light is a light. The light was only a light, however to Gatsby it became his dream.
Starting at a young age Gatsby strives to become someone of wealth and power, leading him to create a façade of success built by lies in order to reach his unrealistic dream. The way Gatsby’s perceives himself is made clear as Nick explains: “The truth was Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God… he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty” (Fitzgerald 98). From the beginning Gatsby puts himself beside God, believing he is capable of achieving the impossible and being what he sees as great. Gatsby blinds himself of reality by idolizing this valueless way of life, ultimately guiding him to a corrupt lifestyle. While driving, Nick observes Gatsby curiously: “He hurried the phrase ‘educated at Oxford,’ or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces…” (Fitzgerald 65). To fulfill his aspirations Gatsby desires to be seen an admirable and affluent man in society wh...
Jay Gatsby believes that wealth and power can lead to love and happiness. He spends his entire life trying to create himself and change his past so that he can rekindle his love affair with the love of his life Daisy Buchanan. The two were young lovers, unable to be together because of very different social statuses. After Gatsby learns that he cannot be with Daisy because of this, he spends the rest of his life attempting to acquire wealth and power.