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Overview of the roaring twenties
How does wealth affect the great gatsby book
How does wealth affect the great gatsby book
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The Roaring 20's: the age of dramatic and social change. The years where the nations total wealth doubled. A time of consumerism, and the years where stocks reached record peaks. The Great Gatsby depicts the 1920's perfectly. It shows the division of a town based on the abundance of money one has, and the competition between characters. Throughout the story, the characters are spaced out of reality and blinded by their wealth, which leads to their carelessness, and actions based on selfishness. Carelessness has shown its way into every single character in this story. For example, let us look at Tom and Daisy. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their …show more content…
First, Daisy plays Gatsby emotions. She tells him that she was going to run away with him and leave her husband, when in reality she knows she wasn't telling the truth. "“Why—how could I love him—possibly?”“You never loved him.” She hesitated. Her eyes fell on Jordan and me with a sort of appeal, as though she realized at last what she was doing—and as though she had never, all along, intended doing anything at all. But it was done now. It was too late. “I never loved him,” she said”(Chapter 7, page 235). Gatsby spent much money and many years trying to impress her, but I guess that just wasn't enough. Daisy is just a careless person who always seems to forget her actions affect other people, and in this case, being a main cause of Gatsby's death. Next, Tom's carelessness was a cause of Gatsby's death. He told Wilson that when Myrtle was killed, Gatsby was driving the car. Tom knew that Daisy was driving the car, but he wanted to get revenge on Gatsby for the whole Daisy situation, and protect his wife. Tom did now care about Gatsby at all, and let his anger and carelessness take over. Finally, Gatsby's carelessness and his blindness from reality lead to his death. He could not accept the fact that he could not have the girl of his dreams. He was too in love with Daisy, and caught up in a reality where he only saw himself, and her. He acts very carelessly with his money, spending it all on stuff that he thinks will impress Daisy. He even hides who was driving the car that killed Myrtle to protect Daisy. Gatsby's thought he could get Daisy back, and everything would just be like old times. But he was wrong, and he didn't want to believe
Daisy is living under the illusion that Gatsby has become rich and successful by working so hard and getting lucky with some investments. I think that when she first met him she probably did love him. He conveyed something to her that was the complete opposite of what she was: a poor soldier that did not have the social class that she possessed. But now her attitudes have changed and she is attracted to him because of his money and his apparent success.
Even though at first when they finally got together after all those years and everything seem great and romantic but good things always come to an end. The affair effected Gatsby in his life by having him back the old love he first had for Daisy even hoping for a lifetime future together. His dream is very much vivid about his romantic hopes about Daisy in his mind, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams, not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion” (95). He seems to be falling deeper in love with her even maybe more than the love she really had for him even though through the end of the chapters her love that she claims to have for him seemed not truly. In New York, the truth comes out more about she feels about Gatsby by being questioned and feeling guilty when Tom gets to the fact that she loves him and not Gatsby but Gatsby rejects his sayings and tells Daisy to say how she truly feel about him. Over all the excitement, Daisy tells how she truly feel about the whole love affair, “I did love him once but I loved you too” (132). It is possible that the leading of Gatsby’s death was caused from Tom’s jealousy of his wife’s confessed love for Gatsby. Tom would had told Wilson that Gatsby was the driver of the car that killed Myrtle and her secret
When he first meets Daisy, Gatsby becomes infatuated with his idea of her, or rather, the false persona that she creates of herself. In fact, Gatsby reveals that “she was the first ‘nice’ girl he had ever known” (155). Gatsby was so impressed with Daisy mainly because of her wealth and her status; it is what he wants. However, Daisy chooses Tom Buchanan over Gatsby, solely because of his social status. As a result, Gatsby revolves his whole life around her: he becomes wealthy, creates a new image of himself, and buys a house across the bay from Daisy. For instance, he fabricates lies about how “ [he is] the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west” (69) and how “ [he] was brought up in America but educated at Oxford” (69) in order to impress her. These lies end up altering others’ perspectives of him - not necessarily in a positive way - and impacting his life as a whole. Daisy unwittingly transforms Gatsby into a picture-perfect image of the 1920s: lavish parties, showy cars, and a false illusion of the attainment of the American Dream. Despite Gatsby’s newfound wealth and success, he never fully accomplishes his dream: to get Daisy. Gatsby’s final act for the sake of Daisy has no impact on her feelings towards him. When Gatsby claims that he crashed into Myrtle and killed her, Daisy carelessly lets him do so, which ultimately results in his death. To make
Tom suspects that Gatsby and Daisy are having a relationship, but has no evidence to prove it. However, whenever Tom would leave the room, Daisy would immediately run into Gatsby’s arms to show her affection. To their dismay, Tom sees this: “She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw” (Fitzgerald 126). This leads to a confrontation between Gatsby and Tom, where Gatsby boldly declares that “Your wife [Daisy] doesn’t love you …She’s never loved you. She loves me” (Fitzgerald 139). Gatsby feels untouchable, and his confidence in Daisy’s love for him allows him to declare this to Tom. However, Tom slowly gains control of Daisy, reminding her of the experiences they shared together. Realizing this, Gatsby becomes desperate, and attempts to force Daisy into saying things she doesn’t believe, but Daisy tells Gatsby the truth: “’Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom… It wouldn’t be true’” (Fitzgerald 142). Gatsby is delusional because his only thought is proving to Tom that Daisy doesn’t love him, and fails to realize that he is slowly losing Daisy. He is once again so absorbed by Daisy that he fails to realize what is going on around him. Even after Daisy runs over a woman murdering her in cold blood, Gatsby is willing to take the blame for her, and states “of course I’ll say [to the police] I was [driving]” (Fitzgerard 154). Gatsby still loves Daisy after she commits murder, which is a testament to his obsession and delusion over her. Gatsby is willing to go to prison and lose everything because Gatsby still believes that Daisy loves him despite Tom proving
How can one be so careless? In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom and Daisy were both careless in their actions. Their choices affected those around them, in the end killing three people. Tom showed his carelessness by cheating on his wife Daisy, openly showing off his mistress Myrtle, and telling Wilson that Gatsby owned the car that killed his wife. Daisy showed her carelessness by cheating on her husband Tom, openly showing her love for Gatsby in front of Nick and Jordan, and killing Myrtle without stopping like any sane person would. Tom and Daisy 's actions caused negative impacts on the people around them, however they had their money to lean on. Their money got them away at last where they didn
Daisy was somewhat of a bystander. She stood around and watched as Tom had an affair with Myrtle, and then as Gatsby and Tom hatched it for long periods of time. With an abusive husband like Tom, Daisy didn’t exactly have the strength and confidence to stand up for herself and choose what she wanted. She did not really love Tom, or Gatsby wouldn’t have been of love interest to her, so when Tom and Myrtle had this affair, it didn’t phase her. Although, she had these feelings towards another man, she knew she couldn’t leave Tom because he was much stronger than her, and could easily hurt her. It was clear to me that she wanted to leave with Gatsby, but when put in the situation of admitting it to her husband, she was panicked. Tom, of all people, should understand the possibility of loving another, but is extremely hypocritical and scares her into staying. On the contrary, Daisy performed one despicable act that resulted in the death of her true love. She was the driver of the car that hit, and killed Myrtle, but instead of fessing up to it, she blamed Gatsby. He was shot because of the accusation that he was the murder, and bashed all over town; so much so that all those people that came to all his parties, refused to come to his funeral. Daisy herself, failed to make an appearance at this event, which makes me wonder whether Gatsby was her love, or her
Daisy becomes harder to grasp when Gatsby’s unworldly views on time and what is achievable causes her to fade from his dreams. His determination encompasses naivety because his dreams are unrealistic. Gatsby not only wants Daisy back, but he also wants to remove her past with Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband. Gatsby demands Daisy to tell Tom how she never loved him, but Daisy struggles to because it is not the truth. She tells Gatsby, “’Oh, you want too much!... I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’… The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby” (132). Gatsby’s expectation for Daisy to delete the memory of her past love for Tom like words on a computer is naïve. It is Gatsby’s fault for fabricating a false idea of Daisy that separates his idea of her from her. He has a vision of a perfect story, but Daisy’s inability to erase her past with Tom critically ruins Gatsby’s vision. In his mind, Daisy only loves him, but when Daisy admits to the truth of once loving Tom as well, it is intolerable to Gatsby and his dream begins to fall apart. Similarly, Gatsby’s perception of time is flawed due to his obsession with Daisy. Ever since Daisy left Gatsby, he chases after her, looking for the past. When he finally meets her after many years, he sees an opportunity to start over and strives to avoid losing her
Tom noticed an affair between Gatsby and Daisy, and everything boiled over. Tom, furious at Gatsby, complained how Gatsby is trying to take Daisy, while Gatsby persuades that Daisy never fell in love with Tom in the first place. “‘She’s never loved you, do you hear?’ he cried. ‘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 for me!’” (Fitzgerald 130) Later, Gatsby continued to pursue Daisy. “‘Daisy, that’s all over now,’ he said earnestly. ‘It doesn’t matter any more. Just tell him the truth- that you never loved him- and it’s all wiped out forever’” (Fitzgerald 132). The two quotes show what Gatsby desired: to win Daisy. Gatsby believed that Daisy still loved him, just like she did five years ago. He thinks that history can repeat itself, and be like the past. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t realize that many things
To start off, Gatsby was convinced he was in love with Daisy, however that’s not the case. Jay Gatsby was a twisted man who was obsessed not with Daisy but with the idea of having her. Gatsby’s feelings for Daisy were not genuine; he just loved the crazy notion of having her. She played along with it and made him think that she would leave Tom, but lets face it, it was never going to happen. Daisy did not give a crap about Gatsby and everyone knows it, except for him. Daisy used Gatsby to make her husband jealous because she knew that Gatsby would do anything for her.
After their reunion, Gatsby and Daisy pick up where they left off, talking about old memories and future plans, Gatsby however does not see that these future plans are not entirely possible. He claims that he is going to “fix everything just the way it was before” and that he wants to restarts their new life together and leave the past couple of years behind them (118). This is saying that the pursuit of Ideals can cause a man to think irrationally and impulsively. In addition to this, Gatsby has a false sense of of safety, he states that he “wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and Say ‘I never loved you’”, obliterating three years of marriage with the statement (117). This shows how through focusing all of himself into chasing his dream, Gatsby sees his situation through rose coloured glasses.He sees only the good and ignores all the negative repercussions are at inevitable in his case. Gatsby is also shown to be very overconfident in his dream, acting impetuously and arrogantly. He confronts Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan. Gatsby goes to Tom and tells him that his “wife doesn’t love [him]” and that “she never loved [him]” (139). This caused Daisy to move farther from Gatsby, realizing his addictive and obsessive nature towards
At the mention of Gatsby’s name, Daisy becomes immediately interested. She demands to know who he is, but the conversation takes a different turn (Fitzgerald 11). Daisy and Gatsby reunite and began an affair that Gatsby has always dreamed of. Gatsby tells Daisy that she must leave Tom and she begins to panic. Daisy realizes Gatsby will control her just like Tom does. She becomes scared and no longer wants to be with him. She chooses Tom because, despite his indiscretions and temper, he is able to give Daisy financial security. According to "The Great Gatsby A Misogynistic Tale English Literature Essay," Daisy is ultimately bringing the downfall of Gatsby because of her selfishness and need for security. Gatsby will control her as much as Tom and not be able to give her enough financial security because he does not make his money legally and could lose his money more easily than Tom. Daisy does come from wealth, but she does not have the experience in finances to invest or manage her money, a man has always done that for her. Daisy believes that financial security is more important than love because she is scared of life without it. She has lived her whole life without love, but not without
In the novel “ The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick describes Tom and Daisy as careless people which they are. Nick and Daisy are careless people because they can afford to be careless because of their money and use other people or do nothing at all for their own benefit. For example, When tom told Myrtle that he could not marry her because he was in a relationship with daisy and she was catholic and did not believe in divorce and told lies to myrtle to use her as a toy even though myrtle was also using Tom to get to a higher social class for her own benefit even Nick stated that when she was with Tom that she would act like from a higher class when she was with tom. Another example of Tom 's and Daisy 's carelessness is that daisy wanted Gatsby and had her fun with Gatsby for a while, but did not face the consequences when it was time to tell Tom the truth of Daisy and Gatsby and instead ran away. Another reason that tom and daisy are careless is that neither Tom or Tom is also careless because he was with Myrtle and told lies to her that he was going to marry her if Daisy was not a Catholic and believed in divorce, which meant that he could not marry Myrtle which was all a lie.
The “Roaring Twenties” was an important era in American history. Major events included prohibition, the rebellion of women, consumerism, crime. These events created an era that would have a large effect on the future of American History. The Great Gatsby ties into this by giving fictional accounts of real events.
Gatsby doesn 't want people asking questions about who his new lady is so he decides to fire all of his staff; “My Finn informed me that Gatsby had dismissed every servant in his house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others, who never went into West Egg Village to be bribed by the tradesmen…(Fitzgerald 114).” The lights were turned off and Gatsby didn 't throw anymore parties. For a while Daisy goes over to Gatsby 's house and the two of them would stay in all day. Gatsby just knew that Daisy loved him and had never stopped loving him, and was beyond ready to have a life with her. When Gatsby, Nick, Jordan, Daisy, and Tom go into town, Gatsby wants Daisy to tell her husband Tom that she had never loved him. When Daisy refuses, Gatsby tells Tom, “Your wife doesn 't love you,” said Gatsby “she 's never loved you. She loves me. (Fitzgerald 130).” Gatsby wants Daisy to admit she had always loved him and when she wont he is
One reason that Daisy doesn’t truly love Gatsby is because he dies with his goal to win win over Daisy and he is being killed because of