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The great gatsby literature review
The great gatsby literature review
The great gatsby literature review
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Throughout the novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses cruelty to argue that similar dignities exist across very socially different people and that both people of the elitist old money and the contemptible new money are capable of cruelty. In doing so, he wants us to see that wealth, or the culmination of both monetary currency and social currency, can disguise cruelty with a beautiful façade and that to successfully judge a person’s personality, one must look beyond superficial gestures and instead into the inner brutality of the person. By associating the cruelness of Tom Buchanan with that of Meyer Wolfsheim, Fitzgerald argues that rich individuals of both old wealth and new money are capable of extreme cruelty. In fact, both characters caused the death of their wives’ lovers – Tom caused the death of Gatsby, and Wolfsheim likely caused the death of the man whose teeth Wolfsheim …show more content…
In Nick’s meeting with Gatsby and Wolfsheim, it is revealed that Gatsby is involved with shady business (bootlegging) and that the reason Wolfsheim likes Gatsby so much is that he appears to be the perfect gentleman, a person who would never even look at his friend’s wife. Gatsby has the face of a handsome gentleman but is willing to become covertly involved with gangsters in order to become rich. Gatsby aids the cruelty of the underground organization, which rigs sports games and does other illicit things, but, on the surface, Gatsby appears to be upper-class, almost like an East Egger. The public seems to find it strange that Gatsby, who appears to be a gentleman, lives on West Egg, and thus constantly speculates often ridiculous stories about Gatsby’s origins. Fitzgerald does this to show that, even though people may not be able to see past the disguise of beauty, they may unsuccessfully speculate the
“The Great Gatsby” was a extremely sophisticated novel; it expressed love, money, and social class. The novel is told by Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor. Nick had just moved to West Egg, Longs Island to pursue his dream as a bond salesman. Nick goes across the bay to visit his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan in East Egg. Nick goes home later that day where he saw Gatsby standing on his dock with his arms out reaching toward the green light. Tom invites Nick to go with him to visit his mistress Mrs. Myrtle Wilson, a mid class woman from New York. When Nick returned from his adventure of meeting Myrtle he chooses to turn his attention to his mysterious neighbor, Gatsby. Gatsby is a very wealthy man that host weekly parties for the
Gatsby is not formally introduced until chapter three, and due to his initial description, readers hold him in much higher regard than other characters in the novel. Nick introduces Gatsby in an extremely intriguing and flattering manner, saying, “He smiled understandingly – much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you seemed to come across four or five times in life” (Fitzgerald 48). Gatsby’s introduction is completely opposite of Tom Buchanan’s, in which Nick uses words like “physical” and “powerful” to illustrate Tom as a stereotypical dumb jock and bully (6). Yet, despite the biases created within readers by Nick from the beginning of the novel, Gatsby does not purposefully harm anyone, as far as the reader knows, which leads me to believe that he is a ‘good man’.
This immediately marks Nick as being dishonest. Nick also admits to lying about his heritage, claiming “(his) family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for three generations. The Carraways are something of a clan, and we have a tradition that we’re descended from the Dukes of Buccleuch” but later admitting that his family is not noble “my grandfather’s brother… sent a substitute to the Civil War”, nor prominent “and (he) starts the wholesale hardware business that my father carries on to-day.” Nick also begins the book by trying to deceive his readers into believing “Gatsby… represented everything for which I had an unaffected scorn,” (Fitzgerald 2), when in reality he liked “the consoling proximity of millionaires” and admires their lifestyle. Although Gatsby’s parties are the very things he hates, he never fails to attend and even pursues an interest in the host of them. Nick’s inconsistencies in his opinions clearly begin to alter him as a person and the way he tells the story over
The book describes Gatsby's appearance and his manners as "...an elegant young roughneck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd." (Fitzgerald 53). His wealth is never covered up, from the mansion, to the huge weekly parties and the really expensive cars, It’s obvious that Gatsby’s wealth isn't like the wealth of the people from East egg . Gatsby is what seems to be the American dream in flesh. He's handsome, he's rich, and extremely popular and could have anything that his heart desires; or so you think. As the story goes on Fitzgerald exposes Gatsby's past and the many assumptions about his wealth including but not limited to, he killed a man, he’s the cousin of the kaiser or is actually a German spy. He has a rather shady ...
Posnock, Ross. "'A New World, Material Without Being Real': Fitzgerald's Critique of Capitalism in The Great Gatsby." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 201-13.
In The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald written during the 1920’s, Fitzgerald presents a classic tale of infinite love and betrayal. The story is told by one of the main characters Nick Carraway. Back in the war days a young Jay Gatsby meets Daisy, he left for the war and vowed to never stop loving her. Years later of out coincidence Nick (Daisy’s cousin) ,moves right next door to Mr. Gatsby. Gatsby soon realizes the kinship between Nick and Daisy and becomes very close friends to Nick. Gatsby himself is a very mysterious man,with so many rumors about him going around nobody really knows how Gatsby became rich or where exactly he even came from. One thing is for certain though, the extravagant house and the expensive cars he drives
Gatsby reveals that his parties and success were all created to catch Daisy’s attention, hoping that she would notice and fall in love with him. This strongly supports the overall theme that Fitzgerald gives, since Gatsby is relying on his wealth and popularity to make him look desirable, mostly for someone specific. Nick complies with his request and brings the two together. He now blatantly knows that Gatsby’s wealth is all fake, yet once again he does not change his perspective of him. Later in the story, he also discovers that Gatsby was falsely taking the blame for a murder that Daisy had done. This is shocking to both the reader and Nick. However, by the end of the novel, Nick tells of how great Gatsby was and how he is the only person who has seen the true side of him. After experiencing Gatsby, from his false wealth to his pitiful death, Nick still believes he is a good man, which greatly represents his
Gatsby is a character that starts off very in the dark and we don’t know much about him, but as the book develops and the other characters develop Gatsby’s true character is revealed. When we first look at Gatsby we see him as a lonely introvert who uses his money as a cover up. We see his loneliness in this quote by Nick saying “… fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadows of my neighbour’s mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets …- 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 … I glanced seaward – and distinguished nothing except a single green light … at the end of a dock” (Fitzgerald 25). This quote really shows our first look at the true Gatsby as a man who is blinded by his love for Daisy and as he develops with the theme we really get the same look as the man from the short story Araby. One of the themes in this book is Class, the old money, and new money, Gatsby is new money and as the book develops we really start to see how he will never be like the characters who are old money no matter how much he develops as a character. Gatsby becomes a more predominant character with all the parties he throws and reconnecting with his love Daisy we see how Gatsby covers himself and his whole life is really a façade. We know that his life is a façade when he figure out that Gatsby changes his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby because he wanted to get away from his old life. This ties in with the theme of the class, the American dream and also his character development because we are able to follow him as he starts to unravel his life to Nick. Gatsby’s character is blinded and he stays blinded through the whole book and as the book develops Gatsby stays blinded which gets him killed in the end. We see how he is blind through the quote saying “Gatsby bought that house so
A significant section of the plot of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald unfolds when Nick Carraway is assimilated into the lavish lifestyle of the wealthy inhabitants of East and West Egg. After moving to New York from the Midwest in search of prosperity and happiness, Nick Carraway involuntarily finds himself in the midst of luxury after buying a dainty house right next to Gatsby’s overwhelming mansion in West Egg. Because of his close proximity with the great Jay Gatsby, Nick becomes a detailed observer of the mysterious fellow, for he has never met the man and is extremely curious. Soon after moving into his new house, Nick notices that Gatsby has thrown a magnificent party filled with hundreds of people, who are in constant supply of alcoholic beverages, gourmet foods, and amusing entertainment. Nick surveys the scene from a distance, wondering how Gatsby can manage such a party, and why he is having the boisterous event in the first place.
Nick learns that Gatsby was born James Gatz on a farm in North Dakota; working for a millionaire made him dedicate his life to the achievement of wealth… Nick also learns that Gatsby made his fortune through criminal activity, as he was willing to do anything to gain the social position he thought necessary to win Daisy.” (Sparknotes 1). In this excerpt, one can only notice that Jay Gatsby would stop at nothing to get the perfect life that he desired so desperately. He even bought a mansion across from where Daisy and her husband lived as said in chapter four on page seventy-eight: “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.” (Fitzgerald 78). He began to have parties just so Daisy would “meet” him again and see his new “position” in life. Fitzgerald describes these parties in the following quote: “ There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his motor-boats slid the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.” (Fitzgerald
He also lies to Nick: “ ‘I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West — all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.’ He looked at me sideways — and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying.”(65) Gatsby’s clumsy lies shows that he is eager to be seen as a noble “old money” instead of a coarse “new money” by others.Also, an owl-eyed man at a Gatsby party discovered secrets about Gatsby’s books in his library:”See!” he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too – didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?’ ”(45) Gatsby tries to show himself as an educated man. However, though he tries every means to fake his background and where his money comes from, people still looks him as a rich clown. “ ‘I didn’t hear it. I imagined it. A lot of these newly rich
In the 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the nature of man, and that, though characters may live complete opposite lives and be from different upbringings, even the most contrasting of people can have similarities. In the novel, the readers are introduced to two characters named Tom Buchanan and George Wilson. Tom Buchanan is introduced as an arrogant, wealthy east egg man who has never had to work for his money. George Wilson is introduced as a poor man, living in the Valley of Ashes, who owns an auto shop as a living. Although these men are in different social classes, if you were to strip these men of their wealth, they would have more similarities than differences. Fitzgerald shows through his writing that the nature of man is aggressive, contentious, and cowardly.
As the narrator of the novel, every event and piece of knowledge presented in the The Great Gatsby is filtered through Nick, although he credits himself as “one of the few honest people that I have ever known” the reader can deduce his inclination to lie, since his hypocritical comment that in spite of his “[inclination] to reserve all judgements” he has become “the victim of not a few veteran bores” (Fitzgerald 59, 1). Nick desires to be part of the upper class shown through his move to West Egg and his values held in luxury over truth causing him to highly regard tactfully convincing liars and mock amateurs. He admires a woman whose bold lies show a “surprising amount of character”, yet claims “dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply” (Fitzgerald 163, 58). On the other hand, Gatsby’s vibrant, “threadbare” yarns are worthy of mocking along with his supposed ruby collection and overly excited display of his Oxford photograph to prove he went there. While Nick is quick to point out deceit in the ways of others, he is oblivious to his own bias, hypocrisy, and lies, creating a delusion of self-righteousness. After starting to go out with Jordan, he reveals a “vague understanding” with a girl back in Minnesota, Nick’s home, that should be
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had’” (Fitzgerald 5). Nick was the nonjudgemental narrator of the book, The Great Gatsby. Without Nick Gatsby’s true inner self would have never been revealed. Gatsby lied his way into his fame in fortune and lied into Daisy’s heart. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Gatsby isn't as great as he seems; his obsessive traits and fabricated past seem to tell a different story.
Fitzgerald uses this callous act of violence to convey his perceptions of the overall decline in morality, by revealing the cruel side of Tom’s privileged upbringing and alluding to the dark side of the