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Importance of Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby
Importance of Nick Carraway in the Great Gatsby
The great Gatsby Jazz Age
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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald reached a celebrity status upon his publication of This Side of Paradise and attained all new heights of stardom after his release of The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald reveals a great deal about himself in The Great Gatsby as he ascribes aspects of himself to different main characters in the novel. Fitzgerald uses these symbolic characters to aptly represent humans and social classes in the Jazz Age, defined by the OED as “The 1920s in the US characterized as a period of carefree hedonism, wealth, freedom, and youthful exuberance”. The Great Gatsby depicts the events of New York in 1922, the Jazz Age, from the perspective of Nick Carraway, in which Nick acts as the vessel for the reader’s eventual understanding of the hollowness of the upper class and the decline of the American dream, major themes of the novel. Fitzgerald employs symbolism to reveal veiled messages analyzing the real world and its wide variety and contradictions, through the events and symbols in The Great Gatsby.
Although many writers such as Lionel Trilling have suggested an allegorical nature to the characters in The Great Gatsby these characters instead act as symbols for multiple aspects of the real world. F. Scott Fitzgerald immediately characterizes and foreshadows events of each main character through a symbolic nomenclature; each name can be analyzed to determine which location they live in, and each main character’s given name symbolizes aspects of their personality. Characters such as S.W. Belcher, Miss Haag, and Mr. P. Jewett, all names representing lower status, live in West Egg, while comparative individuals Chester Becker and Doctor Webster Civet, all sophisticated names, reside in East Egg; Fitzgerald’s symbolic nomenclatu...
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Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Print.
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.
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Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to
In conclusion, the brilliant novel “How To Read Literature Like A Professor” by Thomas C. Foster is a fantastic novel that helps grasp the basic ideas and structure that makes up a work of literature. Foster’s laid-back attitude made a major contribution to the great tone of the novel, and made it easier to understand. Many connections were included in the novel, along with some great quotes. After reading this novel, I have a better idea of what to look for when reading a novel.
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: Harper Collins Books, 2003. Print.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, captures a fine description of how life was in America during the Jazz Age. The Jazz Age signaled an end to traditional American values and a movement towards new ones. The purpose of The Great Gatsby was to show how traditional American values were abandoned and how the pursuit and desire for wealth could lead to the downfall of one’s dreams and goals in life. Happiness obtained from money is only an illusion, money has the power to corrupt and obscure one’s mind and lead one down the path of failure and misery. By using symbolism, imagery, and character personalities and traits, F. Scott Fitzgerald manipulates language to fulfill the purpose of The Great Gatsby.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby around the 1920s. During the time period of the 1920s, it was considered the “Jazz Age”. This time period dealt with the issue of prohibition, many people attended parties and clubs. Religion did not affect the 1920s social dance very much. During the 1920s people had a sense of freedom, and were not bound by what their religion guided. Many people like flappers went against the standard and did not listen or go by the rule. Written during the Jazz Age period, Fitzgerald wrote the novel The Great Gatsby, and ironically, it is one that explores the concept of an omnipresent God which readers can guess come from the author’s knowledge of catholicism and christianity.
The Roaring Twenties was a time of excitement for the American people, with cities bustling with activity and a large community that appreciated Jazz, thus creating the title the “Jazz Age.” The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes place in this magnificent age characterized by Jazz and the popular new dance, the “Charleston.” Through the midst of all this new activity, we follow a character named Jay Gatsby through the eyes of the narrator, Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald’s themes of friendship and The American Dream is seen in The Great Gatsby through Nick and Jay’s companionship and Gatsby’s growth from being a simple farm boy to becoming a wealthy man.
Symbolism in The Great Gatsby Symbolism is what makes a story complete. In "The Great Gatsby" Fitzgerald cleverly uses symbolism. Virtually anything in the novel can be taken as a symbol, from the weather, to the colors of clothing. characters wear. There are three main symbols used in The Great Gatsby, they are The East and West Egg, the green light at the end of Daisy's dock, and the eyes of Dr.T.J. Eckleburg.
The Great Gatsby displays how the time of the 1920s brought people to believe that wealth and material goods were the most important things in life, and that separation of the social classes was a necessary need. Fitzgerald’s choice to expose the 1920s for the corrupt time that it really was is what makes him one of the greatest authors of his time, and has people still reading one of his greatest novels, The Great Gatsby, decades
out towards a green light. At the time it is not revealed to us that this
Symbols and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby - Symbolism and the Truth That Lies Between
In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald includes many different types of connections between his lifetime and a reflection on what life was like in the eyes of him. Fitzgerald shows connections to “The Great Gatsby’ by including his family history, Social History, and also national and world events that influenced him in writing this novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald also include Literary theories such as Historical, Formalists, Psychoanalytic. The great Gatsby also has connections to “How to Read Literature Like A Professor” and it has a connection and reveals the work as a whole.
In novels, the use of symbols makes the story interesting and essential to the readers. Symbols are messages that the author uses to communicate with the reader for a deeper understanding, although sometimes it can only be discovered if analyzed. Fitzgerald connects the different symbols throughout the novel to pinpoint an elaborate meaning towards the story yet it does indicate a pleasant meaning. A symbol such as “color” or “money” can be less complex than it seems. Whereas a symbol as complicated as the “eye” can mean more than it’s suggested for. Throughout The Great Gatsby symbolism represent color, the existence of eyes and money.
In the novel, The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel was written in the 1920's and during that time society had no civilized manners, they only cared about money. Because the society has no ethics they hurt others and do not realize how greedy they are. The author uses different characters throughout the novel to present his theme. Symbols can also be found in The Great Gatsby. An example would be West Egg which represents the recent rich and East Egg which represents the established upper classes. The West Egg and East Egg symbolize the different social status of society.
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading between the Lines. New York: Quill, 2003. Print.
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading between the Lines. New York: Harper, 2003. Print.