INTRO The 1920’s were a prosperous time for America’s economy and society. After America had won the war, the country had major debt so taxes were reduced to stimulate the economy. This helped the economy and America pay back their debts. The more the country and it’s economy were changing, the more society changed. Young women were cutting their hair short, wearing excessive amounts of jewelry and shorter, more revealing clothing. It was a time of rebellion and a major change in the expectations of women and of the American people. Also, alcohol was prohibited during this time so many people were selling it and consuming it illegally. Literature was also affected, as people began documenting and writing about this new era. A notable writer …show more content…
of his time, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicted the typical lifestyle of a new, rebellious generation. In his compelling novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald exposes the corruption of these kinds of people and the life of lies they are living. From the outside view, the lives of the East and West-Eggers seem to be prospering and they seem to have more money than they know what to do with; however, the reader gets a deeper look, from a wiser, more clear perspective. Nick Carraway a young man from Minnesota moves to the booming New York City to learn about the bond business. Because he is new to the area, through him we are able to watch the abuse of trust to get what you want as he is experiencing it. He moves next door to the peculiar Jay Gatsby who is such an interesting character throughout the novel because no one knows the truth about him. However, despite the speculations about him, Jay Gatsby proves to be a determined, but dishonest and mysterious man. FIRST PARAGRAPH First, one of the most obvious traits Gatsby obtains is determination.
He will stop at absolutely nothing to reach his goals, even if it is illegal, or immoral. In the beginning of the summer, Gatsby and Nick meet and over the course of the summer they become better friends. When Gatsby finds out Nick’s cousin is the beautiful, elegant Daisy Buchanan, he had previously had a relationship with, he uses Nick to grow closer to her. He even puts Jordan Baker, Daisy’s good friend, up to talk to Nick about possibly meeting with Daisy again. Jordan says to Nick, “‘When I said you were a particular friend of Tom’s, [Gatsby] started to abandon the whole idea. He doesn’t know very much about Tom, though he says he’s read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy’s name,’” (77). This proves that even after all of their time spent apart, he is still determined to be with her. Ideally, Gatsby wanted to have tea with Daisy and Nick at Nick’s and then show Daisy his home. Gatsby uses Nick’s house as a way to make himself seem richer when they walk over to Gatsby’s eye-sore of a house. Daisy weeps over his clothing because she says, "They're such beautiful shirts… It makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before," (89). She is upset with herself that she let Gatsby go because now he is everything she wanted him to be back when they were dating. Gatsby has false hope that his riches and his materialistic clothes, and home will …show more content…
make her come back to him. His determination to get her back is what drives him to change his whole past to seem more eligible for her. He lies about his background, his family, where he is from and anything else that could expose the low-class man he once was. Also, he spends all kinds of money throwing lavish, grand, parties in hopes Daisy will show up. In addition, Gatsby even purchases his mansion across the water from Daisy to feel closer to her. Essentially, Gatsby's love for Daisy is what drives him to reinvent himself, although he doesn’t do this honestly. SECOND PARAGRAPH In addition, it is evident in the novel that Gatsby is dishonest about simple things in his past.
He lies to everyone he knows about going to Oxford, when he actually went to Oggsford, and he also claims he came from a wealthy family. He even changes his name from Jay Gatz to Jay “Gatsby”. Although he's a self-created millionaire from bootlegging, Nick still says to Gatsby, "you’re worth the whole damn bunch put together," (145). Nick is saying that Gatsby is not as bad as the rest of them are. Gatsby spends all of his time figuring out how to and working to hopefully one day achieve his only goal- Daisy. Contrary to Gatsby, many other characters in the novel, like Tom Buchanan for example, just want to become more rich and have fun with as many different women as they can. The morals of human beings are reinvented in this time; marriage and love are no longer as valued as they used to be. Cheating has become so normal that Gatsby thinks Daisy running away with him is very much possible. Gatsby is dishonest, but it is in the innocent nature to essentially win over Daisy. Tom is dishonest in ways that hurt Daisy. For example, Gatsby works in illegal businesses to acquire the kind of wealth for a relationship with the woman of his dreams. No one knows exactly what he does though. At one of his grand parties, Nick overhears a woman saying, “...he was a German spy during the war.’ One of the men nodded in confirmation,’” (45). He also is dishonest in the beginning of him and
Nick’s friendship. He was solely getting closer to him so that he would get closer to Daisy. Gatsby gets caught in a lie with Nick when he tells Nick, “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought [his house],” and Nick says, “I thought you inherited your money.” (87). It is clear that Gatsby wasn’t born rich, although he tells people he is. Nick also says, “When i asked him what business he was in he answered: ‘that’s my affair’, before he realized that it wasn’t an appropriate reply,” (87). This is odd because if him and Nick are such good friends, Gatsby should be able to trust Nick This also makes it evident that Gatsby is in some kind of business he is ashamed of or can not tell someone about. His dishonestly is very clear throughout the text. THIRD PARAGRAPH Similarly, Gatsby demonstrates being mysterious more often than not in this novel. It is very mysterious that no one knows where he is from, what he does, or why he is so rich. People assume things about him, rumors circulate and it seems as though Gatsby doesn't care what people are saying about him.
Jay Gatsby is the main character in The Great Gatsby. He is the mysterious character that the story revolves around. Nick is his neighbor that gets invited to Gatsby’s party that set in on Gatsby being a mysterious person that has so many people talking about him and talking about different stories about Gatsby that unravel how big of a mystery Gatsby is. In The Great Gatsby, “Gatsby’s notoriety, spread about by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality and so become authorities on his past, had increased all summer until he fell just short of being news” (Fitzgerald 105). In chapter six, the real truth is revealed about the great Gatsby. The stories of the mysterious Gatsby in the parties were not true. The stories about Gatsby also went around New York, which made Nick ask Gatsby about his past ("The Great Gatsby," Fitzgerald). Nick also asked about Gatsby’s past hoping Nick would finally hear the truth. According to The Great Gatsby, “This was the night, Carraway says, that Gatsby told him the story (its factual details have been told earlier in the novel) of his early life. The purpose of the telling here is not to reveal facts but to try to understand the character of Gatsby’s passion. The final understanding is reserved for one of those precisely right uttera...
Nick Carroway is not a very judgmental person, in fact, he himself states that he withholds judgment so that he can get the entire story out of the person to whom he is listening. To say that Nick is both approving and disapproving is not suspiring, for Nick rarely looks at things from only one perspective. Nick finds Gatsby to be ignorantly honest, in that Gatsby could not fathom the idea of saying something without really meaning it. He respects Gatsby for his determination to fit in with the East Egg crowd, though Gatsby does not realize that he does not really fit in with them. On the other hand, Nick sees Gatsby to be excessively flashy and, in the words of Holden Caulfield, 'phony.' Gatsby's whole life is a lie from the moment he left behind the name James Gatz and became Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lies about his past to try to have people perceive him as an 'old money' guy when that really is not necessary. Gatsby's valiant efforts to lure Daisy are respectable, yet they show Gatsby's failure to accept reality and give up on his long lost dream.
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.
The 1920's was a time of great social change with new prosperity, new ideas but most importantly a time of heroes. These so called heroes defined the era and were the role models for the people of this time period. They brought on hope and enlightenment after the horrific times that they had gone through with the depression and the war. The role of women changed, sports and entertainment stars were celebrated and modern technology changed America's landscape. The twenties were a time when people laughed more often than cried, partied more often than worked, and dreamed more often than faced reality.
However, he believes that there is a reason behind his dishonesty and that he is not a man of total fraud. Gatsby, indeed, has been dishonest, both with himself and with the rest of the world. He has lied to Nick and the others about where he comes from. His made-up story is that he comes from a wealthy family of now deceased people. He says that he is an Oxford-educated man. He also claims to be from the Midwest and lies about his own name. In reality, he is midwestern, but his father is alive and well. He is not an Oxford graduate (he only attended for five months) and he comes from poverty. His birth name is James Gatz. He is a man of new money, and he established his wealth illegally by selling drugs with his business partner, which explains his alias. In addition to Gatsby’s dishonesty by others, he is dishonest with himself. Gatsby has fabricated a dream—a fictional reality—in his mind. He wants Nick’s cousin, Daisy, whom he met five years prior to the story’s beginning, to marry him. However, this marriage could never happen, because Daisy is already married to an East Egg man named Tom, with whom she has a child. Despite the odds, Gatsby continues to push Daisy toward breaking it off with Tom. His dream overwhelms the harshness of his reality, thus causing Gatsby to continue to falsify reality and misshape it to agree with what he wants. His dishonesty is the root of his
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...
The 1920’s was a period of extremely economic growth and personal wealth. America was a striving nation and the American people had the potential to access products never manufactured before. Automobile were being made on an assembly line and were priced so that not just the rich had access to these vehicles, as well as, payment plans were made which gave the American people to purchase over time if they couldn't pay it all up front. Women during the First World War went to work in place of the men who went off to fight. When the men return the women did not give up their positions in the work force. Women being giving the responsibility outside the home gave them a more independent mindset, including the change of women's wardrobe, mainly in the shortening of their skirts.
Even though he had some thought that the meeting would provoke harmful tensions between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, he went along with it anyways, further demonstrating his own innate lack of reservation. Ultimately, Nick is an unreliable narrator who overlooks Gatsby’s lies because of his biased judgment of him. Nick portrays Gatsby as a generous and charismatic figure while in reality, he is a duplicative and obsessed man entangled in illegal business who is determined on an unattainable goal. It is highly ironic that Nick judges others for their lack of morality and honesty; his own character is plagued by lies as he abets Gatsby in many of his schemes.
Gatsby may have not realized he let this lie slide out from under him due to the rush of emotions connected with the reunion of his long lost love. Nevertheless, he did lie to Nick about his past, along with many other people, including Daisy. When he and his love first meet, he lies to her and comes off as a rich, stable man, she would be lucky to fall in love with. This is not the case, however. He is not as innocent as to have just inherited the wealth he gloats.
The 1920's were a time of change in the United States. For the first time in history, more people were living in cities than in the country. The United States was also wealthier than it had ever been. New methods of transport had been introduced. A lot more technology was also introduced, such as radios. This had made it easier to stay up to date with new stories.
Gatsby downfall came when he sacrificed his morality to attain wealth. Gatsby realises that the illusion of his dream with Daisy, demands wealth to become priority, and thus wealth becomes the desire overriding his need for her [Daisy’s] love. Gatsby claims to others that he has inherited his wealth, but Nick discovers "[h]is parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg 104) and that Gatsby has lied about his past. In a society that relies on luxuries, Gatsby throws parties to attract Daisy’s attention. Also, Gatsby expresses that same need to keep busy, just as Daisy does, in a society of the elite. Nick describes Gatsby as "never quite still, there was always a tapping foot somewhere or the impatient opening and closing of a hand" (Fitzgerald, pg 68). Gatsby fills his house "full of interesting people...who do interesting things" (Fitzgerald, pg 96). Gatsby's dream is doomed to failure in that he has lost the fundamental necessities to experience love, such as honesty and moral integrity.
The 1920's was a time of change in the United States. “The Roaring Twenties” had an outstanding impact on the economy, social standards and everyday life. It was a time for positive results in the consumer goods industry and American families, because of higher wages, shorter working hours, and manufacturing was up 60% in consumer goods. But it was also a time of adversity and opposition for others, such as immigrants and farmers. Immigrants had lots of competition when they were looking for work and they weren't treated fairly by Americans, depending on where they came from and what they believed.
After daisy arrives Gatsby walks in, nick then leaves the two alone. Both being very neverous and awkward, daisy began to cry and “a new well-being radiated from [Gatsby] and filed the little room”(fitzgerald,89). They began to talk as if nothing happen, both becoming joyful and happy. Gatsby achieves his wishes; he and daisy are together once again and believes he has started to win her back. Gatsby beginning to interfere with Daisy marriage with Tom invites the two to one of his parties. As the two arrive Gatsby begins to introduce the couple to many rich people, trying to impress daisy. he then asks her to dance, tom observing them, deamnds to know “who [Gatsby] is and what he does” (fitzgerald, 108). Showing publically that Gatsby has great affection towards Daisy, spiking an intreast to tom. After the party is over, nick and gastby talk about the events; Gatsby tells nick that he wishes daisy to tell tom that she never truly loved tom. Nick states that “you cant repeat the past,” to which Gatsby replies, “why of course you can” (Fitzgerald, 110). Gatsby is unable to face the truth causing him to be blind, leaving him to see and illusion where there is true love between Daisy and
At the beginning of the book Nick sees Gatsby as a mysterious shady man. In the beginning of the chapter Nick somewhat resents Gatsby. In Nick’s opinion Gatsby was the representation of “…everything for which I have unaffected scorn.” (Fitzgerald 2). Nick sees Gatsby as what he hates the most in life, rich folk. Since the start of the novel it was obvious that had “Disapproved of him from beginning to end.” (Fitzgerald 154). As time passes, Nick realizes his neighbor has quite a mysterious past. Some think he’s a bootlegger, and a different person wa...
Gatsby takes advantage of Nick to reunite with Daisy. When Gatsby tells Nick to invite Daisy over for tea, he uses Nick to rekindle his previous relationship with Daisy. Comparatively, Gatsby uses Nick again when he tries to make it seem like Nick, Gatsby and the Buchanan’s are all friends. Gatsby clearly sees that Nick is his only way to socialize with the couple, and he uses that to his advantage. By hesitantly letting Tom drive his car he has yet another way to hang around with Daisy later that day in the hotel room, where he tries to make Daisy confess that she never loved Tom. Obviously, the only reason Gatsby gets the chance to talk to Daisy is because of Nick’s connection with the Buchanan’s. Additionally, Gatsby uses Nick to make himself feel better and raise his own self esteem. Apart from any other guest, Nick is invited to the first party he attends at Gatsby’s house. Because he receives an invitation, it makes Gatsby seem as if he has no friends and is trying to comfort himself by having “a friend” he could invite. It is apparent that Nick does not even know who Gatsby is at the party because of what he says while he talks to Gatsby. He has no clue who Gatsby is or even that they are neighbors. Fitzgerald writes, “‘I’m Gatsby’ he said suddenly. ‘What!... I beg your pardon’” (48). All of these reasons combined makes Nick hate Gatsby and the morals he stands