F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby

Since American literature’s emergence, the American dream has become a conceptual ideal for many people throughout history. Although the dream has its own distinct aspects throughout different time periods, it predominantly focuses on the foundations of wealth, success and a desire for something greater. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, is primarily known for the numerous lavish parties he throws each weekend at his ostentatious mansion in West Egg in an attempt to reunite with Daisy Buchanan, a woman he falls in love with prior to entering the war before the Roaring Twenties. However, he is seized with an impotent realization on the fact that his wealth cannot afford him the same privileges as others that are born into the upper echelon. Gatsby is completely blinded from his opulent possessions until he becomes oblivious of the fact that money cannot buy love or happiness. Throughout the story, the predilection for materialistic features causes many characters to lose sight of their aspirations, demonstrating how a dream can become easily corrupt by one’s focus on acquiring wealth and power.

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.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the compelling story of the lengths one man goes to in order to try and win back the love of his youth. In order to do so, the titular figure of the novel, Jay Gatsby, reinvents himself from the hardscrabble soldier of his younger years into an enigma of a millionaire; during his time living at West Egg, Gatsby is revered by all, but known by none. Despite the lavish lifestyle which has made him ever so well known, Gatsby is never able to win back Daisy, the girl who has for so long represented the culmination of all of his desires. To convey the complex themes of the novel, Fitzgerald makes use of the literary techniques discussed in How To Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster, especially in his portrayal of the geography of the Eggs and in Gatsby’s quest to win Daisy’s affection. In his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s desperate struggle to ingratiate himself into Daisy’s life to illustrate how one can never overcome the socio-economic barriers placed upon them at birth.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is an author known for his best-selling book, The Great Gatsby. The story is about a man, Jay Gatsby, who was in love with Daisy Buchanan. Daisy was married to Tom, but Tom was cheating on her with Myrtle Wilson. There were two islands the story took place in: East Egg and West Egg. East Egg was the “old money,” or money passed down from ancestors, while West Egg represented the “new money,” or self- made money. Fitzgerald used multiple types of symbolism in his book, and his symbolism helped the reader understand the plot. The novel is read throughout schools to teach symbolism. The book can be described as “[…] satisfying as entertainment, thought provoking as a study, and increasingly rewarding the more closely it is examined.” (Koster). A frequently used type of symbolism in The Great Gatsby was color. The colors symbolized in the book were white, green, yellow, blue, gold, and gray.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, has become one of the most read, praised pieces of fiction in American literature. Without a doubt, The Great Gatsby appropriately represents a period of American history where everything was possible, or at least thought possible. In the novel, Fitzgerald doesn’t just depict the social, historical, and economical conditions, he provides the reader with insight into the lives and motives, which the characters use to validate their actions. An underlying reason as to why everything happens the way they do in the novel is the overarching idea of the American Dream. Towards the end of the novel, one must wonder whether or not the American Dream in The Great Gatsby still holds its meaning, or is it the remnants of a once great idea.

"The Great Gatsby" by Francis Scott Fitzgerald is about an aspiring young businessman named Nick Carraway who moved New York to experience the American Dream. Nick settled in a house located in the West Egg District of Long Island where he met the wealthy yet peculiar Jay Gatsby. Throughout the book, Nick and Gatsby become great friends as Gatsby teaches Nick about life as Nick helps Gatsby with the love of his life. Within the story, Nick and Gatsby experience the heartaches and the immoral struggles of life. The book exposes the American Dream to the reader through the eyes of Nick and Gatsby and how not every dream can result in a happy ending.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby portrays characterization corresponding with characters’ birthplaces, desires, and determination in order to devise their statuses. The narrator, Nick Carraway, is disparate from others due to the place he grew up which is exemplified when he moves to New York from the Midwest. Tom Buchanan satisfies his desire for love by having women in his life as well as his wife Daisy. Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan have been fond of each other since they met many years ago and their love for one another made Gatsby determined to create a new rich and extravagant lifestyle in order to completely win over Daisy. Nick Carraway’s personality is unique in New York compared to many of the dwellers, especially those at Gatsby’s massive parties.

Jordan Baker informs Nick Carraway that Jay Gatsby is still in love with Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby and Daisy were in a relationship before she was married to Tom Buchanan, which eventually had to end when Gatsby went off to war. Half a decade later, Gatsby has situated himself in West Egg to be close to Daisy. Jordan, acting as a messenger, tells Nick that Gatsby would like him to invite Daisy over for tea, where Gatsby would then surprise and join them. Nick is baffled that Gatsby would go to the trouble of throwing extraneous parties for the past five years, holding onto the sliver of hope that Daisy may one day attend one.

“This is a valley of ashes- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and raising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald 26). In the novel, “The Great Gatsby,” the author F. Scott Fitzgerald, mainly depicted lives of the rich and their luxuries but also showed the lives of the poor people in the valley of ashes in a small portion of the book. The valley of ashes played an essential part in shaping the lives of the characters in the book as it shows the difference between social classes and the struggle of the poor.

Nick Carraway is who narrates this story He is a very opened minded, nice, quite guy from Minnesota. Nick travels to New York and rents a house in the West Egg side of Long Island. West Egg is where all the people who have just made their fortune live. Although Nick lived in the West Egg side he had many connections with the people on the East Egg side. Nick had a wealthy and attractive neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lives in a mansion and has extravagant parties every Saturday. Gatsby’s real name is James Gatz and he was born at a farm in North Dakota. He went to St. Olaf’s University but dropped out two weeks later do to the humiliation of being a janitor. One day he was fishing at Lake Superior and he saw a yacht owned by Dan Cody. He

The American Dream has been a staple of the identity of the US for hundreds of years. It is the idea that somebody can come from nothing and work their way to the top. It is associated with obtaining wealth, satisfaction, and the luxury of material objects. From the outside, the American Dream looks like a flawless path to happiness. However, the validity of how attainable the American Dream is has been long debated. It is arguable that the American Dream has become misguided, leading those who seek it down a path that ultimately ends in failure of genuine success. This idea has even made it’s way into multiple works of literature. Authors create protagonists that endure the journey of the American Dream. Conversely, some authors use their characters to express negative feelings towards the concept of the American Dream. One example of an author who does this is F. Scott Fitzgerald. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick witnessing how Gatsby flounders under the riggers of the American Dream leaves him disillusioned, and ultimately pushes him away from pursuing the American Dream.

When people think of the American Dream, they may think of glam and fame and a beach house on the coast. The American Dream is more or less a fantasy in which the dreamer achieves fortune and riches with their work (or lack thereof). People want to get rich quick, and they want to have everything they have ever wanted handed to them on a silver platter. The twenties in America, commonly known as the “Roaring Twenties,” were a prosperous time, and many people realized their own version of the American Dream during this period.

Identity is cultivated through several diverse mediums within F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby ‘The word identity is defined as the set of personal and behavioral characteristics which define an individual as a member of a certain group. Based on race, ethnicity, religion, language and culture people distinguish themselves from other groups and form their understanding and pride in who they are’ . For the novels’ central characters, Gatsby and the others , status is autocratic, and an ambition. In their minds, adopting an aspirational identity would afford them the confidence, integrity and purpose they perceive as lacking. Each focal character approaches and reacts to identity differently; however there are also numerous parallels. Jay Gatsby begin his life identifying as oppressed destitutes – then strive separately to embody an identity which they do not fit. Gatsby, being an ambassador for the American Dream, has aspirations upon which he intends to capitalise, and superficially, he does. In the book the central characters may try to escape their prescribed identities in life, and to varying degrees they do, but fail to emulate the social group into which they want to acclimate. The meaning and justification of Identity transforms throughout the texts, and this is what I hope to investigate.

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, colors are one of the most important details in the book. Throughout the story Fitzgerald cleverly uses colors in order to focus on specific themes and characters. He wrote this book in a way where one can read it for pleasure, and where one could analyze it and truly appreciate the work that he has put into this book. Every color has a specific meaning which correlates with each of the characters. Specifically, gold represents wealth, high class, selfishness, and relationships; while white represents honesty, purity, innocence, and a symbol for surrendering.

In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald describes the characters in the book as “careless” people. His use of the word is subject to the reader’s interpretation, of course, but I interpreted it as being selfish and not caring that any action a person takes can cause a ripple effect that may have extreme consequences. Maybe consequences for yourself or maybe for others as well. All in order to obtain the American Dream.