The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in a time that was characterized by an unbelievable lack of substance. After the tragedy and horrors of WWI, people were focused on anything that they could that would distract from the emptiness that had swallowed them. Tangible greed tied with extreme materialism left many, by the end of this time period, disenchanted. The usage of the literary theories of both Biographical and Historical lenses provide a unique interpretation of the Great Gatsby centered around context. Enabling one to see how the few real things and feelings of the world have been reflected in the Great Gatsby.

According to Aristotle, a tragic hero character can be defined to be of noble status, but not necessarily virtuous. There is some aspect of his personality that he has in great abundance but it is this that becomes his tragic flaw and leads to his ultimate demise. However, his tragic ending should not simply sadden the reader, but teach him or her a life lesson. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is the tragic hero who portrays the corruption of the American dream through his tragic flaw. His devastating death at the end of the novel portrays the dangers of centering one’s life on money and other materialistic things and warns the reader not to follow his foolish steps. Jay Gatsby is the epitome of a tragic hero; his

The novel Great Gatsby and the short poem America go great together both describing their views on America during this crazy time period of change. Great Gatsby was written by a man named F Scott Fitzgerald he wrote this book in 1925 during Great gatsby was written by a man named F Scott Fitzgerald he wrote this book in 1925 during the times when the American dream was the same for everyone.The 1920’s were the age of miracles Fitzgerald had said: "it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire." Fitzgerald loved to write books about love and greed like his book The Beautiful and Damned and This side of Paradise. Claude Mckay grew up loving writing and making poems. He was known for his during the Harlem

The story of The Great Gatsby is a novel that consists of a historical American context during the Harlem Renaissance. This was an excellent novel published in the 1920’s and was considered one of the best novels of its time. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald was an incredibly talented poetic author. Fitzgerald was able to emphasize and create the mood of the generation in a political time. The novel The Great Gatsby is a remarkable novel but also a very sad one. The novel took place during an age or era known as the “Roaring Twenties” which was a time of American wealth. Politics and corruption at the time is possibly what made Gatsby to be the business man he was.

“Who was this Great Gatsby, and where did he hail from?” This was the question on everyone’s lips. Described as a “young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, he had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced -or seemed to face- the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an

Everyone has heard of the phrase “stalker,” and everyone has heard of the concept of “love.” While these two are separate terms, what happens when the two become mistaken for one another? When does admiration become obsession? When is the line crossed from lover to stalker? In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main character, Jay Gatsby, is a very wealthy man who has once had a fling with Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby and Daisy were once in love but time came and went. Gatsby went to war, and Daisy married another man. When Gatsby gets back from war, he makes himself into a new persona to capture Daisy’s attention in hopes of rekindling their love. However, Gatsby takes his love to the point of obsession. He makes unrealistic rumors about himself, wastes money on luxuries to capture her attention, and expects too much from the woman he claims to love. Gatsby’s love for Daisy is not real love. He has many stalker-like qualities, rather than the romantic love so many are accustomed to.

The traditional hero, as defined by mythological scholar Joseph Campbell, undergoes a process in which he becomes a greater version of himself. This process is defined by Campbell’s archetype of the Hero’s Journey. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the protagonist, Nick Carraway, tells the story of a man who is unable to complete this journey as a result of his unrealistic ambitions. Goodreads reviewer Nataliya writes, “Jay Gatsby. . . dreamed a dream with the passion and courage few possess — and the tragedy was that it was a wrong dream colliding with the reality that was even more wrong — and deadly” (Nataliya). The essence of Nataliya’s argument is that Gatsby’s pursuit of happiness was extremely misguided and often conflicted

The Roaring Twenties era was a time of not only of crime, changing action and roles of women, but also of many other different social and cultural trends. The 1920s was the Progressive era that was a response to the Gilded Age. The Progressive era was filled with many reformers that aimed to reform the social issues like the women’s movement who had started a temperance movement to prohibit people from drinking. The 1920s was also a time of a social gap where the wealthy got more rich and the poor increased and stayed beyond the poverty line. In the Great Gatsby, the Valley of Ashes, automobiles, crime, and homes symbolize the social classes, and other cultural and social trends of the 1920s.

The “hero’s journey”, coined by Joseph Campbell, is a pattern in the plot structure of literature, myths, and oral tradition in which the hero is consistently faced with similar obstacles and achieves many of the same goals. The first part of the hero’s journey is “The Call.” The hero is usually living a very comfortable and easy life, unaware of the journey ahead. The hero is then faced with a situation or dilemma which eventually causes them to seek change. The hero, at this point, tends to refuse the call to adventure in fear of the unknown. Once the hero has been given the strength to push past the unknown, they have entered the threshold. The hero will experience many challenges and temptations where the hero is tested, eventually reaching “The Abyss,” the most difficult challenge. The hero is then transformed by these trials and returns home to every-day life and begins to contribute to their society. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist, Janie, experiences the hero’s journey first-hand through overcoming obstacles and transforming herself. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the heroine Janie overcomes many obstacles and is therefore transformed into a self reliant woman.

The book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has been read in schools for decades. The experience is different for everyone. Some may love this book while others just purely hate it. I have to say I am in between loving and hating this book. I do like the look into the lives of the rich of the 1920s and I did enjoy the overall story. However the cheating I wasn’t fond of. I do understand that is what happens with the rich so I do enjoy the fact that it historically accurate. Another topic that I will touch upon is the drunkenness and reckless driving portrayed, quite accurately, for this time period.

The Great Gatsby is the novel that is based on how rich people were back in the old days. This Novel takes us through the early 1900’s where the narrator, Nick Carraway meets secretive Mr. Gatsby who is a Trimachio which means that he once was a poor young kid who believed in a greater future and by the time he gets older he becomes this very wealthy man who hosts lavish banquets. We are following Mr. Gatsby’s journey to the love of his life, Daisy who is Nick’s cousin. Since Gatsby has been gone for almost 5 years Daisy got married to another man called Tom. The novel ends with Gatsby being shot to death and no one was there to his funeral besides reporters and photographers, who Nick angrily chases out.

“The Hero’s Journey Defined” is an article by Anthony Ubelhor. The article goes over the way that John Campbell classified the way any story flows. It dips into the three main phases of the Journey, and the sub-phases within them. The first main idea and phase is the Departure, where the hero is hailed on to a journey, or quest. The Departure is the hero’s first step toward change and re-evaluation of themselves, and the world they live in, and they are helped along the way by many sources.

The American Dream is a philosophy based off of starting from nothing and achieving family, fortune, and fame. The belief that self-determination and hard work will lead to the attainment of the American Dream is strongly tied with the American culture. This philosophical idea, however, is not portrayed in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which is often referred to as one of the “Great American Novels” to date. In terms, a “Great American Novel” should portray an honest and well-remembered character, rather than a character such as Jay Gatsby who achieved his fortune through illegal business and dies without recognition towards the end. Although Gatsby lives a lavish lifestyle that many people fantasize about, Gatsby’s American Dream is never fully fulfilled due to his failure of not having a family, successfully obtaining money the righteous way, and leaving a legacy; therefore, the novel The Great Gatsby, should not be entitled as the “Great American Novel” today.

The 1920s was a notorious decade in which patriarchal ideas drove the society while impacting the values of individuals across America. With limited rights for women, feminist ideas were rare, an idea that spread across-country. However, there was a new image of females emerging in the ‘20s, being the image of the flapper, someone who was free to go out and enjoy nightlife as they wished. The division in social structure was that of men being at the pinnacle of society, while women were expected to be the “perfect” wife. In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a Long Island man, Nick Carraway, who is also the narrator, and his interactions with an extremely wealthy man, Jay Gatsby, who has aspirations to

In the book, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is exemplified through many symbols and idols. Fitzgerald uses cars to represent wealth, success, status, and glamour. As Friedrich Nietzsche states, “There are more idols in the world than there are realities.” Nietzsche’s quote shows how idols and symbols are used to create impressions. Images are powerful and set a stage for others to judge one’s character, enabling human beings to avoid seeing what realities are. Idols are potent enough to mask the truth. In the novel, despite Gatsby 's own insecurities, he is viewed as an idol in society. Idols impact and influence Gatsby’s life and those living around him. Gatsby’s car represents an idol, illustrating his wealth, capturing attention, creating impressions, and covering misconceptions throughout life in the West Egg.