More handpicked essays just for you.
Character development in the great gatsby
Character development in the great gatsby essay
Jay gatsby character development
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Great Gatsby - Metacognitive Culminating Activity While watching the film, one scene that stuck out to me was when Daisy and Nick visit Gatsby’s home after reuniting for the first time. As they walk from Nick’s humble home to Gatsby’s mansion, the sun glistens through the tree and causes a lens flare effect. Furthermore, the sky had a purple tint to it, the clouds were clearing as it had just rained and the sun was still rising. All these elements combined create an atmosphere of hopefulness for the rekindled relationship between Gatsby and Daisy. During the proceeding scenes of all three enjoying the luxuries of Gatsby’s life such as an using an elaborate juicer and enjoying the lake. In addition, the song that plays in the background is a mid-tempo ballad and the scenes are vibrantly coloured. This is the director’s way of visually showing Gatsby’s love for Daisy. …show more content…
Afterwards, at the end of the tour, they all enter Gatsby’s bedroom where he begins to throw his luxury, colourful shirts onto Daisy who is on top of his bed.
Daisy begins to sob because the shirts are so beautiful and Gatsby consoles her while Nick watches from afar. The scene is puzzling at first glance since there is no apparent reason for Daisy to cry. However, she cries because she is so materialistic that the sight of all these beautiful shirts overwhelm her to the point of tears. Also, the shirts represent all the freedoms and joys of lives that eluded her because she was persuaded to marry Tom instead of continuing to wait for
Gatsby. As like the book, the film The Great Gatsby has layers of meaning that forced me to use various metacognitive strategies such as using sensory and emotional images, asking questions and inferring. As illustrated above, when Daisy started sobbing from the sight of beautiful t-shirts I was initially confused and I was forced to ask myself why she was crying in order to better understand her as a character. Asking questions allowed me to analyze characters more thoroughly. An example of sensory and emotional imagery would be the montage of Nick, Daisy and Gatsby enjoying Gatsby’s estate. The imagery of Nick filming an amurtuer home video of Gatsby and Daisy is powerful since it is shows an image of what their relationship could have been if she had not married Tom. Inferring is not something I typically do while I watch movies, so it was a new strategy for me. But, since I had read the book beforehand, I had more context for each scene in the film and was able to infer the scenes slightly differently than someone who had not read the book. For instance, in the final scene of the book a lone car drives into Gatsby’s driveway expecting a party, then pulls out of the driveway disappointed. But to my disappointment, that detail was cut from the film. I think it helped emphasised the theme of being stuck in the past because even after Gatsby’s death people were still stuck in the idea of his parties and did not care about him. The checklist of techniques was helpful at some points to help me analyze the film but, I think there are some metacognitive strategies that I should put more emphasis on. For example, I needed to be able to differentiate between what details in the film were significant and insignificant. Also, by exchanging ideas with other students I was able to gain new insight into the film. An instance of this would be the various reasonings on why Daisy was crying. In the future, when I watch more films I would like to be able to delve deeper into the characters and pickup on the visual storytelling cues.
“ Its attitude is one of disillusionment and detachment; Fitzgerald is still able to evoke the glitter of the 1920s but he is no longer dazzled by it; he sees its underlying emptiness and impoverishment” (Trendell 23)The story is narrated from the point of view of Nick, one of Gatsby’s friends. The problematic and hopeless romantic, Gatsby, sets out to fulfill his dream in acquiring Daisy, his lifelong love, through his many tactics and ideas. Gatsby is introduced extending his arms mysteriously toward a green light in the direction of the water. Later, Gatsby is shown to be the host of many parties for the rich and Nick is invited to one of these parties where Gatsby and Nick meet. When Gatsby later confesses his love for Daisy he explains she was a loved one who was separated from him and hopes to get her again explained when he says, “I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”(Fitzgerald 56). There are several obstacles that Gatsby must overcome and the biggest one that is Daisy’s current fiancé but that still does not get in the way of him trying to recover Daisy’s old feelings. His attempts are made through money and wealth because he tries to buy her love back instead of letting it happen naturally.
The two were young lovers who were unable to be together because of differences in social status. Gatsby spends his life after Daisy acquiring material wealth and social standing to try and reestablish a place in Daisy’s life. Once Gatsby gains material wealth he moves to the West Egg where the only thing separating he and Daisy is a body of water. It is through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, that the reader gains insight into the mysterious Jay Gatsby. In Nick’s description of his first encounter with Gatsby he says, “But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.” The reader soon discovers that the green light is at the end of Daisy’s dock, signifying Gatsby’s desperation and desire to get her back. Gatsby’s obsessive nature drives him to throw parties in hopes that his belonged love will attend. The parties further reveal the ungrasping mysteriousness of Gatsby that lead to speculations about his past. Although the suspicions are there, Gatsby himself never denies the rumors told about him. In Nick’s examination of Gatsby he says, “He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.” This persona Gatsby portrays shows how he is viewed by others, and further signifies his hope and imagination
Scott Fitzgerald going into extreme detail about how the shirts look and feel, and how the shirts make Daisy feel. In this quote, Fitzgerald is describing the emotions Daisy feels while looking at the shirts. "Suddenly, with a strained sound , Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such -- such beautiful shirts before." (Pg 86). The way Daisy feels about the shirts, and her having such a dramatic or emotional reaction to them, really shows that they symbolize something much more then just an average shirt. Maybe the shirts being wrinkled and tossed everywhere symbolize how Gatsby felt when Daisy left him because he wasn't rich enough, or how Daisy feels when she's with Tom. In this next quote Fitzgerald shows examples of imagery, by going into detail about how the shirts look while being tossed everywhere. "He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell covered the table in many-colored disarray."(Pg 86). The shirts being thrown around so carelessly shows that in The Great Gatsby objects that are as simple as a shirt don't matter, regardless of the emotions or memories connected to them. That things like shirts are just another materialistic thing that we as a
She was materialistic and only saw the lavish lifestyle, and lived void of a good conscience. She ran off with Tom because she saw his wealth. Even with endless dresses, and polo horses, Daisy still wanted more. Reunited with Gatsby after meeting in Nick's house, she walked with Gatsby to his house. It was only when she realized the huge mansion across her own house belonged to Gatsby, that she truly wanted to be back with him. Walking in the house, hand in hand, ignoring Nick who follows behind, it seemed the two were reunited by love. In his bedroom, "he took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel. (Fitzgerald 92)" Gatsby is clearly extremely wealthy, able to afford whatever suits his interest, and he was in the mindset that he would buy anything for Daisy. Daisy seeing this, "suddenly, with a strained stained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. 'They're such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds (Fitzgerald 92)." She doesn't cry because she has been reunited with Gatsby, she cries because of the pure satisfaction all his material wealth brings her. When Tom's wealth was not enough, she ran off to something more
Gatsby’s quest to acquire Daisy was enlarged by his colossal obsession with the idea of being reunited with her, until the time actually came in which something so simple as a tea date was all he asked for in order to meet her. The purpose of acquiring such wealth and an extravagant home seems so pointless when Gatsby decides to meet with Daisy in Nick’s underwhelming cabin. The extravagancy of his vision deeply contrasts the modesty of the acquisition of his goal in this case. This shows a different side of Gatsby and his visions on what he thought would happen when he reached his goal and what actually occurred. Gatsby starts to panic when his visions do not occur when Nick and Gatsby are sat in Nick’s home, waiting for Daisy, Gatsby argues “Nobody’s coming to tea. It’s too late...I can’t wait all day” Fitzgerald 85). Gatsby is clearly very antsy and nervous about seeing Daisy again. He was very deeply in love with her and after 5 long years of waiting to see her again and they are finally reunited. All of his plans will be put into action and all of this planning will make him terribly self conscious
Upon first meeting Gatsby we find him staring at the green light at the end of the dock owned by Daisy. The exact wording of this moment is “But A I didn’t call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone-he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling” (Fitzgerald, 19-20). This instance alone shows nothing, save a longing, but when combined with the next few chapters it shows Gatsby obsession with all things related to Daisy. Another instance of Gatsby's longing for Daisy is showed in that his parties are meant to be for her. This conversation between Nick and Gatsby from late in the book shows Gatsby's concern when Daisy is actually at his party ““She didn’t like it,” he said immediately. “Of course she did.” “She didn’t like it,” he insisted. “She didn’t have a good time.” He was silent, and I guessed at his unutterable depression” (108-109). The major flaw in Gatsby's plan is that Daisy is old money, and old money and new money...
For most people, a certain colour may represent something meaningful to them. While in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the colours used in the novel are meant to represent something. The novel’s setting is in East and West Egg, two places in New York. Our narrator, Nick Carraway, lives in the West Egg. Along with living in West Egg is a friend of Nick’s, Jay Gatsby; a character that is in love with Daisy Buchanan. Unfortunately, Daisy is married to Tom. As the plot unravels, the reader notices the connection between certain colours and their importance to the novel. The use of colours within The Great Gatsby symbolizes actual themes, as grey symbolizes corruption, blue symbolizes reality, and green symbolizes jealousy and envy.
The characters of “The Great Gatsby” were blinded by the materialistic wealth in the flashiness of the 1920’s. Daisy is amazed at how beautiful Gatsby’s shirts are and how many he has. she is so astounded that she starts to crying. “They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful shirts before.”(Fitzgerald 92). Another way the characters were materialistic is Gatsby’s proclamation that Daisy never loved Tom and the only reason she married Tom was because Gatsby was poor. “She 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 me!” (Fitzgerald 130). This shows that Gatsby knows that Daisy is materialistic but he still wants her and having Daisy in his life will complete his picturesque lifestyle of wealth. It also shows how they only perceive themselves as wealthy or poor but not with depth. While materialism is one of the important themes in “The Great Gatsby” Fitzgerald’s use of colors ,such as green,blue and yellow, g...
Gatsby can achieve his dream once he marries Daisy Buchannan, a young woman he met in Louisville, where he falls in love with the opulence that surrounds her. Throughout the book, the motifs of the green light and fake facade are used to signify Gatsby's hope and never ending lust for status respectively. Gatsby's obsession with restructuring his past leads to his failure. Fitzgerald uses these motifs of the green light, fake facade and past to showcase Gatsby's objectification of his American Dream. The green light at the end of Daisy Buchannan's dock signifies both hope and the difficulties Gatsby encounters while pursuing his dream.
Daisy’s character is built with association of innocence and purity. Narrator in the novel mentions, “They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (18). In this passage, the narrator talks about Daisy and Daisy’s friend, Jordan. They both were dressed in white, which represents the purity and innocence. Daisy’s exterior beauty is pure and innocence, but her interior self represents false purity and innocence in the novel. When Daisy and Gatsby reunites after five years, they seem to have found their love for each other, although Daisy loves the attention. Daisy is aware of her husband’s affair but still does nothing about it. Daisy’s response to Gatsby’s wealth proves the love Daisy has for money, especially the shirts. Narrator mentions in the novel, “Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shorts and began to cry stormily” (92). This describes that’s for Daisy the shirts represents wealth. Daisy bows her head into the shirts representing her interest in wealthy materialism. Daisy doesn’t cry because of the pure affection unlike Gatsby.
Gatsby tries to make Daisy love him through his money and excessive spending on non essential, things. When he and Daisy first reconnect their relationship, he brings her over to his house to show off the clothes in his closet: “He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, 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. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher — shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, and monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. (Fitzgerald 92).” Gatsby is throwing his shirts everywhere to show that he has a tremendous amount of money ...
In The Great Gatsby, Daisy is impacted a lot by something small, just because of the feeling she has towards Gatsby. “Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirt and began to cry stormily. "They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. It makes me sad because I've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before."
... relationship and Gatsby’s clothes symbolize his wealth and extravagance. The rain starts at the beginning of tea with Daisy, “The day agreed upon was pouring rain” (83), and is mentioned again later on, “Once more it was pouring…” (88). This symbol is significant to the story because it shows the strain of Daisy and Gatsby’s newfound relationship. Gatsby’s clothes were first described by Nick, “An hour later… Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in” (84), and later when Daisy finds all of Gatsby’s beautiful shirts, “He took out a pile of shirts… shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel… covered the table in many-colored disarray” (92). This symbol is significant to the story because it shows Gatsby’s wealth and how Daisy is reacting to the fact that Gatsby has enough money to own all of this beautiful clothing.
But his sympathy towards Gatsby is exaggerated, not so much in actions, but in the much praised language of the novel. Fitzgerald's book at first overwhelms the reader with poetic descriptions of human feelings, of landscapes, buildings and colors. Everything seems to have a symbolic meaning, but it seems to be so strong that no one really tries to see what's happening behind those beautiful words. If you dig deeper you will discover that hidden beneath those near lyrics are blatants, at best. In Nick's "perceptions" of the events in the last four chapters, this symbolism is overdone, especially in the scene where Gatsby kisses Daisy and in the scene where Gatsby dies.
Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, first sees Gatsby standing outside of his mansion, “standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars” (20). He is standing with his arms outstretched towards a green light. Nick says “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling” (20). Gatsby is staring at the light on the end of Daisy’s dock as it is later revealed. Gatsby is standing there, with his arms stretched out, to welcome the love of Daisy and to give his love to her. He is reaching toward her, trembling because of the power of his love and the pain from their years of separation. The light represents how close Daisy is to him, but still so far away, in separate worlds. It could also be thought of in the sense that his love is still burning bright for Daisy. “Green is the color of hope” (Einem), and can represent “Gatsby’s hope to meet Daisy again and a chance to win her back” (Einem). Gatsby has been separated from Daisy for many years, but he still loves her deeply. When Daisy and Gatsby later reunite, they are standing in Gatsby’s bedroom, looking out across the bay. Gatsby points out the green light and says “If it wasn’t for the mist w...