The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

868 Words2 Pages

Recommended: Capitalism in the great gatsby

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel about Jay Gatsby and his quest for the American dream. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald focuses on materialism and the lack of social mobility. He hints at the vice of American society and the desertion of religion by incorporating the motif of eyes alongside the descriptions of the Valley of Ashes. Through the motif of eyes, Fitzgerald uses religion to provide a commentary on the corruption of society and the inability to achieve the American dream. When Nick first describes the Valley of Ashes, he mentions Doctor T. J. Eckleburg’s advertisement. He pays close attention to his eyes and how they watch over the valley. Eckleburg’s eyes overlooking the Valley of Ashes symbolize the eyes of G-d looking upon the moral decomposition in American society: The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic… They look out of no face but… from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles… Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice… then sank down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground. (Fitzgerald, 27-28) The eyes represent G-d staring down upon and judging American society as a moral wasteland. Just like the billboard is left faded and ignored after “many paintless days”, religion is neglected. Myrtle, one of the characters who resides in the valley, abandons typical religious beliefs by committing adultery and trying to obtain wealth and prosperity through Tom, demonstrating her rejection of spiritual values for the goal of achieving material wealth. The eyes and the advertisement also suggest the decay of the Americ... ... middle of paper ... ...ruption and vice in American society, but merely acts as an observer. The inability to achieve the American dream and be able to move to a higher class is due to the abandonment of religious values and the immorality of civilians. Myrtle was ultimately unable to be prosperous and have the wealth she always wanted because she had to cheat on her husband. Wilson uses the idea of G-d being the billboard watching over the Valley of Ashes as an excuse to take revenge on the man he thinks killed his wife. Gatsby dies without achieving his goals because his methods of earning money and building up his life were illegal. Fitzgerald uses eyes as a means to convey the loss of spiritual values in America, the corruption of America’s people, and the hollowness of the American dream. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1995. Print.

Wealth and Class in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1470 Words | 3 Pages
Fitzgerald uses setting to criticise society’s loss of morality and the growth of consumerism after the Great War. The rise of the stock market in the 1920s enabled business to prosper in America. However, although the owners of industry found themselves better off wages didn’t rise equally, causing the gap between the rich and poor to grow markedly. Parkinson argues that the settings “represent [these] alternative worlds of success and failure in a modern capitalist society”. The valley of ashes symbolises this failure and moral decay, acting as a foil to the affluent “world of success”, East Egg, and highlighting that the lower classes must suffer to support its existence. This setting is introduced in Chapter 2 and is described as where “ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens”. The personification of the environment creates the sense that these failures are rooted in the land, suggesting that poverty is an inescapable part of American society. This is emphasised through the use of tripling which creates a sense of endlessness. By describing the men who live there as “crumbling through the pow...
Read More
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
969 Words | 2 Pages
“When it comes to cars, only two varieties of people are possible - cowards and fools.” This quote by Russel Baker perfectly exemplifies the meaning of cars in the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Careless driving is a common symbol throughout the book representing the aloofness of the wealthy characters and their inability to establish control in their lives. The characters in this story are constantly “driving”, trying to convince the world that wealth is all that it’s cracked up to be. Cars are, in this situation, both the figurative and literal driving force of life. When the characters climb into the wrong seat of the car, they are surely headed for trouble By comparing those born into money and power and those that had to work for their status, Fitzgerald shows us the carelessness and the inability to establish control in life that comes along with predetermined wealth.
Read More
The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald.
1327 Words | 3 Pages
curious way, and as far as I [Nick Carraway] was from him I could have
Read More
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1154 Words | 3 Pages
Through out history, laws have been established with the intentions of making societies better. Instead of following these laws in fear of government punishment, the citizens followed them because they saw how they made improvements to their society. However, there have been times when laws did not have enough input from the citizens and were passed quickly. When this occurred the laws backfired on the government and the citizens went against them. That is what happened in the 1920’s when the 18th amendment passed to end sales, production, and distribution of alcohol. During WWI, the government came quickly to pass prohibition to decrease the alcohol consumption, but with little enforcement there were higher organized crimes for wealth, as portrayed by Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby.
Read More
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
885 Words | 2 Pages
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the unbelievable story of a man who was forsaken by his one true love, and his ongoing struggle to reclaim her heart. Fitzgerald does a outstanding job of capturing the idea of the true American dream. The novel highlights the concept of the affluent spending without consequence; this thematic structure of the text parallels the concept of the American dream in current popular culture and for this reason this story is a classic novel shared all over the world.
Read More
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
943 Words | 2 Pages
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers. Fitzgerald uses the Roaring Twenties as the setting of this novel. The twenties were a time of promiscuity, new money, and a significant amount of illegal alcohol. Fitzgerald was a master of his craft and there was often more to the story than just the basic plot. He could intertwine political messages and a gripping story flawlessly. In the case of The Great Gatsby, he not only chronicles a love story, but also uses the opportunity to express his opinion on topics such as moral decay, crass materialism, individual ethics, and the American dream.
Read More
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1388 Words | 3 Pages
The roaring twenties was a time for happiness and celebration, but the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows a different side of this dynamic decade. Fitzgerald uses a poignant, yet hopeful tone to show the shadier side of the nineteen twenties most refuse to look at, while tying in the brighter side. In The Great Gatsby, the reader is sucked into a story of corruption, and empowerment by the rich hidden by extravagant parties and bright colors. Jay Gatsby, who only dreamt of wealth and love had an ideal dream life, that ideal life could be defined as his “American Dream”. His dreams were later crushed by very powerful people, careless people, people who used and abused others to get their way, no matter the consequences. Those people were Tom and Daisy Buchanan, they were the empowered rich. They crushed Gatsby’s American Dream, by being careless. Gatsby created this extravagant life for one reason, and one reason only; to impress the girl he fell in love with, years ago. The girl he gave his heart to hold forever, but after Gatsby left for war, she married someone else, someone who was from old money, like her. She married Tom Buchanan. Although Daisy was married, Gatsby held onto the hope that they would find a way to be together again, and forever. Close to the end, the reader wonders if matters will work out in Gatsby’s favor or not, but after the tragic accident that bring three dreams to an end, the reader ignores Gatsby’s hopefulness and just hopes for a happier ending, when in reality, nothing ends the way anyone wishes it to.
Read More
The Great Gatsby Essay: The Great Gatsby is Not So Great
505 Words | 2 Pages
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is an absurd story, whether considered as romance, melodrama, or plain record of New York high life. The occasional insights into character stand out as very green oases on an arid desert of waste paper. Throughout the first half of the book the author shadows his leading character in mystery, but when in the latter part he unfolds his life story it is difficult to find the brains, the cleverness, and the glamour that one might expect of a main character.
Read More
Essay
649 Words | 2 Pages
...stique of the eyes would be gone, and it would no longer represent an all seeing being that can reproach the characters throughout the novel. This infinitesimal detail brings profundity to the novel. The Valley of Ash is where most of the tragedies in the book happen and is where the billboard that contains the eyes is present. The eyes saw Myrtle’s and Tom’s flirtation, Wilson’s and Myrtle’s fight, and Myrtle’s death.
Read More
Gatsby
1585 Words | 4 Pages
F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the valley of ashes, the eyes of T.J. Eckleberg, and the light symbolically in The Great Gatsby. The valley of ashes represents the shallow and hollow lives of the rich people, the sad, sorrowful, and selfless lives of the middle class people, and struggles and pains that every character endures. The eyes of T.J. Eckleberg represent God and how he watches our every move, while also representing George Wilson’s love for his wife, and his drive to keep his family alive. The light is another important symbol in this novel. The light symbolizes Gatsby’s perseverance to get Daisy and also on a bright, successful future. Each symbol is critical in this novel to understand the common American dream.
Read More
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
655 Words | 2 Pages
During Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, it is apparent to be an absurd time for the wealthy. The shallowness of money, riches, and a place in a higher social class were probably the most important components in most lives at that period of time. This is expressed clearly by Fitzgerald, especially through his characters, which include Myrtle Wilson, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and of course, Jay Gatsby. This novel was obviously written to criticize and condemn the ethics of the rich.
Read More
The Motif of Eyes in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
844 Words | 2 Pages
... advertisement” (Fitzgerald pg. 160). Wilson understands the symbolic meaning of the eyes and how they truly do watch over all the corrupt, shameful things the main characters do.
Read More
The Valley of the Ashes in the Great Gatsby
1155 Words | 3 Pages
In The Great Gatsby, the Valley of the Ashes illustrate the inequality between its inhabitants and that of West Egg and East Egg, in terms of social standing and income, as well as the hopelessness of poverty resulting from the inability of its inhabitants to rise up the socio-economic ladder. Thus, the valley represents the failure of the Dream that America promises, which is the ideal of equal opportunities for all, associated with the New World.
Read More
Corruption of the American Dream in the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1440 Words | 3 Pages
In brief, the world of The Great Gatsby can seem as sordid, loveless, commercial, and dead as the ash heaps presided over by the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Indeed, this atmosphere is so essential that one of the alternate titles Fitzgerald considered was Among the Ash-Heaps and Millionaires. Fitzgerald using the valley of ashes, illustrates an environment where love has lost its place, which destroys hope for a family; the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, clearly intended to represent those of God, emphasizes that this lack of love and filial piety in a sin against themselves as well as society and God.
Read More
Power and Betrayal in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1803 Words | 4 Pages
Scott Fitzgerald was a writer who desired his readers to be able to hear, feel, and see his work. He made it his goal to be able to make readers think and keep asking questions using imagery and symbolism. The Great Gatsby was not just about the changes that occurred during the Jazz Age, but it was also about America’s corrupted society which was full of betrayal and money-hungry citizens. It was the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that overlooked all the corruption that occurred throughout the Valley of Ashes. It was the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that serves as a symbol of higher power who witnesses everything from betrayal to chaos in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
Read More

Open Document

Wait a second!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Wealth and Class in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald