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Analysis of the great gatsby
Topic On American Literature
First impressions of great gatsby characters
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Book Review
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in the 1920’s during the Jazz Age. Nick Carraway is a man in his late twenties residing on West
Egg island in Long Island, New York living a “normal” life. That is, until he meets his mysterious neighbor, a wealthy man named Jay Gatsby. He is a man of mystery, living in a mansion that is constantly full of people, music, and fun. Nick’s “normal” life gets thrown topsy-turvy when he gets involved in the life of this extraordinary millionaire. Marred by jealousy, cheating, and lying, Nick begins to feel the essence of living a glamorous life in the
‘20’s. He showed this when he said, “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and
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His friend
Daisy was married to Tom, but Tom was having an affair with Mrs. Wilson and Daisy had a thing for Gatsby. Daisy and Gatsby were driving home from town after an argument amongst the group of friends when they passed the
Wilson’s gas station. Mrs. Wilson ran out to Gatsby’s car, because they were driving Tom’s car, and was hit. Mr. Wilson went positively crazy, and Nick felt torn by his mixed feelings towards his supposed friend Gatsby. “I disliked him so much by this time that I didn’t find it necessary to tell him he was wrong.” Gatsby’s insensitivity brought on by his lifestyle made Nick despise him. This is the part where I think Nick really started opening
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The trouble really begins when Tom finds out that Daisy’s love for Gatsby has rekindled.
One day while in town, Tom and Daisy fight, so Gatsby drives Daisy home in
Tom’s car. On the way, they hit a woman who turns out to be Mrs. Wilson who was thought the person in the car was Tom, and was trying to talk to him. All the while, Nick starts realizing how terrible a life like Gatsby’s is despite the outer glamour. He also becomes emotionally attached to golf player, Jordan Baker. After Mr. Wilson finds out who was in the car that killed his wife, he goes crazy and kills Gatsby. In the end, two people wind up dead, and everyone winds up hurt in one way or another. Daisy and Tom remain together, Mr. Wilson is crazy, and Nick is hurt by Jordan who never loved him back. After all of this emotional suffering, Nick realizes that he learned a valuable lesson about life: Some of the supposed happiest people with the best lives often are a lot worse off, or end up a lot worse off than people with “normal” lives. The only thing he can do is go on living his life the way it was meant to be lead: not as a millionaire, or a prestigious person in society, but as a normal guy-the only way he knows
Now this was the first time Jordan and Nick came into contact with one another, and it is said that the first impressions are extremely important. However, for a strong moral person like Nick, his reaction is surprising when he simply states, "I enjoyed looking at her."(pg. 27 ln 23)This is a sign of his first stages of development, which will soon result into what the author intended.
As much as generous and honest Nick Carraway is, he still needs a few important improvements in himself. Nick went to Yale, fought in world war one and moved to East of New York to work in finance. After moving to New York, Nick faces tough dilemmas throughout the story such as revealing secrets, and witnessing betrayal. His innocence and malevolence toward others was beyond his control. He did not have the ability or knowledge to know what he should have done in the spots he was set in. He seemed lost and having no control of what went on- almost trapped- but indeed, he had more control than he could have ever known. Because of the situations he has experienced and the people he has met, such as Gatsby, Tom, Jordan and Daisy, his point of view on the world changed dramatically which is very depressing. Trusting the others and caring for them greatly has put him in a disheartening gloomy position.
Even though he had some thought that the meeting would provoke harmful tensions between Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby, he went along with it anyways, further demonstrating his own innate lack of reservation. Ultimately, Nick is an unreliable narrator who overlooks Gatsby’s lies because of his biased judgment of him. Nick portrays Gatsby as a generous and charismatic figure while in reality, he is a duplicative and obsessed man entangled in illegal business who is determined on an unattainable goal. It is highly ironic that Nick judges others for their lack of morality and honesty; his own character is plagued by lies as he abets Gatsby in many of his schemes.
Nick often does not speak of himself but when he has, he has referred to himself as “one of the few honest people that (he) has ever known,” (Fitzgerald 59) but seems to act the complete opposite of said characteristics. Nick starts of the novel by saying “In consequence I am inclined to reserve all judgments,” but all he seems to do is just that, labeling Jordan liar when he, himself, is also a liar. Nick also tells of how shallow his “friends” are but he himself is shallow as well. Nick cannot be relied upon to practice what he preaches and therefore cannot be relied upon to write the complete truth. Nick’s hypocritical nature demolishes his credibility as a person, and therefore as a narrator.
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel based on Gatsby’s dream and hope. In order to enrich the story, symbols are used to emphasize what the author is saying and they create a curiosity in the reader as they are frequently used throughout the story. These three symbols – green light, valley of ashes and the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg are not connected to each other but each of them represents important things in the story.
this flashback, Jordan explains to Nick how she first met Gatsby. She explains to Nick
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there’s only scarcity of resolve to make it happen. ~Wayne Dyer
Nick is more of a spectator than an actor in the story. He is just an
Jay Gatsby is a mysterious businessman from the nineteen twenties that is an ideal example of the American Dream. He falls in love with a young and vibrant woman by the name of Daisy Buchannan. Their admiration for each other enforces a luminous spark of determination upon themselves. This subsidizes their relationship under struggling circumstances, and changed their lives for the better. Daisy and Gatsby are the only two that truly prospered from their “American Dream” in this novel.
4). Nick’s assessment and criticism toward Jordan, Tom, and Daisy also show his skeptical and logical outlook on others around him. This tone shows Nick’s struggle between being like the emotionless and careless people around him (like Tom) or to be his own hopeful and romantic man (following
The second character Fitzgerald analyzes is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is married to Tom Buchanan. Daisy is the definition of a dream girl, she is smart, gorgeous, and just an ideal woman to be around, and the relationship between her and Tom is quite odd (Baker). Daisy and Tom move to the fashionable East Egg from Chigaco (11). Daisy has everything a woman could wish for, a wealthy husband and an immaculate house. Daisy does not know that Tom is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Nick Carraway plays a major role in Daisy’s love life in The Great Gatsby. Nick is Daisy’s second cousin and he knew Tom from college (11). Daisy invites Nick over for dinner one evening and that is how she relearns about Jay Gatsby (11-17). Daisy met Gatsby at a dance in Louisville. They used to be madly in love with one another when he was in the army (). They had plans of always being together and being married in Louisville at Daisy’s home (118). Later in the story, Daisy was invited to go have tea at Nick’s house, but what she did not know is that it was all Gatsby’s idea to get them to rekindle their rel...
Nick is our narrator and the voice of reason in a time and place where parties are the goals and having a good time is all that matters. Parties at Gatsby’s mansion are the rule not the exception and all who attend pay homage to their false prophet Gatsby. He is their leader the charming man living in a mansion and driving and awesome care. Too bad he has no sense of real worth. Yet nick seems to be loyal to him the whole time “They're a rotten crowd, “I shouted across the lawn. “You're worth the whole damn bunch put together.”I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end. First he nodded politely, and then his face broke into that radiant and understanding smile, as if we’d been in ecstatic cahoots on that fact all the time” (Pg 162). Nick appears on the sidelines more than in the mix with all the drinkers and boasters and unfaithful spouses. “I forgot to ask you something,...
In life, we ask ourselves the question what we are? In addition, we also ask ourselves how our perspectives allow us to see this world? These questions are an opening idea’s, which requires the person answering it, to be fully aware of his or her life, and then have the ability to judge it without any personal bias. This is why, in the book that was and is in a sense is still talked about in class, The Great Gatsby, which is a book that follows a plethora of charters all being narrated by, Nick Caraway, a character of the book The Great Gatsby. Nick Caraway is the character in the book which judges and describes his and other character’s actions and virtues. Now we speak of a character whose name is Jay Gatsby or other whys known as James Gatz, which is one of the characters that Mr. Caraway, seems to be infatuated with from the start of the book. This character Jay Gatsby develops a perspective, which in his view seems to justify his actions by the way that he saw the world that he was living in. In this essay, I will explain why the ambitions of a person, can lead them to do things that are beyond there normal character.
When he first walks in Nick judges Tom and Daisy's lives based on the appearance of the house, perfect and romanticized, yet he soon learns that this first impression is an overstatement. Nick's use of diction such as 'fragilely bound' (12) and 'French windows' (12) connote that their lives may look perfect on the outside but in reality they're brittle on the inside, since the words fragile and French suggest that their lives are breakable. His choice of diction also suggests an impersonal feel to the house, as if the people inside it are living a bland and dull life. As Nick walks farther in he compares the 'frosted wedding cake of the ceiling' to the 'wine- colored rug' implying both Purity and corruption. He views the cake-ceiling as pure since wedding cakes denote the meaning of innocence and purity but compares the innocence with wine which suggests corruption and impurity. Again, this comparison shows that Tom and Daisy's lives look pure as cake, however in reality their life is as corrupted as wine.
Throughout the book youth has a complicated relationship with aging. This can be seen in “Three-Day Blow” when Nick and Bill are drinking, acting childish and just having fun. They talk about each others’ fathers and about missed opportunities even though they cannot really understand what they are...