The structural pattern in book one revolves around Amory’s goals and desires at Princeton, which Fitzgerald stresses through models for Amory to emulate. In this period, Amory places his focal point upon a prized school and his pursuit of popularity. His narcissism gives him extraordinary hope and faith, which results in conformity and failure. With an attitude of a wealthy, prestigious young man, he strolls down the elite Princeton campus and considers his image in comparison to the other upperclassmen at school. When he observes that he is the only one wearing a hat, he immediately discards the accessory. Likewise, Dick Humbird personifies Amory’s quest for popularity and leadership. “People dressed like him, tried to talk as he did…Servants …show more content…
worshipped him and treated him like a god. He seemed the eternal example of what the upper class tries to be” (Fitzgerald, 77). The automobile wreck that causes Humbird’s pointless death arouses sensational fear that his first goals are shallow and that they contain no reliable defense against the harsher possibilities of life. Consequently, Amory moves on towards his second model, which Fitzgerald embodies through Burne Holiday. After a conversation with Burne, Amory finds that his “mind aglow with ideas… [he] seemed to be climbing heights where others would be forever unable to get a foothold” (Fitzgerald, 124). Nonetheless, Fitzgerald further enhances his structural pattern by paralleling Dick Humbird and Burne Holiday with two girls and their relationships with Amory, which once again reflect his two major objectives. Parallel to the leadership and popularity goals represented by Dick Humbird, Amory enters a superficial love relationship with Isabelle.
Isabelle is mixed with social and artistic temperaments, sophistically educated, and pursued by many boys; on Amory’s side, he knows “that he stood for merely the best game in sight, and that he would have to improve his opportunity before he lost his advantage” (Fitzgerald, 67). He designs listless illusions and fantasies of Isabelle through the letters he writes to her. Nothing is personal in this romantic game of love, such that a kiss in this relationship has no other value than a championship. When Isabelle and Amory do kiss, it is not a beginning, but an ending. All along Isabelle “had been nothing except what he had read into her; that this was her high point” (Fitzgerald, 91). Moreover, he discusses the “destruction of his egotistic highways” with Monsignor Darcy, admits that he “lost half [his] personality in a year,” and argues that he “can’t do the next thing” (Fitzgerald, 98-99). The levity of Amory and Isabelle’s love breaks off easily, and he moves on towards a rather idealistic type of love with Clara Page. Just as Burne replaces Humbird, Fitzgerald gives Amory new aims in Amory’s newfound love. Clara Page “was the first fine woman he ever knew and one of the few good people who ever interested him. She made her goodness such an asset” (Fitzgerald,
132). “She was very devout, always had been, and God knows what heights she attained and what strength she drew down to herself when she knelt and bent her golden hair into the stained-glass light. “St. Cecelia,” he cried aloud one day… “I think,” he said and his voice trembled, “that if I lost faith in you I’d lose faith in God” (Fitzgerald, 135). Similarly, Clinton S. Burhans argues that “Amory had wondered if Burne Holiday might not have turned out to have clay feet and had been reassured to find his integrity unbroken; together, Burne Holiday and Clara Page embody Amory’s new aims and his experiences of them” (“Structure and Theme in This Side of Paradise,” 610).
Several Years after their marriage, cousin Mattie Silver is asked to relieve Zeena, who is constantly ill, of her house hold duties. Ethan finds himself falling in love with Mattie, drawn to her youthful energy, as, “ The pure air, and the long summer hours in the open, gave life and elasticity to Mattie.” Ethan is attracted to Mattie because she is the opposite of Zeena, while Mattie is young, happy, healthy, and beautiful like the summer, Zeena is seven years older than Ethan, bitter, ugly and sickly cold like the winter. Zeena’s strong dominating personality undermines Ethan, while Mattie’s feminine, lively youth makes Ethan fell like a “real man.” Ethan and Mattie finally express their feeling for each other while Zeena is visiting the doctor, and are forced to face the painful reality that their dreams of being together can not come true.
However, Amory spins into a deep depression after Rosalind refuses to marry him due to his current financial state, and instead goes off to be with another guy whom she soon marries instead. The breakup with Rosalind nearly killed Amory, causing him to quit his job and become a huge alcoholic for the next year or so. He soon takes a trip to Maryland to visit an uncle of his, and has a short romance with a girl named Eleanor. Although he has some feeling for her, he knows no girl will make him feel as he did for Rosalind. After returning to New York, Amory soon learns about Rosalind’s plan to marry some high-roller, causing Amory to fall back into his spiral of self-destruction. Without a source of money, nothing comes easy to anyone, and a determined Amory attempts to dig deeper for the meaning of life without love. He no longer sees women as a source of motivation, and he tries to discover who he really is without the help of Rosalind. He says that “It is not life that’s complicated, it’s the struggle to guide and control life,” which shows his urge to find a sense of direction in his life, as well as contributes to him learning who he really is (256). Once he gives up conformity, love and wealth, Amory finally is able to see his selfishness and enters an extremely deep discovery, which allows him to begin understanding himself as a person. At the end, he declares, “I know myself, but that is all-,” which would indicate that Amory knows nothing but himself and who he is, and that knowledge is far more valuable than anything else he has ever wanted in his entire life
In the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, both text creators use their main character to display how to attempt to overcome the inevitable adversity that comes with the pursuit of self-fulfillment. The quote “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” by John F Kennedy greatly resembles the ideas proposed by the text creators through Gatsby and Willy Loman. Throughout the sources, both Willy Loman and Jay Gatsby pursue the American Dream relentlessly to the brink, where they ultimately drown in the relaxing pool of self-fulfillment that is death. However, in their attempt to secure the satisfaction of self-fulfillment, the main characters are used by the
Nick Carraway is a special character in Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatbsy. The fictional story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway who is deemed to be unbiased, impartial, and non-judgmental in his narratives. At the top layer, he appears to be genuine and great friend, who seems to be the only true friend and admirer of Great Gatsby. As the story unfolds, readers get glimpses of internal issues that Nick Carraway that show him as more of a flawed character than previous thought of. The first issue that readers see and challenge in the novel is Nick’s attempt at being an unbiased narrator. He explains that his background and upbringing allows him to be impartial and non-judgmental, but certain instances in the novel prove
Jay Gatsby is not a real person. Instead, he is a persona created by James Gatz, with the simple dream of recreating himself and becoming successful. Eventually, he becomes extremely wealthy, and although he has reached his goal, Gatsby remains focused on one person: Daisy Buchanan. Some critics argue that Jay Gatsby 's devotion to Daisy Buchanan in Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby is obsessive and dysfunctional; I believe that some of his actions, although ultimately tragic, prove Gatsby to simply be a man blinded by love.
Can Jealousy result from one’s own unhappiness? In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, readers are immersed into a complex novel narrated in first person by Nick Carraway. Nick lives in West Egg, next to a luxurious mansion inhabited by a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby. Nick is fascinated by Gatsby, and is overjoyed when he is invited to one of his extravagant parties. Over time, Gatsby and Nick get to know each other and Gatsby feels comfortable enough to ask a favor of Nick. Gatsby met Nick’s cousin, Daisy, during the war and has been passionately in love with her ever since. Gatsby inquires about an arrangement for a reunion with Daisy, and Nick accepts to serve as the host. After they connect over tea, Gatsby brings Daisy to his mansion to show off his property during a tour. When the two meet, there is a constant theme present; Gatsby tries to impress Daisy with his wealth to win her love. Our narrator, Nick, playfully criticizes Gatsby’s ability to impress Daisy with such ease, using the technique of sarcasm, because he is jealous of a “perfect” life that he himself does not live.
When looking at Jay Gatsby, one sees many different personalities and ideals. There is the gracious host, the ruthless bootlegger, the hopeless romantic, and beneath it all, there is James Gatz of North Dakota. The many faces of Gatsby make a reader question whether they truly know Gatsby as a person. Many people question what exactly made Jay Gatsby so “great.” These different personas, when viewed separately, are quite unremarkable in their own ways. When you take them together, however, you discover the complicated and unique individual that is Jay Gatsby.
Since the beginning of mankind, there is no doubt that society was broken down into millions of groups, otherwise known as social breakdown. Segregation, not only by skin color, and religion, but wealth as well, plays a vast part in the socially broken down society of the past and present. Likewise, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the environment as a whole is socially broken down economically. First and foremost, the two neighborhoods of East and West Egg play a central role in this division of wealth throughout the story, especially in comparison to Nick, the main character, and Mr. Gatsby, who lives next door to Nick. Also, the criticisms Nick faced of his small fortune are expressed several times throughout the story such as
This is a very unique example because this example includes two similes; these similes help the reader obtain a metaphorical image of Amory and the fact that he has had way too much to drink at the party. Amory has two main loves in his life. Again Fitzgerald uses the unique way of having two similes in The Love of the Last Tycoon. “Under the moon the back lot was…like the torn picture books of childhood, like fragments of stories dancing in an open fire” (Hendrickson’s, Styles Par 3). These similes are important because it portrays that Hollywood to Stahr was no different than childhood because during her childhood she had the ability to create magic in her films and now the only difference is that she creating that magic in Hollywood (Hendrickson’s, Styles
There are significant people in Amory’s life that have impacted his actions, and there are influential people in Fitzgerald’s life that have impacted his life. Fitzgerald’s desire to be with Zelda Sayer is significant in his writing, so it makes sense that the character that represents Zelda, Rosalind, has control over Amory’s character. Fitzgerald’s desire to live the American dream is illustrated through Amory, and it is this social pursuit that molds Amory’s character at the beginning of the novel. Amory and Fitzgerald are products of their social environment and they change with the different social environments at times in their life.... ...
Gatsby throws parties. He hosts flamboyant galas with classy music and entertains thousands. He seems to enjoy the festivities, because his guests always return and he always welcomes his guests. On the surface he seems to be an outgoing fellow, appreciative of all the people in his life. But under this facade there is a more sinister aspect to Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is manipulating his milieu for the satisfaction of himself and does not care about others---in other words a narcissist. Jay Gatsby is a narcissist because of his relationship with Daisy, his manipulation of his milieu at his parties, his manner of speaking, and the little respect other people have for him.
"If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay," said Gatsby. "You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock." Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one.”(Chapter 5)
The Great Gatsby: The Destruction of Morals. In The Great Gatsby, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald shows the destruction of morals in society. The characters in this novel, all lose their morals in an attempt to find their desired place in the social world. They trade their beliefs for the hope of acceptance.
Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book, The Great Gatsby, structures the characters Tom and Gatsby to demonstrate the difference between old and new money, and the class conflict within the upper class.His purpose is to emphasize the differences between the old and new money through the characters Tom and Gatsby. He adopts a wary tone when describing Tom and a fanatical tone to describe Gatsby through connotative words, advanced punctuation and sentence structure, and other details.
Self-centered people live in a world where only their own agenda matters, and the wants and needs they have overpower any moral code imbedded in their conscience. This type of person becomes oblivious to all the things around them that keep order, as they disregard any concern that conflicts with what they desire. Such people are depicted in F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel, that takes place in Long Island during the 1920s, The Great Gatsby. The book, which takes almost a satirical view of the social and moral problems of the 20s, shows how people who are completely submerged in only their own business are never satisfied. Like many of the characters in The Great Gatsby, being negligent of other peoples lives causes you to end up being miserably self-centered and naïve, which was evident in all levels of the 1920s social structure.