He half-admires Gatsby, and gradually as the story wears on he begins to admire Gatsby uncritically and becomes overly credulous: at one point he actually believes that Jay is an Oxford man. Gatsby did serve in World War I, but the most significant aspect of his service manifests itself in meeting Daisy -- Gatsby vowed to be worthy of Daisy by any means necessary, even if he had to lie, cheat, steal, create a false persona, and break the law.
The climax occurs when Daisy and Gatsby meet, and commence their affair, getting back together as if nothing ever changed. By this time, Tom is almost completely 'in love' with the idea of Gatsby and Daisy, and sees them both as pure and noble. However, gradually this image begins to erode, especially after Gatsby willingly takes the blame when Daisy runs over Myrtle, Tom's lover. The falling action is not…...
Even after Daisy commits murder, Gatsby remains unmoved in his emotions towards her. What's more, he assumes responsibility for her actions. Or consider the statement: ' Of course she might have loved him, just for a minute, when they were first married -- and loved me more even then, do you see?' (Fitzgerald, p. 133). Gatsby clings to this hope despite Daisy's professed loved her husband. Such explanations indicate how an individual's tenacious hold on an ideal can corrupt his rational faculties.
At one point, it appears Gatsby almost grasps this dichotomy when he states, ' Her voice is full of money' (Fitzgerald, p. 115). egrettably, this is only a fleeting moment of clarity; it remains obscured by a firmly constructed schema -- a corruption of the American Dream. In fact, this moment exemplifies the subconscious hold on Gatsby's mania for the American Dream; it proves that an obsession's roots…...
mlaReferences
Cliffs Notes (2000). Cliffs Notes On The Great Gatsby. New York: Hungry Minds, Inc.
Fitzgerald, Scott F. (1925). The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner.
Greenhaven Press (1998). The Great Gatsby: Literary Companion. San Diego:
Greenhaven Press.
However, his single focus on getting Daisy's green light, something he cannot have, creates a motive of greed in Gatsby that he is unable to control and eventually destroys him. For example, Nick talks of Gatsby's idealization of Daisy by saying:
"There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion." (Fitzgerald, p. 101).
Even Gatsby himself recognizes this fatal flaw, namely that following his first kiss with Daisy that he "forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God." (Fitzgerald, p. 117).
This comparison to God is also symbolic of the American Dream. America was founded on the belief that this was a country that would act as God by setting moral examples to the rest of the world, like…...
mlaBibliography
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner Classics, 1925.
Tanner, Bernard R.F. Scott Fitzgerald's Odyssey: A Reader's Guide to the Gospel in the Great Gatsby. New York: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003.
Tredell, Nicholas. F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby: Essays, Articles and Reviews. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.
Wyly, Michael J. Great Gatsby. Farmington Hills: Thomas Gale, 2001.
Great Gatsby
The iconic novel The Great Gatsby is set in the "Roaring Twenties" in New York City. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald used the setting and the cultural era to great effect, as his characters, their parties and extravagant lifestyles -- and conversations -- offer readers a good glimpse into the American that existed during those years. This paper points to the details of the period, and this paper agrees with the statement that Fitzgerald was in fact making a comment on the era of the Twenties, the new rich that had come into money in that time period, and their values.
The Great Gatsby
hat can we learn from the novel about New York in the 1920s? e can learn that there was certainly racial segregation, and fear of the black community by the rich upper crust white community was a reality. hether this was culturally exact or not at that time…...
mlaWorks Cited
Decker, Jeffrey Louis. (1004). Gatsby's Pristine Dream: The Diminishment of the Self-Made
Man in the Tribal Twenties. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Vol. 210, Detroit: Gale.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. (2010). The Great Gatsby. Retrieved June 14, 2011, from -- .http://www.-
With enough wealth amassed and an impressive mansion right across the Sound from hers, Jay Gatsby feels certain that he can "repeat the past" when Daisy had loved him.
The American Dream is different for other characters in the novel. For Daisy, it appears to be maintaining the status quo by marrying someone in her social set. Tom Buchanan probably feels the same way. For Nick Carraway, the saddened narrator of the story, the American Dream is more elusive. His feelings that people should not be criticized because they have not had all the opportunities other people have had would appear to echo the American idea of equality. His disgust at the shameless pursuit of wealth and the actions of the wealthy suggest that a dream of simply becoming rich is not a dream worth pursuing.
The failed result of Gatsby's re-creation and the disgust with which Nick Carraway leaves the…...
Gatsby loved Daisy when the two of them were very young, but believed that the only reason she rejected him was because he was poor. Unlike Nick and Daisy, however, all of Gatsby's wealth is new, won by ill-gotten gains. His recent status as a man of great social standing is only an appearance of reality, not reality itself and the 'old money' of est Egg will not accept him as one of their 'own.' People know that Gatsby is a bootlegger, and gossip about him even while they go to his parties but Nick comes to like Gatsby, and tries to deny the truth of these allegations.
The climax of the novel occurs when all of the various infidelities that have been taking place are revealed to their respective participants. As Nick is the only character who has not been involved in an extramarital affair he is once again…...
mlaWorks Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1995.
Characters in the Great Gatsby -- the American Dream
A. Nick Carraway is the narrator in this novel and plays a very important role
1) Nick is the readers' source of description and information about the other characters, especially Gatsby, Daisy,
2) Nick is an honest person in the beginning of the novel, but the more he becomes involved in the relationships with Tom, Daisy and Gatsby, and through his romantic relationship with Jordan, his honesty and credibility breaks down;
B. Daisy was the subject of Gatsby's desire, and Gatsby made up things about her to place her on a pedestal where she really didn't deserve to be placed
1) Gatsby was fascinated with Daisy; Gatsby loved Daisy's voice, and when she
sang it brought out meaning to all the words that Gatsby had never thought of
2) Gatsby threw himself after Daisy and eventually came to realize that she was not all he had built…...
mlaVI. Fitzgerald's final demise
A. It is well-known that Fitzgerald was an alcoholic and that he drank to excess at parties, at home, and that he was a slave to booze
1) a man of extraordinary literary gifts, he died of a heart attack in 1940; he believed himself to be a failure at the time of his death in Hollywood.
Fitzgerald uses white to describe Daisy, and it is fairly certain he used white to depict Daisy's original innocence. Daisy's car is white, her clothes are white and the paint on the walls of her house are white.
However, toward the end of the novel Daisy has been corrupted by Gatsby and the whole social scene, and she becomes careless and destructive. A reader can surmise that Fitzgerald is simply showing that even the purest in society can be corrupted and can turn bad.
hat is there to be learned about how people lived and behaved the 1920s in New York City from this respected novel? An alert reader finds out that there was racial segregation, and that the rich folks had a kind of fear of the African-American community. The novel does also present a tone that is considered racist by today's standards. And there was negative stereotyping on page…...
mlaWorks Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. (2010). The Great Gatsby. Retrieved August 29, 2011, from -- .http://www.-
In this context, Tom is actually the one who lives his life in idleness, without giving it any meaning. Moreover, Daisy's superficiality makes of her an exponent of the consumerist world as well. Daisy makes a choice between the ideal, represented by Gatsby and the conventional stability offered by Tom, symbolizing materialism in general: "She wanted her life shaped now, immediately -- and the decision must be made by some force -- of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality -- that was close at hand."(Fitzgerald, 89) the woman is indeed charming, but at the same time she seems artificial at some point, suggesting the shift from true idealism to mere superficiality and ornament: "For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes."(Fitzgerald,…...
mlaWorks Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: New Directions, 2000.
Great Gatsby: A orld of Illusion
The 1920s were a time of change for America. The war was over and America was ready for some fun. The poor lived in a world of little opportunity and destitution, while the rich threw lavish parties in exquisite gardens. These parties were portrayed in magazines and the lives of the rich and famous were everywhere. These glimpses into the lives of the rich provided food for fantasy in the minds of those less fortunate. They wanted to be like them and to have all of the material things that symbolized their fortune in life. However, behind this public image of grandeur was a corrupt world built on deception and deceit. Greed was the master of destiny. The contrast between the "American Dream" and reality is the central theme of the Great Gatsby. Gatsby represented the ideals and attitudes of an era. He stands…...
mlaWorks Cited
Bewley, Marius. Scott Fitzgerald's Criticism of America. Sewanee Review, LXII., Spring 1954. University of the South.
Burnam, Tom. The Eyes of Dr. Eckleburg: A Re-examination of The Great Gatsby. College English. October 1952. National Council of Teachers of English.
Dyson, A.E., The Great Gatsby: Thirty-Six Years After. Modern Fiction Studies VII, Spring 1961. Purdue Research Foundation.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Mizener, Arthur (Ed.) A Collection of Critical Essays. Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1963.
Related Topics
Jazz Age
Set in the Jazz Age, the novel’s backdrop is one in which flappers, music, booze, riches, and alcohol-fueled festivities serve as some of the main points of interest. Fitzgerald often focuses out the squalid nature of the proceedings and the more-often-than-not infantile manner in which affairs are carried out. When Gatsby makes his entrance to the tune of The Jazz History of the World—a fictitious musical number invented by Fitzgerald to underscore the ridiculous faddishness of the proceedings—Nick can’t help but remark at the way the titular character sets himself apart from the others: the source of the orgiastic festivities, Gatsby in person is rather remarkably staid and sober. If you wanted to discuss the Jazz Age in relation to the novel, you could easily examine some of the more glaring contradictions of the times and how these relate to Gatsby himself.
Prohibition
Booze was outlawed throughout the 1920s—but in the novel, among…...
mlaResources
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.
Fitzgerald wrote his novel during the Roaring 1920s, but his book seems uniquely relevant to our own times. The Roaring 1920s was coming to a rapid slow-down of material prosperity, and questions of who was a 'real' American arose as social mobility had introduced individuals of new races and ethnicities into higher American society. Fitzgerald suggests that it is important to question what lies beneath the veneer of American society and good breeding. He demanded his readers also carefully examine the assumption we can all pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, and whether the material goals we strive for will really bring fulfillment at all.
orks Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Hayes Barton Press, 2007.
Mellard, James. "Counterpoint as Technique in "The Great Gatsby." The English Journal.
55. 7. (Oct., 1966): 853-859.
Millet, Frederick. "The Great Gatsby: Analysis." Michigan State University. 2004.
October 12, 2008. https://www.msu.edu/~millettf/gatsby.html
Pearson, Roger L. "Gatsby: False Prophet…...
mlaWorks Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Hayes Barton Press, 2007.
Mellard, James. "Counterpoint as Technique in "The Great Gatsby." The English Journal.
55. 7. (Oct., 1966): 853-859.
Millet, Frederick. "The Great Gatsby: Analysis." Michigan State University. 2004.
hile his modes of achieving his money might be questionable, he can know that he did become successful and he did not need the help of anyone else to do it. For this reason, Gatsby deserves a certain amount of respect. In fact, we can almost bet that Gatsby worked harder and longer than Tom ever did. If we are to hold any grudges against Gatsby, it must be in his foolishness toward Daisy but that is what makes him a romantic at heart. Gatsby is torn between the life he lives and the dream he wants. There is nothing wrong with the dream; however, what Gatsby chooses to do with it proves to be the biggest mistake of his life. Gatsby is living in the past and believes that it can be relived. Nick writes, "He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted…...
mlaWorks Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Bantam Books. 1970.
Great Gatsby
Values in 1920 America were changing rapidly from the Victorian attitudes that preceded them, and the novel "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald clearly epitomizes these changing values. In business and in pleasure, the people Gatsby associates with are shallow, materialistic, nihilistic, and disloyal. These people lived hard, played hard, and often died young, as Myrtle and Gatsby indicate. They were celebrating the end of World War I and a new beginning for America, when it was prosperous and excessive. These new young Americans frightened their elders because they danced risque dances like the Charleston, smoked, drank, and spent large amounts of cash as often as they could. There were increasingly interested in material possession, including the ostentatious mansions of East and West Egg. Continually throughout the novel, Fitzgerald portrays them as shallow, uncaring, selfish, and incapable of real friendships and relationships. They are mostly interested in…...
mlaReferences
Browne, Karyn Gullen, et al., eds. Gatsby. New York: Chelsea House, 1991.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "The Great Gatsby." OnlineLiterature.com. 2004. 24 June 2004. http://www.online-literature.com/fitzgerald/greatgatsby/
Gale, Robert L. An F. Scott Fitzgerald Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Gross, Dalton, and Maryjean Gross. Understanding the Great Gatsby A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.
The characters have to travel through this Hell to reach the "paradise" of New York City, the place where they work, play, and show off their wealth.
The eyes also symbolize the emptiness of the character's lives. They have money and lavish lifestyles, but none of them are happy. In fact, many of them end up dead by the end of the novel. The blue eyes on the billboard are empty of life, and so are the characters, so they are watched over by empty eyes as they go about their very empty lives. Daisy sums this up late in the novel when she says, "What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?' cried Daisy, 'and the day after that, and the next thirty years?' 'Don't be morbid,' Jordan said" (Fitzgerald 118). These people seem to have everything they could ever want or need, and yet, they are unhappy in their…...
mlaReferences
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.
Yes, there are many essay topics in literature that can be debated from opposing viewpoints. Some examples include:
1. The role of fate vs. free will in Shakespeare's plays
2. The moral ambiguity of the protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"
3. The portrayal of gender and sexuality in Virginia Woolf's works
4. The effectiveness of satire in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"
5. The value of studying classic literature vs. contemporary literature
These topics can lead to interesting and thought-provoking debates, as they allow for different interpretations and perspectives on the themes and messages presented in literary works.
6. The impact of historical context on....
Unit Lesson Essay Topic Ideas
History
The Causes and Consequences of the American Civil War: Analyze the complex factors that led to the outbreak of the American Civil War and explore its far-reaching social, political, and economic consequences.
The Impact of the Industrial Revolution on European Society: Examine the technological, economic, and social changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, considering its effects on workers, urbanization, and the balance of power.
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire: Investigate the reasons for the rise and eventual decline of the Roman Empire, analyzing its political, social, military, and economic strengths and....
Research-Based Essay Books
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
"In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" by Nathaniel Philbrick
"Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America" by Beth Macy
These books provide in-depth, well-researched accounts of historical events, scientific discoveries, and societal issues. They rely on extensive interviews, archival research, and scientific data to support their arguments and conclusions.
Persuasive Essay Books
"How to Win Friends & Influence People" by Dale Carnegie
"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
"The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg
These books aim to persuade readers....
Here is a possible thesis statement about "The Great Gatsby":
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," the pursuit of the American Dream ultimately leads to downfall and disillusionment for the characters, revealing the emptiness and corruption at the heart of the 1920s Jazz Age society.
Here is a possible thesis statement about "The Great Gatsby":
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," the pursuit of the American Dream ultimately leads to downfall and disillusionment for the characters, revealing the emptiness and corruption at the heart of the 1920s Jazz Age society. By examining the characters' relentless pursuit of wealth,....
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