The Great Gatsby - Chapter 1 Essay

The Great Gatsby is a novel that was published in 1922 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in this novel he writes about the Jazz Age in language that marvelously evokes music. The Great Gatsby is a romantic and cynical novel about wealth and he portraits characters in the novel who maneuver themselves in complex or difficult situations. The character Tom Buchanan, is Daisy Buchanan’s husband, which Daisy is cheating on him later with Gatsby whom I’ll explain who he is in a bit, and also Daisy is the main character’s cousin. The main character is a man named Nick Carraway which in the novel he is telling the story in a second person point of view of Gatsby, who is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a mansion in West Egg. He is famous for the big parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows what he does, what made his fortune, or where he comes from. In the novel Tom Buchanan is cheating on his wife Daisy for a woman named Myrtle Wilson who is married to a man named George Wilson, a lifeless man owning a run down garage in the Valley of Ashes. Tom Buchanan and George Wilson are more similar than different because they both got cheated on. They will be compared and contrasted on their attitudes towards women, their ways of showing violence, and their reactions of being cheated on.

Nick Carraway plays an important role as narrator and as a main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald manages to balance both his roles in such a way as to not overwhelm the novel with is presence. Nick manages to tell the story, without over exaggerating himself as a character. His lack of bias exonerates the legitimacy of his role as both narrator and character. Nick’s character sketch also assisted in easing the burdens of being both narrator and character. His passive and non-combative character made it easy for him to disappear in the background. His passiveness is due in part to his lack of wealth. He was in no position, certainly not financial, to be combative. For example, Tom makes regular unpleasant demands of him, he gives into these demand not because he wants to but because of his non-combative character. He fades in the background as he does exactly what he has been told. His ability to “shine” in the background makes him a trustworthy narrator, which Fitzgerald brilliantly orchestrates.

The passage is structured into three sections, each differing in the use of narration, description, and dialogue. The first paragraph is Nick’s narration that prepares the reader to discover the “strange story” of Gatsby’s youth. The following five paragraphs are an intriguing mixture of narration and description. Gatsby’s descriptive revelation of his past is retold through by Nick’s narration. The filter of Nick’s own opinions inevitably affects the nuance of Gatsby’s experiences. Nick’s biased disapproval of the rich is conveyed through subtle words such as “bought luxury,” which implies his scorn for the rich who enjoy excessive luxury at the expense of others’ efforts.The last paragraph consists of Gatsby’s monologue only, in which the expression of his thoughts are independent of Nick’s opinion. Through this Fitzgerald provides the reader with Gatsby’s honest thoughts, in which his illusions are further made obvious. For example, his misguided belief that Daisy thought he “knew a lot because [he] knew different things from her” is overconfident and idealistic, giving the reader an insight into his character.

“Is Tom most responsible for Gatsby’s death? Daisy? Myrtle? Gatsby himself? Give reasons why or why not each character is implicated in the murder.”

There is nothing like sitting on a beach with a beach bag full of books. You don't have a care in the world, at least in the real world. If you are anything like me, you can get emotionally attached to characters. You feel what they feel, whether it's hope, joy, or sadness. You have more time in the Summer, to completely get lost in the book. If you need some help finding your summer reading list, I'll give you mine to find some inspiration.

The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays a world filled with rich societal activities, love affairs, and dishonesty. Nick Carraway is the busy narrator of the book, a curious choice considering that he is in a different class and almost in a different world than Gatsby and the other characters. Nick relates the plot of the story to the reader as a part of Gatsby’s circle. He has hesitant feelings towards Gatsby, despising his personality and corrupted dream but feeling drawn to Gatsby’s wonderful ability to hope. Using Nick as an honorable guide, Fitzgerald attempts to guide readers on a journey through the novel to show the corruption and failure of the American Dream. To achieve

In “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald Nick Carraway’s different descriptions of Mr. Gatsby and Tom Buchanan are exposed. Nick is infatuated by Gatsby, unlike his apprehension towards Tom. The narrator’s diction describes these differences very clearly. The difference between “romantic readiness” which is used to describe Gatsby and “fractiousness” which is used to describe Tom shows a clear distinction between Nick’s opinion of these two characters. The differences between Gatsby and Tom are very strong in Nick’s view of them.

The Great Gatsby is structured into three distinct sections. The first section is chapters one to four which revolve around Nick’s view of past events involving Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan and their friends. Chapter five is the the pivotal point in the novel as it is when Daisy and Gatsby meet again after many years and it deals with their awkward encounter which reveals what has happened to them since they last met. The final section from chapters six to nine is concerned with Gatsby’s fall from grace and his eventual death at the end of the novel. The three sections are roughly arranged in chronological order, occurring in the four month period from the summer of 1923. This essay will discuss how F. Scott Fitzgerald chose to

Themes of hope, success, and wealth overpower The Great Gatsby, leaving the reader with a new way to look at the roaring twenties, showing that not everything was good in this era. F. Scott Fitzgerald creates the characters in this book to live and recreate past memories and relationships. This was evident with Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, Tom and Daisy’s struggling marriage, and Gatsby expecting so much of Daisy and wanting her to be the person she once was. The theme of this novel is to acknowledge the past, but do not recreate and live in the past because then you will not be living in the present, taking advantage of new opportunities.

The narrator reveals a judgemental tone of Clarence Hervey through descriptions of his character. The tone represents not only the personality of the narrator but also the characters in the selection. An example as in

In chapter three of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald relays the first encounter with the protagonist of the novel, and is also were his use of literary techniques emotionally involves the reader whilst effectively telling the story so brilliantly. Also his varied use of diverse methods of structure and form, than what has been previously seen in his commentaries, allows the readers to explore the events of the naive narrator, Nick, with other people other than the materialistic and drunk lifestyle that Gatsby and his so called ‘friends’ live. Furthermore, Fitzgerald emphasises towards the end of the chapter that this story is indeed about Nick’s life in America even though it consists majority of the time with the supposed ‘Great Gatsby’, and it becomes predominantly clear after Nick begins ‘Reading over what I have written so far..’, that he does have a life outside of Gatsby’s, even if it is consumed by ‘boring’ bonds.

“Hey, stop! This is the house” Gareth said loudly. The car screeched over to the side of the road, gravel spitting into the air. He got out of the car with the portfolio in hand. He always hated this part of his job; seeing the family’s faces when he tells them the news. He slowly starts the walk up the steps to the second story of the crummy apartment building. Maybe taking the girl from this place will actually be a blessing.

Julia: Campbell Alexander's ex girlfriend who spends time with Anna and is very close with her.

1. Why are we still reading a book written in the 1920's? What gives a book its longevity?

F. Scott Fitzgerald set the story of a man named Gatsby in the lively city of New York during the 1920’s. There, readers are introduced to the erratic behavior of people during the era and solely rely on the memories and judgments of Nick Carraway to convey the occurrences of the novel. Nick’s narration is one of the devices which Fitzgerald utilizes to make the claims he does throughout the story. He makes use of the characteristics he gave Nick towards articulating the idea that it is possible to fail someone and lead them to destruction in a silent and nonchalant manner as well as an outright and blatant manner. While Tom and Daisy’s role remains conspicuous and discernible, He allows Nick to unknowingly implicate himself in Gatsby’s collapse as well. The account of events given by Nick gave Fitzgerald the opportunity to develop this position in a coherent conduct that would not have arisen had Nick been the honest, respectable narrator that one wishes to see in the story. Instead we are given a passive, inconsistent, contradictory, and morally ambiguous view of the plot. The audience must look through Nick’s indifferent eyes and only gain insight from Nick’s minds, yet even in his telling, his faulty actions still remain visible through the haze provided by the pivotal characters and the hectic New York landscape.