"The Great Gatsby" (F. Scott Fitzgerald) is always considered to be the "must read" novel by book critics around the world. The Modern Library ranked The Great Gatsby in second place on the list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century. Time magazine honors The Great Gatsby as one of the 10 greatest literary works of all time. F. Scott Fitzgerald manages to define, praise, and condemn what is known as the American Dream in his most successful novel, The Great Gatsby. The novel is set in 1922, and it depicts the American Dream and its demise through the use of literary devices and symbols on the characters Jay Gatsby, Daisy, Nick Caraway. The setting of this novel is in Long Island in 1922, the beginning of a later period, dubbed the "Roaring …show more content…
Most notably in Daisy is not the beauty of "tilted water", but in the way of speaking the pronouns, the lengthening of the syllables, the accent of the bass down as a fun music. Daisy's seductive secret is a cackle, whispered, so that the listener should come close to her. The love of Jay Gatsby's life, the cousin of Nick Carraway, and the wife of Tom Buchanan. She grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, where she met and fell in love with Gatsby. She describes herself as "sophisticated" and says the best thing a girl can be is a "beautiful little fool," which makes it unsurprising that she lacks conviction and sincerity, and values material things over all else (Fitzgerald 17). She has some experience in this area and implies that the world is no place for a woman; the best she can do is hope to survive and the best way to do that is through beauty rather than brains. Although Daisy seems to have found love in her reunion with Gatsby, closer examination reveals that is not at all the case. Although she loves the attention, she has considerations other than love on her mind. First, she knows full well Tom has had affairs for years. Might this not motivate her to get back at him by having an affair of her own. When Daisy bows her head and sobs into the shirts, she is displaying her interest in materialism. She doesn't cry because she has been reunited with Gatsby, she cries because of the pure …show more content…
After he graduated from Yale and came back from the World War I, he wanted to experience a more fashionable life in the East and to make more money by selling bonds. In the book, he mentioned: "Instead of being the warm center of the universe---so I decided to go East and learn the bond business. Everybody I knew was in the bond business, so I supposed it could support one more single man"(Fitzgerald 5). In the East, he encountered people like Tom Buchanan, Daisy, Gatsby, and all the other people who struggled for their American Dreams. He witnessed all kinds of tragics, such as the mistress of Tom, the lies of Baker, the irresponsibilities of Daisy, and finally, Gatsby's death. He was anger by all of those people and things going in the East, where people are cold hearted and greedy. Nick felt his American Dream was useless, because he couldn't stand living with a lot of phonies who didn't care about the others and even their lives. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy-they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..."(Fitzgerald 179). So, Nick's American Dream was also destroyed by the cruelty of the other people and returned to the West. Maybe in Minnesota, Nick could stay with people who still kept their morals and the
She was materialistic and only saw the lavish lifestyle, and lived void of a good conscience. She ran off with Tom because she saw his wealth. Even with endless dresses, and polo horses, Daisy still wanted more. Reunited with Gatsby after meeting in Nick's house, she walked with Gatsby to his house. It was only when she realized the huge mansion across her own house belonged to Gatsby, that she truly wanted to be back with him. Walking in the house, hand in hand, ignoring Nick who follows behind, it seemed the two were reunited by love. In his bedroom, "he took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel. (Fitzgerald 92)" Gatsby is clearly extremely wealthy, able to afford whatever suits his interest, and he was in the mindset that he would buy anything for Daisy. Daisy seeing this, "suddenly, with a strained stained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily. 'They're such beautiful shirts,' she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds (Fitzgerald 92)." She doesn't cry because she has been reunited with Gatsby, she cries because of the pure satisfaction all his material wealth brings her. When Tom's wealth was not enough, she ran off to something more
Gatsby does not see beauty in things that are visually beautiful; they now represent how some things can be superficially beautiful but are ultimately flawed. This is similar to the way he feels about Daisy. He finally comes to the understanding that his attraction to Daisy seemed to be superficially about their love, but is actually more centered on fulfilling his material needs. He comes to realize that he had never seen the beautiful young Daisy he knew before the war. She instead represented some “colossal significance”; she was a symbol representing what could be the pinnacle of his socioeconomic achievement.
The impression of who Daisy was, which motivated Gatsby for many years, is shattered by his interactions with the real Daisy. Daisy is very selfish and shallow, thinking of only what she has to do with Tom. She doesn’t see that Gatsby loves her, but he loves wealth and power even more than her.
The reason why his career took off at this point in time was because he began to write about the American Dream. The American Dream was a representation of what people needed to have a good life. The American Dream had two goals. The first goal is the achievement of professional success or wealth. The second goal of the American Dream is the fulfillment of love. To achieve the American Dream a person must have accomplished both goals. The theme of the American Dream was a representation of Fitzgerald's struggle to get the love of his life Zelda to marry him. Fitzgerald met Zelda while he was in World War I and he fell in love with her. The catch for Zelda, though, was that she would not marry a man that did not make any money. So, after his career took off she finally agreed to marry him.
Daisy is yet another character seemingly confused by love. When she was only seventeen she fell in love with a young Gatsby. She left him because he was not wealthy enough for her blood. She later married another man who is wealthy. Several years later when Gatsby comes back into Daisy’s life she is ready to leave her husband. It seems odd that if he wasn’t good enough for her when she was a girl, that he suddenly would be now that she is a grown woman with a husband and child. Could it be perhaps because he is now just as wealthy, or even more so, than her husband. It is a distinct possibility Daisy is mistaking her love for money, for love for Gatsby.
Daisy’s character is built with association of innocence and purity. Narrator in the novel mentions, “They were both in white, and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house” (18). In this passage, the narrator talks about Daisy and Daisy’s friend, Jordan. They both were dressed in white, which represents the purity and innocence. Daisy’s exterior beauty is pure and innocence, but her interior self represents false purity and innocence in the novel. When Daisy and Gatsby reunites after five years, they seem to have found their love for each other, although Daisy loves the attention. Daisy is aware of her husband’s affair but still does nothing about it. Daisy’s response to Gatsby’s wealth proves the love Daisy has for money, especially the shirts. Narrator mentions in the novel, “Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shorts and began to cry stormily” (92). This describes that’s for Daisy the shirts represents wealth. Daisy bows her head into the shirts representing her interest in wealthy materialism. Daisy doesn’t cry because of the pure affection unlike Gatsby.
Throughout the novel, Daisy acts snooty and stuck-up around the other characters as if she is better then them. She also acts very child-like when she cries over “beautiful shirts.” “They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.” – Pg 98. From this it shows that she only cares about luxurious material. Through her actions, we see that Daisy is not this girl that we should sympathize or look up to as “great” compared to Gatsby. “Even if we are cousins. You didn’t come to my wedding. I wasn’t back from the war. That’s true. She hesitated. Well, I’ve had a very bad time, Nick, and I’m pretty cynical about everything.
Daisy’s original impression of Gatsby is evident in her early letters to him, “...he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself- that he was fully able to take care of her” (149). Daisy loved Gatsby under the false hope that they belonged to the same social class. She grew up surrounded by riches, never working a day in her life, and she could not comprehend the struggles of a man who must work for the food he eats each day. Daisy knew that she must marry when she is beautiful, for being a beautiful rich girl of good social standing was her highest commodity and most valuable chip in marrying well. In order to live a secure life, she had to find someone the had the means to provide for her extravagant lifestyle, and the deep care for her that would allow Daisy to do as she pleased. The only definition of love Daisy knew was one of disillusioned power and commitments under false pretenses in order to keep the wealthy continually rich. Daisy acknowledges the false pretenses of marriage for the wealthy in how she describes her daughter’s future. She tells Nick, “‘And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this
She goes off and has an affair with Gatsby simply to relieve her boredom. Even with all the money and possessions Daisy has no thoughts of. what she will do with her purposeless life. Gatsby is the only one of the three who is not corrupted by his wealth. Although he has a large mansion, drives flashy cars, and gives extravagant parties, he has amassed.
Throughout The Great Gatsby, the perception of Daisy Buchanan is that of innocence and love. All men desire her, and through her beauty, persuasion, and melodious voice, she is desired by all men specifically, Jay Gatsby. Through her innocence and charisma, Daisy exceeds the virtuosity of deception and manipulation. Although Daisy presents herself as a loving character, her destructive nature is exposed as she starts to show her true colors. Due to the indecisiveness of her love for both her past and present lover, Daisy’s cynical actions ultimately cause the demise of Myrtle Wilson, Gatsby, and George Wilson.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby was born into a life of poverty and as he grew up he became more aware of the possibility of a better life. He created fantasies that he was too good for his modest life and that his parents weren’t his own. When he met Daisy, a pretty upper class girl, his life revolved around her and he became obsessed with her carefree lifestyle. Gatsby’s desire to become good enough for Daisy and her parents is what motivates him to become a wealthy, immoral person who is perceived as being sophisticated.
Unfortunately, Gatsby’s ultimate goal was unattainable. Daisy comes from a family of great wealth and "old money". She is a member of an elite society of rich, snobbish people. Although she did not love her husband, she values the status and protection he provided for her. If she left Tom for Gatsby, she would lose this status and protection.
When with Gatsby she realizes that she should have stayed with him because now he too is filthy rich and so she finds herself ogling at his belongings, “They're such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I've never seen such—such beautiful shirts before.” (94). She cries for the life she could have had with Gatsby, Tom means nothing to her now. Daisy wants whomever can support her best so if that is Gatsby then she is in love with Gatsby.
She deals with her husband cheating on her right in front of her face and just sucks it up so she does not have to lose her lavish life. She leaves her first love, Jay Gatsby, because he didn't have enough money to support the lifestyle she wanted to live. Daisy does not shy away from the fact that she makes these choices to sacrifice herself for this lifestyle. She even says this when she talks about her daughter and says, "I hope she'll be a fool," because, "that's the best thing a girl can be in this world." a beautiful little fool" (Fitzgerald 17).
Fitzgerald's brilliant use of these literary elements helped bring "The Great Gatsby" to life. The setting and the characters depict the complexities of the novel on a level that shows how this era was. Looking from the outside, life was extravagant during this time, but no one knew what really went on. The novel depicts real life struggles characters go through and their personalities. The events mirrored present-day human problems, but they were set in a different era.