...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that takes a different spin on the stereotypical American dream. To say “through the novel, Fitzgerald puts across the idea that the American dream has been corrupted by the desire for materialism” would be accurate. Because “we see that Gatsby had a pure dream, but became corrupt in his quest towards that dream,” this is how the American dream was viewed as corrupt. Throughout the novel Gatsby displays many examples of how his quest towards the dream that was once pure, slowly becomes more and more corrupt. The first showing of corruptness in Gatsby’s dream, which is to marry Daisy, is his unethical means of obtaining a fortune. The stereotypical American dream is working hard for honest money. However, this is not the case for Gatsby. Gatsby attains his fortune through the illegal means of bootlegging. In the novel, the narrator Nick describes Gatsby, “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a Son of God—a phrase that, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So 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” (The Great Gatsby Chapter 6 pg). This quotation shows how Nick saw Gatsby as trying to transform himself into the ideal person. He even goes as far as to...
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...every problem they encounter. Jay Gatsby, a main character in Great Gatsby The was one of these people. Gatsby and other characters of his class all strived for happiness, wealth, status and love. To their dismay, they realized that the desire for wealth could lead to their downfall. Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald proves that the pursuit of wealth is corruptive, useless and dangerous. The old money crowd’s actions make the pursuit for wealth danger. The people of this crowd were born into their wealth which makes them careless. They don’t have to worry about consequences and whatever they want they get. The characters of this novel, Daisy and Tom, are a part of this crowd. They have no regard for other people or empathy. Daisy killed Myrtle in a car accident but didn’t get punished as a normal person would. Instead, Gatsby said he’ll take the blame for her and Daisy left with Tom. For example, it says “I called up Daisy half an hour after we found him, called her instinctively and without hesitation. But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them”(164). Daisy realized she cannot be with Gatsby because his wealth is illegal and won’t protect and secure her like Tom does. Wilson asked Tom who was in the car that killed Myrtle, Tom said Gatsby, because it was his car, which ...
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...The Deterioration Of The American Dream The Great Gatsby, a novel by Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who try to reach its goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is used in many novels. This dream is different for different people, in The Great Gatsby, for Jay, the dream is that through wealth and power anyone can acquire happiness. To get this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream. In order to do this, he must have wealth and power. The dream also brought about the idea of being a self-reliant man, a hard worker, and making a successful living for yourself. The Great Gatsby is about what happened to the American Dream in the 1920s, a time period when a lot people with tons of wealth and the need to show it off had corrupted the dream. When the American Dream is combined with excessive wealth it becomes nothing more than selfishness. Jay Gatsby, the main character of the story, is one character that longs for the past. Surprisingly, he spends most of his adult life trying to recapture it and, finally, dies while trying. In the past, Gatsby in love with the attractive young Daisy. Knowing he could not marry her because of the difference in their social status, he leaves so that he can reach her standards and later hopefully rekindle what they once had. Once he becomes rich, he moves near Daisy, "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay (83)," and throws extravagant parties...
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...Perhaps F. Scott Fitzgerald's greatest work, The Great Gatsby is not only a great story, but an insight into the flaws of real life during the "Roaring Twenties." His book has been considered by many a symbol for the "Jazz Age," a time of extraordinary wealth and promise, but Fitzgerald's novel is much more than that, presenting the truth behind the twenties and creating an atmosphere which has earned a permanent place in American literature. Fitzgerald's novel works on many different levels, giving us unforgettable characters and events on one, as well as referring to the problems of American wealth and spirituality on another. However, what is the main point of the book? And most importantly, what on earth is that mysterious green light? Those questions, as well as many others will be answered in this analysis, which will discuss the underlying meaning and symbolism behind The Great Gatsby. "I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone - he stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness." (16) So ends the first chapter of The Great Gatsby and brings to our attention the first symbol in this book - that mysterious...
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...The Great Gatsby tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a man who lives his life around the one desire: to be with the love of his life Daisy. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald employs a wide array of different colors to symbolize Gatby's desires, the innocence and moral decay of wealthy people, and the limitations of social class. The color green appears prominent throughout the whole novel and underlines Gatsby's quest for a future with Daisy. Nick Carraway, the protagonist, observes Gatsby standing at his dock and says, “Involuntarily I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of a dock.”(16). The reader later finds out this green light belongs to the Buchanan's dock and Gatsby's reaching out for the light indicates his lust to be with Daisy. The green light also represents Daisy and advises him to “go” towards her. Fitzgerald describes the light as “the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (171). The light directly connects to the hope Gatsby has. Gatsby finally meets Daisy again and Nick describes the change he sees in Gatsby's mindset, “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of the light had now vanished forever.” (60) Gatsby and Daisy are having an affair and because of this the light does not have a deep meaning to him anymore. It now symbolizes the end of his desires. The green light had a huge significance in Gatsby's life. Nick wonders how Gatsby...
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...The Great Gatsby: American Life during the 1920’s Cameron L. Green Lakeland College The Great Gatsby was a famous novel written by the so called “Jazz Age” novelist and short story writer Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby is a famous novel that provides vivid description and complexities of American Life during the 1920s that only leads to misery and death. The narrator of the novel in the original book is Nick Caraway who was a resident of the west-egg district of Long Island. His next door neighbour was a mysterious character called Jay Gatsby. He narrates the incidences that took place with Jay Gatsby as the central character during the summer of 1922. The novel narrates how an alcohol peddler who acquires a lot of wealth gets involved into true relationships which was mistaken by societal class. Their feelings were looked down by the societal class as “money power”, as they thought arranging parties and fests are one of the ways these people try to create a societal status. They were misunderstood in various occasions and faced tragic end like Gatsby. The Jazz age or popularly called the roaring twenties took place after the World War I and ended with the start of great recession during 1929. The result of prohibition and the banned sale of alcohol made various millionaires who were economically not sound. The period witnessed a new style of music called “jazz” which marked the extravagant and extrovert American...
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...For the idea of the party's youth”. In the 1920s women’s roles change drastically. Not only were women given the right to vote, but job opportunities increased. During the film, Chicago and the novel, The Great Gatsby, two women, Daisy Buchanan and Roxie Hart, faced many obstacles when it came to gender roles because women were seen as less dominant compared to men. Daisy was this beautiful woman who was solely dependent on her husband, Tom Buchanan, who remotely cheated on her, on a number of occasions. Roxie was this average, dream chaser...
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...How is the great Gatsby about the failure of the"American Dream"? The American Dream is a myth that people struggle to achieve each day of their lives but will never achieve. It cannot be achieved because it is an endless race for perfection .In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby; all the characters are attempting to become happier. The characters are divided into two groups: the rich (upper class) and the poor (lower class); though the main characters only try to make their lives better, but they are ruined by the harsh reality of life. America is founded on the principle of liberty, the notion that everyone is free to say and write what they want and that everyone is equal. Some people assume that since so much freedom is allowed, at least one person is exercising that freedom to its fullest. They work their whole lives to try to be like that person, but that person does not exist. They want to be as rich as him, and as powerful as him. These people are called the wealthy. The Great Gatsby illustrates the story these people, and how they are corrupted by the potential of seemingly limitless freedom. Tom and Daisy Buchanan, the rich couple in East Egg, seem to have everything they unhappy and seek more wealth. Tom drifts on "forever seeking a little wistfully for the could possibly want. Though their lives are full of anything they could imagine, they are dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game"(Fitzgerald 10) and reads "deep books with long words...
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...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is filled with multiple themes such as, love, power, money, reality, illusion and immortality, but the main focus is on the American dream and the downfall of those who attempt to reach it. Everyone has a dream of what ones future will look like, a future that includes something one might not have now. The novel is largely based around the so called American dream which embodies material items as a way of being successful. Jay Gatsby symbolizes the so-called American dream as he acquires popularity, wealth and love however falls short of this dream. Jay Gatsby is a fabulously wealthy young man living in a gothic mansion in West Egg, New York. He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night, but no one knows where he comes from, what he does, or how he made his fortune; making him a very popular person. Acquiring popularity in this fashion did not necessarily guarantee Gatsby had true friends because it was the parties themselves that were popular, not he himself. Nick, Gatsby's neighbor, who was invited to one of his elaborate gatherings; says that they, "conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks," again stressing the carefree, stereotypical roaring '20s atmosphere. Much to the partygoers discredit, "sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all." (Fitzgerald 21). This shows not only, that people just arrived to his mansion because his house was the "hot...
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...determination, over the course of time. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a classic example of a rags to riches man, but learns the hard way that money and materialistic things cannot fill one’s need for happiness. Not only that, but F. Scott Fitzgerald also portrays the corruption of an individual's American Dream through their foolish pursuit of wealth and physical...
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...“The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, portrays a world filled with rich societal happenings, love affairs, and corruption. Nick Carraway is the engaged narrator of the book, a curious choice considering that he is in a different class and almost in a different world than Gatsby and the other characters. Nick relates the plot of the story to the reader as a member of Gatsby’s circle. He has ambivalent feelings towards Gatsby, despising his personality and corrupted dream but feeling drawn to Gatsby’s magnificent capacity to hope. Using Nick as a moral guide, Fitzgerald attempts to guide readers on a journey through the novel to illustrate the corruption and failure of the American Dream. To achieve this, Nick’s credentials as a reliable narrator are carefully established and reinforced throughout the story. The American Dream is a sensitive and beloved topic in American culture. Discussing its failure and corruption needs to be done gently and morally. Fitzgerald understood this, and therefore acknowledged the need of a kind and cordial narrator within a materialistic society. Enter Nick Carraway, who on the first page lets readers know “In consequence, I’m inclined to reserve all judgments” pg 7. This statement already serves to set Nick up as a decent and honest man that can be trusted. To back up this statement Fitzgerald included a short section regarding Nick’s family and background. The Carraway’s claim themselves to be loyal Americans. However, when...
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...The Great Gatsby: The Corruption of the American Dream through Materialism The American dream is an ideal that has been present since American literature’s onset. Typically, the dreamer aspires to rise from rags to riches, while accumulating such things as love, high status, wealth, and power on his way to the top. The dream has had variations throughout different time periods, although it is generally based on ideas of freedom, self-reliance, and a desire for something greater. The early settlers’ dream of traveling out West to find land and start a family has gradually transformed into a materialistic vision of having a big house, a nice car, and a life of ease. In the past century, the American dream has increasingly focused on material items as an indication of attaining success. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a self-made man who started out with no money—only a plan for achieving his dream. He is so blinded by his luxurious possessions that he does not see that money cannot buy love or happiness. Fitzgerald demonstrates how a dream can become corrupted by one’s focus on acquiring wealth, power, and expensive things. Gatsby’s dream “is a naïve dream based on the fallacious assumption that material possessions are synonymous with happiness, harmony, and beauty” (Fahey 70). His American dream has become corrupted by the culture of wealth and opulence that surrounds him. Gatsby is a “nouveau riche,” and his romantic view of wealth has not prepared him for the self-interested...
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...materialistic vision of a big house, nice car, and living the easy life. As represented in the novel The Great Gatsby and Baz Luhrmann’s, The Great Gatsby, the American Dream was more focused on instant gratification of material things and needing material things as an indication of success. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby and Baz Luhrmann’s, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a renaissance man; a man who has it all but started out with nothing. His plan was to achieve his dream. He was so blinded by his possessions, in front of him, that he could not see that money could not buy love or happiness. Fitzgerald demonstrated how a dream can be corrupted by one’s focus on accruing wealth, power, and expensive things. Gatsby’s dream was “ambiguous, contradictory, romantic in nature, and undeniably beautiful while at the same time grotesquely flawed” (Hearne 189). His American Dream had become tarnished and corrupted by the culture of money and opulence that surrounded him. Gatsby was ‘new money’, and his romantic view of the wealthy did not prepare him for the self- absorbed, snobbish, group of people he was about to associate himself with. He threw lavish parties every night, yet he had no real friends to surround himself with. Gatsby bought expensive things and entertained a lot of people, but he was hoping for something more. Nick Caraway realized that Gatsby was involved in a few...
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...Women in The Great Gatsby The women in The Great Gatsby are presented in an unflattering way that does not make the reader sympathetic towards their character. They are viewed more as an object rather than a human being. The women, Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle, are described in their voice, looks, and behavior, instead of focusing on their feelings or emotions. The women are interpreted to be very negative characters and not superior in comparison to the men. Daisy changed for the worse for the desire of money. She, who is a woman herself, objectified her own daughter in the story. Daisy does not even specify the gender until asked specifically. When she is asked how her daughter is, she responds, “I suppose she talks, and eats, and everything.” (Daisy, 16). When she says this, she says it in a way that she is disappointed in having a girl. She does not go in depth, she is very blunt about her daughter. Daisy realized that girls are not looked upon as intelligent but more of as objects. Daisy said about her daughter, “I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” (Daisy, 17). She states that girl cannot be smart, but more of as eye-candy for successful men. That is all that the women are good for, to be beautiful. Daisy also changed because she was eager for money and cared so much of her ego. Gatsby said, “her voice is full of money.” (Gatsby, 120). Gatsby came to realization that Daisy has been corrupted by money, that...
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...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a 1925 novel about complex characters and their intricate relationships. Both the characters and their relationships are central focuses in the purpose of the book; however, those focuses can be understood differently in terms of the unique values of Eastern and Western cultures. An understanding of the text can change drastically based on those interpretations. Jay Gatsby is a prime example of a character that is subject to diverging interpretations. Gatsby’s significance in the text makes a reader’s analysis of him incredibly important to understanding the text. A central theme is observed in his character: “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone...remember that all the people in this world haven’t...
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