...with her husband at the industrial area between West Egg and New York. The title of this story is named after the character James Gats. He was raised in a poor family and longed for wealth and success. When he got old enough he joined the military and met a beautiful rich girl named Daisy. He couldn’t marry her because he wasn’t rich. Daisy fell for him because he was in uniform and had very good manners, so she couldn’t tell if he was poor or rich. After several years, he came back from the war, but Daisy got married with Tom. Gatsby's obsession was to become rich and win back Daisy. This obsession leads to Gatsby's downfall. Both Nick and Gatsby are similar characters. They both came from the West and worked hard for their money. They see Tom as the jerk he is and both of them keep composure as he bullies them around. Both of these men go out of their way just to please others. Jay did have different characteristics than Nick. Jay's obsession with Daisy gets the best of him and gets very confrontational with Tom throughout the rest of the drama. Nick is less aggressive and was always truthful. James had...
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...deep-rooted love, Daisy Buchanan. While Daisy is beautiful, her beauty is not what mesmerizes...
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...protagonist portrays the image of sophistication as well as the American Dream. His character helped display the idea that as a human being, we will constantly develop a greed for many different things, in belief that happiness will be achieved through it. Through the actions which Gatsby chose to take in pursuit for the American dream, readers were able to be see that materialism, and money cannot buy and achieve us happiness. This idea was also portrayed through Daisy Buchanan, a rich lady who is the center of Gatsby's dream. Jay Gatsby, was not always the rich and sophisticated man he was elucidated as in the novel. He had originally come from a family of "shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" from South Dakota. He had carried a strong hatred towards the poverty as shown through the attitude he carried towards his parents; he "had never really accepted them as his parents at all". From the poverty, he had developed the goal and aspiration in achieving the American Dream as he believed that he would be able to also attract Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life, as well as obtain the wealth and lifestyle he aspired to live with. Later on in the novel, this dream helped show that wealth does not necessarily bring happiness, as shown through Gatsby's actions and feelings. Jay Gatsby, or previously known as "Jay Gatz" had undergone a journey of reinventing himself to pursue his idea of the American Dream. His idea of the dream, was obtaining a large amount of wealth, sharing it with...
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...“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence” (Confucius). These extrinsic expectations of society imprint on the mind, justifying intrinsic obsessions. The consequentialism and deontological views apparent in the Victorian and Jazz age dictate the individual’s actions within the given society, often transpiring to intrinsic expectations. Ethical and moral justification emerges in ones actions often leading to infatuation and obsession in order to achieve society’s expectations. This is predominantly exposed within the texts “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald and “Sonnets from the Portuguese” by Barret Browning. Within the Victorian era individuals were bound by strict moral code. This impacted the way literature was written evident in Barret Browning’s poems. Deontological ethics bound Barrett to write in a sense of selflessness which included concepts of moral absolutism. Barrett also adapted concepts of preference utilitarianism in her relationship with Robert. Sonnet 22 “What bitter wrong, Can the earth do to us, that we should not long, Be here contented?” The rhetorical question emphasizes Barrett’s contentment with Robert whose relationship fits in her view of a utilitarian world. In this way Browning meets society’s expectations and succeeds in her role as a woman. Comparatively within the Jazz age moral code was loosened to the point where previous norms were set...
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...once said, “The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.” In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby we see the decay of the American Dream through the selfless but selfish acts of the characters. In the Great Gatsby the symbols of the Valley of Ashes, the green light, and materialism show that the American Dream is unachievable. Through the symbol of the Valley of Ashes we see the hollowness and decay of the American Dream. Myrtle had the same dream as everyone who lives in the Valley of Ashes has, they all want to escape the Valley of Ashes to be a part of a higher social class“…Myrtle Wilson, her life violently extinguished,...
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...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 green light. In our first acquaintance with the light, we see Gatsby reaching out for it, almost, in a way, worshipping it. We find out later that this green light is at the end of Daisy's dock, and is a symbol for Gatsby's dream and the hope for the future. Green is the color of promise, hope, and renewal - so it is fitting that Gatsby's dream of a future with Daisy be represented...
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...illustrates the rise and fall of an a magnificently rich but socially secluded man named Gatsby. Through the eyes of the narrator, Nick Carraway, F. Scott Fitzgerald plunges into the struggles and adversity that plagues Gatsby. The central conflict of the story is Gatsby’s troublesome endeavor at attempting to rebuild a long-lost relationship with Daisy. Despite the seemingly shallow plot, Fitzgerald not only succeeds in creating a rich and elegant tale, but he also manages to make a commentary on the society that he was living in as well. It is the way in which Fitzgerald makes Gatsby idealize Daisy that gives the plot its insightful message, both in the story and in Fitzgerald’s society. He writes Gatsby...
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...One of the central focuses of The Great Gatsby is Gatsby's nearly obsessive love for Daisy. He follows her from Louisville to New York, convinced that although years have passed, Daisy still loves him. It is implied that Gatsby's love for Daisy is deeply unhealthy, as Nick himself seems to notice. However, at the close of chapter VI, it is implied that Gatsby's obsession is not with Daisy herself, but with something she represents in his own mind. Gatsby's recollection of his relationship with Daisy is filled outlandish and almost fantastical imagery. It is full of language that evokes childhood and other phrases that evoke religion, and sometimes they are interconnected. One prominent theme in this passage is the use of the color white....
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...The ‘American Dream’ has existed since the funding of the United States. Typically, the dreamer chooses to rise from being poor to being wealthy, while accumulating things such as love, status, wealth, and power. The dream has grown through the years and time periods, even though it was based on freedom, self-reliance and the desire to be something greater. In the past the dream was for someone to go out west for land and to start a family. It has turned into a very 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...
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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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...that people in the American 1920’s society that weaves its ways through the lives of many. Gatsby’s greed is evident over his obsession over Daisy which leads to them to several rash decisions. Tom Buchanan cheats his lovers because of his desire for power. And Meyer Wolfsheim pulls Gatsby down with him over his criminal organization. From this, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, greed plays a prominent and dangerous role through Gatsby’s obsessive desire for Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan’s affair with Myrtle Wilson, and Meyer Wolfsheim’s obsession with crime. During The Great Gatsby,...
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...F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” may initially seem like a tragic story of thwarted love between a man and a woman, but upon closer inspection it is obvious that the novel is much more than just that. The Great Gatsby is essentially a story that reveals the corruption and overall decay of what was affectionately known as The American Dream. The American Dream is described in Chapter 9 as originally being about moral values and the pursuit of happiness. In fact, it is written in the American Constitution that every individual has the right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This right appears to have taken a twisted turn in the early 1920’s. Fitzgerald portrays this time of decay of social and moral values; these values being discarded for greed and pursuit of selfish pleasure. Jay Gatsby, the title character, is a man who more than anything craves the past. In his past, he fell in love with young Daisy and quickly became obsessed with her. The only problem, that he immediately realized, was that she would only associate or take interest in those with high social status and wealth. To gain her affection Gatsby lied about his family and social status, claiming that he was born into a wealthy family and was going to be attending Oxford after the war on their wealth. “’I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West-all dead now,’”(Page 65). Once convinced by Jay’s claims, young Daisy agreed to wait for Jay while he was out fighting the war...
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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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...In The Great Gatsby and Of Mice and Men both authors portray the American Dream that no matter what happens it's going to fail at some point. In The Great Gatsby the author introduces the green light which symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for a contented life with Daisy. The author also ironically shares Gatsby life as a kid, with Gatsby growing up poor and hopeless all he wanted to do was be able to make money and to be known for his own success. In Of Mice and Men the author introduce George, whose dream was to work on a farm hard enough that he could one day be able to have his own with Lennie. George’s buddy Lennie had the same dream in mind, he wanted to own a farm with George and raise lots animals specifically rabbits. The characters...
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...Men who set their future goals based off past experiences, will end up destroying those dreams by themselves. “Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald attempts to correct Americans’ misconceptions about the American dream” (Dilworth 119). The Great Gatsby was written during the “Jazz Age” and prohibition era. Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota and died on December 21, 1940 in Hollywood, California. He attended Princeton University in 1913 and in November 1917, with graduation looking unlikely, he decided to accept a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He later went on to marry Zelda Sayre and had a daughter named Frances Scott Fitzgerald (born in 1921). In his novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald demonstrates...
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