The extract provided from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, acts as an appropriate and suitable conclusion to the novel as a whole. This essay will offer a detailed contextual analysis of the passage presented, expanding on the idea of the failure of the ‘American Dream’ and loss. It will explain how the passage reacts to and ties up the preceding events in the novel, such as the death of Tom Buchanan’s mistress; Myrtle Wilson. It will also explore the use of foreshadowing within the passage, suggesting what is to become of the main protagonist Jay Gatsby.
The extract provided ultimately focuses on the demise of the main protagonist in the novel, Jay Gatsby. The Scene occurs in Gatsby’s luxurious mansion in West Egg, Long island. Gatsby
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The “single dream’ that Nick is referring to, is that of the ‘American Dream’. The ideal of the ‘American Dream’ is to rise from rags to riches and while doing so come across love, high status, wealth, and power. Jay Gatsby’s role portrays the essence of the new ‘American Dream’ during the 1920‘s. He is looking for a life better than the one he grew up with. The Great Gatsby exposes this new kind of ‘American Dream’ where instead of striving for equality, the ultimate goal is to get as rich as possible. Gatsby completely undergoes a transformation in order to gain higher social status. Gatsby leads a life of corruption and crime in order to live a life of affluence and wealth. Morals and ethics are completely undermined and overshadowed by the need to become rich; this is a popular trend during the 1920’s. He changes his name from “James Gatz” (p.98), to Jay Gatsby, “He invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (p.99). He re-invents himself in order to fit in with his surroundings of a perfect and idealistic
In book, “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts how the American was corrupted through wealth. Fitzgerald provides many examples. The most common example shown was Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s idea that to achieve his American Dream must be to acquire wealth. In order to show this, Fitzgerald uses various literary elements. Two of those being imagery and foreshadowing, these played a critical role in describing the theme, and specific moods to show what was to come and as well as describe the story as a whole. These play a vital role in representing Gatsby’s life and journey to acquiring Daisy, his version of the American Dream.
Gatsby was once named Jimmy Gatz and soon got changed to Jay Gatsby. Gatsby’s life quickly started to change and he started to get away from everything that happened to him in the past. He saw Daisy and instantly fell in love with her. Everything he did was the purpose to winning her. Money was, essentially, the issue that prevented their being together.and so Gatsby made sure he would never again be without it. Gatsby’s drive and perseverance in obtaining his goal is, in many senses, commendable. He is a self-made man and as such, is admirable. However, all positive traits aside, there are aspects of Jay Gatsby that call into question that admiration. Gatsby’s money did not come from inheritance, as he would like people to believe, but from organized crime. The story takes place during the time of prohibition and Gatsby has profited greatly from selling liquor
Everyone has dreams of being successful in life. When the word American comes to mind one often thinks of the land of opportunity. This dream was apparent with the first settlers, and it is apparent in today’s society. In F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925), he illustrates the challenges and tragedies associated with the American dream. By examining Jay Gatsby, Tom Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson through the narrator Nick Carraway, I understand the complex nature of the American dream. Jay Gatsby represents the cost complex of them all.
The Great Gatsby shows the ambition of one man's achievement of his goal, the disappointment of failing, and the hopelessness of it. During the era of this novel, which is around the 1920's, America was a country with huge misery, ambition, and lack of humanity values. The novel shows a reflection of this decade, it illustrates the burning passion one man has toward his objective and the different aspects of the American principles. As the sequence of events continues in the story, someone will narrate the singular aspects of it; exposing the idea of the conflicts that will happen among different social levels.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, he presents a story set against the backdrop of the United States in the 1920s, a period in history that one would relate to lavish and excessive spending and materialism. To that end, he presents through the eyes of the narrator, Nick, some of the main characters, among them being Tom, Daisy, and Gatsby. Beginning with Tom, Daisy’s very wealthy husband who attended college with Nick, he comes across as dominating and arrogant from his first appearance when Nick visits him at his house. This is further accentuated by his musculature and rough speaking voice. Beyond these characteristics, he is enthralled by some disturbing and racist opinions, as well as the fact that he is involved in an affair with Myrtle, a married woman, despite being married to Daisy.
In the book and movie “The Great Gatsby” the so called Mr. Gatsby is made out to be this rich man that lives in New York in the year 1922. He has everything every man would want, living the so called “American Dream” as people say. He has parties every weekend that fills his massive house that rests on the bay of New York. He is this so called mystery man because no one knows that actual story of Mr. Gatsby, they only know what the rumors say about him. That he killed a man, that he was a oxford man, that he was in the military and won a great deal of medals, the list of things about Mr. Gatsby goes on and on, but no one knows the actual truth behind him until his neighbor, Nick Carraway suddenly gets really close to Mr. Gatsby after just one
As a child and young adult, Gatsby is poor and longs for financial success because of Dan Cody. Because Gatsby thinks Dan’s life of extravagance is the American Dream, he reinvents himself into a new person that is the embodiment of the American Dream. He changes his name from Jay Gatz, to Jay Gatsby to symbolize his rebirth. Then he attains money from selling illegal alcohol and other ways. After he becomes wealthy, he forgets about his past and never brings it forward to anyone, but Nick. He does this because he does not want Daisy to know about his background of poverty, since she is from a life of luxury and class. Gatsby knows he has to be wealthy to be with Daisy, and goes great lengths to do so.
The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The sub-genre behind this piece of literature would be considered a Modernist and Jazz Age novel. Fitzgerald was an intelligent child growing up, but he had difficulty managing to do well in school. After failing to graduate from Princeton University in 1917, he enrolled in the army as World War I was ending. From this point, he instantly fell in love with his sweetheart who only agreed to marry him if he became wealthy as her.
There once was a little boy named Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. This young boy would grow up to be a very important person in American Literature. This interesting writer would surprise many with his incredible writing abilities.
Scott Fitzgerald developed characters whose description tension the reader. Characterization is a very useful method “by which the writer reveals the personality of the character” (NCTE, 2004). First, Fitzgerald created a hard working protagonist, Dexter, who was a middle class kid, but caddies at Golf Club. The author wrote “Mr. Jones- himself and not his ghost came up to Dexter with tear in his eyes and said that Dexter was the best caddy in the club” (218). Dexter loved by golf crew members because he was a hard worker even if the long Minnesota weather shut down like the white lid of box. When Dexter was sixteen, he dedicated his full energy to his job, making thirty dollars a month. Beside, Mr. Mortimer jones appreciated Dexter that, he
Gatsby is the prominent character of the book; his actions are put on display for the readers to interpret. Being the central figure of the story, his characteristics were carefully constructed. He is charming and mysterious to outsiders, but the few that see through him know more than that. Gatsby grew out of his humble beginnings and flourished in wealth after realizing his love for Daisy Buchanan. She was his sole motivation for his lavish lifestyle. She was the center of his world. Gatsby hid Daisy once he had her attention and he kept their affair a secret from everyone; publicity, Tom, and even Nick. This is why a curtain in a theater pertains to Gatsby. The curtain hides the stage when it is closed and no one can see what is going on
In the book, The Great Gatsby, John Kehul defines a romantic hero as “one who has ideals, dreams, and illusions”. Jay Gatsby definitely had all these traits. For one, he had a lot of ideals. Some of them were based on his relationship with, Daisy Buchanan, who was the cousin of the narrator Nick in The Great Gatsby. This was just the kind of person he was. He had a lot of views about Daisy, but also other aspects of his life. His ideals were like values of who he also wanted to be. He liked for people to think of him as the “ideal” man. People viewed him as the perfect man who had everything anyone could ever dream of.
In the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F.Scott Fitzgerald, appreciating and understanding the settings is key to unlocking the writer’s purpose. There are a few main settings in the novel which give us a perceptive insight into the idea of which the writer is trying to establish. Three of these important settings are West Egg, the Valley of Ashes and New York city. From these crucial settings we understand that Fitzgerald’s purpose in the novel was to convey the shallowness of the American Dream, helping us to understand that pursuit of this elusive target can only lead to a life of unfulfilled wandering, corruption and unhappiness.
It is often said that certain literary works and characters within such works represent real-world issues. In the work The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the character of Gatsby is shrouded in ambiguity to the reader, providing them with a possibility for personal interpretation. In the work, Gatsby’s character develops from a character representing materialism and a fixation on status to one filled with humility and selflessness for his romantic devotion towards the character of Daisy. Through this shift, the reader is provided with insight in order to draw parallels between Gatsby and two distinct periods in American history. The materialistic side of Gatsby, driven by wealth and his status in Long Island, represents the moral corruption and materialistic desires of America in the 1920s, whereas the romantically devoted Gatsby represents wartime America, devoted to sacrifice and nobility. The contrast within the life of Gatsby allows for a profound insight into the significance of the work as a representation of changing American values.
Gatsby refuses to not meet his aspirations and will fulfill his dream by any means necessary. Although Gatsby’s intentions and motivation to become successful are pure, the way he obtains his status is extremely foul and criminal. Gatsby participates in organized crime, trades stolen securities, and bootlegs illegal alcohol. Instead of Gatsby using his wit and intelligence in an honest hard working way, he participates in corrupt acts, which will guarantee him his wealth and status. It is this aspect of Gatsby’s life where Fitzgerald expresses the decline of The American Dream. He tries to show his readers the demoralization of our society and how greed and power are a form of empty success that a lot of Americans buy in to.