The Love Of Reality In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald published his book, The Great Gatsby. Since then, the popularity of the book continues to grow, is still taught in schools, and has been made into a movie twice. The book takes you through an adventure of a hopeless romantic who throws extravagant parties hoping one day he would discover someone to help him find the girl he has always loved. Gatsby puts his lover, Daisy, on a pedestal and believes she is larger than life. Everything he does to win her over is ideally perfect, but not realistic. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the concept of Idealism versus Realism throughout the book.

“Her voice is full of money.” (Chapter 7) Daisy became the Holy Grail for Gatsby and she represented everything he ever wanted in life. Maybe he believed that having Daisy would mean that he had, finally, escaped that past he had of being a poor nobody. Nevertheless, Gatsby’s undoing was, at the end, his adamant wanting to regain Daisy.

The narrator Nick goes into detail about the history and the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. Gatsby and Daisy meet while Gatsby is in the army, Daisy growing up wealthy and Gatsby a poor young man has no right being with her, Gatsby gives Daisy a sense of security and they have a short relationship. One night when they are together they kiss and Fitzgerald writes, “She had caught a cold, and it made her voice huskier and more charming than ever, and Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor” (Fitzgerald 150). While poor people are struggling in life, Fitzgerald refers Daisy to money. Throughout Daisy’s life she doesn't experience, struggles and instead lives a life with money that gives her anything she wants. Gatsby on the other hand is poor and sees what money gives you, Gatsby sees that money puts someone above people like him. In reality Daisy isn't living a life she appears to be, she is using men in the army to fill her void of loneliness, if she doesn't have money the men wouldn't all be in love with her. She puts herself as a prized possession for them to have because she has money. Daisy at a young age, and when she gets older uses her money to assert herself over others.

Gatsby does not realize that Daisy also represents the corruption that comes along with wealth. "Her voice is full of money, he suddenly said. That was it. I'd never understood it before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white Palace the King's daughter, the golden girl" (127). Gatsby becomes obsessed with Daisy and her voice that promised riches, but he does not realize that money was the only thing she offered. After listening to Tom, Nick describes Daisy and Tom as careless people who "smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (188). Daisy lets Gatsby take the blame for Myrtle’s death and shows no concern over Gatsby’s death showing her carelessness with people’s lives. Tom and Daisy’s actions indicate the corrupting effects that wealth can have on someone. They focus too much on appearance and materialism and ignore other people’s feelings and lives.

It’s a common misconception that money is equal to happiness, and Daisy is a sad, bored woman, afraid of the future. She is selfish and self centered, caring so much for the wealth that she believes will make her happy that in Chapter 7 her voice is said to be “full of money” (pg #). All the worse, when she kills Myrtle, she feels no remorse whatsoever, as she is incapable of caring for anyone but herself. Gatsby cannot see any of her bad qualities. He simply sees a beautiful young woman that he thinks he deserves. In chapter 8, Nick says that “It excited [Gatsby], too, that many men had already loved Daisy - it increased her value in his eyes.”(pg#). Gatsby is blinded by his desire for Daisy, fueled by the wants of other men, that he sees nothing bad about her. Daisy loved Tom and Gatsby equally and for the same reason: Their wealth. With Gatsby dead Daisy returns to Tom not even shaken by his death, and just as nick says they would do, they retreat from the chaos they cause into their money when they move away.

Everyday people create false realities to live in a world that they want. They lie to themselves and others only to find in the end that they are drowning in the reality of a situation. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, “The Great Gatsby,” the concept of illusion versus reality is a leading cause of the failures and issues that most of the characters face. Their emotions and mentalities ran high in the book leading them into a whirlwind of illusion rather than reality. Their inability to grasp what was not real and what was is ultimately the reason for their downfalls.

Throughout the novel, Gatsby is constantly trying to gain the affection of Daisy. If he were to win back Daisy, he would in a sense, achieve the American Dream. Yet he can’t because he belongs to a different social class, Gatsby is new money, while Daisy is old money. While talking about Daisy to Nick, Gatsby says. “Her voice is full of money...It was full of money — that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals’ song of it”(Fitzgerald Chapter 7). While Daisy has been wealthy for year, Gatsby has only recently acquired his newfound riches. The difference is shown very explicit in nature as it becomes the barrier for Gatsby and Daisy and overall their happiness. Gatsby and his party goers, or new money, is described as irresponsible, self-made, and ostentatious. While Tom and Daisy, or old money, is described as elegant, refined, and established wealth. The stark difference in the end leads to the tarnishing of the American Dream for all those involved, as they no longer have hope for a better future. Angela Hickey explains in her analysis of The Great Gatsby, “ Gatsby can never hope to obtain Daisy because he doesn't have the right kind of money”(2). Hickey explains the way that social divisions cause Gatsby to never reach true happiness in order to achieve the The American Dream. In this case, the social differences

When an author writes a novel he keeps many things in mind. The author will precisely uses word choice, syntax, imagery, and many other literary devices to craft their own piece of art. From F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby a selected passage can reveal all the feature to his piece of art. From this passage things such as syntax and imagery will be discussed. Fitzgerald crafts his ideas through these literary features for the reader.

Daisy is one of the main characters whose obsession with wealth influences her life decisions. “ Her voice is full of money” (Fitzgerald 128). this quote shows that even people around Daisy can hear the longing for money in her voice. She is obsessed with money and thinks that if she has it she will achieve happiness. “ She wanted her life shaped now, immediately- and the decision must be made by some force-of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality-” (Fitzgerald 161). Daisy thought money and love would make her life more fulfilled and she believed it was the only way for it to be more adequate. She wanted her life to be perfect and she was willing to go with whoever could provide her more money and love. In Daisy’s marriage with Tom she felt a lack of love because of Tom’s mistress, which is why she was drawn to Gatsby once again. When Gatsby and Daisy first met he was lacking money but they were in love. Daisy was consumed by the idea that she must have both money and love in order to get happiness, that she ended

To begin with, in the beginning of the novel the reader discovers just how rich Gatsby his, and how luxurious his life is. However, the audience later finds out that this his image of wealth all aspires to win back his true love Daisy. The beginning is important for it’s the reader’s first insight into Gatsby’s dream, and for awhile many believe that it would come true as well as Gatsby did. For instance, Nick illustrates Gatsby’s emotions, when Daisy is turning his house “I think he [Gatsby] revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her [Daisy] well-loved eyes” (Fitzgerald 91). Thus, this demonstrates Gatsby dream of making Daisy happy with his materialistic items, and luxurious lifestyle. It also relates to his hopes of making Daisy happier than her husband ever would, and making her see that as well. In addition, while at Gatsby’s house, Gatsby shows Daisy his shirts from england, Daisy confesses, “They’re such beautiful shirts (...) she sobbed (...) I’ve never seen such beautiful shirts before” (92). In reference, the real reason why Daisy is so sad and emotional is because she is such a materialistic person, that she becomes overwhelmed by Gatsby’s wealth, and also wishes she could live with Gatsby, and his lifestyle. Because of this, Gatsby begins to believe his hard work has payed off. To put all points forward, Gatsby uses his wealth to pull Daisy back into his life, and hopes that by showing her his

Daisy is a very symbolic character in the story. She represents everything Gatsby wants in life, together with the money, the status, and the carefree lifestyle. Daisy symbolizes money, Gatsby even says, “Her voice is full of money” (pg 120 Fitzgerald). Wealth is everything to Daisy and people in her world which is exactly the world that Gatsby made himself to be a part of. Gatsby spent the majority of his life vying to gain wealth just to please Daisy and win her over. Every weekend, Gatsby threw a party in hopes of impressing Daisy enough that she might feel a reason to

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Gatsby, a younger man around thirty years old lives in the West Egg of New York City, the side that represents new money. Throughout the story Gatsby pursuits to win over Daisy to attain happiness by showing off his social status and wealth by throwing large parties and showing off his material items because Daisy can not be without them. Gatsby is willing to do anything to be with Daisy and keeps pushing to be with her even though she is out of reach and unattainable. Gatsby ends ups dying and Daisy continues to live with her husband Tom while they are kept together by their same desire for money. Gatsby’s American Dream is out of his reach and unattainable but he continues to pursue his own dream with his wealth

Daisy stuck with Tom through years of his cheating, and when Nick invited her and Gatsby over so they could meet again, she had another chance. Gatsby did everything he could to become rich and to find Daisy. This meant that Daisy had everything she could have wanted. She had a man who loved her, who was wealthy, and all she had to do was end her marriage with Tom. What Gatsby had was new money, and Tom had old money. “What Daisy requires is not only money but old money. Old money is better than new, not because it can somehow buy more or because they will be more of it, but because it has fashioned the tastes, values, attitudes, matters, and intellects others possessors.”(Lathbury 59). Something about the old money was more valuable and appealing to Daisy, so she gave up Gatsby to be with Tom.

Daisy grew up spoiled due to the vast wealth she obtained from being ‘old money’, which caused her to become selfish and self-centred. Daisy had become selfish to the point that she has an expensive and materialistic desire or want. When Gatsby shows Daisy his mansion, she gazed in awe as “she admired […] the gardens, the sparkling odor of jonquils […] and the pale gold odor of kiss-me-at-the-gate.”(Fitzgerald,97) Daisy, all along, does not have feelings for Gatsby, but more for his money and expensive possessions, as she revealed her true self during Tom and Gatsby’s argument. Daisy is selfish even if money was not involved, as she does not feel grateful for Gatsby taking the blame for her killing Myrtle Wilson. For instance, when Nick tells Gatsby about Mrytle dying, Gatsby replies “’Yes,’ he said after the moment, ‘but of course I’ll say I was.’” (Fitzgerald, 154) When Daisy cried in Gatsby’s mansion, she was crying about her actions in killing Myrtle, meanwhile she does not care about Gatsby’s act of chivalry. Furthermore, Daisy takes advantage of Gatsby by taking Tom along to Gatsby’s party, when Daisy was personally invited to essentially go alone. When Gatsby saw Tom appearing to his party, Gastby with a light temper has a conversation with Tom. He says “I know your wife’, continued Gatsby, almost aggressively.”

What is intertextuality? Intertextuality is a word that introduced by Julia Kristeva, a philosopher, literary critic, feminist and a novelist. Kristeva defined Intertextuality as a “mosaic of quotation”, which means that all texts that are derived from the natural process and transformation of other type of content (Martin, 2011). It is also called referencing an original idea that has previously been produced. In essence, it is to take an original work of art and turn it into a whole new idea or artistic style. The following essay will explore of how intertextuality is used in Baz Lurhmann’s “The Great Gatsby”.