The Things They Carried And The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

‘ "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember the advantages that you 've had..." In consequence I 'm inclined to reserve all judgments.’

The American Dream is dead. This is the main theme in F. Scott Fitzgerald 's novel The Great Gatsby. In the novel Fitzgerald gives us a glimpse into the life of the high class during the roaring twenties through the eyes of a moralistic young man named Nick Carraway. It is through the narrator 's dealings with high society that readers are shown how modern values have transformed the American Dream 's pure ideals into a scheme for materialistic power and further, how the world of high society lacks any sense of morals or consequence. In order to support this message, Fitzgerald presents the original aspects of the American Dream along with its modern face to show that the once impervious dream is now lost forever to the American people.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, a St. Paul, Minnesota native, was born on September 24, 1896. His father, Edward Fitzgerald, had co-written a novel in his youth and often read works by Edgar Allen Poe and Lord George Gordon Byron to Scott during his childhood. While Fitzgerald’s father praised his literary attempts, both of his parents encouraged him to pursue other career paths. Nevertheless, Fitzgerald was steadfast in his literary endeavors, writing for both his high school and college newspapers. He later dropped out of Princeton University in order to join the army and continued to pursue writing, penning both magazine articles and musical lyrics (Adams 10-11).

Parents always warn their children to steer clear from shady and unreliable characters. Real life situations are the target of this notion, but such a claim also stands true for literature. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Nick, the narrator, is a shady character who disclosed no personal information about himself and expected the viewer’s trust in return. As a result, Scott Donaldson, in his article “The Trouble with Nick” deliberates his opinion over what a terrible person Nick is, however later determines that regardless of how shady Nick may be, he is still the only one fit to narrate The Great Gatsby. Some of Scott Donaldson’s views of Nick as an unreliable narrator may stand true; however, it is definitely agreeable that Nick Carraway is the only acceptable narrator for The Great Gatsby.

[OPENING STATEMENT] The Great Gatsby does not clearly yield to either poem or prose causing it to be considered as a lyrical novel rather than the more common narrative. Poetic devices and techniques used by author F. Scott Fitzgerald are more commonly seen with poetry. Yet it is these techniques that give meaning to his work of fiction; how Fitzgerald states his ideas becomes more important than the ideas themselves. Poetic devices he uses are called litotes, which express a positive statement by using its opposite negatives. To say “the ice cream was not bad” would be an intentional understatement, when instead one could say the ice cream was “good.” Litotes are used for irony, which is “using words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.”1 Also commonly found throughout the novel, litotes are used for emphatic effect to benefit setting, plot, and character development.

The Prince, a philosophical work of literature introduces maxims that have become a part of American Literature from the past to present day. In one of America’s well known classic, The Great Gatsby, a story of the spontaneous Jazz Age filled with power struggles, a materialistic society, and the infamous affairs of the twenties create maxims for a character in the novel. Machiavelli’s maxims have had an impact in many writings and continue throughout this novel. Daisy, the most intriguing and charming character brings the defense, rebellion, and promising traits it takes to become a successful prince.

The Great Gatsby entails of a story of a bright young man, Nick Carraway, who moved to New York City in search of a successful life in the bonds business, but becomes suffocated by the lifestyles of those in wealth and power at the time. As Nick settles himself in a new job and new city, in the only cottage among mansions on West and East Egg, he finds himself neighbor to a mysterious, wealthy man known for his extravagant parties and elusive persona. This neighbor, Jay Gatsby, emerges to be one of the main characters of the novel and the only person in all of New York that Nick can call a friend. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, encompasses the hollowness of the upper class as well as the deterioration of the “American Dream” within the plotline of the lives of Nick, Gatsby, and the Buchanan’s. Because of the themes Fitzgerald created, it prompts people, such as Bruccoli, to make the claim “The Great Gatsby does not proclaim the nobility of the human spirit; it is not politically correct; it does not reveal how to solve the problems of life; it delivers no fashionable or comforting messages. It is just a masterpiece.” While the Great Gatsby is a masterpiece, Bruccoli correctly examines the text in revealing no nobility of the human spirit, no solutions to the problems of life, and it is politically incorrect. However, despite the dismal themes, Fitzgerald does deliver fashionable/comforting messages to the audience. Bruccoli’s claim brings to light the

"Never has symbolism played such a crucial part in the very foundation of a novel as it does in Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby." Harold Bloom has written about this book. The author used several types of symbolism in The Great Gatsby. The colours are probably the easiest to be recognized and guessed what they symbolized. According to the definition “symbolism” is "the practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships."

Many consider The Great Gatsby a beautiful love story. A literary review site, for example, says about Fitzgerald’s most famous work: “The Great Gatsby is probably F. Scott Fitzgerald 's greatest novel […] Gatsby is really nothing more than a man desperate for love”(The Great Gatsby Review). Popular opinion paints Gatsby as such: A man desperate for love, devoid of any evil. But a closer look uncovers a new side of Jay Gatsby because Gatsby, underneath his glorious façade, is a sociopath.

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 great gatsby the american dream is based on someone starting low in the social or economic schedule and working their way up to greatness by hard work. Being able to own a nice car, nice clothes, nice house, is the definition of the american dream. It doesn 't matter what your race is or how you look like you can still accomplish your goals and become successful in life. The american dream also signifies someone that is self motivated and that is willing to work very hard to live a good life.

The point that I am going to talk about the story The Great Gatsby is the way they took care of materialistic things all through the story. A vital topic of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is riches and the procedure of achieving it. This longing for material riches and belonging is known as realism. Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are both amazingly materialistic and put a great deal of quality into the belonging and abundance of a man while Nick Carraway doesn 't show any materialistic cravings and complements the complexity between characters. Gatsby 's realism is driven by his yearning for riches. He adores the thought of Daisy since she is the encapsulation of riches and the perfect way of life of ceaseless overabundance. Daisy then again speaks to a definitive materialistic way of life. She doesn 't have the same aching as Gatsby since she was naturally introduced to a privileged family. Rather she underestimates inordinate living and is entranced with all things lavish on the grounds that she needs to keep up the riches she has and never lose it. Scratch is the special case to the guideline. He stresses the divergence in the middle of himself and Gatsby or Daisy. He is the control to whom Gatsby and Daisy can be thought about.

In Of Mice & Men and The Great Gatsby, how do people’s American Dream differ, what do they have in common, and how do people feel about the dreams of others?

Daisy happily went with Gatsby and seemed excited to ride in the coupe with him. The heat clung on to Tom’s brute personality and was making him frustrated on anything. Jordan and Nick rode with Tom in Gatsby’s flashy yellow car. Hearing his wife’s excited cries of laughter drowning in the sounds of the blue coupe’s roaring engine, Tom drove to catch up. Tom was angry and told Jordan and I what he found out on Gatsby 's character. I couldn’t bear his bruteness any longer and told him that I really didn’t care what he thought any longer. Jordan, looked at me with such a deep surprise and laughed off the awkwardness that followed quietly behind.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a story that has many different themes. Fitzgerald shows the themes that he uses through his character’s desires and actions. This novel has themes in it that we deal with in our everyday life. It has themes that deal with our personal lives and themes that deal with what’s right and what’s wrong. There are also themes that have to do with materialistic items that we deal desire on a daily basis. Fitzgerald focuses on the themes of corrupted love, immorality, and the American Dream in order to tell a story that is entertaining to his readers.