Pros And Cons Of Being A Swimmer

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby,” he mirrors his life and the people in

Authors who are addicts use their writing in many ways to reveal their thoughts and feelings of their addictions. Fitzgerald is an example of these people as even claiming to have “not tasted so much as a glass of beer for six months,” (“America’s Drunkest Writer”). This is most likely false as this was during his lowest times and when he would often be in denial that he was drinking. In Fitzgerald's writing, The Great Gatsby, the Owl-Eyed man says “I’ve been drunk for a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library”(50). This is similar to the way that Fitzgerald would often go and be drunk for long periods of time and say that he attempted to be sober. In the end, Fitzgerald never had a book like, The Great Gatsby, as he would often

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

F. Scott Fitzgerald is mostly known for his images of young, rich, immoral individuals pursuing the American Dream of the 1920’s (Mangum). This image is best portrayed in his greatest novel, The Great Gatsby, alongside his principal themes, “lost hope, the corruption of innocence by money, and the impossibility of recapturing the past” (Witkoski). Fitzgerald was identified as a modern period writer because his themes and topics were inconsistent with traditional writing (Rahn).

As Fitzgerald grew up with his family in a middle class catholic family "This initial religious note indicates how deeply Fitzgerald understood the American tradition of which he was so profoundly a part” (Bewley), Fitzgerald began writing at a very young age, and he had begun to get recognized and then his success in his career had taken off. Even though life had been going well for Fitzgerald there were some downfalls. As he began to get older health problems begin to appear, and his work did not earn the credibility and the recognition it deserved until a few years after his death, Fitzgerald had decided that his life was a great example of the American dream and how it can fail, therefore Fitzgerald decided that his life should be put in the form of a book, and that is why there is a resemblance between Fitzgerald’s life and Jay Gatsby’s.

Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald alludes to and questions many standard American beliefs. One of the most extreme cases that exemplifies his criticism is Gatsby’s fantastical description of what it would have been like to kiss Daisy when they had first known each other. “His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own,” Nick describes Gatsby’s vision, “He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God” (Fitzgerald 110). Entrenched in Gatsby’s vast imagination is the idea that Daisy is flawless and the epitome of his goals. However irrational Gatsby’s mind is, he realizes that once he actually kissed her his idealistic version of her will disappear and he will realize her imperfections. This is is a perfect metaphor for Fitzgerald’s stance towards the American Dream, the unrealistic and heroic expectations of class mobility and the clean cut ideas about hard work and are, for the most part, theoretical. Fitzgerald realizes that in many cases, such as Gatsby’s, pining after an ideal yields nothing because of the impossibility of perfection. Fitzgerald ends the novel by attempting to describe the emptiness of the promise of the American Dream by writing, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past”(Fitzgerald 180). The promise of success is endlessly beat down by the “current” that all people have to fight against. It is romantic and arguably foolish to attempt to break the odds and the safest and easiest route will always be to go backwards. The apparent futility of exerting effort is only counteracted by the existentiality of life, if there is no reason to try then why does life exist. Heroic ideas such as the American Dream are doomed to

Music, liquor, and gold, everything you need to make a great party. And, that’s what it was, the roaring twenties, it was a never ending party of financial gain and materialism. However, there were some who viewed it to be a gilded age. They were the Lost Generation, Fitzgerald among them. After the Great War they viewed society as rotten from the inside, gilded gold while systematic problems broiled underneath. This social breakdown masked by wealth and success is nowhere better seen than in Fitzgerald’s greatest work, The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby, if anything, is excellent at exemplifying many moral shortfalls, anywhere from adultery and deceit to bootlegging and murder. The most natural and the most vile of human actions coupled with flawed and disillusioned characters constructs a perfect stage for society to crumble. Gradually, Fitzgerald takes us on a depressing journey while we watch the breakdown of modern, civil institutions.

Caroline Silva English 3 H - Reidling 3rd Period 10/17/14 The Great Gatsby Essay F. Scott Fitzgerald’s view on human nature in The Great Gatsby is that humans abandon their morals to get what they want. Human nature is inclined to lose morals to get in return money, material things, and a well-known name in society, and even for revenge. As soon as things go wrong or they are satisfied humans go back to their comfort zone with no regrets; not caring about others feelings and the damage they’ve done. “Their money or vast carelessness kept them together and let [others] clean up the mess they made.”

Gatsby is not ‘great,’ as the title of Fitzgerald’s book might insinuate, and this becomes a metaphor for how the American dream is unrealistic as well. Gatsby made all of his money through illegal activities, including bootlegging (141). This portrays how Fitzgerald believed that the American dream is so unreachable that the only way to attain it is in a dishonest manner. Also, even after all of the illegal activities, Gatsby is still discontent with his dream, and begins throwing lavish parties in order to attract Daisy, with whom he had previously been in a relationship (83). In the end, however, Gatsby is murdered, but still is unable to become truly happy with his life, even after becoming wealthy and finding Daisy. Gatsby’s inability to ever find real happiness shows that not only

In “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald incorporates symbolism to represent not only the corruption that lies behind the American Dream, but also the ambition that can destroy an individual’s morality.

F. Scott Fitzgerald saw what society either ignored or remained oblivious to. Able to publish a book in the mid-twenties with apt arguments on the shortcomings of the current way of life, he was undoubtedly an insightful man. He knew the popularized lifestyle beholden to materialism on an unprecedented scale was bound to collapse with a large thud. Few can claim such pure perspective, the ability to reach an outcome ex ante is one of power. Fitzgerald found a way to see through the flawed motives and actions of everyone around him and desperately attempted to share is foresight in The Great Gatsby.

These include Gatsby and Fitzgerald's longing for accomplishment through disappointment, the fact that Gatsby and Fitzgerald both "loved and lost", and also Fitzgerald and Gatsby's shared habits, such as alcoholism. The Great Gatsby and Scott Fitzgerald's own life is the dreams of success that drive both Jay Gatsby and Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was never able to attain the fame that he pursued throughout his literary life, but was able to live out his dreams of wealth and success through Jay Gatsby. Like Fitzgerald, Gatsby came from extraordinary beginnings. Fitzgerald may not have started out Gatsby with mounds of wealth simply to make his own situation more realistic. In other words, Fitzgerald was still clinging to the hopes of prosperity despite not being born into lavish

Fitzgerald was a dreamer. He though everything would turn out fine, just as Gatsby had, but he was wrong and had to recompense for it in the end.

Gatsby refuses to not meet his aspirations and will fulfill his dream by any means necessary. Although Gatsby’s intentions and motivation to become successful are pure, the way he obtains his status is extremely foul and criminal. Gatsby participates in organized crime, trades stolen securities, and bootlegs illegal alcohol. Instead of Gatsby using his wit and intelligence in an honest hard working way, he participates in corrupt acts, which will guarantee him his wealth and status. It is this aspect of Gatsby’s life where Fitzgerald expresses the decline of The American Dream. He tries to show his readers the demoralization of our society and how greed and power are a form of empty success that a lot of Americans buy in to.

Both of them lose themselves in romance, immerse blindly in wealth, and have strong opinions on alcohol. Even though Fitzgerald originally intended Gatsby to be as different from himself as possible, halfway through the writing whether conscious or not, Gatsby changed into himself. The similarity between Gatsby and Fitzgerald is first seen in that they both have desperate attempts of affection. Because their loved ones being rather materialistic, both Fitzgerald and Gatsby resort to incredible measures to gain financial prospect to impress them. Fitzgerald, who originally wrote for pleasure now resorted to writing stories solely for money and Gatsby indulged himself in bootlegging. As well as wealth, Fitzgerald and Gatsby also sacrificed their lifestyle in pursuit of women. In attempt to attune himself to Zelda’s extravagant lifestyle, Fitzgerald introduced himself to alcohol and partying. They attended and hosted many parties featuring illegal alcohol during the Prohibition era and Fitzgerald consequently grew to became extremely alcoholic. Growing more and more unproductive in his writing and demanding quick money, Fitzgerald had no choice but to resort to writing mediocre stories. Fitzgerald, regretting the effect his lifestyle has had on his life, notes the