# Page Number Quote Analysis 1 17 I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. Daisy is not a fool herself but is the product of a social environment that, to a great extent, does not value intelligence in women. She describes her own boredom with life and seems to imply that a girl can have more fun if she is beautiful and simplistic. Daisy herself often tries to act such a part. She conforms to the social standard of American femininity in the 1920s. 2 34 He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you …show more content…
In this moment, Nick realizes for the first time that though his story is set on the East Coast, the western character of his acquaintances is the source of the story’s tensions and attitudes. 5 21 He believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. He focuses on the struggle of human beings to achieve their goals by both transcending and re-creating the past. Yet humans prove themselves unable to move beyond the past. 6 7 "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember the advantages that you 've had..." In consequence I 'm inclined to reserve all judgments Meeting of Nick Carraway, the novel 's narrator, who utters his first ironic statement. The entire novel is full of Nick 's judgments. 7 24 He was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and as far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light" Meeting of Jay Gatsby, Nick 's new neighbor. Gatsby stares at a green light in the distance. The green light he sees shines on the dock of Daisy Buchanan, whom Gatsby loves. The green light, in a broader sense, symbolizes the American Dream
Nick’s attitude towards Lewis’ fellow actors enrages him revealing that he deeply cares for them and considers them friends. The dramatic action revealed in the stage directions would impact the audience because it’s shocking to see two men who were once close friends who are now fighting.
The novel concluded with these important final words about human beings. These final words relate to the theme of the book which is the significance of your past affects your future dreams or goals. This theme is represented by the “green light”. He explains how humans’ struggle to achieve their goals or dreams because they try to re-create the past and are unable to move beyond the past by stating “the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us”. He then explains that people cannot escape their dream or goal and so they continue to move towards the green light and struggle to make their dreams come true (It eluded us then, but that’s no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther”). The people would continue
‘ "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember the advantages that you 've had..." In consequence I 'm inclined to reserve all judgments.’
The Great Gatsby: The green light can be seen as representing Gatsby’s hopes and dreams, most importantly Daisy, which emphasizes the ideas of the American Dream. He reaches toward it as a guiding light to his hopes and dreams.
The green light at the end of daisy's dock is the symbol of gatsby's hopes and dreams. It represents everything that haunts and beckons Gatsby: the physical and emotional distance between him and Daisy, the gap between the past and the present, the promises of the future, and the powerful lure of that other green stuff he craves money. The light is something that is a key part of gatsby's character, even the very first time the books protagonist nick sees gatsby he is down at his dock staring at the light. “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock.” and even nick comes to realize this lights significance , “ And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes —a fresh, green breast of the new world.... And as I sat there, brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out Daisy's light at the end of his dock. He had come such a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it. But what he did not know was that it was already behind him, somewhere in the vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on
The green color of the light represents wealth and the start of a new life. Connecting his love for Daisy with the American dream and a better future, he believes Daisy is a beckon that is going to pull him out of darkness into a perfect life. In the beginning of the story, this can be seen when the narrator recounts that “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light,” (Fitzgerald, 26). This brings forth the idea that the light or goal is minute and unattainable. Although Gatsby never approaches the light, he continues to reach for it which represents Gatsby’s unattainable dream. As background information is revealed, it becomes evident that Gatsby’s desire for Daisy is one of status. His past reveals that Daisy was desired by many men and to attain her would make one most worthy. “It excited him, too, that many men had already loved Daisy – it increased her value in his eyes” (Fitzgerald,149). This increased value further exploits the classism of this time period through Gatsby, who takes the green light as a signal to keep going. The only judgement of character was one’s social class. However, he does not just desire Daisy but the previous month he had spent with her. This demonstrates Gatsby’s
Her actions are viewed as foolish, creating the stigma around women, and though Daisy does not see herself as a fool, surprisingly she expresses that “the best thing a girl can be in this world [is] a beautiful little fool (Fitzgerald, pg 17).” Yet, Daisy is not a fool; she is merely a victim of her environment which is influenced by gender, money, and status. This leads to Daisy having no power or control over her own life and feeling as though women can only be “beautiful fools” as stated earlier.
From early on in the novel, Jay Gatsby is portrayed as a mysterious, wealthy and extravagant man; he lives in an ostentatious mansion and showcases his successes at the lavish parties he hosts. However, it is evident that this perplexing character, despite all of his wealth and successes, continues to yearn for even more. At the beginning of The Great Gatsby, Nick observes of Gatsby, “...he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 26). It is later revealed that Daisy, who Gatsby loves and hopes to reunite with, lives at the house at the end of the dock with the green light. Ultimately, Daisy and the green light are motivations for Gatsby that recur throughout the novel. This single green light that Gatsby reached out to with quivering arms represents the American dream that drove the goals and hopes of Americans during this time.
In the conclusion of the first chapter, narrator Nick Carraway watches Gatsby reach toward a distant green light. This color becomes the impetus for the most important events of Gatsby’s life. The light rests on the dock of Daisy Buchanan,
Further exploration of this novel will help to locate the past, elevate the present, and imagine the future.
1. The green light, situated at the end of the Buchanan’s dock, represents Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Gatsby associates the light with Daisy and in Chapter one, he reaches toward it
Gatsby's desire to achieve his dream leads him to West Egg Island. He purchased a mansion across the bay from Daisy's home. There is a green light at the end of Daisy's dock that is visible at night from the windows and lawn of Gatsby's house. This green light is one of the central symbols of the novel. In chapter one, Nick observes Gatsby in the dark as he looks longingly across the bay with arms stretched outward toward the green light. It becomes apparent, as the story progresses that "the whole being of Gatsby exists only in relation to what the green light symbolizes This first sight, that we have of Gatsby, is a ritualistic tableau that literally contains the meaning of the completed book" (Bewley 41). A broader definition of the green light's significance is revealed in Chapter 5, as Gatsby and Daisy stand at one of the windows in his mansion. "If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay," said Gatsby. "You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock." "Daisy put her arm through his abruptly, but he seemed absorbed in what he had just said. Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had vanished
Jay Gatsby’s, one of the main characters, American Dream is corrupted and ended in failure. His dream to become rich and then win Daisy back, who is in love with Gatsby five years ago but now is married to a rich man named Tom. When Nick, the narrator, comes back from Daisy’s house, his cousin, he sees Gatsby “stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way,...I glanced seaward -- and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock”(Fitzgerald 21). The significant green light symbolizes Gatsby’s dream of having Daisy.
The color green represents wealth, which was a reoccurring obsession with Gatsby. The body of water between them both represents the rift between Gatsby and Daisy’s different lives and backgrounds. Additionally, this is the first instance when Gatsby is reaching out to his hopes and dreams. Gatsby’s dream involves wealth and future marriage with Daisy. It is duly noted that at the end of the first chapter, Nick saw Gatsby and, “could have sworn he was trembling…Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light”(Gatsby 20-21). This personal action represents the longing for economic and material success, almost becoming and obsession. However the readers are able to understand that individuals constantly believe that there is always something better in the world. This green light is also symbolic as nicks observation at the end of the novel “tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther”(Gatsby 171), showing that this dream is all encompassing. Gatsby looking across the water to see the green light has drove himself to high status and astonishing success. The green light not only represents wealth but also the model of the American
things we might do can affect our past,and destroy our thoughts religion also the things we need to understand the past world.Also in the text (Freedom Walkers) we judged people by their skin tone and we have to look back to have that never happen again.We just think of ourselves and what we do now and do not appreciate people who fought for what we don’t pay no attention to like when the said there were protest in the text(Freedom Walkers).just like (Jo Ann