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Literary analysis for the great gatsby
Analysis of great gatsby
Literary analysis the great gatsby
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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are novels that detail the tragic rise and fall of two heroes, Okonkwo and Jay Gatsby. Two men who represent the quintessential rags to riches story romanticized by Western literature; ironically destroyed by this same society. Through Okonkwo, we see the destruction of his culture; the culture that he devoted his whole life to, only to see it crushed by European colonists. Jay Gatsby illustrates a man who came from a modest, rural upbringing, only to rise to the upper echelon of American society. A man blessed with insurmountable determination, but also cursed by this determination. This doesn’t only stand as an aphorism for Jay Gatsby, but Okonkwo as well. Gatsby and Okonkwo are essentially the same character, but just as any character they’re also stacked with a variety of differences.
For instance, Okonkwo grew up in an African village in Nigeria. He grew up in a very poor family, his father was the town drunkard, who drank “gourds of palm wine”, and went into an insurmountable amount of debt. As detailed in the book Unoka,Okonkwo’s father, would “if any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine, called round his neighbors and made merry.”(4) But, the most exhibiting symbol of his father’s weakness was his inability to grow yams. Yams are considered to be a sacred crop in Igbo culture. It stands as a sign of their prosperity (their ability to take care of their family), a way to weed out the weak from the strong, a form of social Darwinism. As a man procures more and more yams, he is rewarded with more wives thus expanding his lineage. Okonkwo was a very prosperous yam farmer that was mainly driven by hi...
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...Daisy ends up running over Myrtle, Gatsby feels obliged to take the blame to protect Daisy. To preserve the American Dream, to preserve what he fought for. He is eventually killed for this action by George, Myrtle’s husband.
Although their demises are very different, they both die in an attempt to preserve the lifestyle they have fought so endlessly to have. For Okonkwo it was fighting off the influence of Western culture and religion, to preserve his culture and dying on top. He wanted his son to follow in his footsteps; to become the glorious warrior that he, Okonkwo, strived his whole life to become. For Gatsby it was preserving an idea, an idea that stood as a tenet for the society that he devoted his life to, but he was never able to love Daisy and live the prototypical “American Dream”. They stand as cautionary tales to the downfalls of greed and insecurity.
“‘He wants to know,’ continued Jordan, ‘if you’ll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over.’” (Fitzgerald 78). This quote demonstrates that Gatsby is trying to see Daisy without Tom so that he can talk to her and get her to be with him instead of Tom. This is Greedy because Gatsby doesn’t care that Tom might love Daisy or that Daisy might love Tom, he just wants Daisy to fall in love with him again. This causes the ruin of Gatsby because Tom tells George that Gatsby is the person that ran over Myrtle. Once George knew who ran over Myrtle, he then went to Gatsby’s house and shot Gatsby before killing himself. Due to Gatsby’s greed, he caused his own death. Greed is a villain because it causes Gatsby to almost ruin Daisy’s marriage and also causes Gatsby’s
George Wilson, who is married to Myrtle, and Tom Buchanan, married to Daisy, are most responsible for Gatsby's death. Wilson went up to Tom asking who owned the yellow car that killed his wife. Tom revealed that it was Gatsby’s car, knowing that Wilson had intentions of killing whoever owned the car, yet Tom didn’t add to the fact that Daisy was driving. Gatsby did have a relationship with Daisy, and Tom knew about it. Tom allowed Daisy to go in Gatsby’s car back to West Egg to prove that he did not care if Daisy and Gatsby were together, had Tom not let Daisy go in Gatsby’s car, both Myrtle and Gatsby would be alive.
There are many conspiracies in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. One of them that many people believe is that Daisy Buchanan had killed Myrtle Wilson on purpose. Myrtle was Tom Buchanan’s mistress. Tom and Daisy were married and had a child but that didn’t stop Tom from cheating on her. At the same time, Daisy was having an affair with Jay Gatsby who was her childhood lover. There is much evidence that can prove that Daisy and Tom set up to kill Myrtle and put the blame on Gatsby.
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
really it was Daisy who was driving the car when she hit Myrtle. Gatsby had lied to
Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy leads to his death when he allows Daisy to drive his car when they go home from the city. Gatsby was so devoted Daisy that he would not let her take the blame for hitting and killing Myrtle. When no one confessed for the crime, George Wilson started to go from garage to garage trying to find the owner of the yellow car that killed his wife. Eventually, George arrived at the Buchanan residence, where Tom insinuated that Gatsby was the one who was driving the car and who was Myrtle’s lover. While George was at their house, Daisy did not come forward and reveal that she was the one driving the car, letting George believe Gatsby was at fault. Gatsby was shot and killed in his pool by George Wilson the next day as a result of Myrtle’s
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on the lifestyle of a group of people who will do anything to accomplish their goals. The characters go through different changes that come to affect their life decisions and will cause them to lie, sacrifice and feel lonely in their lives. They live the American dream and have power but chase a dream that would affect and change their lifestyles. They judge and discriminate against one another not knowing they have a certain symbol in common in their lives. Their desire to accomplish their goals became a type of new life to the characters.
Tom had money, Daisy knew this. She acknowledged that his money was inherited and that held the love in their relationship. She found that Gatsby grew up underprivileged, and he was supposed to inherit money from a man by the name of Dan Cody, but that opportunity fell through. Gatsby attempts to depict his life as though he inherited his money, but “even Daisy appears unable to cope with the reality of Gatsby’s lower class background”(W) Everyone that attends Gatsby’s lavish parties realize, “Gatsby is never truly one of the elite—his dream is just a facade”(W). As hard as Gatsby tried, everyone could see through his fabrications and lavish parties, most importantly Daisy. She knew his true background and didn’t love him because of it. She wanted a man whose money was inherited, not earned like Gatsby’s. “Both Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, Daisy's husband, possessed wealth. Gatsby at least used his wealth to seek out beauty and claim it for himself. Buchanan the lecher lacked any larger goals. In the end, Daisy chooses to remain with Buchanan, and Gatsby is murdered by the deranged husband of Myrtle Wilson, Buchanan's mistress, who had been accidentally run down and killed by Daisy. Buchanan serves as Gatsby's executioner; he allows George Wilson to believe that Gatsby had killed Myrtle” (Trask). Since his love for Daisy was steadfast, Jay Gatsby took the blame for killing
Gatsby and George both who want to achieve something are dead in the end; represents death of American values
Gatsby is portrayed as a good person once again when he taked the blame of Daisy running over Myrtle. Later on Gatsby tells Nick that he intended to take the blame for Daisy even though daisy was driving the car. SInce Gatsby took the blame of Myrtle's death he sacrificed his own death for
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare and the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the objective is to divulge the quintessence of humanity. Although the protagonists in both works of literature have drastically different journeys that lead to climactic endings, the use of plot is to demonstrate that the essence of mankind is ultimately a tragedy if great care is not taken. Both Hamlet and Jay Gatsby are unable to focus on the reality of the situation, and rather waste valuable time focusing on simply the appearance of things. However, Hamlet is a character completely consumed by despair and ultimately believes that life is futile. In contrast, Gatsby is a character who is rather obsessive of achieving the American Dream, and winning the love of Daisy, and is decisively far too anticipative.
Struggling for perfection and reaching for the impossible are the driving factors in the lives of Gatsby, and Hamlet. In both The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the theme of idealism is demonstrated as the main contributing factor into the evident downfall of both Gatsby, and Hamlet. Although each respectable character is faced with dissimilar scenarios, it is the similarities of Gatsby and Hamlet's character traits that allow them both to be victims of their own idealism. Gatsby and Hamlet both lose their lovers, leaving them to live heartbroken and lonesome lives. The tendency to masquerade as their true personalities, whether it be to escape the past or to plot the perfect revenge, displays the idealistic attitude of the two characters.
Myrtle is, as Daisy, impressed with Tom's wealth and appearance, but, like Jay Gatsby, is stuck in a fantastic, idealized perception of her object of affection. Even when abused and trampled over by Tom, Myrtle continues to adore him, just as Gatsby continues to dote upon Daisy after being obviously rejected by her. As far as ethical considerations, Gatsby tends to prove himself a sincere and caring person, while Daisy and Tom just destroy the lives of two people and then leave town to escape the consequences of their actions.
The novel, The Great Gatsby focuses on one of the focal characters, James Gatz, also known as Jay Gatsby. He grew up in North Dakota to a family of poor farm people and as he matured, eventually worked for a wealthy man named Dan Cody. As Gatsby is taken under Cody’s wing, he gains more than even he bargained for. He comes across a large sum of money, however ends up getting tricked out of ‘inheriting’ it. After these obstacles, he finds a new way to earn his money, even though it means bending the law to obtain it. Some people will go to a lot of trouble in order to achieve things at all costs. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, conveys the numerous traits of Jay Gatsby through the incidents he faces, how he voices himself and the alterations he undergoes through the progression of the novel. Gatsby possesses many traits that help him develop as a key character in the novel: ambitious, kind-hearted and deceitful all of which is proven through various incidents that arise in the novel.
...are shown that Gatsby is prepared to do everything in his power to acquire Daisy’s adoration again, even let her get away with murder and will blindly go to jail for her. This however only leads him to his ultimate doom, as he is killed by Myrtle’s husband, Wilson. He may be a liar, but readers empathize with him as his only fault for being dishonest is his love for Daisy and being so blind to see that she is not worthy of that adoration.