F. Scott Fitzgerald The definition of American Literature is “the works produced in the English language in the United States” (Blair). It is inspired and molded into what it is by the history of this country. America has its own history and culture, as does American literature. From the story-telling of the Native Americans to the more recent contemporary artists, they all have something in common: they represent their era in a way that it is sure to never be forgotten. There have been a multitude of time periods that were written about by knowledgeable authors. A decade that has been depicted well by several artists is the “roaring 20s”. One author in particular, F. Scott Fitzgerald, began developing his writing career in the ‘20s and wrote multiple novels based off of American culture during that time period; one of his most popular being The Great Gatsby. His stories represented this era in both a positive and negative way and included a major theme of money and social statuses. In Fitzgerald’s stories, he takes what he sees around him, such as the upper class throwing extravagant parties while the lower …show more content…
Jay Gatsby and shaped this character’s life to mirror the parts of his own life that he wanted the world to see. Through education, heart breaks, and financial statuses, Fitzgerald brings the character of Gatsby to life. In the first chapter, Fitzgerald says this statement from Nick Carraway’s perspective: “Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction--Gatsby who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn... No--Gatsby turned out all right at the end.” (Fitzgerald). By analyzing these lines, it is apparent that Fitzgerald believes he is his own Gatsby. He does not always agree with the work of this man, but he knows that it is all in good reasoning and, in the end, he turns out just
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is filled with many characters with different personalities. Jay Gatsby one of the main characters, though mysterious, he is determined to live his “American Dream”. The relationship Gatsby has with Daisy also affects the way he is. There are many different layers to Gatsby, and as we learn more about him everything starts to make more sense and fall into place. Jay Gatsby is portrayed as a mysterious figure in the beginning of the novel.
“The Great Gatsby” is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald set in the 1920’s and is a recollection of a man named Nick Carraway's memories of the summer he met Jay Gatsby the person he could not judge. Jay Gatsby changed the most throughout the novel because He started the novel as a rich and extravagant man with a mysterious background, but it was revealed that he didn't start his life this way, James Gatz was a seventeen-year-old fisherman on Lake Superior who had big dreams that he thought he never could make a reality. But he adopted a persona that modelled the ideal person through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old, and met his good companion and friend Mr. Dan Cody. But towards the end of the book the window that is Jay Gatsby is shattered
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is told from the perspective of one of the main characters, Nick Carraway. Nick tells the story of a man named Jay Gatsby, who is his neighbor in the West Egg. Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby as a man who everyone wants to know and copy but deep down are very envious of him. Gatsby trusts few people and those whom he trusts know his life story. To everyone else, he is a mystery. Everyone seems obsessed with Jay Gatsby. For this reason the novel revolves about rumors of Gatsby rather than the truth.
The roaring 20’s was an astounding time in the history of the United States of America. Many authors published novels, poems, and other works of literature to show their readers what it would be like to experience this time frame. Some examples of these works include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. Both of these pieces of literature include literary elements to appeal to the reader’s senses and imagination. A prevalent theme that has been found in works of the roaring 20’s is the wealth that someone may or may not achieve. Literary elements such as figurative language, irony, and symbolism are profound in both The Great Gatsby and “Harlem”, adding depth to both literature works.
The roaring twenties is a time cemented in American history because of the ideas of prosperity that permeated daily life. World War One was complete, and citizens were excited at the new world superpower they had become. Electricity filled urban homes and new commodities, like the radio, made waves. Overall, happiness filled the masses and brought most to ever-increasing levels of hope for the future. This prosperity-aligned culture is famously tied to one book in particular- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Written in the 1920s, Fitzgerald’s tale of glamour and money culture creates a dramatic perspective of the American Dream through the use of pessimist Nick Carraway. While the idea of The American Dream, and the appreciation thereof,
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, has been heralded as one of the outstanding novels of the Jazz Age. The characters that Fitzgerald created in this novel were laudable and disreputable. Therefore, these characters in the novel will be contrasted and elucidated.
Jay Gatsby also know as James Gatz has always had a dream for his life and that dream is to be wealthy and well-known. As James Gatz lived a poor and unhappy life; he built a new name for himself, Jay Gatsby. Once Jay Gatsby was well known to the people he found it harder to maintain his image as Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald shows one of the struggles of deception through conversations between Gatsby and others, “I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered, ‘That’s my affair,’ before he realized that it wasn’t an appropriate reply”. Through Jay Gatsby’s poor response while talking to Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald is able show the complications while deceiving others. Jay Gatsby is now
In the surface there are uncountable things that make Gatsby and Fitzgerald very alike: such as weekly parties in their houses, going to the army, being wealthy But on the inside, on the bottom there are more important things such as Daisy and Zelda, their love for money, and the collapse of their dream that really make
The Great Gatsby is an extraordinary novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who tells the story about the wealthy man of Long Island named, Jay Gatsby, a middle aged man with a mysterious past, who lives at a gothic mansion and hosts many parties with many strangers who were not entirely invited. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many characters are discussed uniquely to an extent from the festive, yet status hungry Roaring Twenties. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald introduces many characters who all seem to cause conflict with each other because of incompatible personalities. The main character that F. Scott Fitzgerald sets the entire book over is Jay Gatsby, Gatsby, is first shown as a mysterious man whose
In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, at first glance the main character Jay Gatsby first appears as an extraordinary man with a perfect life. With a closer look, Gatsby is nothing more than common man with the flaw of being stuck in the past. As much time he spends
In this novel Fitzgerald explains how Gatsby is “sensitive to the promises of life.” What this means is that Gatsby is very hopeful for what is to come in the future. It shows that Gatsby is ready for anything that comes his way. Since Gatsby has been successful for many years, his sense of
“Most writers,” as James L. W. West, III illustrates in “The Perfect Hour: The Romance of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ginevra King, His First Love,” find inspiration for their fictional characters from influences in their own lives, thus creating “composite characters” (West 113). Having a personal relationship with the inspirations for their characters, writers can successfully characterize these imaginative personas. F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the most notable American writers of the early twentieth-century, is no exception; a number of his short stories, including “Babylon Revisited,” “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” and “Winter Dreams,” can be seen as self-reflective or even autobiographical. Fitzgerald’s recurring tendency to model characters
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby portrays a man of wealth and class, but as the story progresses, Gatsby’s madness and unwavering love for Daisy reveal his true self. Jay Gatsby is not the man everyone believes he is, and throughout the novel, his past is questioned by not only Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan, but also his friend, Nick Carraway. Gatsby has a talent for self invention, which allows him to create a new identity from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, but this also creates a different personality. Jay Gatsby is not the man he considers himself to be. Gatsby has an idealistic love for Daisy that causes him to become a new person entirely.
The disillusionment of the American Dream is a frequent but important written theme in the American literature. Fitzgerald’s famous book The Great Gatsby is one of the most important representative works that reflects this theme. F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known for his novels and short stories which chronicle the excesses of America's Jazz Age during the 1920s. His classic twentieth-century story of Jay Gatsby examines and critiques Gatsby's particular vision of the 1920's American Dream. The Great Gatsby can be seen as a far-reaching book that has revealed many serious and hidden social problems at that time. As one of the most popular and financially successful
The 1920’s was a time of great change to both the country lived in as well as the goals and ambitions that were sought after by the average person. During this time, priorities shifted from family and religion to success and spontaneous living. The American dream, itself, changed into a self centered and ongoing personal goal that was the leading priority in most people’s lives. This new age of carelessness and naivety encompasses much of what this earlier period is remembered for. In addition, this revolution transformed many of the great writers and authors of the time as well as their various works. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, perfectly symbolizes many emergent trends of the 1920’s. More importantly the