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Great Gatsby Analysis
Analysis of the characters in gatsby
The great gatsby analysis
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Tiffany Pritchett September 21, 2015 Rhetoric & Composition II Does Money Equal Happiness? Given the general outcome of all the characters in the Great Gatsby, money does not equal happiness; regardless of socioeconomic class, Myrtle, Gatsby, and Daisy were all unhappy in one way or another and in the end, none of them get what they are ultimately looking for. In this essay, I will discuss the desires of the three separate social classes and what they believe their sources of unhappiness are. Starting with Myrtle, she is an impeccable example of the lower class. Myrtle had a seemingly good life, with loving and devoted husband that would do anything for her. He owned his own business, and most likely provided a relatively comfortable life
style, yet Myrtle was still unhappy. “I married him because I thought he was a gentleman, I thought he knew something about breeding but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe” (Fitzgerald 34). Myrtle regretted her decision to marry Wilson because she ached for a better life. She wanted wealth and status, causing her to proceed in an affair with Tom. Living in the Valley of Ashes, there isn’t much opportunity to climb up the social ladder and Tom represented a gateway into all the glitz and glamour she envisioned. Myrtle was deeply unhappy with her lower class life and would do anything to get the lifestyle she felt she deserved, which ultimately led to her demise. Next up we have Jay Gatsby representing the “new money” class. He had all the riches Myrtle could ever hope for, yet he still wanted what he couldn’t have: Daisy. He believed that the only way he’d be able to obtain Daisy’s love was by making money, throwing parties, and pretending to be the “old money” man he thought she wanted. “He talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps that had gone into loving Daisy” (Fitzgerald).
Happiness means different things to different people. Some people find happiness in a sense of joy or excitement, and others find it in warmth, and goodness. This is why people pursue happiness; to feel a sense of completion. In The novel The Great Gatsby and in the film The Life of Pi, the characters Jay Gatsby and Pi Patel both pursue and compromise their happiness through love, determination, and adversity or hope. To some people, the most important of these is love.
“Money can’t buy happiness” is a saying that is often used to make one understand that there is more to life than wealth and money. Jay Gatsby was a man of many qualities some of which are good and bad. Throughout the book of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we learn of his past and discover the true qualities of Jay Gatsby. Starting from the bottom, with little money, we learn of why Gatsby struggled so hard all his life to become wealthy and what his true goal in life was. When reading this story, the true reasons behind Gatsby’s illegal actions reveal themselves and readers can learn a great life lesson from this story and the actions the characters take. Readers can see through Gatsby’s contradictions of actions and thoughts that illustrate the theme of the story, along with his static characteristics, that all humans are complex beings and that humans cannot be defined as good or bad.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby many characters are not as they seem. The one character that intrigues me the most is James Gatsby. In the story Gatsby is always thought of as rich, confident, and very popular. However, when I paint a picture of him in my mind I see someone very different. In fact, I see the opposite of what everyone portrays him to be. I see someone who has very little confidence and who tries to fit in the best he can. There are several scenes in which this observation is very obvious to me. It is clear that Gatsby is not the man that everyone claims he is.
Even after Gatsby does achieve his dream of prosperity, he is left unsatisfied always wanting something more. “He talked about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy” (110). Gatsby remains dissatisfied with what his life has become; instead of attempting to change it, he tries to relive the past through Daisy. In addition, earning his money untruthfully leaves Gatsby with a feeling of discontent since he cannot pride himself in hard work by means of earning it. The material possessions in Gatsby’s life bring him temporary happiness and satisfaction unaware that Daisy will fulfill the void of eternal longing for love. Humanity views material possessions as a symbol of wealth despite the many other ways an individual can be wealthy. This corrupted view reveals why Gatsby could not be content and accept his past as a part of him. In the passage of time, Gatsby continuously strives for his dream unaware that it has already passed, symbolic for the realization that one can’t relive the past. “‘You can’t relive the past.’ ‘Can’t relive the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’” (110). Despite the fact that he was poor in Louisville, Gatsby was rich in love and experienced genuine contentment. For the duration of his life, Gatsby
A more thorough investigation of The Great Gatsby is necessary to uncover a well-disguised theme by Fitzgerald in this work. Upon a simple read through one would probably not notice the great similarities of Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson, but the two characters seemed to have the same agenda for their lives. While Gatsby took the route of acquiring money at all costs to join the upper class of society and to be acceptable in the eyes of a woman, Myrtle chose to make her way up in society at the cost of her marriage by attaching herself to money. The underlying question is who had the most success.
In both The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" by Flannery O'Connor, the protagonists are searching for some type of fulfillment in life, and they both believe that they can obtain it through material belongings and behaving in a carless fashion. Both protagonists, Jay Gatsby and Mr. Shiftlet, do obtain material possessions thinking that these possessions will make them happy; however, neither are able to obtain a sense of fulfillment. F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby and Flannery O'Connor in "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" illustrate their disapproval of searching for fulfillment in life through possessions and careless behavior through motifs of greed, foreshadowing, and symbolism in order to allow their audiences to feel the same rejection toward searching for fulfillment and happiness in wealth and careless behavior.
In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald many of the characters could not be classified as a truly moral, a person who exhibits goodness or correctness in their character and behavior. Nick Carraway is not moral by any means; he is responsible for an affair between two major characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Jay Gatsby does show some moral qualities when he attempts to go back and rescue Myrtle after she had been hit by Daisy. Overall Gatsby is unquestionably an immoral person. Nick Carraway and Gatsby share many immoral characteristics, but a big choice separates the two. Daisy Buchanan is an extremely immoral person; she even went to the lengths of taking someone's life. Jay and Daisy are similar but Daisy is borderline corrupt. The entire story is told through Nick Carraway's point of view and by his carelessness it is obvious the narrator possesses poor values.
In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, all the characters are, in one way or another, attempting to become happier with their lives. The characters in the novel are divided into two groups: the rich upper class and the poorer lower class(West egg and East egg) though the main characters only try to make their lives better, the American dream they are all trying to achieve is eventually ruined by the harsh reality or life.
The obsession with wealth often blinds people from the potential crisis. The crisis of having everything they worked and struggled for redefined if the reality fails them. Just like strivers who chase the American dream, Gatsby also spend his whole life in persue of his American dream, which Daisy was a major component of it. Gatsby’s “American dream” seems actualized when Daisy comments him “resemble the advertisement of the man(Ch7).” But Daisy eventually betrays Gatsby and went back to the arms of Tom. This is the final nail in the coffin, with Gatsby’s dr...
As Matthew J. Bruccoli noted: “An essential aspect of the American-ness and the historicity of The Great Gatsby is that it is about money. The Land of Opportunity promised the chance for financial success.” (p. xi) The Great Gatsby is indeed about money, but it also explores its aftermath of greed. Fitzgerald detailed the corruption, deceit and illegality of life that soon pursued “the dream”. However, Fitzgerald entitles the reader to the freedom to decide whether or not the dream was ever free of corruption.
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 – For the Love of Money. F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), is about many things that have to do with American life in the "Roaring Twenties," things such as the abuse of alcohol and the pursuit of other pleasures, including that elusive entity, the "American dream. " Mainly it is the story of Jay Gatsby, told by Gatsby's friend and neighbor, Nick Carraway, a bonds salesman in New York. Three other important characters are Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson. Nick is distantly related to Daisy, whose wealthy husband, Tom, went to college with Nick.
In spite of the fact that the novel exudes a fantastical heat, the plot does require a firmly rooted backbone in order to become well established. Fitzgerald deeply explores the idea of old money versus new money, placing the very hopeful, assimilated, Mr. Gatsby among the children of invested families creating a dynamic that boasts the segregation of the two stereotypes within high class. By affirming this differentiation, Fitzgerald spoon-feeds his readers the notion that mobility between social classes is possible but does not necessarily lead to acceptance, debunking a common misconception among teens that wealth will buy them true companionship. So is the nature of Myrtle’s character who so desperately wishes to cli...
Money can buy happiness for a short amount of time, but after a while, they will require even more. The Great Gatsby shows a great example of money cannot buy happiness and portrays this very well. F. Scott Fitzgerald in the novel, The Great Gatsby, implies that money cannot buy happiness.
During the 1920's America was a country of great ambition, despair and disappointment. The novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of this decade, it illustrates the burning passion one man has toward his "American Dream" and the different aspects of the dream. Fitzgerald's work is a reflection of America during his lifetime. The Great Gatsby shows the ambition of one man's reach for his "American Dream," the disappointment of losing this dream and the despair of his loss.