Tyler Simms Great Gatsby Essay Accelerated English 11 Mrs. Cameron F. Scott Fitzgerald constructed his novel, The Great Gatsby, by sculpting numerous situation and character contrasts together through out the novel to create and deliver a magnificent work of art. Although Fitzgerald contrasted numerous characters and situations through out the novel, there are three that are very pungent; the characters Tom Buchanan and George Wilson and Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. Not only were there Character contrasts, there were also situations that Fitzgerald contrasted against each other. One of them was the contrasting of the concept of the Old Money life style and the New Money life style. Tom and George not only have physical …show more content…
Daisy's superficiality extends to her personality. She is fragile, unstable and a confused character. While talking to Nick she said: “...I woke up with an abandoned felling and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. 'Alright,' I said, 'I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool” (Fitzgerald 21). They also married their husbands for different reasons. Myrtle says she married George because she thought he was a gentleman. She also thought he knew about good “breeding.” On the other hand, Daisy married Tom because rich girls had to marry into money and good social status. Marrying Tom, Daisy married into the Old Money life style. The people who live by the Old Money lifestyle inherited all of their riches from at least two generations back in the family. They also don't flaunt their money with buying and having extravagant cars, houses, parties etc. Fitzgerald differentiates Old Money and New Money by placing them on separate sides of Manhattan. Old Money on East Egg and New Money on West Egg. Tom and Daisy live on East Egg and prefer small get-togethers. Tom and Daisy had a party and the only people who were invited were Nick and Jordan. Whereas
Daisy is Tom’s prized possession throughout the novel because of her wealth and his ability to control her. Daisy is able to give Tom the high status he desires. Though, he describes his relationship with Daisy as, “‘Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself but I always come back…’” (Fitzgerald 131). Tom stays with Daisy because he cannot lose the high position in society that Daisy’s inferiority and riches bring him. His marriage brings him respect in society. As a matter of fact, Tom chooses Daisy over Myrtle when he is about to lose them both. Tom’s desire for high social status is put to the test when Daisy decides to leave him for another man and Myrtle consider leaving town with her husband. In the end, “When Tom's own "property," wife Daisy, disappears around the bend in his car driven by a bootlegger in a pink suit, he makes the decision to pursue what is, at least legally, his” (O’Meara 6-7). Tom chooses Daisy because they are the same blood, both old money. They are both the upper class citizens that Myrtle will never be because of her current status as lower class and lack of wealth. Tom’s possessiveness over Daisy is prioritized over Myrtle and evidently leads to Myrtle’s demise in power and in
In Chapter 1, the narrator introduces himself as Nick Carraway and talks about himself and his father. He describes himself as tolerant but fails to realizes his views are very biased and speaks with pity to those who “haven't had the advantages that you've had,” as his father says. Nick comes from a well-known Mid-Western family, and graduated from Yale (as his ancestors have) in 1915. After fighting in World War I, he comes home restless and decides to learn the bond business. His father finances Nick for a year and Nick lives in a house on West Egg. He talks about West and East Egg. West Egg is the less fashionable of the two, and consists of new money. He lives between Gatsby's mansion and another millionaire. East Egg consists
In book, “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts how the American was corrupted through wealth. Fitzgerald provides many examples. The most common example shown was Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s idea that to achieve his American Dream must be to acquire wealth. In order to show this, Fitzgerald uses various literary elements. Two of those being imagery and foreshadowing, these played a critical role in describing the theme, and specific moods to show what was to come and as well as describe the story as a whole. These play a vital role in representing Gatsby’s life and journey to acquiring Daisy, his version of the American Dream.
Themes of hope, success, and wealth overpower The Great Gatsby, leaving the reader with a new way to look at the roaring twenties, showing that not everything was good in this era. F. Scott Fitzgerald creates the characters in this book to live and recreate past memories and relationships. This was evident with Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, Tom and Daisy’s struggling marriage, and Gatsby expecting so much of Daisy and wanting her to be the person she once was. The theme of this novel is to acknowledge the past, but do not recreate and live in the past because then you will not be living in the present, taking advantage of new opportunities.
The Great Gatsby - Chapter 1 Read the beginning of the novel chapter 1 up to page 12 “Tom Buchanan in his riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch.” How effective do you find this as an introduction to Great Gatsby. In your response you should pay close attention to voice, language and style. The Great Gatsby was written by F Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, and is set during 1922, a period tinged with moral failure of a society obsessed with class and privilege.
“It’s a shallow life that doesn’t give a person a few scars”. This quote said by Garrison Keillor, metaphorically exemplifies the true meaning of hollowness and shallowness. Hollowness and shallowness were a major part of people’s characteristics in the 1920’s ‘easy money’ era because of the great economic boom. During this era, people earned their money by corruption with smuggling alcohol during prohibition. In addition, people earned their money by people unknowingly investing in major stocks. A few people earned their money with hard work; it was mostly made easily for them. Throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the shallowness and hollowness of the upper class is persistently shown. Hollowness and
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story about a wealthy man named Gatsby. Gatsby lives a luxuriant life in West Egg of New York. Gatsby’s wealth has an unknown secret because nobody seems to know where his wealth emerged from. Despite of having so much fortune, Gatsby’s true American dream has not been achieved. In the great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald develops Gatsby as a failed American dream to show the impossibility of the American dream in the 1920’s.
The central antagonist of Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age classic, Jay Gatsby, is revealed to the reader throughout the novel, creating a sense of mystery around his character, his past and his future. The quasi - fantastical pictorial of the same name, by Greenberg, also follows this reveal, portraying Gatsby's world and evoking a lingering curiosity. Initially, in both novel and graphic novel, the reader is set up to expect the worst. In the introduction of the novel by Fitzgerald, Nick states ‘ No- Gatsby turned out alright in the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interests in the abortive sorrows and short winded elations of men.’ This introduction creates a
In the book, contrast is widely used to bring about the theme of class as well as to greater emphasize the characteristics of a particular character. The book contrasts the setting, West and East egg, as well as the characters, Gatsby and Tom, Wilson and Tom and Gatsby and Tom.
Myrtle values the wealthy lifestyle greatly. She would even go so far as to create a facade of what she believes those of high societal class would act like in order to achieve that, and ironically, mocks the poor in the process. In Chapter 2 she exclaims toward Nick, “ I told that boy about the ice...you have to keep after them all the time”(32). here it is proven that Myrtle believes in order to give everyone the impression that she is high class, she must act in a snobbish manner. Whereas Daisy who was born into wealth, values convenience majorly over the latter. Some may disagree and say that she values love, and it is true that she does search for love; However, this is contradicted when at the end of the day she stays with Tom Buchanan rather than Gatsby, as is shown in the last scene with them together, “ Daisy and Tom were sitting opposite of each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them, and two bottles of ale” (145). She stays with Tom only for her own societal convenience, and she is willing to follow through with it even though he is a generally abusive
“Is Tom most responsible for Gatsby’s death? Daisy? Myrtle? Gatsby himself? Give reasons why or why not each character is implicated in the murder.”
Is your life revolved around how much money you have, what you can buy, or what you look like? In The Great Gatsby, the lives of the characters are revolved around the importance of money and the materials they own. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are two very important people that let their money control their lives, such as Daisy marrying Tom solely for is money so that she will be provided for her entire life. Gatsby is a prime example of all the wrong reasons of wanting to accomplish the American dream. He wanted to impress Daisy, so he lied and cheated his way to the top in order to prove to her that he was worth it, and now that he has money, he allowed it to take control of him and his true purpose. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald allows the
Again, she tells Nick, "I married him because I thought he was a gentleman. I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn't fit to lick my shoe" (35). While Myrtle married thinking her husband was a gentleman, Daisy married because she wanted to settle her life. The narrator explains,
The novel The Great Gatsby is a story that takes place in the 1920’s. The story
The novel is set in the twenties, following World War I. The economy is booming, which is crucial for the ability to convey the themes of the American Dream and post-war moods. Set in New York City, the book opens in the West Egg, a new money part of the upper class neighborhoods.