...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a tale of a man who pursued the idea of a woman, not the woman herself. Jay, once known as James Gatz, grew up poor but climbs up the ladder of success, a prime example of the potential of the American dream, and is able to afford a mansion on Long Island, New York. Gatsby “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (104) He fabricated a life that ignores his past poverty and parents because “his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (104). But Gatsby’s motivation for achieving the wealth he attains is the pursuit of another dream. Jay Gatsby, as he chooses to title himself, is a man running on the fumes of his past love affair with Daisy. Despite actually accomplishing his goals of recapturing Daisy’s love or at least her attention, he still cannot stop holding on to the nostalgia. But should one abandon their own sentimentalities for the sake of reality?...
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...The Great Gatsby shows intricate Foreshadowing, this foreshadow shows contrast and comparing themes and ideas throughout the story. In the story Gatsby’s house and car are yellow, the color yellow foreshadows death. In the story Gatsby speaks on how he highly appreciates his yellow car (pg.64), this foreshadows an inevitable death, caused by his car. The great Gatsby also shows foreshadowing in his house, which is yellow, and in this location he dies. I think if Gatsby’s colors were any different, maybe this tragedy would be a comedy. In the story the greenlight represents hope the greenlight and the yellow home, symbolizes one thing, Gatsby’s hopeless death. In the story Gatsby wants to repeat the past, he believes he can, his environment disallows this, and this dream is disallowed due to other’s character’s wants. I believe dreams are what can drive us an extent of willpower, but when lethargy, or obsession is introduced to the willpower we lose focus....
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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 Motivation of Dreams The ultimate objective of life is to turn dreams into reality. Dreams are valuable because they are the ideal life conditions that people want to live in. They provide a source of motivation to achieve great success in the future. This motivation can be seen in the characters of many novels including David Adams Richards's The Lost Highway and Francis Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In both novels, the protagonists strive for dreams of winning over the loves of their lives through their pursuit of wealth, rejection of reality, and persistence of ambition. Firstly, Gatsby -- the protagonist of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby-- follows his dream of achieving Daisy’s love through his growth in wealth. When Gatsby first meets Daisy, he falls in love with her. However, she soon leaves him for her life that is filled with riches. Because Gatsby was a “penniless young man” (Fitzgerald, 149), he was determined to obtain wealth in order to impress Daisy: “He wants her to see his house...” (Fitzgerald, 80). He had great desire to attract Daisy through wealth and became a rich man who owned a beautiful mansion: “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought [the house]” (Fitzgerald, 91). Gatsby’s quest for money demonstrates great initiative to stun Daisy. Similarly, Alex-- the protagonist of Richards's The Lost Highway-- seeks to gain the treasure of his life, Minnie, by gaining wealth. Early on, Alex loses Minnie to Sam Patch, who she eventually...
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...Compare the presentations of appearance and reality in The Great Gatsby and one other short story by Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald presents the theme of appearance and reality throughout his novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald presents 1920’s America as the decade of illegal use of substances, promiscuity and the status and wealth of similar Americans, showing this era to be a time of moral decline. "They smashed things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness... and left other people to clean up the mess they've made." Fitzgerald writes as if to show the breakdown in this vigorous society, especially due to the expectations and judgements throughout this time; the men were expected to be educated, rich and charming while the women, simply beautiful and good company. The phrase “retreated back into their money” reveals the true reality behind the characters. It demonstrates the idea that despite the immorality of their actions, characters like Tom and Daisy will always have their money to fall back on. Fitzgerald uses the idea of money as somewhat of a protective barrier to the consequences of the actions of the upper class. This is shown when Daisy Buchanan gets away with murder and promiscuity, but with other characters of Fitzgerald's, such as Myrtle, and Evelyn from The Cut Glass Bow, that they do not. It could be said that the deception of these characters are punished by death due to their less-than elitist images, whereas Daisy Buchanan...
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...the corridors, and the strong gusts of wind that blows in every night, slamming on doors and windows. The mansion represents the American Dream, a goal or hope for a better future. The loneliness of the mansion represents the result of someone who tries to escape reality in a never ending search for something greater. It has been common today to dismiss the life people currently live in and focus on the future that many believe will be better. At first glance, many might say the American Dream is beautiful. But on a closer inspection, depicted by Kimberly Hearne, The American Dream hides the truth of reality. Based on a Marxist view of “The Great Gatsby,¨ F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the American Dream as a false hope that people seek to obtain in order to escape reality....
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...Molly Dadrugue December 13, 2014 Gatsby and the American Dream “I have spent my life judging the distance between American reality and the American dream.” -Bruce Springsteen Through the use of metaphors and analogies, Fitzgerald creates a reflective and logical conclusion to The Great Gatsby. In this concluding passage, the narrator, Nick, provides an explanation regarding the extinction of the American Dream, the theme of the novel. The American Dream is not shown to be the American reality in this emotionally and figuratively colorful novel. Fitzgerald uses the analogy of the American Dream in comparison to the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. The green light represents Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us.” (Fitzgerald) This quote describes the metaphor of the green light being Gatsby’s glimpse of hope that he and Daisy will be together in the future. Gatsby’s ignorance caused him to lose touch with the reality that year by year Daisy is moving further and further from Gatsby. This is similar to the American Dream because the green light is being compared to the continent of America. The Dutch sailors mentioned in the passage see American as a glimpse of hope for mankind. With this the American Dream is created, but as time goes by the American Dream seems to fade into a fantasy, just as Daisy fades into an element of Gatsby’s fantasies. At the end of this...
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...The Great Gatsby and The American Dream The American Dream is the idea of having a perfect family that lives a luxurious life, filled with money, cars and anything they want. In The Great Gatsby, written by _______, Jay Gatsby tries to accomplish that dream. He achieves the materialistic aspect of it, but struggles with that major point, love and family. In the end, does it all matter? Is money and objects really what it takes to have a perfect life? Not only do the characters in the book have something to say about Gatsby’s way of living, but so do the readers and they all learn the same message. The Great Gatsby reveals the reality of the American Dream, an unrealistic image of a desired life. It was always about Daisy. The castle like...
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...Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, examines the American dream from a different perspective, one that sheds light on those who contort these principles to their own selfish fantasies. Fitzgerald renders Jay Gatsby as a man who takes the Dream too far, and becomes unable to distinguish his false life of riches from reality. This 'unique' American novel describes how humanity's insatiable desires for wealth and power subvert the idyllic principles of the American vision. Jay Gatsby is the personification of limitless wealth and prestige, a shining beacon for the aspiring rich. Nick Carraway declares that there is "something glorious" about Gatsby, and that he is filled with "some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life"(8). It appears to mere mortals who are not blessed with riches, that Gatsby fulfills the American dream of achieving fame and fortune. But instead of being content with his greenbacks, Gatsby believes that he can replicate the "Platonic conception of himself" (89) and become the flawless god of wealth that he depicts. The American dream has many interpretations, but Gatsby latches onto the concept of wealth alone, failing to see that he can improve his character through hard work and toil as well. One understanding of the American dream, bettering oneself to achieve a higher social status, sadly spurs people like Gatsby to achieve social superiority through money, but never finding true happiness. Gatsby believes in this "unreality of reality" that "the rock of...
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...The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby gives the readers a visual image of every character’s life by expressing their feelings; the colors are used very often as symbols that depict the person’s character and represents their behavior. The author utilized the colors white, green, red, blue, yellow, and gold. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock is symbolic to the limitless promise of the dream Gatsby pursues. “Gatsby believed in the green light with such intensity that he did not realize his immature dream was unattainable from the start.”(Fitzgerald) Gatsby, was hoping that his American Dream would come true, it was his inspiration, his hope, and, ironically, his death and downfall. he was expecting to get married...
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...Fitzgerald illustrates the common characteristics of perseverance, hard work, and wealth in 1920s America through the protagonists of The Great Gatsby and how those certain ideals inevitably clash. In a time period swelling with the prospect of wealth and aspiration, The Great Gatsby twists the common ideals of the 1920’s by illustrating the iniquity of these prospects. The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, plays the role of the wealthy cultural icon, throwing grand parties while being adored by many. His intentions, however, resonate on a deeper level than simply rising above in social status. All that Gatsby does is based around winning the heart of his deep-rooted love, Daisy Buchanan. While Daisy is beautiful, her beauty is not what mesmerizes...
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...To what extent do you agree that Fight Club is an updated version of The Great Gatsby that captures the zeitgeist of modernism? The extent to which Palahniuk’s Fight Club bears resemblance to Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is debatable despite the fact that there are numerous similarities between the two texts in terms of its narrative structure dominant themes and the presentation of characters thus their respective zeitgeist of modernism, both texts have clearly their own mark that make them truly unique. Clearly the extent of the similarities between the two texts cannot be overlooked when Palahniuk stated himself in the Afterword that ‘’Gatsby’s updated a little’’, as both novels have apostolic narratives it can be seen that both reveal the hollow superficial nature that existed within society in both the 1920’s and 1990’s. Fight Club and The Great Gatsby can be contrasted as, Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s lavish parties, flamboyant suits and mansion to be a template for the narrator’s own existence in ‘Fight Club’. His life is dominated by his IKEA ‘’condo’’ and his own job, which he then finds that he has nothing to live for and is empty inside. He is someone who has ‘’ lost everything’’ and is ‘’ Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete.’’, which also illustrates the impossibility of the American Dream of both novels. ‘’Fight Club’’ thrusts the idea of conspicuous consumption even further as the narrator describes the destruction of material possessions no longer...
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...the 1920 s and the themes of two well-known novels of the 1920 s. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway and The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, are two novels about the lost generation. They are striving to find an order for their world, a world that has been shattered. They attempt to reach their allotment dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its imaginary goals. Not only are the themes of these two novels similar, but the characters within the novels have many similarities. An example of two characters that are similar would be Jay Gatsby, from the novel The Great Gatsby and Robert Cohn, from the novel The Sun Also Rises. These two characters, Jay Gatsby and Robert , are similar because they are both the romantics of the novels, they are also the rich outsiders. Robert Cohn and Jay Gatsby are both outsiders of the novels and are not wanted by the crowed. The title The Great Gatsby is like a paradox, for Jay Gatsby is neither great no Gatsby. Jay's real name is Gatz and he can not be great, because he is not accepted by the person, he most desires to be with, for he is an outsider. Gatsby being part of the "new rich" makes him an outsider as well as him living in West Egg, for it is the less...
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...F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, demonstrates that Jay Gatsby lives a life of the American Dream gone wrong by lowering his morals with the corrupt nature of greed, Jay only focuses on the past to move forward in his own grand dream for himself, and how Fitzgerald’s use of symbolism during the Roaring Twenties exemplifies theme areas in the novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald's, The Great Gatsby, the cars represent a form of status. Nick takes taxis while Gatsby drives his custom made, cream-yellow car. According to Dan Seiters, “It is a rich cream color, a combination of the white of the dream and the yellow of money, of reality in a narrow sense,” (1). After Daisy kills Myrtle a bystander talks about the car and says, “It was a yellow car....
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...forever. It is human nature to regret that which is lost, therefore, 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...
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