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Examples Of Reality In The Great Gatsby

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In the following excerpt from the book, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and narrated by Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald creates a unique and distinctive contradistinction of Romanticism vs. Reality. Fitzgerald makes it seem as if the characters are living in a dream-like society where everything is an imagined place in which everything is perfect; making it seem akin to paradise. However, when reality kicks in, the characters realize that the imaginative world they had pictured in their mind was anecdotal and non-existing. This is shown in the book during the scene where Daisy invites Gatsby over to her house for lunch and when Gatsby gets there, he finds out Daisy has a daughter. Through the use of direct and indirect characterization, vivid imagery, and direct …show more content…

When reality is shown the characters realize that the fantasy they were living in is non-existing. For example, when Gatsby meets Daisy’s daughter, Carraway provides us with astonishing detail and a “visual view” of what Gatsby was going through at that moment. Carraway states, “Gatsby took up his drink. ‘They certainly look cool,’ he said, with visible tension.” From the words “visible tension” in this quote, we can tell that Gatsby is quite shocked that Daisy has a daughter. Gatsby had done so much in his life to achieve the financial background he now had. He had done this to impress his long time lover, Daisy, but when he faces reality he realizes the prize he wants to win is quite impossible given that someone else already won it. In addition, Carraway states, “looking at the child with surprise. I don’t think he had ever really believed in its existence before.” In this quote Gatsby meets Daisy daughter for the first time and is quite shocked. From the use of vivid imagery we can picture that Gatsby did not really believe in the reality of Tom and Daisy’s love

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