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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - A Life Foolishly Lived

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The Great Gatsby: A Life Foolishly Lived

Released in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby cleverly demonstrates the manners and morals commonly practiced throughout the time period. The plot revolves around several main themes and effectively expresses Fitzgerald’s unique perspective. With an objective standpoint, Nick Carraway narrates the story as Jay Gatsby, a foolish racketeer, tries to win over his lifelong love, Daisy Buchanan. Although pecuniary matters can often be too large of an influence on human relationships, the novel unveils several powerful battles entangling love, morals, and money.

As Nick Carraway follows the tale of Jay Gatsby pursuing a dream, Gatsby can be observed as a foolish …show more content…

Transforming his name and developing new life values are only parts of the lifecycle in which Jay Gatsby participates in order to follow his dreams. Although not always successful in creating new individualities, Gatsby’s attempts are fully genuine.

Gatsby struggles to fit into social groups in to which Daisy Buchanan belongs. Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan, often attend parties hosted by Gatsby. Although these parties may be essentially hosted by him, Gatsby does not wholeheartedly attend. As he shrinks away to other areas of his home, Gatsby is able to avoid socializing with his guests. “I made an attempt to find my host but the two or three people of whom I asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an amazed way and denied so vehemently any knowledge of his movement" (46). This quote demonstrates how many of the partygoers have become used to Gatsby’s nonattendance. Therefore, the primary motive of his characteristic social gatherings is revealed, to attract the attention and win the heart of Daisy Buchanan.

Although Gatsby believes his parties may be bringing him somewhat closer to his love, they further extend the gap between him and other social groups. At many parties, guests often speak of him and his fictitious past with little concern of his reputation. For example, one guest at a party speaks of "…he was a German spy during the war" (48) and another speaks of him saying, "I’ll bet he killed a man" (48), while others

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