Purpose And Form In The Great Gatsby

Literature is brought together to signify meaning through the use of purpose and form; without purpose and form, there is no meaning to an author’s text. When an author is motivated, they decide whether they want to inform, entertain, explain, or persuade the reader; thus finding their purpose of writing. After the decision of the purpose, the writer chooses what form their story will take. It is then the reader’s job to take the aim and form of the story and create meaning. The novels, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Wars, written by Timothy Findley, support the phrase, the purpose of the text and the form it takes generate meaning.

The purpose is a vital component in various texts; without intentions, the literature

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Timothy Findley use many different perspectives to make sense of the intentions of their novels. In F. Scott Fitzgerald 's novel, The Great Gatsby, the first person narrative is used throughout the fiction. Nick Carraway plays a significant role in the story, and he is the narrator of the novel as well. He says, “This isn’t just an epigram — life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all” (Fitzgerald, Chapter 1). Carraway thinks that one will be more successful in life if they only look out one window instead of multiple windows; hence, conveying the message of the American Dream. Additionally, Timothy Findley creates form in his novel, The Wars by recreating previous events and embedding them into the story to create an in-depth storyline by the use of various point-of-views. A nurse during the time of the war, Marian Turner says, “But that night – surrounded by all that dark – and all those men in pain – and the trains kept bringing us more and more and more – and the war was never, never, never going to end – that night, I thought: I am ashamed to be alive. I am ashamed of life. And I wanted to offer some way out of life – I wanted grace for Robert Ross” (Findley 223). Marian Turner’s outlook on the war changes after some time. She is ashamed of being alive because of the many conflicts

The meaning of a story is created using both, the purpose and the form of a text, and with either one missing, there would be no meaning. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the first person narrative is used to portray that the purpose of the fiction is to express the American Dream, but not being able to live a blissful life. As the narrator, Nick Carraway views everything at first hand; he takes other character’s feelings and actions and then expresses them for the reader to grasp and understand the meaning of the context. Nick Carraway mentions, “He stretched out his arms toward 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.” (Fitzgerald, Chapter 1). While Nick watches Jay Gatsby, he narrates every move he takes. Moreover, Timothy Findley also uses purpose and form to create the meaning of his novel. In Timothy Findley’s novel, The Wars, the first, second, and third-person perspective is used to depict the purpose of the story which suggests corruption of war on the soldier 's mind. The main character, Robert Ross says, “If an animal had done this – we would call it mad and shoot it” (Findley 212). While at war, Robert sees individuals behave certain