Theme Of Interview In The Great Gatsby

Tom and Daisy’s home was depicted in the novel as an inviting place where “the windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house.” (Fitzgerald, 13) Tom and Daisy’s house appeared plain and

Fitzgerald introduces us to Tom in the first chapter of the novel by using language to

Daisy’s superficiality and ephemeral qualities are achieved largely by Fitzgerald’s use of diction in Daisy’s conversations and descriptions of her physical characteristics. Much of Daisy’s dialogue is utterly devoid of substance, is often repetitive and its sole purpose for inclusion in the text is to demonstrate her, and indeed the upper classes’ lack of direction and purpose in life, and the resultant restlessness that originates from a life of inactivity and ease that; qualities that are perfectly encapsulated in the line on page 17; “‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’”. Fitzgerald constantly undermines the character of Daisy to demonstrate that she is the unworthy object of Gatsby’s dream, as is the social class that she symbolises. Her immorality is subtly on display through much of the novel; she treats her own daughter with indifference, objectifying her as yet another material accessory; “‘That’s because your mother wanted to show you off.’”, she remarks in Chapter VII, displaying an apparent lack of emotional connection one would expect a mother to hold with her child. Additionally after betraying Gatsby at a crucial moment and

Nick, the narrator of the novel, introduces the reader(s) to Tom Buchanan, the husband of his cousin, Daisy, and explains how Nick has always known Tom as the annoying, egotistical, and the stereotypical rich white man, which is shown in his thoughts,

When Gatsby reveals to about his relationship with Daisy, Nick’s relationship with Gatsby takes a full u-turn as it rapidly advances their association from simple acquaintances to close friends. Nick’s outlook of Gatsby undergoes a similar transformation. When Nick learns of the previous relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, Gatsby’s actions make sense to Nick. The mansion, the extravagant parties, and the green light were all in the efforts for making Daisy notice him. Gatsby lives his life for the past life that he lived. He spends his life seeking the attention of his love, Daisy, and as Nick explains, “He wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby sought out the American dream in order to win over the love of Daisy which creates a different perception of himself to Nick. Nick, now knowing Gatsby’s intentions worries about Gatsby’s possible rejection, and then warns him that, “[he] wouldn’t ask too much of her, you can’t repeat the past.” (Fitzgerald 110) But Gatsby, blinded by love, strives to win Nick’s married cousin’s heart. Nick perceives Gatsby as a man dwelling on the past

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses tone, diction, syntax and imagery to voice Nick's perception of the world around him. In this passage his use of language is used repetitively to convey Jordan Baker, Daisy and Tom Buchanan's lives. On the outside it may look like they all are living a perfect and ideal life, however Fitzgerald's illuminating use of language highlights how far from perfect their lives truly are.

In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship is portrayed as obsessive, materialistic, and ineffective. Gatsby displays the quality of obsessiveness within the relationship by consuming himself with the desire to bring back the image of Daisy he fell in love with and his romance with her that had existed in the past. The intensity of Gatsby’s obsession is displayed when Gatsby invites Daisy and Nick over to his house. Nick observes that Gatsby “had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock” (Fitzgerald 92). Nick’s examination of Gatsby obsession reveals that Gatsby has had this intense

Through the means of characterization, Fitzgerald expresses Tom Buchanan as another immoral character. Tom is portrayed as an egotistical, hypocrite who advocates white supremacy. His hypocrisy is shown when he speaks to Gatsby, he conduct himself as a “high” class citizen but dwells as a “low” class citizen. “I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.” “What about it?” said Gatsby politely. “I guess your friend Walter Chase

The language several characters used revealed many instances of satire. Tom Buchanan speaks for one type of satire Fitzgerald displayed. Tom found a way in every and any conversation to tear down a woman or insert racial jokes. On page twelve, Tom asks if anyone had ever read The Rise of the Colored Empires. Then, he states “The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be utterly submerged.” Then he claims this has been scientifically proven. This speaks to his lack of knowledge due to his smothering arrogance. Later on in the novel, Tom would refer to women as “its” and pronouns instead of addressing them by their names. Fitzgerald had Tom display this manly patriarchal role to make subtle hints of what a typical, upper class, white man thought during the historical context of when this book occurs.

Daisy sacrifices love and happiness for being wealthy. Nick believes “that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of [her] house, child in arms-but apparently there were no such intentions in her head” (25). In making this comment, Nick argues that Daisy refuses to break off her marriage to Tom because she will lose her “membership” to the East Egg social class. Not even Gatsby, who is one of the wealthiest men in the Northeast, can convince her to leave him. In Roberts’ literary criticism, she describes the aspects of Gatsby that Daisy disapproves. Roberts claims that Gatsby “Misread[s] the signs of American gentility … [by moving] to West Egg, instead of the more elegant East Egg (Fahey 74), [and throwing parties that] attract theatre people and gate crashers rather than a social elite” (Roberts) which repulses Daisy. In making this remark, Roberts claims that Gatsby is not everything Daisy could want. His mansion’s location and guests at his party ultimately is not enough to motivate Daisy to leave Tom. Close states that “we can’t be happy without at least one meaningful, close relationship.” Her claim that a close relationship brings happiness rests upon the questionable assumption that people in close relationships are always happy. In fact, some close relationships can bring more despair than joy. Hence, the cause of unhappiness for wealthy people, like Daisy, can be avoided if they choose their overall wellbeing over the amount of money they

The imperfect characters that exist within The Great Gatsby highlight Fitzgerald’s already fantastic writing the most since it displays his characters from a jaded perspective. This is exemplified in the development of Tom Buchanan and Daisy’s relationship is toxic in the sense that both parties seem to be missing fundamental emotional components. One of these missing components can be broken down into the observation that Daisy must only love money and herself which is why she is an egoist. On the other hand, Tom can also be considered an egoist due to his arrogant attitude in assuming everything belongs to him. In fact, Tom doesn’t care about Daisy at all, he only cares about possessing his trophy wife, which is an extremely sinister trait in any relationship. Hence, the most unhealthy relationship within the book is Tom and Daisy’s because they possess several malicious character traits that debilitate them as couple which are: Tom’s belief that everything belongs to him, Daisy’s inherently materialistic nature, and both of their total unconcern toward each other’s extramarital antics.

Through Fitzgerald’s characterisation of the protagonists, the moral chaos within the society becomes evident, with a society of immense greed and wealth being born, revealing the dreaded materialistic trait within individuals in the society leading to drastic consequences. Similarly to the prodigious increase in wealth during the “roaring 20’s”, the luxurious society of New York revolves heavily around money, with “the rich getting richer and the poor getting children”. The materialistic trait is evident within the protagonist Daisy Buchanan - ‘a careless person”. We learn of Daisy’s materialistic behaviour through her decision to marry Tom Buchanan over Jay Gatsby “because she was

Gatsby’s claim to love Daisy is nothing more than wanting to complete his collection of the grand prize being a trophy wife. It became apparent to Nick that Gatsby wanted to repeat the past in order to win the award of a perfect woman. While reminiscing, Nick realizes Gatsby’s desire was that, “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’ After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken. One of them was that, after she was free, they were to go back to Louisville and be married from her house- just as if it were five years ago” (Fitzgerald 109). Gatsby’s relentless need to ‘get the girl’ blinds his ability to comprehend Daisy’s feelings of the situation. His want to shatter the Buchanan’s marriage

Another aspect of Fitzgerald's criticism of the American dream is Gatsby's desire to gain the love of Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby's object of affection and his "holy grail" (Fitzgerald 160). Daisy on the outside is beautiful, pure, and seemingly perfect. Nick Carraway describes her as wearing white clothes and driving a white car. Her name itself is a white flower. But in actuality, she is as false and shallow as the rest of the society (Lathbury 20). The narrator Nick comments about the foul nature of Daisy and Tom Buchanan who were Americans living in the superficial world of the 1920's:

Daisy, Tom’s wife and the object of Gatsby’s romantic quest, for example, possesses a voice “full of money,” (144) which blatantly associates her character with wealth. Fitzgerald makes Daisy seem desirable, but never describes her physical features, which is odd considering she is the force behind the profound obsession of Jay Gatsby. Perhaps Fitzgerald chooses to ignore Daisy’s physical description to purposefully display her as a bare character. In essence, he dehumanizes her to better reveal her shallowness. One of the few times a physical description of Daisy appears comes in conjunction with Miss Baker, another character under the spell of wealth, when Nick comments on their white dresses with “their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire” (17). With