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Symbolism Of The Rose In The Great Gatsby

Decent Essays

The changing symbol of the flower in The Great Gatsby represents hope and beauty, but also defends the claim that although everyone tries to be beautiful, beauty is only temporary and will never last and will fall apart in one's hands. In the beginning of The Great Gatsby, a flower shows how people are fake and they have ulterior motives to try to show their beauty. Nick is at Tom’s and Daisy’s house and Jordan wants Nick to be at her table. Jordan says, "I love to see you at my table, Nick. You remind me of a rose, an absolute rose...An absolute rose?" (Fitzgerald 14). In response to this Nick thinks, “ This was untrue. I am not even faintly like a rose. She was only extemporizing, but a stirring warmth flowed from her” (Fitzgerald 14). She uses the term “absolute rose” and that represents that he is everything like a rose, which symbolizes hope and beauty, and there is not one thing that prevents him from being hopeful. Nick says, “ I am not even faintly like a rose” which causes contradiction because Jordan believes he is an “absolute rose”. Nick not believing that he is “faintly like a rose” means there is an indistinction in what he actually is after being called an “absolute rose”. Afterword, Nick, Daisy, Tom and Jordan are talking at Tom’s house and Nick is surprised at what Daisy did: “Daisy, surprising me by opening up again in a flower−like way” (Fitzgerald 19). Daisy “opening up...in a flower-like way” shows that she is beautiful and doesn’t flirt with using her

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