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World literature review - the great gatsby
World literature review - the great gatsby
The Great Gatsby literature review
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This passage shows Nick making his way through New York at night, seeing the sights and narrating the way this external stimuli makes him feel. It exemplifies the manner in which Nick interacts with the world around him, often as an observer, rather than participant, and is integral to the development of his character. Fitzgerald utilizes vivid imagery throughout the paragraph, paired with a strong narrative regarding Nick’s experience in New York; furthermore provoking the audience to ponder a theme central to the novel. The paragraph starts with a description of his liking for New York, using lucid examples of why he does, such as “the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women...gives to the restless eye” (Fitzgerald 56). He goes on to picture himself picking up women from Fifth Avenue, becoming involved romantically, fantasizing about being welcomed into their homes. There is a shift in tone, however, after this fantasy, wherein Nick expounds his isolation: “I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes” (Fitzgerald 56). His heart sympathizes with the individuals having to work nights, in order to feed themselves, instead of seizing the moment and partaking in the pleasures the city has to offer. These vivid descriptions work to present Nick’s character and mental process, and are central to his development as …show more content…
In addition, his sympathy towards the individuals in the city who cannot even fantasize, due to their necessity of work, shows his pensiveness, somewhat contradicting many characters in the novel. The world he has had a taste of, Gatsby’s world, is out of contact with the world which Nick is interacting with now. Gatsby’s experience is residing in West Egg, while the people surrounding Nick right now may never even see West Egg. Herein lies Nick’s thoughtfulness and observational
The most memorable figures in literature are not created simple, instead their lives are not easy to understand. These characters have multiple perspectives of the imaginary worlds that they are placed in, which allow readers to associate themselves with such a literary idol. One of these notorious figures recognized as a powerful symbol is Jay Gatsby; this man is described as a “criminal and a dreamer” in Adam Cohen’s article of The New York Times. When reading “Jay Gatsby, Dreamer, Criminal, Jazz Age Rogue, Is a Man for Our Times”, the audience is exposed to many sides of Gatsby. We are able to observe this complicated yet fascinating character through various rhetorical techniques in which Cohen uses to fully convey the image of the “mysterious Prohibition-era bootlegger”.
As a way of bettering themselves, they leave behind the only life they knew. Jim goes to law school at Harvard and Nick studies at New Haven in Connecticut. On their return from the east back to the Midwest both come to the realization that everything is different. Nick, on one of his first return trip home, felt that “instead of being the warm center of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe” (Fitzgerald 3). Nick was excluded from a life he had previously felt comfortable in. Instead of trying to re-adjust to his old life, Nick makes his way back east to try and reestablish himself somewhere else. Similarly, when Jim returns home from Harvard he is disappointed in his hometown. When he first arrived he was able to reminisce about his past, but he was soon able to see that everything was different, as “most of my old friends were dead or moved away. Strange children, who meant nothing to me, were playing […] I hurried on” (Cather 237). Movement from the Midwest to the east coast has caused both Nick and Jim to shun their places of origin. They do not completely fit in anymore or feel like they still
The narrator, Nick Carraway, is Gatsby's neighbor in West Egg. Nick is a young man from a prominent Midwestern family. Educated at Yale, he has come to New York to enter the bond business. In some sense, the novel is Nick's memoir, his unique view of the events of the summer of 1922; as such, his impressions and observations necessarily color the narrative as a whole. For the most part, he plays only a peripheral role in the events of the novel; he prefers to remain a passive observer.
Considering that many authors use figurative language techniques in their writing to help convey a specific message; there is no wonder why Fitzgerald and Twain both use the tools for the purpose of criticising people in more of a low key fashion. Fitzgerald uses many different figurative language devices in The Great Gatsby, like similes. Because it is set in the roaring 20s, partying is a big element to the storyline. When Gatsby throws extravagant parties, Nick thinks to himself “...men and women came and went like moths among the whispering and the champagne and the stars.” (Fitzgerald 44). Nick refers to the social statuses of the young people in the 1920s. It proves that they really just want to party, get wasted, and that they absolutely
The way that Nick Carraway, as an interactive narrator, relates to different characters (and what they stand for) in the novel conveys the extent to which Fitzgerald endorses or challenges that character?s ideologies. Nick tarnishes all characters with a cynical, stratifying brush in order to smuggle in the main ideologies of the text by creating a pastiche of these themes. Nick?s black-and-white thought of the ?pursuing, the pursued, the busy and the tired? serves to reinforce the contrast of what is endorsed and challenged through the book, via the medium of the narrator?s interaction with different creations of the author.
One of the traits of Gatsby that makes him truly great is his remarkable capacity for hope. He has faith that what he desires will come to him if he works hard enough. He does not comprehend the cruelty and danger that is the rest of the world. Gatsby, while a man of questionable morals, is as wide-eyed and innocent as a small child in his views of the world. These ideals are evident in Nick’s narration and in the words spoken by the other characters, including Gatsby himself.
As he starts the narrative, Nick comments on his interactions with other people. He recounts, “Frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon - for the intimate revelations of young men or at least the terms in which they express them are usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions,” (5-6) Nick has a rude attitude towards those confiding in; he dismisses them assuming their revelations will prove plagiaristic. Avoiding conversation and dismissing others’ intimate revelations connote a reserved, dismissing, a demeaning man. Similarly, society associates industries with the dismissal of the workers. Additionally, Nick remarks that during the summer “There was so much to read for one thing and so much fine health to be pulled down out of the young breath-giving air.” (8) Fitzgerald describes the atmosphere with the words ‘health’ and ‘breath-giving’ which give the idea of livelihood and spirit; in addition, the health ‘pulled down’ from the air creates the image of draining the human spirit. This parallels industry which caused much death and suffering to the lower classes. The workers looked pale and ashen from the hard work, malnutrition, and lack of sunlight, which also connotes a loss of the human spirit. Therefore, Nick’s association with business, his impersonal behavior, and his economical lifestyle all parallel the industry’s attitudes, thus suggesting that Nick Carraway represents the
This passage matters because the audience learns about Gatsby’s real past and the characterization of Gatsby is further revealed. In this section of the text Gatsby provokes Daisy and asks her to tell Tom that she never loved him. An argument then breaks out which leads Tom to unveil his his findings about Gatsby and how he acquired his riches. F. Scott Fitzgerald also uses figurative language in this passage to show the impact of what Tom says and how it affects Gatsby. After Daisy and Tom fight over whether or not she is leaving him, Fitzgerald writes, “Tom’s words suddenly leaned down over Gatsby” (Fitzgerald 140). Everything that Daisy and Tom have said in reply to Gatsby have finally had an impact on him emotionally. Their responses also
In the description of Gatsby’s party, Fitzgerald uses specific language and word choice in order to convey Nick’s judgment of the superficiality and fickleness of the people attending the party and of the party itself.
One of the aspects I enjoyed about Fitzgerald’s novel is that Nick is a very intriguing character to discover. He has a rich back-story. He was a mid-western man who graduated from Yale. Later, he served in the army during the First World War, and this caused him to be restless, which led him to discover the bond business. He earned some money
This shift in values epitomises the transformation of the american dream, from the spiritual journey that once celebrated success and moral, to that of materialism, consumerism and the individual. It depicts how even the most conservative and restraint individual can transform under the glowing influence of the Roaring Twenties, as it does for Nick. Fitzgerald uses Nick and Gatsby as extensions of certain aspects of his personality; Nick being the rational, realistic and traditional aspects whereas Gatsby represents the romantic and idealistic. By contrasting the two characters, Fitzgerald draws out their differences to highlight Gatsby’s delusional image of Daisy, ultimately being his downfall as a tragic character. Gatsby ironically searches for a romanticised and idealistic form of love in a world where wealth and status held more value than emotions or character, as seen when a drunken Daisy lets her true emotions get the best of her, and reveals that she does not love Tom and does not wish to marry him, " She…pulled out the
The night before Nick left West egg, he looked over Gatsby’s house and its surrounding(comma rule 2A). He spoke of Gatsby’s deserted house and the stairs on which an obscene word was inscribed. The grass on Gatsby’s lawn was as long as the grass on his own. Nick wandered down to the beach and lay on the sand. It was late night and there were barely any lights, except for the shadow of a ferryboat. Nick looked over the water and thought of the Dutch travellers. Later he wondered what Gatsby might have thought when he picked the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He spoke of staying in New York on Saturday nights. He did this because Gatsby’s
F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most compelling twentieth century writers, (Curnutt, 2004). The year 1925 marks the year of the publication of Fitzgerald’s most credited novel, The Great Gatsby (Bruccoli, 1985). With its critiques of materialism, love and the American Dream (Berman, 1996), this dramatic idyllic novel, (Harvey, 1957), although poorly received at first, is now highly regarded as Fitzgerald’s finest work (Rohrkemper, 1985) and is his publisher, Scribner 's most popular title, (Donahue, 2013). The novel achieved it’s status as one of the most influential novels in American history around the nineteen fifties and sixties, over ten years after Fitzgerald 's passing, (Ibid, 1985)
This passage is from the great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It tells a story, specifically the history which Gatsby and Daisy had. Daisy promised to wait for Gatsby until the war ended. But as it is Daisy’s youth and need for love and attention has made her insecure to stay alone for so long. Soon she attended parties and dances. At one of them she met the safe and strong Tom Buchanan. Despite the fact that she loved Jay, he was not there, so she married Tom.
The 1920s, also known as the golden age, was a time of crime, art, music, literature, and unimaginable parties. The stock market was booming, the country was thriving, buildings were being shot up from the ground, cities drowning with people coming in to seize all the economic opportunities they have dreamed of. Yet, of all that we know about the 1920s no other book has ever been able to portray the golden age as well as the famous Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Of all the activities and events that were common throughout the time period, Fitzgerald makes it a point to depict the wild parties that took place in that time. He uses stylistic elements to show how Nick feels towards the parties and what their intentions are.