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Thematic essay on The Great Gatsby
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In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby goes through a mental phase that makes him go completely crazy. He is not the only character that goes through this phase. Most of the main characters went through it and ended up harming one another. This caused everyone to go through a mental journey. Nick Carraway stayed out of the way when he sensed that there was going be drama coming. This kept him from losing his sanity and allowed him to witness the others as they went insane. Gatsby was one of the many that Nick had witnessed go through a mental phase. It all started when Gatsby met Daisy. That is where everything went wrong for Gatsby, is when he joined the wrong group of people. Everything could have been better if Gatsby would have just stayed away from Daisy. Daisy already had a husband, Tom Buchanan. Gatsby should have stayed away from a married woman and Daisy should have stayed away from having an affair with Gatsby. Mentally, this made Tom feel insecure and jealous but he knew that he could not do anything about it because he is doing the same thing. That would make Tom a hypocrite. G...
...has led him to the position he is now in. For instance, there was an opportunity that daisy went back to Gatsby, if she knew Tom was cheating on her. Also, if he told the police the truth, they could have come to Gatsby before the husband did which may have prevented Gatsby’s death. Later on in his life, if Nick see’s something wrong he should speak up no matter the consequences are or else he can end up losing great friends just like he lost Gatsby.
Noel Coward said, “The higher the building, the lower the morals.” In the book The Great Gatsby this is the case. The individuals that are considered “upper class” are more willing to sacrifice their morals then the people that are in the “lower class.” However, the lower class is not perfect either. A theme for The Great Gatsby is people may be willing to sacrifice their morals to achieve what they think they want. Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchannan and Nick Carraway are just four examples of people that are willing to sacrifice their morals to get what they want.
the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of the few guests who had
As a minor character, Nick has a good relationship with the major characters providing that Nick went to college with Tom, he is cousins with Daisy and he is Gatsby’s neighbour. The fact that Nick is a minor character helps the storyline as well. This point of view allows the focus to be on the more important character’s relationships rather than overwhelming the reader with facts about the narrator, which are unnecessary in The Great Gatsby’s case. Nick does not have a storyline about himself, only his occurrences with Gatsby. Nick is also very bias towards Gatsby for they are good friends. He always thinks Gatsby is a great guy, despite the fact that Gatsby is involved in illegal activities; bootlegging. In Aly Zanne’s essay, Nick Carraway: an Unreliable Narrator, she argues, “As a result of their [Nick and Gatsby’s] strong connection, Nick’s narration of The Great Gatsby becomes heavily biased towards Gatsby’s favor, often highlighting the events that show Gatsby’s good character in a good light, whilst downplaying the unfavorable ones” (Aly Zanne). Nick’s biased opinion about Gatsby stays true throughout the book. Zanne mentions the time that Gatsby and Daisy reunite at Nick’s house for a planned tea party. He helps Gatsby connect with Daisy even though Nick knows it is wrong for her to cheat on her husband, Tom, for Gatsby. Zanne comments on Nick’s feelings during the tea party, “He [Nick] does not care about what Tom will feel, he only cares for Gatsby’s happiness” (Aly Zanne). Nick purposely did not invite Tom to the tea party for the purpose of having Gatsby and Daisy together, making Gatsby one step closer to his goal which is to get Daisy. Nick’s biased opinion about Gatsby allows the reader to assume Gatsby is great as well, which in the end, appears to be a little
A moment in time that I hold close to myself is the funeral of my grandmother. It occurred a couple of weeks ago on the Friday of the blood drive. The funeral itself was well done and the homily offered by the priest enlightened us with hope and truth. But when the anti-climatic end of the funeral came my family members and relatives were somberly shedding tears. A sense of disapproval began creeping into my mind. I was completely shocked that I did not feel any sense of sadness or remorse. I wanted to feel the pain. I wanted to mourn, but there was no source of grief for me to mourn. My grandma had lived a great life and left her imprint on the world. After further contemplation, I realized why I felt the way I felt. My grandmother still
In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby goes from rags to riches and while on his rise, he brings some people up with him such as Nick and Daisy. This leads Nick, Daisy, and Gatsby to go through an emotional, mental, and physical journey.
“The Great Gatsby” is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920’s. The novel is narrated by a young man named Nick Carraway, who moves to West Egg, New York to learn more about the bond business so he can eventually sell bonds. He moves into an average house in between two huge mansions, so in comparison his average house looks like a small, run down shack. One of the owners of those mansions, and Carraway’s new neighbor, is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby has huge extravagant parties every night and one day invites Carraway personally, which he never does. Gatsby is never seen at his own parties and no one really knows who he is though there are many rumors about whether he even exists or not and about what type of person he is. But he makes himself known to Carraway and Jordan Baker, a new friend of Nick’s, because they both have relations to Daisy. Daisy is Nick’s cousin and Jordan’s best friend, and Gatsby has been in love with her for years. The duration of the story shows Gatsby’s background history and his struggle from rags to riches to achieve the ultimate version of The American Dream, and his pursuit in getting Daisy, a married woman, to fall back in love with him. Each character in this novel achieves their American Dream in a different, yet similar way. They all wish to have money if they don’t already. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the concept of extreme happenings without consequence; this thematic structure of the text parallels the concept of The American Dream in current popular culture and for this reason the text is a classic.
Throughout the entire novel it is clearly portrayed that Nick Carraway is not a moral character by any stretch of the imagination. Nick Carraway may seem to have some good values, but he is in fact immoral for many reasons. First, Nick uses Jordan Baker; he never actually became interested in a serious relationship with the golf star. Miss Baker is basically just a fling to him. Secondly, Nick Carraway always seems to be the middleman in all the trouble that is going on in the novel. The narrator knows about all the lying, deceiving, two-faced things that are going on throughout the story, and he is completely ok with it. Also Nick defends Gatsby even though he very well knows of all Gatsby's criminal activity and liquor smuggling. Finally, Nick is the character who sets up two of the main characters, Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, to have an affair. It never crosses Nick's mind that it is an immoral thing to set up an affair. During the novel there is a discussion between Gatsby and Nick about when to set up the secret meeting with Daisy. During this exchange Nick actually says, "I'm going to call up Daisy tomorrow and invite her over here to tea.
In this passage from The Great Gatsby, Gatsby describes his love story with Daisy. “On the last afternoon before he went abroad, he sat with Daisy in his arms for a long, silent time. It was a cold fall day, with fire in the room and her cheeks flushed. Now and then she moved and he changed his arm a little, and once he kissed her dark shining hair.” The silence in the first line is not awkward. It seems romantic and emphasizing how much the couple will miss each other during Gatsby’s time in the military. The “cold fall” weather symbolizes loneliness, a lack of hope, and death. Although the couple appears intimate now, their relationship will be a tough
At the end of the book, it is revealed that all of Tom, Daisy, and Nick are extremely careless. Nick’s carelessness detriments his reliability as a narrator. Because of Nick’s deep and familiar connection with Gatsby, Gatsby is “the exception” and Nick cannot be a reliable narrator towards him. Nick really admires and appreciates Gatsby as a friend, although it seems that Gatsby may not feel nth same way ads Nick. Gatsby may have befriended Nick solely because of his connection with Daisy. Nicks obsession with Gatsby and Gatsby’s obsession with
Going home that night, a lot of things were left undecided. My mind would not settle down or allow me to sleep knowing all that could change. I had grown fond of Gatsby and his way of life, the parties, the girls, and expensive dinners. All for a girl he once knew in another part of their lives.
Throughout Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, there is a broad spectrum of moral and social views demonstrated by various characters. At one end, is Tom, a man who attacks Gatsby's sense of propriety and legitimacy, while thinking nothing of running roughshod over the lives of those around him. A direct opposite of Tom's nature is Gatsby, who displays great generosity and caring, yet will stop at nothing to achieve his dream of running off with Daisy. The moral and emotional characteristics of Gastby and Tom are juxtaposed, Tom, the immoral character and Gastby, the moral character while the other characters' moral and emotional developments appear between these two.
As a minor character, Nick has a good relationship with the major characters. Nick went to college with Tom, he is cousins with Daisy and he is Gatsby’s neighbour. The fact that Nick is a minor character helps the storyline as well. This point of view allows the focus to be on the more important character’s relationships rather than overwhelming the reader with facts about the narrator, which are unnecessary in The Great Gatsby’s case. Nick does not have a storyline about himself, only his occurrences with Gatsby. Nick is also very bias towards Gatsby for they are good friends. He always thinks Gatsby is a great guy, despite the fact that Gatsby is involved in illegal activities; bootlegging. In Aly Zanne’s essay, Nick Carraway: an Unreliable Narrator, she argues, “As a result of their [Nick and Gatsby’s] strong connection, Nick’s narration of The Great Gatsby becomes heavily biased towards Gatsby’s favor, often highlighting the events that show Gatsby’s good character in a good light, whilst downplaying the unfavorable ones” (Aly Zanne). Nick’s biased opinion about Gatsby stays true throughout the book. Zanne mentions the time that Gatsby and Daisy reunite at Nick’s house for a planned tea party. He helps Gatsby connect with Daisy even though Nick knows it is wrong for her to cheat on her husband, Tom, for Gatsby. Zanne comments on Nick’s feelings during the tea party, “He [Nick] does not care about what Tom will feel, he only cares for Gatsby’s happiness” (Aly Zanne). Nick purposely did not invite Tom to the tea party for the purpose of having Gatsby and Daisy together, making Gatsby one step closer to his goal which is to get Daisy. Nick’s biased opinion about Gatsby allows the reader to assume Gatsby is great as well, which in the end, appears to be a little
We sat there for hours, unaware of what comes next. Time held its breath, as all was slowed. I looked over at Jordan in the hope she would say something but to no avail.
Psychoanalytic criticism takes the techniques of psychoanalysis; a treatment of neuroses developed by Sigmund Freud, and applies them to examine literary works. It is a science concerned not only with the interaction between conscious and unconscious but also with the ways of mental function.