EXPLAIN THE CHARACTERS
There are four major characters in The Great Gatsby who are seen and brought up over and over again throughout the duration of the novel. All the events in this novel seem to be centerer around this group of characters and their past actions. These characters are Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Backer, and Myrtle Wilson.
~Nick Carraway~ When the story begins the readers are immediately introduced to the narrator, Nick Caraway. He is a young adult who has completed an education from Yale and has arrived back to society from fighting in World War I. Nick has just moved from Minnesota to West Egg, where he begins working on Wall Street, selling bonds and learning the trades of the business. In the first paragraph of the novel Nick mentions a quote which his father told him when he was younger "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one’… ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.”(1), Nick mentions that his statement from his father suck with him thus why he does not judge people like others in the upper class do. Although, throughout the novel Nick is always judging people and judging his peers around him based how they acquired their wealth, their relationships, and off many other aspects of their personalities. Due to this, Nick can be seen a hypocritical character and not trustworthy. Even though, Nick can not always be trusted in the senses of keeping to his word, is a
Since society has existed, women have been known as different from men. For the longest time, women have been known as the “weaker sex” when compared to the male. There purpose, especially in the olden days is to obey and please the men. However nowadays there seems to be a more equality between the two genders. But even today discrimination between male and female takes place all over the world. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, you can see a lot of discrimination between the two sexes. The story takes place in the 1930’s and it has a bad view on women, they just got the right to vote for presidents, mayors, and senators. However most men thought that the women should only stay home and raise children, that they should not be involved in politics, and their ideas were not valuable. Women were treated as “house slaves” at times when all what they did all day, every day, was work around the house trying to improve the living for their husband and kids.
True love is seen through a relationship of two people. Love exists when two people give all their trust, loyalty, and support to one another. Now imagine finding out all of the love and loyalty was false? Betraying a loved one can make someone capable of things they didn’t even know they were capable of. Betrayal is the breaking of a trust that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals. In The Great Gatsby, characters pursue in the action of having an affair and the result of betraying their loved ones. In the book, The Great Gatsby, the concept of true love is portrayed in a way that negatively affects the characters.
He wants the wealth and feeling of belonging to the upper classes. When he is parties, he feels that has infiltrated the class and experiences the wealth. However, as shown in this passage, Nick still feels as if he is on the outside. Figuratively, Nick is on the outside of the group and party just like the watchers down in the streets literally outside of the party. Nick does not belong to this social class and is out of his element. This exemplifies the theme of wealth and class. It shows how characters similar to Nick are striving to attain the wealth and reach those higher classes. They want to be on the inside. However, there are limitations that these characters face and will stop them from reaching the wealth and class, but they will still try to chase after their dreams of prosperity and comfort of
Analysis: Fitzgerald uses ashes, fire and dust to represent the unachievable desire for the great American Dream. Fitzgerald uses the character George Wilson as a voice of many who live in the valley of ashes to get away from the filthy place, he said “i’ve been here too long. I want to get away”. This show through Wilson's hardest efforts to achieve his dreams he is still stuck in this dump. It speaks to the lost expectations and dreams of individuals who have neglected to satisfy the American Dream.
F. Scott Fitzgerald includes many motifs and symbols within The Great Gatsby. One important motif is the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. Fitzgerald ultimately uses the eyes to show disapproval and criticism of society and how God watches over everyone and everything. The eyes of Dr. Eckleburg represents the all seeing, overlooking eyes of God. The eyes of Dr. Eckleburg develops religion as the desire of wealth and social class have replaced spiritual values in American society during the 1920s.
Tracy Sabin once said, “Creating visual imagery is a state of mind. It involves the reproduction of what we see. But much more than that, it becomes an outlet to express feelings about what we experience.” Imagery is used in the story by using colors that symbolize traits of characters or scenery. Symbolism is used to find the true meanings of people in a story. Fitzgerald uses imagery of the two towns and symbolism of different colors to convey underlying messages about the qualities of the characters and the setting in The Great Gatsby. By encompassing symbols in the story, it reveals the true intentions or latent qualities of the characters.
In the beginning of the book, Nick shares the piece of advice that his father gave to him when he was younger. He said, "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone . . . just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had . . . I'm inclined to reserve all judgments." (Fitzgerald 1) This quote proves Nick’s desire to be an authentic narrator, and wants people to hold their judgements on him. This also shows how Nick is not quick to judge people and that he has morals. In spite of this advice, Nick is very opinionated and judgmental towards characters
He is surrounded by wealth, coming from a "prominent, well-to-do" family and living within the "consoling proximity of millionaires" (7, 10). Besides this prominent admiration of money, Nick is also impressed with the American quality of independence, conceding that "almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute" from him (13). These first few confessions illustrate the atmosphere of the entire novel, an environment in which extravagance was popular and social goals were aimed at achieving wealth and mastering one's identity.
Great Gatsby Motif Essay F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, has many themes. One of his major themes is the gender roles between men and women. In the book men have the upper hand in almost every situation and are able to get away with things that the women are shamed for such as cheating. The motif of cheating proves the gender advantages that men have over women. The motif shows how what’s acceptable for men isn’t acceptable for women.
At the beginning of the story Nick seems like he will be non-judgemental and honest because of what his father and what he says himself. The story starts off with a quote from his father, “ whenever you feel like criticizing anyone’, he told me,’just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had”(1). This states that you should not judge other people because you don't know what they've been through.
At the beginning of his account, Nick claims to wait and observe before passing judgement on those around him. Reflecting on his father’s advice,
The main characters in The Great Gatsby are Nick Carroway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan (maiden name: Daisy Fay), Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker, Myrtle Wilson, and George Wilson. Each one is vastly complex in their own special ways.
Chapter one gives us information about Nick. We are introduced to his cousin, Daisy, and given a brief description about her and her life. We know that Nick is adventurous if he is willing to leave everything he knows to move to New York. We also can tell that though Nick tries to follow his father’s advice and not judge, he still does in a decisive manner about the life of New Yorkers.
Some families do not have the most structured relationships, like Gatsby and his parents. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the main character Gatsby believed from a young age that he would would figure out a way to go from nothing to having everything. He was never close to them and did not believe that they were his actual parents, he believed that he was a child of god destined to do great things. The purpose of Gatsby’s family, or rather his father, is a great and significant one, he shows what his son truly was capable of. They were never close but he still appreciated what his son had accomplished. He knows that Gatsby was dedicated and was destined to do great things, he could also admire all of Gatsby, unlike others who just thought of him as some rich pompous man that threw lavish parties.
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.