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Literary analysis of the great gatsby
Where is corruption shown in the great gatsby
Literary analysis for the great gatsby
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The word “great” can be characterized as the “ability, quality, or eminence considerably above the normal or average.” In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, presents magnetic attraction through his glamorous lifestyle, endless fortune, and inescapable fame which in all labeled him as “great.” However, in order to move on with his life of extravagance, Gatsby immersed himself in corruption and deceit. Throughout the novel, Jay Gatsby discredits his title “The Great Gatsby” through his constant lying and criminal actions. Jay Gatsby repeatedly lies about his past and identity in order to ensure his extravagant charade remains in tact. Upon conversation with Nick, Nick questioned how Gatsby received his money, almost catching him in a lie, however Gatsby continually responded “automatically” as if “ he hardly knew what he was saying,” and continued to “correct himself” while he told Nick he …show more content…
With Gatsby’s “automatic” responses to Nick’s inquires, it is almost implied that Gatsby rehearsed what he was going to say when someone questions the viability of his claims. Though it is evident that he often does not have his stories straight when it comes to how he encountered his fortune, when he had to keep “[correcting] himself.” However him “hardly knowing what he said” and his need to “correct himself” demonstrates his compulsion to lie in order to keep up his facade of perfection and charm. Gatsby continuos to keep himself through deceit in order to hide his corrupt nature. He further hides himself behind his facade when leads others to fall to the deception of his identity. When exploring into the past. Nick reveals that Jay Gatsby is “legally” named “James Gatz,” and continous to reveal secret truths about him (Fitzgerald 98). By discarding his “legal” name “James Gatz.” Gatsby
The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, provides the reader with a character that possesses qualities both challenging to understand and difficult to endorse. These characteristics show themselves through the character’s desire and passion to pursue his dream. Jay Gatsby, an elusive, persuasive, and sometimes deceptive man displays such contrast in his moral foundation that leaves the reader questioning his true motives at nearly every action. There is an argument to be made that Gatsby is both great and not so great, making him the epitome of moral ambiguity. For example, Nick, another major character, who happens to be the narrator of the story, first describes Gatsby in the opening chapter of the novel as someone who he both
Jay Gatsby is the main character in The Great Gatsby. He is the mysterious character that the story revolves around. Nick is his neighbor that gets invited to Gatsby’s party that set in on Gatsby being a mysterious person that has so many people talking about him and talking about different stories about Gatsby that unravel how big of a mystery Gatsby is. In The Great Gatsby, “Gatsby’s notoriety, spread about by the hundreds who had accepted his hospitality and so become authorities on his past, had increased all summer until he fell just short of being news” (Fitzgerald 105). In chapter six, the real truth is revealed about the great Gatsby. The stories of the mysterious Gatsby in the parties were not true. The stories about Gatsby also went around New York, which made Nick ask Gatsby about his past ("The Great Gatsby," Fitzgerald). Nick also asked about Gatsby’s past hoping Nick would finally hear the truth. According to The Great Gatsby, “This was the night, Carraway says, that Gatsby told him the story (its factual details have been told earlier in the novel) of his early life. The purpose of the telling here is not to reveal facts but to try to understand the character of Gatsby’s passion. The final understanding is reserved for one of those precisely right uttera...
One of the traits of Gatsby that makes him truly great is his remarkable capacity for hope. He has faith that what he desires will come to him if he works hard enough. He does not comprehend the cruelty and danger that is the rest of the world. Gatsby, while a man of questionable morals, is as wide-eyed and innocent as a small child in his views of the world. These ideals are evident in Nick’s narration and in the words spoken by the other characters, including Gatsby himself.
Jay Gatsby was well-liked, respected, and popular due to his charismatic charm and extravagant parties that captured people of East and West Egg, creating a well-known reputation. When Gatsby first met Nick Carraway, he politely introduced himself and, “smiled understandingly- much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in your life” (48). Nevertheless, Gatsby had a way of mesmerizing people, making them feel comfortable and at home. Everyone that had the pleasure of meeting him thought he was “simply amazing.” Wolfsheim, Gatsby’s business partner, said, “‘I made the pleasure of his acquaintance just after the war. But I knew I had discovered a man of fine breeding after I talked with him for an hour’” (72). Although they
No one truly knows the true story behind Gatsby and his wealth. This adds an intriguing aspect to the life of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lies in order to uphold his image. For example, Gatsby states that he is an Oxford man, however the reader finds that this is not entirely true. The social class that Gatsby strive to be a part of is well educated and proper. Gatsby creates an omission lie, that he is an oxford man. This is because Gatsby refrained from telling the whole truth, Gatsby leaves out certain information to hide the full truth. This deceives characters making them believe that he is well educated and fits in with the high society. In addition Gatsby lied to Nick about how he acquired his money. At first, Gatsby told the tale that he inherited his money, in order to fit in with the old money social class. Gatsby did not want to tarnish his his already vague image by letting it know that he was part of the mob. Gatsby wanted to be viewed as a gentleman not a
“‘How long are you going to wait?’ ‘All night, if necessary. Anyhow, till they all go to bed.’” Here Nick, the protagonist of the The Great Gatsby, expresses Gatsby’s unmoving motivation to retain those ideals. Nonetheless, he hides himself behind the riches he attains and delusions himself into thinking that he is able to acquire Daisy’s feelings by disguising himself with lies and winning the respect of others. According to Florian Arleth, author of The Many Faces of Jay Gatsby, he explains that “Meyer Wolfshiem described Gatsby to Nick as ‘a fine-appearing, gentlemanly young man’” and goes on to say that in the German translation that same phrase “entails a classification that not even money can buy” calling attention to what he is trying to appear and his actual personality. Thus making his major fault to be that he believes his lies and self-righteous cause to be noble; giving more incentive to obtain his ideals. Unable to realize, or rather, not able to admit that his course of action leads him in the direction of a tragedy, it therefore causes his
If the enemy of one’s enemy is a friend, Jay Gatsby must be the reader’s enemy. However, that remains unclear, because Nick Carraway—a friend of Mr. Gatsby—never supplies a clear point on the matter. His position as narrator of The Great Gatsby reveals Fitzgerald’s intention of projecting the mythical and dream-like nature of Mr. Gatsby. Gatsby lives the dream—money, status and the woman of his dreams—while the highly relatable Nick exists in the shadows of this man—without a dream. As told in this first-person narrative, the entire story and its events are filtered through the lens of the fallible Nick, and this gives way into the duality of the story. This duality reflects the dual nature of life and Gatsby. Nick’s opinion of Gatsby fluctuates from distrust to endearment, and throughout the entirety of the novel, Nick has no grasp on this seemingly mythical character. Fitzgerald highlights this contrast and duality to explain the uncontrollability of fate. It guides Gatsby to relive the dearest moment of his life, yet its indifference to his dream—the American dream—causes Gatsby’s life to crumble before his eyes. Watching all of this is Nick Carraway, and his fluctuating narration reflects Fitzgerald’s idea that fulfillment cannot be controlled. Nick embodies friendship, inconsistency, and a lack of drive. His capability of friendship and inconsistency as a narrator represents something inherently human about him. He carries the fascination and wonder of all mankind, yet his failure to pursue a dream is unnerving. Nick never wielded the key to fulfillment.
Gatsby is not so great because he is a liar. From the very start Gatsby is said to be an alumnus from Oxford, who fought in WWI, hunted big game, and had parents from the Midwest. He even justifies himself when Nicks asks and Gatsby pulls out a picture of him at Oxford and a WWI medal that he carried around in his pocket. He even changed his name, James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, but why? “James Gatz – that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career” (6). Gatsby is mysterious and mystifying, known for his large parties yet no one knows why he has them. Keep in mind this is the prohibition era, but at Gatsby’s parties there is always plenty of alcohol to go around and no one knows where it comes from or how he acquires so much, one of the many mysteries. In attendance at these parties there are people like Meyer Wolfshiem “the man who really did fix the 1919 World Series” (118), to the mayors and governors. More questions arise in this company as to how Gatsby is associated with gangsters and why they attend these large parties. It is completely ironic how so many attend these parties but none ...
No one can be perfect in everything; it is good to make mistakes as long as we learn from them. Jay Gatsby was a man of secrets; he leaves an insightful mark on every person he talks to. Gatsby’s neighbor, Nick, says “it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.”(Fitzgerald 6-7). Nick was simply appalled by Gatsby and wanted to know about him and any secrets he may have, Nick felt Gatsby was a great man of mystery and was extremely interesting. Gatsby told Nick “I don’t want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear” (69), then opened himself up to Nick and told him “My family all died and I came into
Nick Carroway is not a very judgmental person, in fact, he himself states that he withholds judgment so that he can get the entire story out of the person to whom he is listening. To say that Nick is both approving and disapproving is not suspiring, for Nick rarely looks at things from only one perspective. Nick finds Gatsby to be ignorantly honest, in that Gatsby could not fathom the idea of saying something without really meaning it. He respects Gatsby for his determination to fit in with the East Egg crowd, though Gatsby does not realize that he does not really fit in with them. On the other hand, Nick sees Gatsby to be excessively flashy and, in the words of Holden Caulfield, 'phony.' Gatsby's whole life is a lie from the moment he left behind the name James Gatz and became Jay Gatsby. Gatsby lies about his past to try to have people perceive him as an 'old money' guy when that really is not necessary. Gatsby's valiant efforts to lure Daisy are respectable, yet they show Gatsby's failure to accept reality and give up on his long lost dream.
Jay Gatsby is dishonest to himself to and those around him which ultimately leads to his failure. He lies about his past, his family, and his accomplishments in order to achieve his version of the American dream, which ...
Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in the novel, fails to realize that when one tells a lie, it comes back to bite you. For example, he initially tells his neighbor, and potential friend Nick, that he had inherited his redundant sums of money from his family. One night, the night Gatsby reunites with Daisy, he and Nick are admiring his substantial house. During the conversation, Gatsby slips out, “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it” (Fitzgerald 90). By this, one can see Gatsby lie about how he acquired the wealth he has. When Nick questions his inheritance of the money, Gatsby automatically stutters with another lie- that he lost his family fortune in the panic of the war and had to earn all the money again by himself. Gatsby may have not realized he let this lie slide out from under him due to the rush of emotions connected with the reunion of his long lost love. Nevertheless, he did lie to Nick about his past, along with many other people, including Daisy. When he and his love first meet, he lies to her and comes off as a rich, stable man, she would be lucky to fall in love with. This is not the case, however. He is not as innocent as to have just inherit the wealth he gloats. Fitzgerald states, “He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses. I don’t mean that he had traded his phantom millions,...
Throughout the book, Nick strings together pieces of Gatsby’s past. However, his uncertainty grows as Gatsby reveals himself one day while driving to town, “[Gatsby] hurried the phrase ‘educated at Oxford,’ or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all” (65). With hesitation in his voice, Gatsby is surely not revealing the truth. The many holes in his storyline can certainly lead one to question the validity of his past.
From the beginning of The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is developed as a reliable narrator. His honesty and sense of duty are established as he remarks on his own objectivity and willingness to withhold judgment. However, as the book progresses and Nick’s relationship with Jay Gatsby grows more intimate, it is revealed that Nick is not as reliable as previously thought when it comes to Gatsby. Nick perceives Gatsby as pure and blameless, although much of Gatsby's persona is false. Because of his friendship and love for Gatsby, his view of the events is fogged and he is unable to look at the situation objectively.
There were many stories flying about Gatsby but no one knew what to really believe. In on instance Jordan made the comment, "I think he killed a man." (49) Even when Gatsby confessed about his past he didn't always tell the truth. He told Nick he inherited great wealth, but in reality, Gatsby gained his wealth on his own. Even though Gatsby lied, the fact that he made himself what he was makes him even that much greater.