...Gatsby Essay: Tom and Gatsby Elegant parties, endless supply of alcohol and food, numerous people, huge mansion, and loud music are all examples of common occurrences at the Gatsby mansion. All of this was to lure in one beautiful girl. That girl was Daisy. However, Daisy was occupied by her own rich husband, Tom. This only left Gatsby wishing he could have Daisy. Soon, Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom all cross paths. Although different in many ways, it turns out that Tom and Gatsby share many of the same traits. Over the course of events in The Great Gatsby, Tom and Gatsby show many traits that are similar and many traits that are different. In the end, Gatsby learns his lesson about the emptiness of pursuing happiness through wealth. Throughout The Great Gatsby, there are lies, secrets and indiscretion. Tom and Gatsby both share these traits. Both men lie, hold onto secrets and have indiscretion about their lives and what they do for work. “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (15). Tom shows his indiscretion through his secrets and lies about his affair. The other characters are aware of Tom’s affair, but he still manages to lie to them and go behind Daisy’s back to see his mistress. Tom also says “We’re getting off, I want you to meet my girl” (24). Tom’s “girl”, as referred to in this quote, is actually his mistress. This example again shows Tom’s indiscretion, secrets, and lies. Gatsby is also secretive. Gatsby’s secrets are mostly about his work. “I found out what your ‘drug-stores’...
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...The Greatness of Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel the Great Gatsby is a well-known classic and an extraordinary piece of literature but the title leaves little to the imagination with the exception of one question “why is Gatsby so great?” Jay Gatsby has everything at his disposal, money, success, good looks all of which are seen as his greatness to some but Gatsby is great for bigger reasons such as his hopefulness, relentlessness and the fact that he is flawed. Gatsby has many things going for him but it was not always like that. Gatsby was born James Gatz, a farm boy with little to no income or social stamina. His parents were unsuccessful and “his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (Gatsby, pg. 98). James...
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...The Great Gatsby Oct 26, 2012 “Dishonesty” Dishonesty in a relationship exists when one person withholds or manipulates information about themselves or others and presents the facts as a truth. Being dishonest or bending the truth may seem favorable initially, but when the truth is finally revealed, you will have to spill back on more lies which will eventually push the relationship further apart. The Great Gatsby is a novel that shows the reader slyness and fraud around every corner. All of the main characters are dishonest people who portray their lives as nothing more than living in a self obsessed world while making adolescent decisions about love; all these people care about is living in the now. They lie, cheat, and deceive. This was a time when the economy was booming, spreading prosperous jobs in big town cities. This era saw the large-scale diffusion and use of automobiles, telephones, motion pictures, electricity, and unprecedented industrial growth. People dreamed big, and expected better. Everyone was breaking traditions and experimenting with advanced and diverse goods. Fitzgerald depicts Nick Carraway as a moral guide throughout a novel infused with lies and deception. Fitzgerald utilizes many themes throughout the book; truth versus lies, illusion versus reality, or compassion versus apathy. Within the novel, virtually all of the main characters are dishonest to others or to themselves, which exposes each character’s true self to the reader. Deception...
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...historical fiction novel “The Great Gatsby” written by Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920’s is about the societal and personal issues during that decade. The scenes and details in the book are related and connected to the new technologies, flapper ideals, and the mass culture of youth. Many of the characters were fake,not genuine, and untrustworthy.For example Jordan Baker, Daisy, and Gatsby were all proven to be fake or deceitful in the their actions. Jordan Baker,Daisy's best friend, was a professional golfer that was known for having dishonest character. There was an example of her fake character when she and Daisy were getting ready. The book said, ¨Jordan’s fingers, powdered white over their tan¨. This symbolizes that she is fake and not pure. It shows how she is trying to cover up her true identity and hide her true personality by being dishonest and untrue. Nick states, ¨she was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a...
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...One of the greatest debates in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is whether or not the titular character, Jay Gatsby, is indeed great. At the heart of this debate is whether or not he is a romantic man whose rags-to-riches rise is to be admired or a dishonest conman and criminal. Other people may not like him because of the way he got his money. The main things that shows that Gatsby is a good man is how he is ambitions, humble, romantic relationship with Daisy. One of Gatsby’s most admirable traits is his ambition, which led him to rise from poverty to spectacular wealth. Gatsby grew up poor in rural North Dakota, but he was determined from his youth to transcend his humble beginnings. One example of this early determination is seen when...
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...THE GREAT GATSBY The Great Gatsby is a tale of luxury, lust, deceit, and murder. In Long Island, New York, Nick Carraway lives next door to the mysterious Jay Gatsby, the owner of a huge mansion and host of frequent and lavish parties. Although prohibition has made alcohol illegal, Gatsby always has a surplus available at his wild social gatherings. As Nick starts to spend more time with Gatsby, he begins to learn about Gatsby’s past, his strange profession, and his love for Nick’s cousin, Daisy. The story that unfolds truly highlights the scandalous and risky nature of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald had encompassed many literary devices in order to make this novel effective and more appealing. He has used techniques such as imagery, similes and the strongest one is symbolism. Fitzgerald has very smartly constructed his novel. "And only let me leave it in the soap dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow.”(page 76) is an example of simile used in the text. This sentence suggests that Daisy was holding onto that letter until there wasn't really anything left of it. The letter obviously meant a whole lot to her if she took a bath with it. A representative of imagery used in the novel is "Gatsby, pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets, was standing in a puddle of water glaring tragically into my eyes.” This sentence paints a picture in our heads of Gatsby feeling cold with his hands in his pockets, while standing in a puddle...
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...Disillusionment and failure in The Great Gatsby In the book The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the theme of disillusionment, love, lust and failure in order to portray the “American dream”. The American dream is the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Many believe that the American dream is “earned”, but what they don't know is that there is a lot of “behind the scenes” money making deals that occur. And these deals put you at the top without even asking. For example Gatsby wasn't the perfect man that he was imagined to be. Jay Gatsby's real name was, James Gatz and the change seemed right when he “reinvented” himself. Gatsby didn't like being the son of farmers and was embarrassed about where he was from. “His imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.” He changed it at the age of 17 because of his transformation when he met Dan Cody. This one of the main reasons he hid his background from people. The other was that in reality Gatsby was indeed an unrepentant criminal, who bootlegged his way through the Prohibition to create his wealth and pursue his dream. The prohibition was a nationwide constitutional ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages that remained in place from 1920 to 1933. To make his way to the top and to pursue the “American dream” Gatsby basically illegally sold alcoholic beverages...
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...once was on the minds of many Americans, however soon afterward those same dreams were twisted with corruption. In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was presented as a corrupted version of what used to be a pure and honest ideal way to live. The idea that the American Dream was about the wealth and the possessions one had been ingrained, somehow, into the minds of Americans during the 1920’s. As a result of the distortion of the American Dream, the characters of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby along with many others, lived life fully believing in the American Dream, becoming completely immersed in it and in the end suffered great tragedies. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman tells the story of the failure of a salesman, Willy Loman. Although not all Americans are salesmen, most of us share Willy’s dream of success. We are all partners in the American Dream and parties to the conspiracy of silence surrounding the fact that failures must outnumber successes. Miller amalgamates the archetypal tragic hero with the mundane American citizen. The result is the anti-hero, Willy Loman. He is a simple salesman who constantly aspires to become 'great'. Nevertheless, Willy has a waning career as a salesman and is an aging man who considers himself to be a failure but is incapable of consciously admitting it. As a result, the drama of the play lies not so much in its events, but in Willy's deluded perception and recollection of them as the audience gradually witness...
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...Fariha Haque Block 5 LA LIT 3 Ms. Gladstone The American Reality The American Dream, a repetitious theme found in literary works dating as far back as the 1600s, was a common misconception. People have held on to these ideals that manipulate and deceive rather than open limitless possibilities. The American Dream prompted people to believe that America was a country that expressed liberty and freedom. The American Dream originated from the Declaration of Independence in which it claimed that “all mean are created equal.”(Academia) and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Academia) While embedded into America’s charter, the American Dream makes the country seem more attractive to foreign lands. However, there were many perspectives on how people perceived the “optimal style of living.” Some believed everyone strived to be rich and were able to live in coexistence. These perspectives were further broken in down in “The Death of a Salesman.” Immigrants entered through the gates of Ellis Island throwing away their home country’s established social hierarchies and caste systems. With high hopes, they created schemas of the elite population versus the poor population. Though, through passing generations, they are only met with disappointment. They cling onto the possibility that life will become normal again and remain in a constant cycle of false hope. These multiple realities have...
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...THE GREAT GATSBY ESSAY: TRAGIC HERO OR ANTI HERO In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we read about a man named Jay Gatsby and his life in Long Island the summer after World War One. When reading the novel, you might have different point of views on Gatsby and whether he is the great man the narrator, Nick Carraway portrays him to be. Here we will decide if he is an example of "The American Dream" consisting of wealth and women or if he is just a manipulative fraud. Gatsby can be portrayed as someone living "The American Dream" because he came from nothing to being a nouveau riche. Gatsby lived the dream because he gets the girl of his dreams and is very wealthy for a while before his early death. We read about all of Gatsby's mansion parties and his lavish lifestyle. "There was...
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...The American Dream: Why the American Dream is A Dream The American dream is solely based upon the hard work to achieve prosperity, success, and the upward movement in social class. Everyone's American dream is specific to personally set goals. While reading the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many examples that symbolize the American dream. Two main details from The Great Gatsby will focus on Gatsby's hopes and dreams, as well as, obsession with wealth. F. Scott Fitzgerald has a very illusory message pinned on the American dream. He feels that the American dream can drive a man to do extraordinary and unethical things. “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies” (Friedrich Nietzsche). People will chase a better tomorrow that is always just a tad out of reach. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby does many ludicrous and unethical things to achieve the American Dream. Gatsby throws extravagant parties every weekend in hopes that Daisy Buchanan will show up amongst the large crowed. "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay" (Fitzgerald 147)....
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...The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story surrounding the decay of the American Dream in the 1920’s; a time when virtually anyone could achieve the dream. Jay Gatsby, the main character, encompasses every fault in the warped idea of the American Dream in the booming 20’s making The Great Gatsby, the perfect title for the story. The American dream is commonly defined as “The ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American. (Dictionary) Almost any American would describe the American Dream as a stable income, a sustainable job and the chance to provide the opportunity for the following generation to do even better. In the booming 20’s, that dream was available to almost every...
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...Gatsby’s Archetypal Quest for Daisy, the Monetary Prize In The Great Gatsby, the characterizations of Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, particularly in the flashback of when they first met in Chapter VIII, expose the absence of love that lies beneath the glitz and glamour of wealthy living. When seen through an archetypal lens, Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy can be seen as an Archetypal quest where the “golden girl” is a treasure, rather than a love interest (Fitzgerald, 120) (Delahoyde, 1). To Jay Gatsby, Daisy is materialistically the ultimate peak of wealth to be obtained, a metaphor best illustrated in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s choice of descriptive words that portray her in the same way that money might be defined. Daisy is a princess “high in a white palace the king’s daughter”, beautiful and comfortably assured a life of ease due to her wealthy place in society (Fitzgerald, 120). In this novel she is more a material, a monetary symbol, than a person, and this best proved in Chapter VIII (Delahoyde, 1). In a flashback of Gatsby’s to when he first knew and loved Daisy, his descriptions paint a picture of her “gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor” (Fitzgerald, 150). In this glowing portrayal that showcases Daisy’s beauty and power, (both things that she was born with, that she did not earn) her appearance and social class is all that is focused on, she is merely an outward image. From the point of view of a man that supposedly loves her, there...
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...Prohibition and The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set in the 1920s. Havinn wrote about the nightlife and bootlegging of the that time period. While the government was shutting down bars, and clubs, then having gang’s members taking over the parade and opening up speakeasies. Making the government having a prohibition, but it didn’t really make the people stop drinking. On a relative note when banning the production of alcohol it made people desire it more. Going to imply that the same goes for Gatsby having the desire to have more money to get Daisy's attention towards him to make him notice and more appealing when his achievements. But it backfires on him and Daisy stays with Tom and doesn’t care a damn. I know you didn’t mean to, but you did do it. “That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great, big hulking physical specimen of a-”- Daisy. The center of the book is Jay Gatsby coming from a dirt poor family, being a big dreamer, and also a big risk taker. Like for example doing anything to win Daisy back for himself. Keeping his past behind him and others that he meets along the way. Deceiving...
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...Jay Gatsby is a character from the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby is a millionaire who is quiet and usually keeps quiet. Gatsby often lies about his personal life to keep something hidden and he does not want the others around him to know whatever that thing is. There is many stories that he makes up in the book to keep certain things hidden. Gatsby tends to keep his personal life hidden because he is a swindler and a criminal. Gatsby is a rich and powerful character in The Great Gatsby. There is many rumours of how Gatsby got his money and there are a lot of people who wonder how he got so much money so fast. Some of the rumours include him being given money from a rich family in the midwest and that through his many pharmacies that he owned, this causes tom to do some investigation on Gatsby which he says “I found out what your ‘drug stores’ were”(133), there was some sort of illegal activity somehow going on. Tom thinks that Gatsby is a bootlegger when he says “ I picked him for a bootlegger and i wasn’t far from it”(133). Tom is not the only one who is confused on how he got rich, everybody else is also. There is many moments in the book where people are stuck wondering how he got his money. There is also other people that work with him and he has ties to meyer wolfshiem which is the person who allegedly fixed the 1919 world series. Tom says“You're one of the bunch who hang around meyer wolfsheim”(133). This shows that he and meyer wolfsheim have ties and meyer...
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