...one feels the need to recreate the past and is a common theme in everyday life. These attempts at trying to repeat the past, however, are usually in vain. The novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a great example of this, as the plot focuses on the concept of recapturing the past. The plot of this story revolves around the growth and press of this concept and is told relative to the main character in the story, Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s usage of this character effectively conveys this idea throughout the novel. The story about how and why Gatsby is unsuccessful in recapturing his past, how his actions hurt himself and others around him and how he ultimately fails while achieving nothing. Throughout the story, we learn that Jay Gatsby is a man who depends and dwells upon his past to reach his dream. Through the narrator, Nick Carraway, we can see that Gatsby’s bad habit of holding on the past does not help him get anywhere with his goal. He believes that the past could be repeated, “'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!'” (Fitzgerald, 85). This shows Gatsby’s inability to move on from the past. This obsession with the past inspires Gatsby to do everything he does in order to win back Daisy. He gets into the business of bootleg alcohol selling. To get Daisy’s attention, he throws lavish parties every week and he buys a mansion across the bay in front of Daisy’s mansion. He feels that if Daisy sees his display of wealth, she will come...
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...may be outdated does not make the book irrelevant. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes place in the 1920’s yet the story still tremendously impacts and relates to today’s society. Gatsby blindly pursues former lover Daisy and revolves his entire life around her needs. Daisy does not match his expectations and instead acts carelessly with little regard for the feelings of others. Well aware of her husband Tom’s not so secret affairs, she continues to act oblivious and stay with him in fear of ruining her image, even though she has someone who would do anything for her. Throughout the book, Tom and Daisy constantly step over people as if they do not matter and only care about themselves and Gatsby loses himself by...
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...There are many talented writers that have made an impact on the readers of the world. F. Scott Fitzgerald, in particular, is one of these very popular writers. He has an incredible talent of catching the reader’s attention by his extravagant writing style. An example of his writing style is shown through his novel The Great Gatsby. Throughout the story, Nick Carraway carries the reader through an incredible love triangle in the Jazz Age. In Chapter One, Nick meets at Daisy’s house for lunch and Daisy takes Nick outside for a talk. During their talk, Daisy tells him about the birth of her daughter by saying, “She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.’” Daisy makes this statement because in the time that the novel was based, women’s intelligence was not valued. Through this, she expresses her own boredom with life and thinks as though a girl would have more fun if she was careless and beautiful. Daisy does not want her daughter to live the same kind of life that she has. Instead, she just wants her daughter to enjoy life and be simple. In Chapter Seven, Nick was trying to describe what Daisy’s voice was like to him when Gatsby makes the remark, “Her voice is full of money.” This quote shows the reader why Gatsby is so infatuated with Daisy. In his mind, money is the source of all happiness. Daisy stood...
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...The One Who Wears the Pants Throughout history and in different cultures, strength can be defined in different ways. Before the 1920s, in America, women were considered weak and vulnerable while men were strong and capable. However, during the 1920s, the women’s movement to dismantle the gender norms of the Victorian Era to gain freedom and equality, helped redefine strength within the nation. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his romance novel, The Great Gatsby, to show how a woman can be just as strong, or stronger than a man. Set in the 1920s in New York, a bondsman named Nick Carraway narrates the story of a wealthy man named Jay Gatsby, who attempts to rekindle his love with a beautiful married woman named Daisy Buchanan by using his status and...
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...work and determination. Each person has their own version of The American Dream and their attitude of achieving it can vastly vary. In the novel, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author displays The American Dream through a corrupt love and the idea of becoming wealthy and having the ability to acquire anything. Jay Gatsby does not truly love Daisy, rather he sees her as an object he must acquire in order to achieve his personal vision of the American Dream. First of all, Gatsby wants success and views Daisy as the means to achieving it. Second, Daisy is treated and viewed as a possession that Jay Gatsby has to attain under any circumstances to fulfill his American Dream. Lastly, Gatsby is trying to set up an image and reputation for...
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...on a star make hopes become reality? How can wishing on something so small bring something with such great meaning? When is wishing on a star different than wishing on a rock? What has to happen in order to make an object have meaning? What makes a star more important than a rock, or a green light at the end of a dock? In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the green light and the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg are symbolically different for everyone in the novel. The green light that appears at the end of Daisy Buchanan's dock represents Gatsby’s hopes and wishes. "He stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way..."(Fitzgerald 20). Gatsby is seen reaching out towards the green light,...
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...In "The Great Gatsby," some of Gatsby's decisions had a positive impact on his life. Meanwhile, there were many that produced negative results. Gatsby makes these consequential decisions to pursue his vision of a perfect Gatsby and his love for Daisy. In doing so Gatsby does not consider the repercussions of his decisions upon the people closest to him. In "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys the notion that one is willing to make consequential decisions for the betterment of themselves. As a result, it generates a sense of belonging...
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... the Great Gatsby fails to disappoint one’s imagination of the perks packaged with the life of the upper class. Though the novel paints an image of ecstasy when vividly describing rich scenery; with great intent, Fitzgerald shines a light on the struggle to feel powerful and content in their own several characters . Though Fitzgerald highlights a plethora of realities through a variety of fictional characters, a parallel can drawn between the themes presented in the novel to those highlighted in Thorstein Veblen’s “Conspicuous Consumption”. American Economist Thorstein Veblen centers his pieces around the impact of the upper class or “Leisure class” in shaping society’s socio- economic behavior on all...
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...The Narrative Art of The Great Gatsby Introduction The Great Gatsby was written in 1925. The author, Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is one of the most outstanding writers in America. As a member of the “lost generation”, Fitzgerald made the short life of Gatsby epitome of the rise, boom and decline of the “American Dream” in “Jazz Age”. This novel shows us unusually rich literary and aesthetic connotation is has by its unique narrative perspective, the ups and downs of plot, superb accurate language, various rhetorical devices and vivid character images. To some extent, the reason why The Great Gatsby can become a famous classic work is that the author uses extraordinary narrative techniques in it. All the techniques are employed skillfully by Fitzgerald. The study of narrative art in this work has been highlighted in the research area in these years. Zhang Jinfeng(2001) analyzes the role of Nick in the novel from the its structure, themes and other aspects. Cheng Xilin(2009) uses the spatial narrative theory to discussed the space narrative art in The Great Gatsby from three aspects: the geography space, social space and the text space. Xiao Dongbo(2009) starts with the analysis on author and characters and expound the connotation of "American dream" and profoundly reveals the historical process of the formation, development and burst of the "American dream". Shang Guanghui(2011) analyzes The Great Gatsby from the narrators of the role and argues that the communication...
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...College Writing I The novels My Antonia and The Great Gatsby have characters that I believe have many similarities and differences. Nick Carraway and Jim Burden were raised in entirely different ways and settings and both characters play key roles throughout the plot of each story. Although these two characters do not draw many similarities at first glance, I believe the two can be connected from one story to the other. My first point being that both Nick and Jim are the respective narrators in their stories and even though the novels are completely different the role these two characters play can be interpreted as similar. Both of these characters find themselves in interesting dilemma’s, in which they reveal their true colors. Even though most people would say these two characters are very much different, I believe a significant connection can be made between these two characters because they both end up chasing their own American Dream at some point throughout the stories. Nick Carraway describes himself as a hardworking, tolerant, open minded intellectual. Nick was born and raised in Minnesota and attended Yale University; he served in the military during World War 1. I believe the fact that he served in the military showed his dedication to protecting the country even though he had plans to become something greater. He later moved to New York in 1922 to become more educated on the bond business. While in New York he meets Jay Gatsby who happens to be his neighbor in his neighborhood...
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...thoughts and they will always have disastrous outcomes. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the idea of the consequences of unethical etiquette. While the people of the novel believe that they are not doing anything wrong the nefarious actions of the characters shows Fitzgerald’s true intent of informing the reader of the dangers that immoral behavior can have on not only the one causing the problem, but the ones involved with the individual too. Death is a recurring topic within the novel and it shows the intricacies and wrongness of the actions...
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...The Great Gatsby is a story told by Nick Carraway, who was once Gatsby's neighbor, and he tells the story sometime after 1922, when the incidents that fill the book take place. As the story opens, Nick has just moved from the Midwest to West Egg, Long Island, seeking his fortune as a bond salesman. Shortly after his arrival, Nick travels across the Sound to the more fashionable East Egg to visit his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband, Tom, a hulking, imposing man whom Nick had known in college. There he meets professional golfer Jordan Baker. The Buchanans and Jordan Baker live privileged lives, contrasting sharply in sensibility and luxury with Nick's more modest and grounded lifestyle. When Nick returns home that evening, he notices his neighbor, Gatsby, mysteriously standing in the dark and stretching his arms toward the water, and a solitary green light across the Sound. One day, Nick is invited to accompany Tom, a blatant adulterer, to meet his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, a middle-class woman whose husband runs a modest garage and gas station in the valley of ashes, a desolate and run-down section of town that marks the convergence of the city and the suburbs. After the group meets and journeys into the city, Myrtle phones friends to come over and they all spend the afternoon drinking at Myrtle and Tom's apartment. The afternoon is filled with drunken behavior and ends ominously with Myrtle and Tom fighting over Daisy, his wife. Drunkenness turns to rage and Tom, in one...
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...The Great Gatsby is a story told by Nick Carraway, who was once Gatsby's neighbor, and he tells the story sometime after 1922, when the incidents that fill the book take place. As the story opens, Nick has just moved from the Midwest to West Egg, Long Island, seeking his fortune as a bond salesman. Shortly after his arrival, Nick travels across the Sound to the more fashionable East Egg to visit his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband, Tom, a hulking, imposing man whom Nick had known in college. There he meets professional golfer Jordan Baker. The Buchanans and Jordan Baker live privileged lives, contrasting sharply in sensibility and luxury with Nick's more modest and grounded lifestyle. When Nick returns home that evening, he notices his neighbor, Gatsby, mysteriously standing in the dark and stretching his arms toward the water, and a solitary green light across the Sound. One day, Nick is invited to accompany Tom, a blatant adulterer, to meet his mistress, Myrtle Wilson, a middle-class woman whose husband runs a modest garage and gas station in the valley of ashes, a desolate and run-down section of town that marks the convergence of the city and the suburbs. After the group meets and journeys into the city, Myrtle phones friends to come over and they all spend the afternoon drinking at Myrtle and Tom's apartment. The afternoon is filled with drunken behavior and ends ominously with Myrtle and Tom fighting over Daisy, his wife. Drunkenness turns to rage and Tom, in one...
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...How are women portrayed in Chapter Seven of The Great Gatsby? In Chapter Seven of The Great Gatsby women were portrayed as very significant role. Men worked to earn money to be wealthy for the maintenance of the women. In Chapter Seven, the women that play the important roles are; Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker and Myrtle Wilson. Each of the characters are portrayed as ignorant and oblivious to what’s going on around them. For example, Daisy acts foolish around Tom, her husband, as if she thinks that what he wants her to be like. She pretends like she isn’t aware of Tom’s affair with one of the other main characters whom name is Myrtle. Even though she calls him on the telephone when they’re at dinner. Daisy says in Chapter One “I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” This quotation demonstrates that all men look for foolish women. This quotation is also directed at Daisy’s daughter, she says this to her daughter because Daisy wants to make sure being a fool also has an impact on her life. Throughout the novel, women are not described in depth. The author’s presentation of them is unflattering and unsympathetic. Fitzgerald appeals to their voice, “she had a voice full of money”, the way they behaved, “They’re such beautiful shirts she sobbed”, rather than feelings or emotions. The character Daisy Buchannan is described constantly as someone who is happy when things are being given to her. This has all came to...
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...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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