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Fitzgerald's essay on great gatsby
Careless f. scott fitzgerald and the great gatsby
Short summary of the great gatsby f scott fitzgerald
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The Immorality Behind Materialistic Minds Excessive pride, derived from a beautified understanding of their pasts, motivates both Jay Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, and Willy Loman, the salesman from Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, to constantly prove themselves to others. Their obsessions quickly invalidate their morals, ultimately leading to their downfalls. As an elderly man, Willy is disappointed that his son, Biff, did not satisfy his dreams of becoming successful and had become a failure due to his own constant uplifting excuses. For example, when Happy notifies Willy Biff had stolen a football from his high school, Willy asserts the coach will allow such delinquent behaviour, claiming “he likes you. If somebody …show more content…
else took the ball there’d be an uproar” (Miller 30). Similar phrases such as this validated Biff’s inappropriate behaviour throughout his childhood and instilled Willy’s belief of his son’s superiority over other children due to his “Adonis” like build (Miller 33). Later, Biff realizes his failure is a result of his own inattentive behaviour, however, Willy concludes his son’s actions are motivated by spite, leading to his moral decay. His son’s inability to earn a stable income for himself reflects Willy’s failure as a father, prompting Willy to provide financial aid for his eldest son. Lacking a salary, Willy resolves the concern through his suicide and the coverage his family receives from his life insurance policy. As a struggling salesman, Mr. Loman attempts to prove his worth and wealth not only to his family, but everyone around him. In order to satisfy the expectations of the Woman, Willy provides her with stockings, the lavish dress item all women desire yet few can afford. For the sake of his pride, Willy abandons his morals, satisfying a stranger instead of providing for his struggling family. The Woman’s satisfaction, heard through her exclamation of “I picked you Willy”, amplifies Willy’s ego and pride, coaxing him to believe he is powerful and lucrative, a feeling he cannot receive at his household due to his lack of income (Miller 38). However, as Willy ages, he is no longer capable of demonstrating his fabricated wealth to secretaries and others alike, inducing him to demonstrate his material value using his self-annihilation and insurance money.
In the same way, Jay Gatsby becomes obsessed with advertising his income to the population of New York in order to lure Daisy Buchanan, his former lover, back to him. Throughout the novel, reunifying with Daisy captivates Jay Gatsby’s attention due to his obsession of reliving his happier past. In an attempt to beguile his former lover, Gatsby acquires mass amounts of wealth in order to please her materialistic manner by involving himself in illicit activities associated with the prohibition. When Nick “ask[s] him what business he[‘s] in”, inquiring about his family fortunes, “he answer[s], ‘That’s my affair’, before realiz[ing] that it wasn’t the appropriate reply” (Miller 68). In the past, Gatsby’s happiness came from his relationship with Daisy, comparable to the happiness Willy received from Biff’s successes. When derived from these two people, Gatsby and Willy lose their sources of pride, prompting them to “repeat the past” through immoral actions (Miller 84). These character’s belief of a monetary value equalling a man’s worth provokes their moral decay once they are unable to flaunt their prosperity to others around them. As a result, Gatsby commits the immoral action of participating in illegal activities, whereas Willy kills himself in order
to provide capital for his strained family. In order to flaunt his fortunes to Daisy to satisfy her expectations of an accomplished husband, Gatsby showcases his lavish shirt collection. Theatrically, “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before [Daisy and Nick], shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray” (Miller 70). By physically tossing his shirts to Daisy and Nick, causing them to crease and litter the table, Gatsby expresses his carefree behaviour towards spending money in the hopes of impressing Daisy. Akin to dress shirts, stockings were costly luxurious items both in the 1920s and 40s, allowing Willy to duplicate this behaviour in order to awe the Woman. When nonchalantly presenting the stockings to her, Willy seeks recognition and admiration in order to satiate his selfish needs. However, when the use of tangible items fails to enthuse the women in Gatsby’s and Willy’s life, their morals begin to deteriorate as they struggle to identify other actions capable of demonstrating their wealth, driving them to crime and suicide. As a result of their materialistic viewpoints, both of these characters abandon their morals in order to meet their own unsuitable ambitions.
How they treat each other shows how selfish both of them are and how they only care about themselves. Gatsby finds himself falling in love with Daisy, and the idea of her, when he returns to Long Island and discovers the lavish lifestyles that are being led. Jay Gatsby is a man who has been obsessed with the idea of being wealthy ever since the age of seventeen, when he met an older gentleman named Dan Cody. Gatsby was supposed to inherit all of Cody’s money but was cheated out of it at the last minute. Ever since then, Gatsby has been obsessed with the idea of being wealthy and he would do whatever it would take for him to be wealthy. Once Gatsby and Daisy begin a relationship, Bloom points out that, “Gatsby, with his boundless capacity for love, a capacity unique in the sterile world he inhabits, sees that the pursuit of money is a substitute for love. He knows himself well enough to see that his own attraction toward wealth is tied to his love for Daisy.”. It is hard for Gatsby to admit, but it becomes evident to the reader that Gatsby values wealth and status over human love and affection. Gatsby had an obsession with money that unfortunately he was never able to shake, and ultimately led to a lonely life and eventually to his
Andrew T. Crosland, an expert on the Jazz Age writings of author F.Scott Fitzgerald, wrote that Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby included over 200 references to cars (Crosland). This is not surprising as the automobile, like the flapper were enticing novelties at the time this book was written. The main characters in The Great Gatsby who, by the way, all drive cars are Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Myrtle and George Wilson. Attractive, yet enigmatic, Gatsby tries to win the love of an aristocratic woman, who rebuffs Gatsby for her upper class husband. This leads to Gatsby’s tragic murder after he is falsely accused of killing Myrtle with his Rolls Royce. The automobile, as
Gatsby realizes that life of the high class demands wealth to become priority; wealth becomes his superficial goal overshadowing his quest for love. He establishes his necessity to acquire wealth, which allows him to be with Daisy. The social elite of Gatsby's time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an "enormously wealthy" family, seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind (Fitzgerald 10). Nick describes Tom's physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner...arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face...always leaning aggressively forward...a cruel body...[h]is speaking voice...added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" (Fitzgerald 11). The wealth Tom has inherited causes him to become arrogant and condescending to others, while losing his morals. Rather than becoming immoral from wealth as Tom has, Gatsby engages in criminal activity as his only path to being rich. His need for money had become so great that he "was in the drug business" (Fitzgerald 95). Furthermore, he lies to Nick about his past in order to cover up his criminal activity. Gatsby claims to others that he has inherited his wealth, but Nick discovers "[h]is parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby enters a world where money takes precedence over moral integrity. Materialism has already overshadowed a portion of his spiritual side. A quest for true love is doomed for failure in the presence of immorality. Once wealth has taken priority over integrity, members of the high social class focus on immediate indulgences, rather than on long-term pleasures of life such as love.
As a young man, Jay Gatsby was poor with nothing but his love for Daisy. He had attempted to woe her, but a stronger attraction to money led her to marry another man. This did not stop Gatsby’s goal of winning this woman for himself though, and he decided to improve his life anyway he could until he could measure up to Daisy’s standards. He eventually gained connections in what would seem to be the wrong places, but these gave him the opportunity he needed to "get rich quick." Gatsby’s enormous desire for Daisy controlled his life to the point that he did not even question the immorality of the dealings that he involved himself in to acquire wealth. Eventually though, he was able to afford a "castle" in a location where he could pursue Daisy effectively. His life ambition had successfully moved him to the top of the "new money" class of society, but he lacked the education of how to promote his wealth properly. Despite the way that Gatsby flaunted his money, he did catch Daisy’s attention. A chaotic affair followed for a while until Daisy was overcome by pressures from Gatsby to leave her husband and by the realization that she belonged to "old money" and a more proper society.
Nothing is more important, to most people, than friendships and family, thus, by breaking those bonds, it draws an emotional response from the readers. Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan had a relationship before he went off to fight in the war. When he returned home, he finds her with Tom Buchanan, which seems to make him jealous since he still has feelings for Daisy. He wanted Daisy “to go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you” (Fitzgerald 118) Gatsby eventually tells Tom that his “wife doesn’t love [him]” and that she only loves Gatsby (Fitzgerald 121). But the unpleasant truth is that Daisy never loved anyone, but she loved something: money. Daisy “wanted her life shaped and the decision made by some force of of money, of unquestionable practicality” (Fitzgerald 161). The Roaring Twenties were a time where economic growth swept the nation and Daisy was looking to capitalize on that opportunity. Her greed for material goods put her in a bind between two wealthy men, yet they are still foolish enough to believe that she loved them. Jay Gatsby is a man who has no relationships other than one with Nick Caraway, so he is trying to use his wealth to lure in a greedy individual to have love mend his
The dawn of the 20th century was met with an unprecedented catastrophe: an international technological war. Such a horrible conflict perhaps threatened the roots of the American Dream! Yet, most do not realize how pivotal the following years were. Post war prosperity caused a fabulous age for America: the “roaring twenties”. But it also was an era where materialism took the nation by storm, rooting itself into daily life. Wealth became a measure of success and a facade for social status. This “Marxist materialism” threatened the traditional American Dream of self-reliance and individuality far even more than the war a decade before. As it morphed into materialistic visions (owning a beautiful house and car), victims of the change blindly chased the new aspiration; one such victim was Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. As his self-earned luxury and riches clashed with love, crippling consequences and disasters occur. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby delves into an era of materialism, exploring how capitalism can become the face of social life and ultimately cloud the American Dream.
Jay Gatsby is an enormously rich man, and in the flashy years of the jazz age, wealth defined importance. Gatsby has endless wealth, power and influence but never uses material objects selfishly. Everything he owns exists only to attain his vision. Nick feels "inclined to reserve all judgements" (1), but despite his disapproval of Gatsby's vulgarity, Nick respects him for the strength and unselfishness of his idealism. Gatsby is a romantic dreamer who wishes to fulfill his ideal by gaining wealth in hopes of impressing and eventually winning the heart of the materialistic, superficial Daisy. She is, however, completely undeserving of his worship. "Then it had been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor" (79). Nick realizes Gatsby's estate, parties, shirts and other seemingly "purposeless" possessions are not purposeless. Everything Gatsby does, every move he makes and every decision he conceives is for a reason. He wants to achieve his ideal, Daisy. Gatsby's "purposeless splendor" is all for the woman he loves and wishes to represent his ideal. Furthermore, Gatsby believes he can win his woman with riches, and that his woman can achieve the ideal she sta...
F. Scott Fitzgerald third book, “The Great Gatsby”, stands as the supreme achievement in his career. According to The New York Times, “The Great Gatsby” is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. In the novel, the author described Daisy Buchanan as childish, materialistic, and charming. These characteristics describing Daisy is also description for the way women were seen during the 1920s.
Based on the consequences of the past, Gatsby’s priority is to earn a place in high ranks in order to win Daisy. Remaining faithful through the years he endures apart from her, Gatsby builds a reputation of being affluent, for her. He expresses his loyalty towards Daisy through the wealth he establishes, for her. In the hopes that she will return to him after seeing his newly gained assets, Gatsby flaunts his mansion and possessions to Daisy. Everything he earns plays an important role in displaying his wealth to Daisy, as well as his dedication to her. Gatsby devotes several years to earning a fortune for Daisy, never deviating from his original motive of living the past, except with Daisy. However, Gatsby becomes “dazed” because her physical existence erases the importance of his belongings. Even though Gatsby’s valuables once signified the path to Daisy, because Daisy is now with him, the items mean nothing. Gatsby proves consistency in his love for Daisy as she is the motivating force that occupies his life. Gatsby’s persistent hope gives him the belief that he can and will live his happy ending with Daisy. When Gatsby’s imagination of Daisy does not align with the existing Daisy, he tells Nick, “Can’t repeat the past?...Why of course you can!” (110).
How does reading a story benefits an individual and improve his or her daily life? Extensive reading does not only serve as an entertainment purpose, but it is also beneficial to many readers because reading fiction can help enhance a person’s understanding of the type of society the reader lives in. For example, the famous novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is regarded as a brilliant work of literature, for it offers a detailed glimpse of the American life in the 1920s and comments on various social problems during that time period. The novel tells the story of a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby who lives in the fictional town of West Egg, located on Long Island, during the summer of 1922. Gatsby wants to pursue his first
The world is filled with cheapskates, phonies, and two-faced people. Many use others for their own benefits. In The Great Gatsby, through the motif of superficiality, Fitzgerald critiques the theme that displaying materialism and superficiality can ruin true love and a chance at true love. Objects cannot define a relationship; it should be the feelings developed that defines the relationship of two people. The characteristic of materialism is a barrier for true love between two people. Nick Carraway has just moved to a West Egg, and his mysterious neighbor is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s long living dream is to rekindle his love and relationship with Daisy Buchanan, who is currently married to Tom Buchanan. He attempts to pursue his relationship with Daisy through his unexplained wealth. However, their love couldn’t be true because of their focus on “things” rather than each other.
The superficial tag between East Egg and West Egg is the hollowness of the upper class. They put on a façade to show that they are the same and one is not from Wolfsheim’s gang and the other from old money. F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby,” the author based the novel on failure and success in the illusional age of materialism. Fitzgerald was inspired by other authors such as Joseph Conrad. Conrad’s style is extremely dense and Fitzgerald wanted simplicity in his writing .Daisy, Gatsby and Tom like everyone have their own problems and they would like to think that they are the only ones with secrets. Nick Carraway gets involved in all these relationships with everyone and never wanted any of it. Tom feels he is the only one that deserves
Materialism has a negative influence on the characters in the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. “The most terrible thing about materialism even more terrible than its proneness to violence, is its boredom, from which sex, alcohol, drugs, all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love, offers a prospect of deliverance.” This quote, stated by Malcolm Muggeridge, says that people get bored with the things that they have when they get new things all of the time. When they get bored with these things, they turn to stuff like sex, alcohol, and drugs. In The Great Gatsby, Myrtle, Daisy, and Gatsby are greatly influenced by money, and material things. The negative influence that materialism has on these characters is shown throughout the entire novel.
Materialism may be defined as attention to or emphasis on material objects, needs or considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual values.
America has been labeled "The land of opportunity," a place where it is possible to accomplish anything and everything. This state of mind is known as "The American Dream." The American Dream provides a sense of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of human wishes and desires. This dream, however, originates from a desire for spiritual and material improvement. Unfortunately, the acquisition of material has been tied together with happiness in America. Although "The American Dream" can be thought of as a positive motivation, it often causes people to strive for material perfection, rather than a spiritual one. This has been a truth since the beginnings of America, such as the setting of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, which is an example of this set in the 20’s. The characters in this novel are too fixed on material things, losing sight of what is really important.