...Jason Lepeska Lippincott English III GT/AP-4 17 January 2013 Research Paper The Great Gatsby was a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, and has motifs of class separation, the hollowness of the upper class, and the decline of the visions of America. The setting is New York City in the summer of 1922. Nick Carraway moves to New York in hopes of finding a job there. Nick has connections in this town, like his cousin daisy, and her husband, Tom. He moves into a home next to a wealthy Jay Gatsby, an extravagant man who loves throwing ridiculous parties. As the summer progresses, Nick finally gets invited to one of these parties, where he learns Gatsby is in love with Daisy. Nick helps set up Daisy and Gatsby, and they start spending time together. Tom gets angry and ends up driving Gatsby to his unfortunate demise. While a Feminist reading provides insight into the novel, Fitzgerald’s emphasis on the separated classes system and the materialistic beliefs of the upper class demonstrates that a Marxist approach to the novel is of more use. Feminism criticizes the patriarchal language used in novels, and how that reflects the masculinity in the novel (“Feminist Criticism”). Feminism also analyzes how status and positions in the novel relate to the contrasting man and woman. It recognizes more traditional writing, like mailman. Men tend to work towards solutions, while women work towards connecting and feelings (“Feminist Criticism”). It is exemplified in the book...
Words: 1831 - Pages: 8
...The Great Gatsby, which people consider as Fitzgerald’s best literary work, portrays the journey of a man in acquiring success and love throughout the Jazz age. The protagonist is Jay Gatsby who attempts to win Daisy Buchanan’s love a high-class woman by using illegal ways to become wealthy. This paper uses themes as a literary device as it relates to The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. The most important underlying themes of the novel however are honesty and dishonesty, American dream, class, violence, gender roles, and moral decay. Theme of honesty and dishonesty: As compared to other works, the theme of honesty in Fitzgerald’s novel fails to distinguish compassionate characters from the uncompassionate ones. Honesty and dishonesty is a major...
Words: 2349 - Pages: 10
...The great effection of Freud’s psychoanalytic on literature is beyond doubt, though it was unpopular when he first proposed this theory.Still psychoanalytic had created a significant impact on American literature,especially on Fitzgerald’s works.Fitzgetald has already became a symbol of the Jazz Age, his honor and disgrace of life are extremly similar with Nick and Gatsby’s in the novel, but there is a lot differences after perusing. Personaly, Frued’s theory of Personality Structure is the key clue of main roles’ birth. Id, ego and superego these three personalities exist in the relationship between Gatsby and Fizgerald all the time. According to Frued’s concepts,id, ego and superego these three co-operate to make each of them can operate nomally,none acts independently. In the other word, the person who own the personalities will be dissatisfied when the relationships among the three parts have any contradiction. First, id——as the lowest level, which is isolated from the basic desires of all human kinds, meanwhile, id is out of constrains by social customs,logical and rational. The ego, which is usually contradictory. In the Creative Writers and Day-dreaming Fruede pointed out that there is two kinds of authors, one is kind of Epic writer, every work is based on real history; another one is who always tried to creative their own stories. Obviously, Fitzgerald belongs to the later one. The conflicting thoughts of Fitzgerald’s embodies on The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald had...
Words: 1344 - Pages: 6
...Color Symbolism in “The Great Gatsby” Color symbolism in the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald has a variety of colors. Some of the colors in the book symbolize more than others. These colors include green, white, yellow, blue, grey, and silver. Each of these colors have a huge role in The Great Gatsby. They all symbolize something important and have their own meaning in the novel. Throughout the entire novel Fitzgerald uses the color green a lot. Green has many different interpretations in the novel. One of the most essential meanings of green in the novel is envy. Gatsby is known as a very envious and jealous person. Once upon a time Gatsby and the love of his life, Daisy, were both deeply in love. Daisy is now married to another man named Tom. He spends all his time and effort trying to get Daisy back and getting her attention. Also, one might say that Gatsby is jealous of the riches around him. He is believed to be “green with...
Words: 520 - Pages: 3
...I. INTRODUCTION a. Background of Choosing the Work of Art The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. Fitzgerald was the most famous chronicler of 1920s America, an era that he dubbed “the Jazz Age.” Written in 1925, The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest literary documents of this period, in which the American economy soared, bringing unprecedented levels of prosperity to the nation. Prohibition, the ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1919), made millionaires out of bootleggers, and an underground culture of revelry sprang up. The chaos and violence of World War I left America in a state of shock, and the generation that fought the war turned to wild and extravagant living to compensate. The Great Gatsby is highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. So, choosing The Great Gatsby and had the characters as its focus in this paper because it covers Marxism where each character’s purpose in life is money, and the essence of desire is wealth. It is clear within the text that...
Words: 1497 - Pages: 6
...Analysis of “Materialistic Perception” in F. Scot Fitzgerald Using Marxist Literary Criticism Chapter I 1.1 Introduction The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream. 1.2 State of Problem The Great Gatsby provides a critical social history of America during the Roaring Twenties within its narrative. That era, known for unprecedented economic prosperity, the evolution of jazz music, flapper culture, and bootlegging and other economy struggle that was the result of the materialism and capitalism damaging on social behavior, led to the widespread social distress. 1.3 Theoretical Framework Using literary criticism to interpret what is the ideal life of America in 19th century and what is the dream of American people after World War I. as a Marxist interpretation of the novel makes especially clear, reveals its dark underbelly instead. Through its unflattering characterization of those at the top of the...
Words: 6033 - Pages: 25
...parties, 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...
Words: 1188 - Pages: 5
...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...
Words: 1566 - Pages: 7
...Standing the Test of Times Among the numerous novels over the time, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby reflects the class struggles between society and individualism. Bronte and Fitzgerald’s classic pieces of literature, Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby, have both been reviewed by countless of readers over whether or not the literary works will stand the test of times. Over the decades, novels typically lose cultural insight and tend to become unnoticed. Both Bronte and Fitzgerald have incorporated classic elements such as: the battle between social norms sophistication in writing, and transcendence of individualism. These aid the novels popularity with the readers in such ways as relating it to the reader’s lives. Through the early nineteenth...
Words: 762 - Pages: 4
...When my family moved to America from Pakistan before I was born, they chased the American Dream. This dream consists of having a fulfilled life with wealth, happiness and protection for the family. In the novel written by Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 called The Great Gatsby provides a great commentary for the life that people lived in the 1920s. The protagonist, Nick Carraway witnesses corruption with different relationships because of lavish lifestyles. Jay Gatsby, Nick’s neighbor throws lavish parties in hopes to attract his past lover, Daisy. He lost the love of his life when he went to war and came back realizing that she married a man with more wealth and security, Tom. The American Dream is defined as someone with low income or social status...
Words: 788 - Pages: 4
...constant partying and scandalous relationships where men had typically held absolute power. In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, both typical and changing gender roles play a crucial part in establishing rocky relationships between certain characters. Tom and Daisy’s marriage is completely motivated by wealth and reputation as Tom is unfaithful and mistreats Daisy, yet he still wants Daisy to stand by him in the public eye. Tom also participates in an abusive affair with Myrtle Wilson, an impoverished woman who makes an effort to act as though she is wealthy and takes Daisy’s place. Gatsby sees Daisy as an unattainable dream that he wishes to achieve. Despite this rising period of rebelliousness in women, Daisy and Myrtle continue to conform to the men who possess all the power. Based on pure...
Words: 1161 - Pages: 5
...Exploration of Marxist Criticism in The Great Gatsby The American dream can be summed up as such: The ability for any individual regardless of their initial socioeconomic status, to achieve great monetary and social wealth. In the capitalist society of America, the belief is to become rich is integral for all its citizens. This is opposed to the Marxist view on equality, since for a person to be wealthy another must inevitably be below him. The society in The Great Gatsby exemplifies the flawed aspiration to accomplish the American dream. Through the experiences of three prominent characters in the novel: Myrtle Wilson, Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby. The errors of the attempt to change ones class in a class-based system are personified. Myrtle...
Words: 1371 - Pages: 6
...Clever and captivating, F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ is perhaps the most critically analysed American piece of the past century. Arguably this is because Fitzgerald uses many diverse literary devices to fascinate the reader. Gatsby and Daisy embody the theme of complicated relationships, which Fitzgerald uses to make the reader question the legitimacy of Daisy’s feelings and Gatsby’s persistence in chasing his dream. Fitzgerald involves symbolism in many ways including a green light at the end of Daisy’s dock to symbolise Gatsby’s dream and comment on the greed of the people of the roaring twenties. The American Dream is a theme through which Fitzgerald is able to comment on the moral decay of the Roaring Twenties society. Fitzgerald uses the theme of complicated relationships between characters as a symbol of misjudgement, this is especially evident for Gatsby and his relationship with Daisy. When Gatsby and Daisy began their love, Daisy was a symbol of wealth and the upper class of American society. Circumstantially it was the case that for Gatsby to fulfil his dream he would have to work to once again be worthy of Daisy’s love. It is hard not to question whether during their time apart Gatsby had glorified Daisy and it is uncertain as to whether she was worth it. Gatsby strongly desired the past to be repeated. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow...
Words: 998 - Pages: 4
...The Great Gatsby Summary: The Great Gatsby is a story told by Nick Carraway, who once was the neighbor of the well-known and wealthy man, Jay Gatsby. The movie follows the mysterious Mr. Gatsby, which order only request one thing: to be reunited with his old flame, Daisy Buchanan. Mr. Gatsby uses Nick to become closer to Nick’s cousin Daisy, and to develop a new relationship with her, but Daisy already has a husband, Tom. Meantime, Myrtle Wilson is running over by a car drove by Daisy. Tom has suspects about the secret meetings between Gatsby and Daisy and talks to Myrtle Wilson’s husband, which shoots Gatsby as revenge, as he thinks, Mr. Gatsby was the driver of the car which hit his wife. The American Dream: The movie “The Great Gatsby” is about the American Dream and its influence at the people back in the 1920’s. The purpose about the American Dream is based on that everyone may participate equally no matter of the racy, history or society. American Dream’s plays a big role in the movie The Great Gatsby. Ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for success, and the success, which comes from one’s own efforts. Mr. Gatsby is a living example, when he has saved his money to become even richer than his past generations. In that way, Mr. Gatsby deals with the human aspiration, to start a new life without thinking back at his past. “I wish we could just run away”, he is saying to Daisy. Jay Gatsby is constantly holding big parties at his place...
Words: 510 - Pages: 3
...The Great Gatsby, a story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is one based on the American Dream or should I say the “demise” of the American Dream. This so called dream in the 20’s was portrayed by wickedness and greed. Week three of our lecture we were asked to discuss what the American Dream meant to us and my response was one based off freedom, discovery, and hard work. Immigrants, salves, lower class citizens, etc. were accustomed to earning their money through manual labor, not through family inheritance as seen by most of the characters from The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses this story and the characteristics and actions of these characters to say that the “American Dream” was based on a lie in the 1920’s. The carefree satisfaction of the Jazz Age, also seen as the Materialistic Era, led to the extortion of the American Dream. The Declaration of Independence states that “all man are created equal and that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” F. Scott Fitzgerald created this story to reveal that people in the 20’s were in a pursuit of selfish delight, and the equality of people was based on their financial assets. The line that states all mean are created equal is broken in the scene where Tom is bashing Gatsby for how he became wealthy. He calls Gatsby a crook, and in this in turn leads to retaliation from Gatsby and a fight almost breaking out. Two mean that hold such high class and dignity, yelling and...
Words: 1781 - Pages: 8
