Jay Gatsby is a man with many dynamic qualities that are illustrated through his close ties to his past desires. Within the masterfully crafted Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the past to play a major role in Gatsby’s disillusionment. While the book only highlights a sliver of Gatsby’s life, Fitzgerald’s stunning writing allows the reader to recognize the crucial relationship between the protagonist and his past through his pining for Daisy, materialistic values and his desire to achieve the American dream. Gatsby’s infatuation with Daisy Buchanan is greatly altered by past events, as seen repeatedly throughout the novel. Fitzgerald uses a scene five years previous to the story to illustrate the beginnings of Gatsby’s obsession. As …show more content…
However, Gatsby’s desire for success and to lead a prosperous life can be seen as early as his childhood with his “schedule” for success written on the back of his book. One of Gatsby’s more positive qualities, as Fitzgerald subtly includes, is his drive and passion, and the past serves as a backbone for what he wishes to achieve. While such ambition can be a positive trait, Gatsby’s crass materialism reflects poorly on his character. The fact that he purchased a grand house just to live near Daisy and that he no doubt spent millions of dollars in attempt to see her at one of his parties makes Gatsby seem shallow and extremely naive. Fitzgerald includes his nice shirts and large parties to emphasize his lust for wealth and success, desires that can be traced back to the success he saw in Dan Cody, the future he saw in Daisy and the potential he saw in himself. Fitzgerald most clearly uses this obsession with money and material to serve as an aspect of social satire seen in the book with the “Jazz Age” and the morals and obsessions that came with it. However, Fitzgerald also uses this to further characterize Gatsby as a man infatuated with his past - his ulterior motive, the meaning behind his mad materialism is Daisy, an emblem of his
Gatsby, after having met Daisy, does everything in his power to make a lot of money from the nothing he had through illegal means. When Gatsby made a lot of money through his business, he moved into a large wealthy house right across the bay from Daisy to impress her. He throws large, extravagant parties in the hope that Daisy will come over to one of them, which Fitzgerald also uses to illustrate how people pursued only their pleasure with parties and alcohol even though it was banned. Later when Daisy meets with Gatsby, he shows her his house and Fitzgerald emphasizes that all Gatsby cares about is how Daisy sees it and how Daisy just sees the wealth, “He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real” (Fitzgerald, 91).
The world is full of powerful forces that control people from all corners of the globe, but one of the most powerful and far-reaching force is money. Money is something that controls multiple people's lives and their decisions, sometimes people revolve their lives around money. Just like in the real world, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, money is a large concept in the book and is a motivator for multiple characters. The Great Gatsby is about Nick as he follows the story of Jay Gatsby and his quest to gain money and uses theses riches to win over his past lover, Daisy. Gatsby is not the only character that uses money to get his way or is materialistic, as multiple
" We are living in a material world." This famous line in one of Madonna's songs entitled "Material Girl" will never outgrow itself. Ever since the beginnings of monetary means, the main focus of living is getting more money and to be as successful as possible. This became a huge issue during the 1920's. In this era, people made money from the stock market, illegal bootlegging and so forth. With these people hitting the jackpot, this then created a new rank called `new money'. This rank, however, never overpowered `old money' the most wealthiest, well-known and respected class. The possession of material wealth however, can't bring true happiness. Love is an important factor in this equation; when you don't have love, it is hard to say
Money, wealth and prestige were constantly on the minds of people during the Roaring Twenties. Not everyone during this time was able to achieve the wealth and status that they aspired to, including Jay Gatsby. Many people of the upper class inherited their wealth, and oftentimes lived on the rich peninsula of East Egg. On the other hand, those who had to make their own way in the world lived on the less wealthy peninsula of West Egg. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby to portray the corrupt mindset of the 1920’s. Starting off as a poor boy, Gatsby aspires to become as wealthy as the aristocracy, and becomes obsessed with this aspiration; his American Dream. Through illicit means, Jay Gatsby makes his way up the social ladder, but stalls prior to reaching the peak. Gatsby, although known for his extravagant parties and expensive belongings, lives in West Egg, showing that he is not part of the aristocracy. Throughout The Great Gatsby, a classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby attempts to capture the American Dream, but his corrupt view of it only leads him to become materialistic, ending his life with few personal relationships, thus proving that during the Roaring Twenties people were more concerned with superfluous objects, as opposed to their own well being.
Is your life revolved around how much money you have, what you can buy, or what you look like? In The Great Gatsby, the lives of the characters are revolved around the importance of money and the materials they own. Tom and Daisy Buchanan are two very important people that let their money control their lives, such as Daisy marrying Tom solely for is money so that she will be provided for her entire life. Gatsby is a prime example of all the wrong reasons of wanting to accomplish the American dream. He wanted to impress Daisy, so he lied and cheated his way to the top in order to prove to her that he was worth it, and now that he has money, he allowed it to take control of him and his true purpose. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald allows the
“‘I’m glad it’s a girl and I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’”. This is a very vivid quote written by F. Scott Fitzgerald that helps identify one of the many themes in his book The Great Gatsby. This specific quote speaks of the topic I will be addressing which is money and materialism. This theme takes shape and form in many different ways and through different people throughout the book, and is shown through Fitzgerald’s characters Myrtle, Daisy, and Tom.
“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" is one of the most influential and famous phrases in the United State’s Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence encapsulates the original conception of the American Dream – the notion that every individual, regardless of their social upbringing, could have the opportunity to reach their full potential and live a comfortable lifestyle. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby takes place during the early 1920s--a time period that demonstrates the pursuit of happiness, opportunity, freedom, equality and finally the American Dream. Myrtle Wilson, a significant character in The Great Gatsby, tries to pursue
“Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so,” once said Charles de Gaulle. This valiant quote by a former president of France accentuates my opinion of the Great Jay Gatsby. From humble beginnings rises our main focus of F. Scott Fitzgeralds’ The Great Gatsby. Young Jimmy Gatz is brought to West Egg from his heavily impoverished North Dakota family. His desire to be something greater than a farmer drove him to fortune and love through any means necessary; his life long obsession, Daisy Fay, infatuates Jay in his own insatiable thirst for her affection. James follows Daisy in the years after he is deployed to World War 1, and when he sees she has married Tom Buchanan he becomes hell-bent on replicating the success Tom has inherited in order to win over Daisy. Through moderately deceitful ways, Jay Gatsby builds his wealth and reputation to rival and even supersede many already lavish family names. Astonishingly, the great Mr. Gatsby, overrun with newfound affluence, stays true to his friends, lover, and his own ideals to his blissfully ignorant end.
America has been labeled "The land of opportunity," a place where it is possible to accomplish anything and everything. This state of mind is known as "The American Dream." The American Dream provides a sense of hope and faith that looks forward to the fulfillment of human wishes and desires. This dream, however, originates from a desire for spiritual and material improvement. Unfortunately, the acquisition of material has been tied together with happiness in America. Although "The American Dream" can be thought of as a positive motivation, it often causes people to strive for material perfection, rather than a spiritual one. This has
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.
Conflict with the past is a central idea in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. While Gatsby longs for the past, “a simpler time”, he also goes through many attempts to avoid it. From his name change to his obsession over his teenage sweetheart, Jay Gatsby's unusual actions reveal a complex relationship between himself and his past. Gatsby's attempts to escape his past along with his longing to recreate it develop Fitzgerald's message that people have a natural complexity and duality in their relationships with their former selves that can result in often disadvantageous circumstances in the present.
Fitzgerald reveals the detrimental impacts of living in the past, through the character James Gatz and his numerous flashbacks responsible for Gatz’s development into the character of Jay Gatsby. Gatz invented the character of Gatsby, providing a fallacious back-story, in order to convince himself and hopefully Daisy that there remains a possibility of love despite their difference in economic backgrounds. Nick reveals, “So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this (Platonic) conception he was faithful to the end” (132). Gatsby changed his past, hoping to change the outcome of his future happiness. Fitzgerald reveals Gatsby’s construed misconception of himself through flashbacks in order to emphasize the effect the past has on the present.
“Money Changes Everything” by Cyndi Lauper illustrates the way people center their desires on material things such as money. The speaker in the song leaves the poor man, solely because he does not have money, for the affluent one: “I’m leaving you tonight…There was one thing we weren’t really thinking of and that’s money” (Lauper 1, 6-7). Like Cyndi Lauper, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates the way people often center their desires on material things such as money in The Great Gatsby. Daisy falls in love with Gatsby, who is a poor man at the time, and when Gatsby leaves for the war, Daisy marries Tom Buchanan, who is a rich man, because he is “old money,” meaning he will always have the money and status to support Daisy. When Gatsby returns
The Great Gatsby does not offer a definition of love, or a contrast between love and romance. Rather it suggests that what people believe to be love is normally only a dream. America in the 1920s was a country where moral values were slowly crumbling and Americans soon only had one dream and objective to achieve, success. Distorted love is one theme in the novel The Great Gatsby, present among all of the characters relationships; Daisy and Tom, Tom and Myrtle, Daisy and Gatsby, and Wilson and Myrtle, though Myrtle does not return the love. This distortion illustrates that it is not love that leads several characters to death, but lust and the materialistic possessions that really drive the characters to their lonely
The 1920’s were roaring. Throughout this time period, wealth in the United States doubled, leaving room for growth in an economic forum. This caused many Americans to move into the uncharted territory of the city, and make the transition into a prosperous and foreign “consumer society” (History.com). In addition, the traits of greed and materialism are ubiquitous in The Great Gatsby, as well as in the flashy 1920’s. These two characteristics give one confidence, but as demonstrated in the novel, it brings nothing but short-term satisfaction. After that, feelings of desperation to childish behaviors can accompany it. These two features have the power to seem favorable, as they serve as a temporary distraction, bringing an