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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel centered around life of the upper class in the 1920s America. Though written decades ago, themes and issues raised in the opening chapters of the novel still renain relevant to our society today to a rather large extent. Firstly, readers are introduced to the theme of superficiality. America in the 1920s, mainly the upper class, were extremely shallow and seemed to only care about appearances and outward satisfactions. A classic example of this is Tom and Daisy, who on the surface seem like a happily married couple. Tom is a former ‘national figure’ from an ‘enormously wealthy’ family while Daisy is ‘lovely’ and beautiful, with ‘inexhaustible charm’, together they make what appears to be …show more content…
an ideal image of a couple who have achieved the American Dream. However, it soon becomes evident that the couple didn’t marry for love, but rather for mutual external benefits. Tom married Daisy as she served as a symbol of status and a pretty trophy wife for him, whereas Daisy picked Tom for the simple fact that he was extremely wealthy. In the opening chapter, there already is already a hint of underlying tension in their relationship as shown in the scene where Daisy accuses Tom for her hurt finger and calls him ‘a brute of a man’- clearly she does does not hold high regard for him. Tom, similarly does not seem to particularly care for her as well, often interrupting her and dismissing what she says. Perhaps the most common form of superficiality displayed in the novel is materialism.
A blatant example of a ‘wordly’ and materialistic person is Catherine, Myrtle’s sister. Cathereine spends all her money travelling to exotic places like ‘Monte Carlo’ and staying in ‘private rooms’. Though not explicitly stated, it is heavily implied that Catherine is only there in the hopes of finding a nice rich husband. The fact that she only chooses to go after a man if he is rich is once again highlighted when her interest in Nick suddenly escalated after she discovered that Nick was Gatsby’s neighbour, which led her to believe that he must be well-off like …show more content…
Gatsby. Superficiality in itself is not necessarily a bad or wrong thing, however, the persuit of only shallow things may often become an issue when people become willing to compromise their morals. Back to the Tom and Daisy example, there is nothing actually wrong with Tom choosing to marry Daisy only because she was pretty and was a status symbol, even though it meant that he was marrying a woman that he didn’t genuinely love. However, this is an issue when this results in Tom not being truly satisfied in his marriage and uses this as an excuse to be being unfaithful to Daisy. The fact that Nick learns of Tom’s mistress within his very first encounter with the couple in long time shows that Tom having an extramarital affair is common knowledge and not something Tom bothers to hide. This is further reinforced when Jordan claims that the affair was something she ‘thought everybody knew’. Not only does Tom show any sign of guilt or remorse, he goes on to flaunt his mistress and drags Nick to ‘meet [his] girl’, and from this it is safe to say that Tom is one with a clear lack of morals due to the fact that he only focuses on material gain and external pleasures. The issue of superficiality, and by extension- materialism, still remains highly relevant to our society here in the 21st century. Even from a early age, many children are already moulded to believe that in order to be accepted and socially deemed as ‘cool’, they have to own branded clothes and accessories and the latest electronics, hence unconsciously becoming materialistic. Like the 1920s, people nowadays consider having an expensive car, a big house and even a beautiful girlfriend/wife as symbols of wealth and social status. Unfortunately,this also means that people can sometimes be willing to neglect their morals in order for these external benefits or to earn money. An example of this that unforunatly is common in our socierty is the act of having extramarital affairs. People are willing to cheat on their spouse and risk their marriage for the external pleasure of sex. Next, readers are aquainted to the theme of gender roles, mainly for women.
The 1920s served as a significant period of time for women as it was then that they broke away from all the traditional social constrains.However, this leads to the issue of the negative representaion of women in the novel. It is noted that none of the main women in the Great Gatsby is portrayed in a good light. There is Daisy, who is beautiful, but also extremely shallow and materialistic- seeing that she only married Tom for his wealth.Next, readers meet Jordan, Daisy’s friend. Jordan is portrayed as extremely independent and self- sufficient. However she is also seen to be a little detached, this is highlighted when Nick’s first description of her was that she was ‘motionless, and with her chin raised a little, as if she were balaancing something on it which was quite likey to her’, and we can infer that Jordan has an air of aloofness that makes her seem rather unapproachable. There is also Myrtle, Tom’s mistress. Myrtle and Daisy are binary opposites in terms of appearance, however, Myrtle like Daisy, is extremely materialistic. Myrtle chooses to have an affair with Tom while fully knowing that he was married because he was able to provide her with material things she could never afford. Furthermore, she insults her loving husband, and claims that he is ‘not fit to lick [her] shoe’ simply because he was not rich. Here, readers can clearly see that Myrtle is a woman with loose morals who is completely
consumed with the idea of having material wealth. Hence from this it is rather safe to say that none of the women who play more major charcters in the novel are portrayed as good characters. The issue of the negative portrayal of women continues to be relevant in our society today. Though not depicted exactly like the charcters in The Great Gatsby, women are constantly showered with stereotypes in the media today. For example, it is common to see women sexualised or objectified as symbols. Last but not least, readers learn about the issue of racism. In the 1920s, the ideology that whites were superior to the other races, mainly the blacks, was common in society. Tom Buchanan was one of such people who clearly believed that he belonged to the more dominant race and does not hesitate state his dislike towards the ‘coloured’ races. This is seen when Tom talks about reading a book, “The Rise Of The Coloured Empires”-a racist book written on the belief that whites were superior- and claimed that it was ‘fine’ and a book that ‘everybody ought to read’. Readers are given insight on the extent of Tom’s prejudice towards the black people through the way he talks about the subject quite passionately and ‘voilently’ and even goes on to say that Aryan superiority was proven ‘[scientifically]’. While no longer approved or considered as ethical, racism still remains as a major issue in our world today. Though racist people nowadays might not vocalise their opinions publicly or as carelessly as Tom did, acts of discrimination against the blacks and other races are still being seen everyday. In recent years in America, there has been several cases of people being unfairly arrested or mistreated in prisons or even shot and killed just because they were black. From this it is obvious to see that despite being illegal today, racism remains as truly important issue today, just like the 1920s.
The message of numerous literature novels are connected to the context of the time and can enlighten readers to understand the meaning. This is true of the novel, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and first published in 1926. It highlights a materialistic and consumerist society where social and moral values were slowly decaying. Portrayed through the eyes of the narrator, Nick Carraway, itillustrated the world , the people surrounding him and their values; starting with Daisy and Tom Buchanan and the infamous Jay Gatsby, a man chasing after his first love.
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.
Myrtle eventually had similar goals as Gatsby, but her life did not begin the same way. She was of the lower class of society and married a simple man. The two pursued a poor life, but Myrtle’s husband George was a decent man. Nevertheless, Myrtle became unsatisfied, and when the opportunity arose to better the quality of her life, she took it. Daisy’s husband Tom, an unfaithful, rough man not very committed to his marriage, began an affair with Myrtle.
The Great Gatsby is a well written and exemplary novel of the Jazz age, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald desired writing his books about the roaring twenties and would explain what happened during that time frame. The majority of the characters in The Great Gatsby cared more about money, power, and having a good time then the people in their lives. This lack of caring for others resulted in the hardships the characters faced. Especially, Jay Gatsby was one of these cruel characters.
In a conversation she was having with Nick, she was telling him what she said to the doctors when she gave birth to her daughter. She told the doctor, “And I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(17). She is telling the doctor, just like herself, she will like if her daughter is a fool and marry a man that will do everything for her and just be like a trophy wife. She wants her to mostly use her beauty rather than her brains. Another example of Daisy being materialistic is between a conversation with Nick and Gatsby, and what Gatsby said was, “Her voice is full of money,’ he said suddenly. That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money — that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it. . . . high in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl. . . . ”(120). Here, Gatsby is saying because Daisy has always been wealthy, that everything that she says is always related to money. Gatsby has experience being poor and rich, and when he said Daisy’s voice is full money, he meant that because she has been wealthy all her life, that there is a difference in the way a rich person talks compared to a unfortunate person. Gatsby sees that Daisy’s voice has so much sophistication and upper class in it that it seems to be full of money, money that rich people always have. One more way that F. Scott Fitzgerald describes Daisy as materialistic is when Gatsby said, “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved any one except me!”(130). When Gatsby said that Daisy only married Tom because she was tired of waiting for him and that he was poor, makes the reader think that she choose money over true love. In the novel, women’s in the 1920s only cared about having fun and spending money. They did
... a symbol of feminism, a woman who is strong, and sovereign a complete parallel to Daisy and Myrtle who represent sexualised and submissive women, who are suppressed by societal expectations. Fitzgerald successfully conveys the ideas that society thought of women in the 20s, and criticises these beliefs through the stereotypical female characters and their position in The Great Gatsby. He captures both the revolutionary changes of women in post world war one society (Jordan) and the conventional roles of women from the ‘old world’ (Daisy and Myrtle).
The Great Gatsby displays how the time of the 1920s brought people to believe that wealth and material goods were the most important things in life, and that separation of the social classes was a necessary need. Fitzgerald’s choice to expose the 1920s for the corrupt time that it really was is what makes him one of the greatest authors of his time, and has people still reading one of his greatest novels, The Great Gatsby, decades
“The great Gatsby” is an inspiring novel written by the famous American author Scott Fitzgerald. The novel was published in 1925. It is regarded as Scott’s supreme achievement and also as a masterwork in American literature, and it’s entirely justified.
...s with all of the parties and the pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure in an era of change. The novel shows the relationship of Gatsby and Daisy as a symbol of this pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure. The reader sees the pursuit of wealth through Daisy wanting Gatsby and Tom, both of whom have money. The pursuit of power is shown through Daisy’s decision of Tom over Gatsby as Gatsby is seen as a lower social status with little power compared to Tom who has tremendous power. Pleasure is seen through the extramarital affairs of Tom and Myrtle as well as Daisy and Gatsby. The Great Gatsby, through Tom and Daisy, reveals the human condition of the pursuit of wealth, power, and pleasure through these examples and shows that the “American Dream” is not possible in a life where one’s surroundings are pushing him/her towards a life of wealth, power, and pleasure.
The Great Gatsby a, novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, follows a cast of characters abiding in the town of East and West Egg on affluent Long Island in the summer of 1922. Each of the characters, while part of the same story line, have different priorities and agendas, each character working towards achieving what they think would benefit them the most. As The Great Gatsby’s plot thickens the characters constantly show their discontent of the American Dream that they are living, always expressing their greed for more, three particular offenders of this deadly sin are Tom, Daisy and Gatsby himself. The characters motives stem from a mixture of boredom, a need and longing for the american dream, and simple selfish human desire.
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.
A woman’s need to pursue society’s expectations of her can corrupt her entire view on relationships and human interactions. In the novel The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, suggests that an individuals desire to achieve a standard of perfection in society can demoralize them into engrossing only what is best for themselves during conflict. Daisy is the epitome of a woman during the 1920’s, she wants nothing more than the appearance of a perfect family life, so when her future is indefinite she hides behind Tom’s wealth, and certainty to achieve her desires.
At first glance, The Great Gatsby is merely a classic American tragedy, portraying the story of a man's obsession with a fantasy, and his resulting downfall. However, Fitzgerald seems to weave much more than that into the intricate web of emotional interactions he creates for the reader. One interesting element is the concepts of greatness each has. For Daisy, it lies in material wealth, and in the comfort and security associated with it. Daisy seems to be easily impressed by material success, as when she is touring Gatsby's mansion and seems deeply moved by his collection of fine, tailored shirts. It would seem that Tom's relative wealth, also, had at one time impressed her enough to win her in marriage. In contrast to that, Gatsby seems to not care a bit about money itself, but rather only about the possibility that it can win over Daisy. In fact, Gatsby's extreme generosity gives the reader the impression that Gatsby would otherwise have never even worked at attaining wealth had it not been for Daisy. For Gatsby, the only thing of real importance was his pursuit of Daisy. It would seem that these elements are combined, too in the character Myrtle.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald took place in the 1920’s when the nation was undergoing rapid economic, political, and social change. Looking through different literary lenses the reader is able to see the effects of these rapid changes. The marxist lens reflects the gap between rich and poor while the feminist lens showcases the patriarchal society.
The Great Gatsby is a short novel by F. Scott. Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is a fictional book that was first published April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald wanted to showcase the ways of society and class in America, in the Roaring Twenties or the 1920s. When the book was published, not many copies were sold, only 20,000 copies were sold within the first year. Fitzgerald was inspired by his relationship with his wife, Zelda. Fitzgerald and his were known for always drinking too much, they were prone to serious depression and self-destructive behaviour. No one ever accused the couple of frugality. In its time, The Great Gatsby is considered to be a literary classic, and has been a contender for the title “ Great American Novel.” Fitzgerald died at