Examples Of Alcoholism In The Great Gatsby

Addiction can affect everyone differently, in writers it seems to both grant them a way to write, but it can hurt their overall quality. There are many examples of this from many writers, some of these affected individuals included, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen King, and Dorothy Parker. Addictions may give author's inspiration for their works but it can also harm their overall quality or it can change how they see themselves and how they work.

Obsessions cause havoc and can potentially ruin a person’s life, yet society normalizes and capitalizes on their effects. Obsessive thoughts and behaviors are becoming increasingly more common in today’s society. They can have many detrimental effects due to the lack of control it causes in a person. With the popularity of romantic comedies and love songs, borderline stalking behaviors are viewed as normal acts of love. The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, features a man hopelessly obsessed with a past girlfriend. Additionally, There’s Something About Mary is a movie about a man demonstrating stalker-like behavior toward a woman that he has been obsessed with since his childhood. Due to deficits in their own life and self-esteem,

The sight Nick is greeted with is certainly nothing like he has seen before. Describing the party as with “the rules of an amusement park,” (41), such a statement is clearly proven by the eccentric happenings around him. Despite the fact that Nick received an actual invitation from Gatsby, being stared at in “such an amazed way” after asking about his host discourages him, and he relinquishes with “sheer embarrassment”, the idea of meeting Gatsby in all his glory, (42).

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s revolutionary novel, The Great Gatsby, alcohol is used as a means of escaping from the actuality of the main characters’ lives. The thing that the main characters feel that they need to escape is the absence of relationships that they are missing out on because of their choices. And instead of being proactive they turn to alcohol to help them with their stress. Ideas such as these were also seen in the Lost Generation and it is reflected in the writing, This is demonstrated countless times by the main characters with motives that are very similar and helps characterize everyone along the way. While Nick, Daisy, and Gatsby drink and party themselves away, they become numb to the bad relationships in their lives.

Tom's mistress whom he cheats on Daisy with. This causes Myrtle to dislike Tom's main girl. "'Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!' shouted Mrs. Wilson. 'I'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai –– ' Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand" (Fitzgerald 37). First of all, Tom and Myrtle are having an affair which ruins the sanctity of marriage. They should not have even started this affair they call a relationship. She tried to stand up to Tom, but it results in violence. Violence should never be involved in a healthy relationship. He breaks her nose for just being mouthy! The action was done with such rapidness he must not have felt remorse. Tom wants to show his power as Alpha. "Then there were bloody towels upon the bathroom floor, and women's voices scolding, and a high over the confusion a long broken wail of pain" (Fitzgerald 37). This is after Tom used violence against his mistress Myrtle. This is another example of a toxic relationship because the aftermath of his anger and power causes Myrtle tremendous

Authors who are addicts use their writing in many ways to reveal their thoughts and feelings of their addictions. Fitzgerald is an example of these people as even claiming to have “not tasted so much as a glass of beer for six months,” (“America’s Drunkest Writer”). This is most likely false as this was during his lowest times and when he would often be in denial that he was drinking. In Fitzgerald's writing, The Great Gatsby, the Owl-Eyed man says “I’ve been drunk for a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library”(50). This is similar to the way that Fitzgerald would often go and be drunk for long periods of time and say that he attempted to be sober. In the end, Fitzgerald never had a book like, The Great Gatsby, as he would often

At the same party, Jordan remarks that Gatsby claims to be an Oxford man, though she does not seem convinced to his claim (53). As a result of all the various rumors, Nick creates an image of Gatsby in his mind as “a florid and corpulent person in his middle years (53).” Contrastingly, Gatsby appears to be around the same age as Nick, which leads to Nick’s failure to recognize Gatsby at the party. The rumors and stories influence the idea of Gatsby that Nick creates in his mind which differs from who Gatsby appears to be.

The Great Gatsby takes place in 1922 during the time of prohibition.In the book gatsby had extravagant parties with drinks galore but this was not as simple as it seemed during the time. This was a time where alcohol was made to be illegal by Prohibition, which took place between 1920 to 1933.This movement started at the end of the war with the goal to save grain used for beer for the war. The legal status of alcohol changed January of 1920 when President woodrow Wilson passed the eighteenth amendment.

During one of the key scenes in the novel in the ------ hotel, Nick, his narration and point of view once again allow more of an insight to Gatsby, which allows my admiration to grow. If not for Nick, and his input in the events, many people would see Gatsby as a sly shallow liar who invents stories merely to entertain acquaintances. Instead of this however, nick says,

Daisy! Dai−.’ Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand.” In the book Tom was really aggressive and got mad especially when he drank a lot. He would break things when he was drunk and would hurt people. So drinking was a big reason in the book and in the 20’s why they wanted to ban alcohol.

Pursuing the current hypothetical note of Nick’s oblivious opinion of Gatsby, his implication as he states with simplicity, “I could see nothing sinister about him” (Fitzgerald 50) can be seen with Nick’s response to the rumors of Gatsby being guilty of potentially cloaking blood on his hands (Fitzgerald 49). Whilst there were also the implied diverging perspectives, Nick’s opinion seemed immediate and possibly favorably slanted towards Gatsby, a point supporting Boyle’s warrant. While there are a surplus of verbal examples Nick supplies, Fitzgerald was keen in transmitting Nick’s view to match in concurrency with the story’s audience, fragments of Nick’s bias are shown with his conclusions he places before information is given as seen by “‘You don’t understand’ explained the criminal. ‘I wasn’t driving. There’s another man in the car’” (Fitzgerald 54). The novel places a hallucination bearing similarity on the events due to the entire novel being of Nick’s viewpoint; Nick had viewed a suspect as the indisputable criminal of the situation despite the possibility of information being

Fitzgerald’s portrayal alcohol as a shield from pain and suffering serves as a counterpoint to the prohibitionist argument that alcohol is an ineffective way to escape the troubles of life. When Nick arrives at Gatsby’s party he asks several guests about Gatsby’s whereabouts. He realizes that this is, at Gatsby’s party, an embarrassing faux pas. His first reaction to this humiliation is “to get roaring drunk from sheer embarrassment” (Fitzgerald, 42). Fitzgerald repeatedly shows us that, in response to any sort of embarrassment or loss, drunkenness can be a default option for coping. Alcohol, in The Great Gatsby, can help ward off the troubles of life. When Myrtle is hit and killed, Catherine, her sister, decides to break her rule against drinking. When Daisy receives a deeply upsetting letter (presumably from Gatsby) before her wedding, she turns to liquor to shield her from the pain. “‘Gratulate me,’ she muttered. ‘Never had a drink before, but oh

Tom Buchanan, Daisy?s husband, was a man from an enormously wealthy family. Nick, described Tom's physical attributes as having a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner?arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face?always leaning aggressively forward?a cruel body?his speaking voice?added to the impression of

Alcoholism, mental illness, and finance problem makes F. Scott Fitzgerald to be a famous author after his death. Based on his life events, he became “twentieth-century American novelists” ("Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940”). Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. His name come from the author of the National Anthem (Bruccoli). His father work at Proctor and Gamble as a salesman to financially support his family which “took the family to Buffalo and Syracuse” ("Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940). After his father lost his job, the family move back to St. Paul. ("Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940”). Fitzgerald went to St. Paul Academy for a few years. When

Without even meeting Gatsby, Nick delves into a world of delusion and carelessness that marks Gatsby’s party, emphasizing how just mere taste of extravagance and wealth can have such a