The Great Gatsby 4+1 Q10: Gatsby’s Funeral Jay Gatsby’s funeral is a small service, not because that 's what was intended, but because no one bothered to show up. Nick wanted to give Gatsby the popularity he desired, even in death, but only three people were present in the end. Gatsby’s father, Henry C. Gatz, shows up unexpectedly from Minnesota because he heard about the news in the papers. He believes that the man who shot his son must 've been mad, that no one in their right mind could commit such a horrible act. Daisy and Wolfsheim, the people closest to Gatsby in the book, do not attend. This exemplifies that it was always about wealth and social status for them, including Tom, and they never genuinely cared for Gatsby. Nick held up hope, …show more content…
Logically speaking, George Wilson is the one who shot Gatsby out of anger and sadness. His wife was murdered and he wanted someone to pay for what they had done, and rightfully so. It is possible that Gatsby would have never died if Wilson wasn’t egged on by Tom, the one who gave him Gatsby’s name. Tom wanted to protect his guilty wife, so he sent a man in a precarious mental state after an innocent person. Ultimately, Tom Buchanan is to blame for Gatsby’s death because he was motivated by his selfish desires, rather than a need for justice. Both Tom and Daisy hurt people to get what they wanted “and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness… and let other people clean up the mess they had made,” (Fitzgerald 191) just as Wilson acted on Tom’s …show more content…
A multitude of characters in the book are corrupted by a number of things, including money and other materialistic items. Beginning with Gatsby, who became who he is through criminal activities and lying. Discovered within the book, “that 's one of his little stunts. [Tom] picked him for a bootlegger the first time [he] saw him, and [he] wasn 't far wrong." (Fitzgerald 143) He lied to Nick about his identity and his family to enlist his help with Daisy. Daisy herself is corrupted by wealth and the need for a high social class, considering she cried when entering Gatsby’s home for the first time because she had never seen such beautiful shirts. The superficial people who attend Gatsby 's parties to gawk at his home surround him with more corruption and bring light to another central theme of the corrupt American Dream. Tom and Myrtle are also corrupt in that they participate in adultery, along with Daisy and Gatsby. Corruption is clear and evident throughout the book, encompassing the worlds of West Egg, East Egg, and the Valley of Ashes as they
Tom Buchanan was the wealthy husband of Daisy Buchanan. Tom figuratively loaded the gun that shot Jay Gatsby. After Tom found out about the affair that Jay Gatsby was having with his wife Daisy, he furiously looked for a way to seek revenge on Gatsby. He told Wilson that Gatsby was driving the car that hit and killed Myrtle, Wilson's wife. As if killing Wilsons true love Myrtle was not enough Tom Buchanan accused Ga...
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick’s unreliability as a narrator is blatantly evident, as his view of Gatsby’s actions seems to arbitrarily shift between disapproval and approval. Nick is an unreliable and hypocritical narrator who disputes his own background information and subjectively depicts Gatsby as a benevolent and charismatic host while ignoring his flaws and immorality from illegal activities. He refuses to seriously contemplate Gatsby’s negative attributes because of their strong mutual friendship and he is blinded by an unrealized faith in Gatsby. Furthermore, his multitude of discrepancies damage his ethos appeal and contribute to his lack of dependability.
Gatsby’s distinct charisma indicates his struggle against moral corruption and sets him apart from the moral decay evident in the upper class. Owl eyes is very surprised when he finds out all the books in Gatsby’s library are real, “‘The books?...Absolutely real--have pages and everything...It’s a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella’s a regular Belasco’” (45). While most of the upper class uses outward displays of wealth to cover their inner moral corruption, Gatsby uses his extravagant opulence to mask his love for Daisy. In this way his morals and ability to conceal his love prove his willingness and drive to acquire Daisy’s love and acceptance. The majority of the upper class suffers from moral poverty, lacking internal morals to keep them grounded acting out in ways that diminishes their social status. Gatsby is so close to Daisy his whole life yet he is unable to get any closer until their relationship is destroyed forever. “I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock...his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him” (180). Gatsby continually reaches out for Daisy with hope and optimism, but the distance between his dock and the Buchanan’s does not get any closer symbolic for the
Thesis: How does F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, compares the American Dream in today's generation and back in the 1920's-30's? What did the American Dream really mean and why? So why did this issue happen? Do you think America can change in the future? What is the american dream really about? When did the phrase: ‘american dream’ started? Have you ever wondered what the 20s and 30s were like back then? How can this so called dream ever bring hope to our country? These are all the questions I would like to know myself. I’ve found three online sources & one source from the novel that can help explain about the 20th century, the Gatsby novel, today's generation, and about Mr.Gatsby from the book.
In The Great Gatsby the main themes were pursuit of happiness, the decline of the American dream, and greed. It portrays the decline of the American dream due to excess of wanting material wealth and never being satisfied. It also shows Gatsby, who despite living the American dream and having every material thing he could ever want he still was not satisfied because he realized that happiness does not come all from material things. On the other hand, Daisy and Tom had no cares in the world and no compassion for any other humans, not even each other. They felt that just because they had money they could do and get away with whatever they pleased. They represented the decline of the American dream in the film by being very greedy and not working
...but it seems like Gatsby has assumed the fault of Tom. George not only believes Jay ran over his wife, but also kills Gatsby thinking that Gatsby had an affair with Myrtle. So, it is justiciable to blame Tom for his irresponsibility for Gatsby’s death.
The central focus of the story is the enigma of Gatsby, his past life, and his perusal of Daisy. Desperate to rekindle their former love, Gatsby works tirelessly to achieve the pinnacle of the American dream, settles in a large, posh house, throws lavish parties, and seems on excellent terms with the world at large. That, however, is not what makes him truly happy. All he did, he did in pursuit of Daisy, and initially it appears to work. She insists that she still loves him ardently. However, when pressed, she chooses Tom once more, and Gatsby is shattered. Nick says that, “If that was true, he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream,” (161). In the end, Gatsby’s dream turns on him, betraying him to the caprice of the world. He had sincerely believed in the American Dream, and believed it would help him secure Daisy’s love. When both failed him, he was left with a lavish but empty house, and to Gatsby, his wealth and prosperity were nothing without someone to share them with. The final nail in the coffin is Gatsby’s funeral, where it becomes clear what his immense wealth gained him in terms of the human affection he was truly after. Nick Carraway jumps through all sorts of hoops and harasses many people in order to get them to go to Gatsby’s funeral, to no avail. When it came time for the burial,
In this story by F. Scott Fitzgerland the characters are Jay, Nick, Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, Catherine, Henry C. Gatz, Dan Cody, Ewing Kilpspringer,
George Wilson who is married to Myrtle, and Tom Buchanan, married to Daisy, are most responsible for Gatsby's death. Wilson went up to Tom asking who owned the yellow car that killed his wife. Tom revealed that it was Gatsby’s car knowing that Wilson had intentions of killing whoever owned the car, yet Tom didn’t add in the fact that Daisy was driving. Gatsby did have a relationship with Daisy, and Tom knew about it. Tom allowed Daisy to go in Gatsby’s car back to West Egg to prove that he did not care if Daisy and Gatsby were together, had Tom not let Daisy go in Gatsby’s car, both Myrtl...
Gatsby realizes that life of the high class demands wealth to become priority; wealth becomes his superficial goal overshadowing his quest for love. He establishes his necessity to acquire wealth, which allows him to be with Daisy. The social elite of Gatsby's time sacrifice morality in order to attain wealth. Tom Buchanan, a man from an "enormously wealthy" family, seems to Nick to have lost all sense of being kind (Fitzgerald 10). Nick describes Tom's physical attributes as a metaphor for his true character when remarking that Tom had a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner...arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face...always leaning aggressively forward...a cruel body...[h]is speaking voice...added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed" (Fitzgerald 11). The wealth Tom has inherited causes him to become arrogant and condescending to others, while losing his morals. Rather than becoming immoral from wealth as Tom has, Gatsby engages in criminal activity as his only path to being rich. His need for money had become so great that he "was in the drug business" (Fitzgerald 95). Furthermore, he lies to Nick about his past in order to cover up his criminal activity. Gatsby claims to others that he has inherited his wealth, but Nick discovers "[h]is parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby enters a world where money takes precedence over moral integrity. Materialism has already overshadowed a portion of his spiritual side. A quest for true love is doomed for failure in the presence of immorality. Once wealth has taken priority over integrity, members of the high social class focus on immediate indulgences, rather than on long-term pleasures of life such as love.
Throughout “The Great Gatsby,” corruption is evident through the people within it. However, we discover with Daisy, initially believed to be a victim of her husband’s corruption—we find she is the eye of the storm. In the story, the reader feels sorry for Daisy, the victim in an arranged marriage, wanting her to find the happiness she seemingly longed for with Gatsby. Ultimately we see Daisy for what she is, a truly corrupt soul; her languish and materialistic lifestyle, allowing Gatsby to take the blame for her foolish action of killing Myrtle, and feigning the ultimate victim as she “allows” Tom to take her away from the unsavory business she has created. Daisy, the definitive picture of seeming innocence is the most unforeseen, therefore, effective image of corruption—leading to a good man’s downfall of the American Dream.
...d on money that any means of a obtaining it were condoned, even if those means were unscrupulous. Though Gatsby at first attempted to achieve his goals of wealth through perseverance, he falls in love with Daisy—his tragic flaw—and is unable to see the corruption that lies beyond her physical beauty, charming manner and alluring voice. His fixation over Daisy, who is hollow at the core, demonstrates the futileness of Gatsby's dream, which is based on an idea, and not substance. The result of this corruption is that the motivation and ambition vanished and the dream was left with the pursuit of an empty goal—the corruption of the American Dream.
The word visually stunning could be used to describe the 2013 Baz Luhrman directed adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless novel The Great Gatsby. Speaking of the director, I enjoyed his portrayal of the lavish lifestyle and carefree party like attitude in such a beautiful visual experience. The way in which the party scenes were filmed in the movie made perfect sense compared to the source material and were something I have never seen done by any other directors in a live action film. Another positive for me about this film was the soundtrack. When I first started watching the film I expected to hear old time music prevalent in the 20s. I however was pleasantly surprised when I learned the soundtrack was compiled by Jay-Z and featured many tracks I enjoyed featuring him either alone or accompanied by another musical guest. While Jay-Z is not exactly an accurate representation of the music of the 20s, the soundtrack adds a modern flavour over the previously mentioned beautiful backgrounds and architecture. The story however is where the movie at times falls flat. When stripped down to basics it is nothing more than a generic love story with a few twists added in for extra kick. The characters in the same vain can be very bland and not make you care much for them due to their backstories not being deeply explored. The only character that I found to be interesting was Jay Gatsby because of the mystical aura that surrounds his character at the beginning of the movie that leads you to want to uncover more of this ever mysterious man. All in all the visuals clearly outpace
Tom Buchannan is not fully responsible for Jay Gatsby’s death because others were also involved in the murder. Tom Buchannan played a part as well as his wife, George Wilson and Gatsby himself took part in it. The major role for this death was from Daisy. Daisy is the main killer of Myrtle, which led to Gatsby’s death. Daisy only cared about Gatsby’s money not Gatsby himself. Gatsby and Nick are from a working background but Daisy is not. Tom and Daisy didn’t care about if they hurt the felling of others they only cared for themselves. If daisy truly loved Gatsby she would have told Wilson that it was her not Gatsby who ran over Myrtle.
Gatsby's funeral has few in attendance aside from Carraway and Gatsby's father. Finally, tired of this gross scene of wealth and pettiness, Nick moves back home to the Midwest. His fond memories of the East remain only of Gatsby, and it is for him that this story is told.