Books are the like the seasons of the year: the beginning of books are like winter, cold and boring, the middle is a combination between spring and winter, getting warmer, and then the end is like fall, a beautiful mess of colors and extravagant happenings. Similar to The Great Gatsby, each season is portrayed magnificently, but to be more specific, one particular character aids to the overall theme. Throughout The Great Gatsby, the lesson that when life throws you a curveball, you have to get up and keep swinging is exemplified through the entirety of the book, but demonstrated most by Jay Gatsby himself.
In the beginning of the book, Gatsby is hardly introduced, but the seldom introductions explain it all. Nick, a main character and the narrator throughout the book sets the scene when he first moves to West Egg. Nick buys a small house directly next to two large houses, one of which is the infamous Gatsby. One day nick was walking home and noticed a man on a dock. Nick describes the scene, “I didn’t call to [Gatsby], for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, a minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock” (20-21). From previous knowledge, the reader can infer that this foreshadow signifies something of greater meaning. Gatsby was reaching out towards the green light, which was actually across the bay, on the end of Daisy and Tom’s dock. There is obviously something that is separating Gatsby from reaching the green light, the water. The water represents a life struggle though,...
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...now who killed her; however, Gatsby refuses to leave. Gatsby will keep fighting for what he wants until he is incapacitated to do so; hence, this scene proves that Gatsby, through his struggles thus far, will continuously get back up and keep trying even when life knocks him down. Gatsby is the true model of a man that fights for what he wants while he also aids in influencing the theme: “when life knocks you down, get back up and keep swinging.”
As the seasons come and go, characters develop into the people they become. Gatsby, the true expert on fighting for what he believes, exemplifies that through his life, there comes many struggles, but the way that you deal with those struggles is what makes you the person you are in the future. The greatest lesson that Gatsby can teach us is the when life throws a curveball, you have to get up and and keep swinging!
The Great Gatsby is a novel written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald and is based throughout the ‘roaring 20’s’. Throughout the novel there are affairs and corruption, proving life lessons that the past cannot be repeated. Fitzgerald uses many forms of symbolism throughout the text some of these include; colours, the eyes of T.J Eckleburg, clocks and the East and West Eggs. The Great Gatsby is a story of love, dreams and choices witnessed by a narrator against the ridiculous wealth of the 1920’s.
The green light which is situated at the end of Daisy’s dock symbolizes Gatsby’s hope to be together with Daisy. Nick noticed how Gatsby often stared at "a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 25).
One of the traits of Gatsby that makes him truly great is his remarkable capacity for hope. He has faith that what he desires will come to him if he works hard enough. He does not comprehend the cruelty and danger that is the rest of the world. Gatsby, while a man of questionable morals, is as wide-eyed and innocent as a small child in his views of the world. These ideals are evident in Nick’s narration and in the words spoken by the other characters, including Gatsby himself.
Jay Gatsby is a mysterious businessman from the nineteen twenties that is an ideal example of the American Dream. He falls in love with a young and vibrant woman by the name of Daisy Buchannan. Their admiration for each other enforces a luminous spark of determination upon themselves. This subsidizes their relationship under struggling circumstances, and changed their lives for the better. Daisy and Gatsby are the only two that truly prospered from their “American Dream” in this novel.
The two were young lovers who were unable to be together because of differences in social status. Gatsby spends his life after Daisy acquiring material wealth and social standing to try and reestablish a place in Daisy’s life. Once Gatsby gains material wealth he moves to the West Egg where the only thing separating he and Daisy is a body of water. It is through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, that the reader gains insight into the mysterious Jay Gatsby. In Nick’s description of his first encounter with Gatsby he says, “But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.” The reader soon discovers that the green light is at the end of Daisy’s dock, signifying Gatsby’s desperation and desire to get her back. Gatsby’s obsessive nature drives him to throw parties in hopes that his belonged love will attend. The parties further reveal the ungrasping mysteriousness of Gatsby that lead to speculations about his past. Although the suspicions are there, Gatsby himself never denies the rumors told about him. In Nick’s examination of Gatsby he says, “He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.” This persona Gatsby portrays shows how he is viewed by others, and further signifies his hope and imagination
The second character Fitzgerald analyzes is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan. Daisy is the definition of a dream girl, she is smart, gorgeous, and just an ideal woman to be around, and the relationship between her and Tom is quite odd (Baker). Daisy and Tom move to the fashionable East Egg from Chigaco (11). Daisy has everything a woman could wish for, a wealthy husband and an immaculate house. Daisy does not know that Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Nick Carraway plays a major role in Daisy’s love life in The Great Gatsby. Nick is Daisy’s second cousin and he knew Tom from college (11). Daisy invites Nick over for dinner one evening and that is how she relearns about Jay Gatsby (11-17). Daisy met Gatsby at a dance in Louisville. They used to be madly in love with one another when he was in the army (). They had plans of always being together and being married in Louisville at Daisy’s home (118). Later in the story, Daisy was invited to go have tea at Nick’s house, but what she did not know is that it was all Gatsby’s idea to get them to rekindle their rel...
...m once — but I loved you too.” (171). It is in this moment of shock that Gatsby realizes that all he has dreamt up for his future was actually his past. On the other hand, Daisy manages to face the reality of life and live in the present. Gatsby’s death is a representation of his failed dreams.
In life, we ask ourselves the question what we are? In addition, we also ask ourselves how our perspectives allow us to see this world? These questions are an opening idea’s, which requires the person answering it, to be fully aware of his or her life, and then have the ability to judge it without any personal bias. This is why, in the book that was and is in a sense is still talked about in class, The Great Gatsby, which is a book that follows a plethora of charters all being narrated by, Nick Caraway, a character of the book The Great Gatsby. Nick Caraway is the character in the book which judges and describes his and other character’s actions and virtues. Now we speak of a character whose name is Jay Gatsby or other whys known as James Gatz, which is one of the characters that Mr. Caraway, seems to be infatuated with from the start of the book. This character Jay Gatsby develops a perspective, which in his view seems to justify his actions by the way that he saw the world that he was living in. In this essay, I will explain why the ambitions of a person, can lead them to do things that are beyond there normal character.
The theme “blind pursuit of an ideal is destructive” is the main message of The Great Gatsby. Gatsby is on a blind pursuit of happiness. His ideal is to be with Daisy as he was in the past. Although, you can not ever really grasp the past and have things the same as they once were. This pursuit is destructive because Gatsby can not be satisfied with Daisy anymore. He really longed for an image of the past and how he and Daisy used to be, but she is not the same as she once was. Her past self is unobtainable but Gatsby is persistent. Gatsby vision of Daisy is unrealistic and much better than her true self. Nick stated in the book, “Daisy tumbled short of his dreams- not through her own fault, but because of his colossal vitality of his illusion”.
One night when Nick returns home from dinner with his cousin Daisy, her husband, Tom and their friend Jordan, he sees his neighbor Jay Gatsby outside looking out over the water into the darkness. Nick “involuntarily... glance[s] seaward – and distinguish[es] nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 24). This green light that Nick sees happens to be the light at the end of Daisy's dock on the other side of the water. The green light is used by F. Scott Fitzgerald to symbolize a few different things.
The novel, The Great Gatsby focuses on one of the focal characters, James Gatz, also known as Jay Gatsby. He grew up in North Dakota to a family of poor farm people and as he matured, eventually worked for a wealthy man named Dan Cody. As Gatsby is taken under Cody’s wing, he gains more than even he bargained for. He comes across a large sum of money, however ends up getting tricked out of ‘inheriting’ it. After these obstacles, he finds a new way to earn his money, even though it means bending the law to obtain it. Some people will go to a lot of trouble in order to achieve things at all costs. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, conveys the numerous traits of Jay Gatsby through the incidents he faces, how he voices himself and the alterations he undergoes through the progression of the novel. Gatsby possesses many traits that help him develop as a key character in the novel: ambitious, kind-hearted and deceitful all of which is proven through various incidents that arise in the novel.
“The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their whole world fall apart, and all they can do is blankly stare.”
this flashback, Jordan explains to Nick how she first met Gatsby. She explains to Nick
One must be careful to avoid the mistakes of Gatsby, and instead, only pursue true pride and honor. One must always be careful of the dreams one follows. "One thing I think we can be sure of: that when the tumult and shouting of the rabble or reviewers and gossippers die, The Great Gatsby will stand out as a very extraordinary book", by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby.
In today society, many people like to follow the current. They want to catch the wave. Which mean, it does not matter if things were good or bad, right or wrong, they just follow and do them without any thinking. Therefore, there are not too many people would like to be a normal, thoughtful nor neutral person. However, in the novel, The Great Gatsby, by Scott Fitzgerald, one of the character name is Nike Carroway, he was the good and neutral narrator. It was because, in the novel, he analyzed all of the things with regard to accuracy of observation.