Misuse Of Power In The Great Gatsby

Does Tom Buchanan actually bestow the amount of power that he’s portrayed to have? In “The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Buchanan is made to be seen as a domineering character. When viewing Tom’s character through the social power lens, it’ll be able to expose parts of this book where Tom struggles to keep the amount of power he currently has, from his wealth and social ranking, due to his growing insecurities. Throughout this book, Tom believes he obtains a higher degree of power over everyone else and that only his point of view matters because of his extravagant life. Although Tom does attain a substantial amount of power over many of the other characters in this book, it doesn’t mean he’ll be able to hold onto it.

Fitzgerald writes a story with a character that is considered “larger than life”; he throws massive parties, is in love with a married woman, is rich and goes by the name of Jay Gatsby. Nick is the narrator who is sees a different side of Gatsby that sees him “great” aside from his wealth and corruption. Nick grew up in the Jazz age and it was replaced with the vitality, and favor of the artificial American dream. Gatsby’s life was full of winnings along with failures that followed him into death throughout the novel; never the less he achieves a form of “greatness” because of his morality in Nick’s perspective.

Fitzgerald displays Gatsby as man who came from nothing, with an unrelenting passion to obtain material success, or the 1920’s American Dream. Radical transformation was one of Mr. Gatsby’s most outstanding characteristics, taking his desire to change from the once impoverished man to the point of changing his name. Certainly Gatsby possesses admirable traits, as his will power is once again displayed through the longing for his lost love, Daisy. The misconceptions of the time period are illustrated as Fitzgerald displays that Gatsby’s underlying desire for money is to win over Daisy through impressing her with his wealth. Within Adam Cohen’s piece “Jay Gatsby Is a Man for Our Times”, Cohen discusses the worthiness of Gatsby’s goal: “The callow Daisy, whose voice is ‘full of money,’ may not be a worthy goal. But Gatsby’s longing for her, and his willingness to sell his soul to pursue her, are the purest thing in this sordid tale.” Essentially, Fitzgerald demonstrates that Gatsby, nor his relentless will to succeed, are not the issue. It is the time period, along with the misconceptions of a dream, which corrupt the character. Gatsby’s wealth is obtained through unethical ways, like many others who followed the path of easy money. The corruption of bonds does bring Gatsby the wealth he had always longed for, along with extravagant and lavish parties at his mansion. Consequently, we learn that reaching the goal of obtaining wealth ultimately does not lead to

The Roaring Twenties were a time of booming economic growth in America. Newfound wealth flowing into the nation’s market provided a stream of chances for impoverished people to achieve the American Dream. This gave many people the impression that social mobility was not only possible, but prevalent and that lower class and upper class could merge together in unison. In the novel The Great Gatsby by renowned American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, protagonist Jay Gatsby is used as a way of showing the impossibilities in attempting to rise through the social structure by his incapability of blending in with upper class patricians. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby highlights the false beliefs that a rise in social mobility and new opportunities for lower class citizens to achieve the American Dream were commonplace while a decline in plutocracy occurred during the 1920’s in America.

“‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy. ‘What Gatsby?’”(11). F. Scott Fitzgerald created “The Great Gatsby” with great craft. The reader understands the story through Nick’s eyes. Nick encounters many parties, family gatherings, and a funeral. The scenes are so in depth that the reader feels as if they are reliving the events in Nick’s life. The reader can take out characteristics, thoughts of the society, and themes in each scene that emphasizes the the themes of the book as a whole. Tom’s Character and the way society thinks of Tom leads to the theme of once a cheater, always a cheater. Gatsby’s characteristics and the way society portrays him demonstrates the theme of gossip altering Gatsby’s true qualities.

Even though Nick believes that Gatsby is different than the others in the wealthy he was just as corrupt and dishonest as the others in the upper class. When they were all together Tom revealed what he had find out about how Gatsby made his money and he disclose “I find out what your ‘drug-stores’ were”(The Great Gatsby 284). He was referring to the illegal alcohol that Gatsby as selling to make his fortune. Tom was pointing out how Gatsby’s money wasn’t honest to make him look bad in front of Daisy and everybody else. Nick was trying to know more about Gatsby and his business life and he because some of the things Gatsby was saying didn’t add up so Nick indicated "I thought you inherited your money." "I did, old sport," he said automatically, "but I lost most of it in the big panic – the panic of the war." 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 the appropriate reply”(The Great Gatsby 97). The fact that Gatsby was lying about how he made his money shows how dishonest and corrupt he was that he had to hid it.

The Great Gatsby entails of a story of a bright young man, Nick Carraway, who moved to New York City in search of a successful life in the bonds business, but becomes suffocated by the lifestyles of those in wealth and power at the time. As Nick settles himself in a new job and new city, in the only cottage among mansions on West and East Egg, he finds himself neighbor to a mysterious, wealthy man known for his extravagant parties and elusive persona. This neighbor, Jay Gatsby, emerges to be one of the main characters of the novel and the only person in all of New York that Nick can call a friend. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, encompasses the hollowness of the upper class as well as the deterioration of the “American Dream” within the plotline of the lives of Nick, Gatsby, and the Buchanan’s. Because of the themes Fitzgerald created, it prompts people, such as Bruccoli, to make the claim “The Great Gatsby does not proclaim the nobility of the human spirit; it is not politically correct; it does not reveal how to solve the problems of life; it delivers no fashionable or comforting messages. It is just a masterpiece.” While the Great Gatsby is a masterpiece, Bruccoli correctly examines the text in revealing no nobility of the human spirit, no solutions to the problems of life, and it is politically incorrect. However, despite the dismal themes, Fitzgerald does deliver fashionable/comforting messages to the audience. Bruccoli’s claim brings to light the

Fitzgerald uses simile and connotation to show that Gatsby has achieved the goals of American society through his wealth and affluent image. The luxurious connotation of Gatsby’s material possessions facilitates his attempt to achieve his

While one of the most interesting subplots is probably the development of Nick and Gatsby’s relationship, this relationship compromises Nick’s ability to stay objective; and while without hearing about Nick’s tenuous relationship with “riotous excursions” (pg. 2), the book would be far less captivating, the result is, regardless, that one loses some faith in its

Gatsby’s story, to many, is one of perseverance and determination at its finest. He devotes all his money and energy to the relatable dream of making life as fulfilling as possible. Gatsby is named “great” because of the desirable prosperity that he accumulates in a short time. Despite this material accomplishment, he should be condemned for turning into a criminal to actualize his dream. Secrets about his money are only revealed later in the book, horrifying readers who were kept in suspense about his past. “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (Fitzgerald 133) is one example of confirmation that Gatsby was involved in illegal activities. He is an immoral man. There is an absence of discretion or guilt when Gatsby spends his unlawful earnings on lavish parties and a mansion. Clearly, he is not ashamed. Readers understand the statement

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby provides the reader with a unique outlook on the life of the newly rich. Gatsby is an enigma and a subject of great curiosity, furthermore, he is content with a lot in life until he strives too hard. His obsession with wealth, his lonely life and his delusion allow the reader to sympathize with him.

This shows that Gatsby seems to strangely disappear from Nick’s view, and with Nick unaware of who Jay Gatsby legitimately, this gives the character an aura of mystery. Gatsby is a mysterious unique character that many people seem to guess who his true identity is, for example when Nick and Jordan attend on of Gatsby’s great parties Nick begins to ask Jordan questions about Gatsby “‘where is he from, I mean? And what does he do?’ ‘Now you’re started on the subject”” (Fitzgerald 53). This shows that nobody fully understands who Gatsby truly is, and that although many people participate at his parties, no one really knows who the host actually is, making Jay Gatsby mysterious as ever.

Myranda Rodriguez Ms. McDonald Block 4 7 November 2017 The life of Gatsby     In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby the overall theme of wealth shows that just because money has value it can never buy people's happiness or love that’s real. In the beginning of the book, the upper class is perceived as judgemental and self-important. Nick’s father always told him, “Whenever you feel like criticising anyone… just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”( 1).

Imagine a society in which no one worries about money: the citizens party all of the time and live with limitless possibilities. One might consider this a perfect society; it seems as though nothing could go wrong. However, in reality, such a society would fail miserably; this society would suffer from the egotism and narcissism of its citizens. The Great Gatsby does an excellent job of portraying this society: it captures the destructive aspects of an affluent urban community in the Roaring '20s. Here, God does not take the form of an inhuman, omnipotent, and omniscient being; rather, God wields the power to only change the past and define the characteristics of everything.

Although to Nick, Gatsby seems at once completely unoriginal, extremely knowable, being with him, he notes, was "like skimming hastily through a dozen magazines” (Fitzgerald 55). Gatsby, in Nick’s point of view, was disruptive. He is unable to trust Gatsby, for a fear that he would just vanish at the moment in which a promise leans toward its fulfillment.