The Great Gatsby and the Valley of Ashes Many times we hear of society's affect on people; society influencing the way people think and act. Hardly mentioned is the reverse: peoples' actions and lifestyles affecting society as a whole and how it is characterized. Thus, society is a reflection of its inhabitants and in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is a wasteland described as the "valley of ashes." Since the characters of this novel make up this wasteland, aren't they the waste? Symbolically, this waste represents the lack of ethics of the 1920's society and civilization's decay. In The Great Gatsby, morals deficiencies such as a lack of God, selfishness, and idleness are reflective of a society as doomed as "the valley of ashes." The worldliness of the 1920's society contributes to the image of the wasteland as "hell-like" and deprived of God. The "valley of ashes" symbolizes a society, which has forgotten the importance of God, who takes a back seat to profane desires. A lack of seriousness towards God is evident in this corrupt society when Gatsby uses God's name in a lie, declaring '"I'll tell you God's truth.' His right hand suddenly orders divine retribution to stand by. 'I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle West- all dead now" (65). During the Puritan era, this would be considered blasphemous in contrast with the moral standards of the 1920's society. A backwards people have dethroned God, replacing him with false gods of pleasure, greed and money relating to the Latin phrase Deus Absconditus, equivalent of "God has departed." Although the "valley of ashes" is hell- like and without a solid foundation of God, people still cling onto the idea that there is a god.... ... middle of paper ... ...ald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20. Teahers Comments: You have a clear thesis statement and you stick to that thesis statement throughout your paper. You also have a strong conclusion, bringing all of your ideas together and wrapping them up. When quoting, the final punctuation should come after the parentheses instead of inside the quotation marks. When quoting someone's speech you do not need to use both the quotation mark and the comma. So at the beginning or the end of the quote, the extra comma is not needed. The comma is only used to separate the speech from someone else's speech or from the text. If you are interested in the "valley of the ashes" and the wasteland theme of the early 1900's I would suggest reading T. S. Eliot's poems, "J. Alfred Prufrock" and the Wasteland.
1. Explain the Analogical (Proper Proportionality) and Metaphorical approaches to speaking about God, giving an example of each. Make sure that you explain how each avoids the use of literal or direct language about God.
Marion Morrison, also known as John Wayne, is perhaps one of the most popular movie personalities ever. He began as a mere stagehand, but by the end of his career he had developed himself as a very successful actor, producer, and director.
FSF novel TGG challenged sacrilegious and religious values, replacing them with the material fetishes of the flamboyant jazz age built upon material greed. A key motif in the novel is the billboard that oversees the 'Valley of Ashes', with the symbolic eyes of an optometrist, T J Eckleburg looking down on the metaphor of consumer waste, "But his eyes… brood on over the solemn dumping ground," anthropomorphically presents the god-like omnipresent, evidence that materialism has taken over the importance of a religious God. Theriomorphic metaphor of Gatsby's party guests "men and girls came and went like moths," implies hedonism has taken over from previous, conservative and religious motivations for society. In the ultimate scene that exemplifies this contextual shift, Gatsby's apple-green shirts overwhelm Daisy. Moved to tears, Daisy exclaims "I've never seen such- such beautiful shirts before" Material fetishism is evident in the colour green symbolic of jealousy and the specific use of "apple" being a biblical allusion for temptation. Ultimately, a comparative study of TGG reveals a societal disregard for religion, and a replacing of spirituality with material or hedonistic, individual
In conclusion, there were many factors involved in the casing of World War One, but there were 3 very influential causes. Nationalism, which was extreme if not borderline insane pride in your country. Alliances that had stirred up countries into thinking they were not safe. being that this was 1914 and countries were still developing and some were weaker than others, it was very likely you could be invaded which is why alliances scared some countries into a hostile state. And the final cause was militarism, a kind of dictatorial state where you were ready to go to war at any minute and there were guns everywhere and children were not safe. World War One was caused by a lot of things but Nationalism, Alliances, And Militarism were the root causes.
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
The Great Gatsby does an excellent job showing the reader the neglect for spiritual values in America, and how Americans believed there was no greater power watching over them. Throughout the 1920’s by using the famous eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Dr. T.J. Eckleburg was an optometrist in New York. His choice of advertising is strange but extremely symbolic to the theme. In the Valley of ashes, his eyes are painted on a billboard that looks down on everyone. These eyes are constantly watching the people slowly give up their values and beliefs. It’s obvious that the eyes on the billboard are consistently watching the people toss away their values because of how the billboard is designed. Nick describes the sign like this, “The eyes are blue and gigantic- their ...
Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.
The sequences of CRISPR were first discovered in 1987, when scientists reading genetic code found five identical segments of DNA separated by bits of DNA that match that of a virus. CRISPR, which is a specialized strand of DNA, stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. It can be used as a defense system to “cut out” and destroy virus DNA and unwanted genes. It is the most powerful genetic engineering technology ever discovered, and harnessing and using it could have both powerful benefits and dire consequences.
Sutton, Brian. "Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Explicator 59.1 (Fall 2000): 37-39. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol. 157. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 Feb. 2011.
In the early 20th century, modernist writers broke free of the consistent pattern on the themes of religion, marriage, and family values, branching out with their actual opinions and observations on society, making more readers aware of the corruption of the traditional morality in America. It became evident that the American people were placing lust, wealth, and material prosperity over their marital vows and traditional values. This idea of amorality is noticeably identified in the literary works, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Major characters in both novels show signs of demoralization, in regards to Tom Buchanan, for example, whom openly cheated on his wife, broke the nose of his mistress, and sold Gatsby’s fate down the river, and Abigail, whom slept with a married man and killed an entire village in spite of the deteriorated affair. In this new, cutting-edge society the concept of materialism is prevalent. Materialistic power became a goal for many Americans in modern America, which is identifiable in The Great Gatsby. People of East and West Egg indulged themselves with parties, pricey automobiles and the latest fashions, meanwhile, the people in the Valley of Ashes merely scraped by. Jay Gatsby out of his desire to 'own' Daisy went to great lengths to appear as a man of great fortune.
According HIPAA's Privacy Rule ensures that patient's personal health information is confidential and can't be used or disclosed unless their is proper authorization. However, there are certain circumstances that allows your personal health information to be used or disclosed that is unrelated to health care. These circumstances are: 1. Required by law; 2...
In the book “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald the characters are defined by their wealth, in some ways earning the money through corrupt bargains and immoral actions. The characters then start to view God, in the sense of money, as this corrupt, materialistic being who has deserted them. Hauhart then argues in the article, “Religious Language and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby’s Valley of Ashes,” that the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are a symbol for God while the Valley of Ashes symbolizes human waste. What the article doesn't discuss in detail is the meaning of why this idea of God is present in important scenes in the book, such as when the reader first meets Myrtle and the first major death of an important character. These
Overall, there have been many people who have impacted my life in both big and small ways. I have a wonderful husband who supports me in everything I do and I have been given the opportunity to fulfill and alter a dream that was so far out of reach at one time. Becoming that shining star on a piece of paper received in an email is my next goal, my next turning point, and I will get there.
wrote the autobiographical novel, The Gambler (1866), which fascinatingly explained the psychology of problem gambling. The tone of the vast majority of media and cinematic examinations has little changed since the relarse of the movie The Gambler, 1974, which portrayed the disastrous effects of habitual gambling’s upon the life of an otherwise levelheaded college professor. Gambling was extensive in Ancient Rome and France, it was prevalent over 3,000 years ago in Egypt and 5,000 years ago in China. Nevertheless, what is new is the comparative capability to assess and analyze the arguments both of those who claim that the ills of gambling overshadow the benefits and of those who are of the opinion that the cost benefit imbalance is the other way round..
... a cosmetic agent, to freshen breath, but there are some mouth rinses that now provide therapeutic and even preventative benefits: such as introduction of fluoride and minerals to strengthen and remineralize teeth. Mouth rinses can cover hard to reach spots of the teeth and provide a vehicle for particles to be taken out. A third oral hygiene tool is the Floss Threader, a dental device that has a loop at one end and a stiffer and pointed end to be able to thread floss underneath orthodontic or restorative devices that do not allow for floss to freely pass between the contacts of teeth.