...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...
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...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...
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...The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that shadows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on the prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story focuses primarily the young and mysterious bachelor Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby offers a vivid variety of social commentary, dwelling heavily on the theme of the abandoned American dream, Fitzgerald exposes this due to the apparent blind fixation on the past that the story exhibits with the characterisation of Jay Gatsby. Perhaps none is more sophiscated and well established than the sense of social stratification. The book is regarded as a remarkable piece of writing as it conveys the moral issues different social classes had to deal with in the 1920’s. Through exposing distinct social classes Fitzgerald delivers a strong sense of elitism circulating the society. Fitzgerald’s first method of approach was to create the riches and place them into distinct groups, new money and old money. New money were the people who benefited from the ufrom prohibited business trades such as the illegal selling of liquor Gatsby participated in. Characters in the story that acquired the majority of their wealth through inheritance include Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan and Jordan Baker – these characters are referred to as examples of “old money.” Their family were rich and...
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...The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel about a man by the name of Jay Gatsby, trying to win the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan, but his background eventually destroys him. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a horrendous novel due to its attack on social classes, the American dream, and going against traditional and religious values. The attack on social classes is shown through characterization by displaying the upper class as full of bootleggers, adulterers, and racists. The novel´s antagonization of the American dream is shown through theme showing that a man who started from scratch makes millions and it leads to his own downfall. The plot of The Great Gatsby also goes against traditional and religious values by making the novel about two lovers having an affair....
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...the multiple themes presented throughout the book. Numerous times throughout the book, Fitzgerald uses multiple literary elements, specifically imagery, to represent the amount of wealth possessed by the characters. Fitzgerald uses imagery to help the reader develop an understanding about the characters, their personality, and their characteristics. Imagery really targets one theme and characteristic, specifically wealth. There are multiple examples of how Fitzgerald implements and takes advantage of this literary device to help develop the theme of wealth throughout the book. The author uses imagery to help him develop the theme of wealth throughout the book. There are multiple examples throughout the book that exemplify this idea. A perfect example lies on page 5 when Nick says, “The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard-it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby’s mansion.” This quote describes Gatsby’s house using imagery and shows the...
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...Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a 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. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals. When World War I ended in 1918, the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America seem like stuffy, empty hypocrisy. The dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained...
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...Introduction: Fitzgerald believed the American dream was false and distorted. 2. Stories showed the decadence of the Jazz Age but with a jaded view 3. 1920s a. About the time period b. “The Jazz Age” c. Wealth d. Social values e. Fashion 4. Works by Fitzgerald a. This Side of Paradise b. The Great Gatsby c. The love of the last tycoon 5. Symbolism a. Great Gatsby i. Green light ii. Valley of ashes (poor’s lack of values, unfaithful’s lack of morals) iii. Beat up car b. This Side of Paradise i. Speed and cars ii. Alcohol as means to forget c. The Love of the Last Tycoon i. Car ii. Sheep /people iii. Light/darkness as reality/fantasy 6. Theme a. American dream b. Class system c. Relationships 7. Conclusion The death of the “American Dream” was a notable part of the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. His use of symbolism and extensive writings on the large gap between the social classes demonstrated why he felt this way. According to his writings, Fitzgerald was of the opinion that where a person fell in the class system would play a huge role in how the American dream played out for them. Social class in America would determine the lifestyle, manners, wealth and opportunity which could be achieved. For those unlucky enough not to be the winner in the roll of the dice, it was a dream that would be seen as false, unattainable...
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...Exploring The Many Themes Of The Great Gatsby “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald There are many messages authors try to send the readers when they write books, but at the end of the day, people receive different messages from the masterpiece. Author Francis Scott Fitzgerald wrote a book in 1925 which was The Great Gatsby. “Even if Scott Fitzgerald is, as someone suggested years ago, essentially a one-book author, only a prig would dispute either the stylistic beauty or the cultural importance of The Great Gatsby.”(Barbarese) Although he is arguably a one-book author, this story about a Jay Gatsby has a story to tell. This piece is about a wealthy young man named Jay Gatsby, who has everything anyone would dream of, besides the love of his life. Making money through bootlegging and making illegal sales of alcohol, but soon finds it hard to believe that money can not really buy happiness. The book contains many conflicts between Jay Gatsby and himself, Jay Gatsby against society, and even Jay Gatsby and the love of his life’s husband. The wealthy This novel is filled with all the themes of love, revenge, money can’t buy happiness, the “American Dream”, and many more. There are so many themes to pick from, the audience has their individual ideas on which them Scott Fitzgerald is trying to send. The truth is he isn’t sending you any themes, how you interpret the novel is all on your own making of the story. Scott Fitzgerald has many themes all mixed up within...
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...When Nick Carraway came back from the east after the summer of 1922, he was disgusted with what he’d seen. Only one man was exempt from his disgust, that man being Gatsby. In the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates an America society that contradicts everything America prides itself on which is lack of aristocracy and equal opportunity. The United states is a country that was so great due to the idea of the American dream, which the founding fathers of the nation built the country on. Fitzgerald utilizes deep characterization and symbolism to elaborate themes of the American dream to display what the American dream truly stood for and what it has become. Throughout the plot we come to recognize themes of American dream, through deep insight into characters and what they represent in the American society. After Nick...
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...In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the descriptions of landscape reflect the theme of the distinction between social classes that pervades the book. Two vehicles through which Fitzgerald describes the landscape include Gatsby’s house, and the geography of New York and its weather. The descriptions of Gatsby’s house changes as the book progresses, and it should be noticed that they parallel changes in the plot, and highlight the theme. In previous chapters, Gatsby’s house is just as much of an enigma as Gatsby himself. As Nick describes the parties that his neighbor throws, the house becomes a luminous entity in itself. Nick narrates, “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the stars.” (43). Nick's indifferent attitude with a tinge of curiosity reflects his upbringing and temperament that separates him from the aristocrats that frequent Gatsby’s parties. Fitzgerald’s use of the word “blue” to describe the gardens, conjures up images of a crepuscular evanescence, and twilight. It is fitting with the mood of the story: subdued, without the intensity that characterizes later chapters. The changes in weather also illuminate the contrariety between Gatsby and Daisy, two very different people who illustrate the disparity between classes. When Gatsby and Daisy first meet, it is raining outside. Nick narrates, “While the rain continued, it had seemed like the murmur of their voices, rising and swelling a little, now and then, with gusts of emotion...
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...Is everything all about wealth in The Great Gatsby? Throughout this novel, one of the main themes is the hollowness of the upper class. As explained in the novel, the East eggers are considered a part of the new wealth and the West eggers are considered a part of the old aristocracy. Is wealth the only thing that makes you a part of society? The book does not really expound on the lower class or how they live, so can you truly say there is one. Is this book only about the life of the upper class or the life of the “The Great Gatsby” himself as interpreted from the title? Initially, the first you see of wealth in the novel is when the difference between the East and West eggers is pronounced. Reading further into the novel, the only things that pop out to you is wealth and the mysterious Gatsby. Many people during this time are wealthy or trying to obtain a high status in order to gain wealth. For example, Myrtle Wilson wanted a high society life and the only way to get it was through Tom Buchanan. The only twist was that both were married. Myrtle loved her husband, but she craved and wanted more, which her husband, Mr. Wilson, could not give her. In addition, the affair with Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby is a great example. Daisy is a person whose only concern is money and being married to Tom gives her all the money she wants, but what happens when old love reappears with wealth on his side also. Wealth was the only thing people were thinking about during the 1920’s. This...
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...writing, I decided to choose one specific scene from the book The Great Gatsby and change the plot in a way so that the theme of the book and the characteristics of each people in the scene can we well represented. This creative writing focuses on showing one of the main themes in the book The Great Gatsby by the usage of different characters. The modified story progresses without the readers realizing that they themselves as well as Gatsby is being manipulated. The story does not finish with a definite ending, but different writing styles allow the readers to deduce the ending.! ! To successfully portray the theme of materialism and emptiness of the American Dream (Daisy in this story), I changed the plot of the original story. Instead of Daisy saying she did love Tom in the original story, in this creative writing, she says she never loved Tom. However, with the dialogues that constantly allude the downfall of Gatsby and the employment of the distinct characteristic traits of the characters, readers can indirectly get the sense that Daisy’s actions are not true. For example, Tom’s calmness sharply contrasts with his real characteristics, which the reader may feel odd about and wonder about what his true motives are. Also, Daisy's sudden change in the mood after the mention of money shows how materialistic Daisy is. ! ! In addition, near the end of the story, short descriptive words clearly capture the mood that Gatsby is in. This is because terse and short wordings can better deliver...
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...In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, there is an obvious hiatus between the different social classes. Jay Gatsby is a wealthy man who resides in West Egg. Before Gatsby moved to West Egg, he had a relationship with Daisy Buchanan, who is Nick Carraway’s cousin. Gatsby went away from Daisy so he could fight in the war. While Gatsby was away, Daisy married Tom Buchanan and eventually moved to East Egg, where all the old money is. Gatsby moves to West Egg, where all the new money resides, so he could get back with Daisy. Between West and East Egg is an area called the valley of ashes, which all the working class and poor people live. In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism and characterization to create the theme of the disconnect between the social classes. Fitzgerald uses symbolism for the valley of ashes to display the disconnect between the social classes. The valley of ashes is a poor area which connects West Egg to East Egg. It is full of “men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald 23). The valley of ashes symbolizes the poor people who live in the dirty...
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...The Great Gatsby’s main theme is definitely the American dream. American Dream is loosely based on the concept of a home, family, and a car. Success, and wealth combine to create an alter ego for the wealthy, and the less fortunate are just neglected. Fitzgerald clearly uses satire to critique chasing the American Dream, because in the end it’s just a dream. This “dream” is the motives behind what Gatsby does, and the same motives that ended him. Gatsby can often be signified for his “colossal dream” that Nick mentions halfway through the book. Gatsby creates an illusion that correlates with his dream, abandoning his old self, his wealth makes a new persona of himself. Almost to the point as if Gatsby is just a detriment, that will end up...
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...The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s use of Motif In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the motif of cheating to make his theme of lying and deceit become more evident to the reader. Throughout the novel, characters cheat on each other, cheat the laws of society, and cheat their way to wealth. Fitzgerald wanted this theme to be very evident to the reader because Fitzgerald wanted readers to see the consequences the characters had to face because of the choices they made. Fitzgerald utilizes the relationship between Myrtle and Tom in order to demonstrate the consequences of their affair. Tom’s wife, Daisy is extremely hurt that “Tom has some girl in New York” because she knows that as her husband his responsibility is to be...
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