The Great Gatsby Quote Analysis

1286 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social class of the great gatsby

Favorite quote:“The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” The reason this is my favorite quote is because it aptly describes the reason Gatsby is the unique and inspiring man he is and what he came from. This is also something about the plot that I found rather interesting in that the fantastic life Gatsby reports to have lived is really just a facade or shield …show more content…

J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic-their retinas are 1 yard high"(pg 23) The imagery used to describe the dull and dry landscape of the valley of ashes along with the set of large blue eyes, that were once an advertisement, that watched over the landscape contributes to the themes of the American dream’s decline and the inability to move between classes. The real Americans who have not cheated their way to the top or been born into it live in a place that is not only dull and immoral and uncomfortable but are also not allowed to move from it. And the eyes that watch over them are described vividly as if judging what they see, as the people who live in their sight act without conscience. The valley of ashes and those who live in it serve to represent what happens to those who aren’t lucky enough to be born wealthy or luck into …show more content…

Daisy is not only born into wealth but into a way of life and culture. It’s almost as if this is a part of her genetically as if it is her race. This is what differentiates the new rich from the old. Those who have had money all of their life have an air about them that can not be replicated or learned by those who haven’t. Gatsby spends much of his life trying and training himself to do so, which is in part why he is immediately able to identify what it is Nick is hearing in her voice. Gatsby studies this natural rich persona and tries to accomplish but the true old rich still see through it. This means that even if you somehow find a way to beat all of the odds and make it out of poverty that you still are never truly able to be a part of the upper

Show More
Related

  • The Great Gatsby Rhetorical Analysis

    467 Words  | 1 Pages

    Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book, The Great Gatsby, structures the characters Tom and Gatsby to demonstrate the difference between old and new money, and the class conflict within the upper class.His purpose is to emphasize the differences between the old and new money through the characters Tom and Gatsby. He adopts a wary tone when describing Tom and a fanatical tone to describe Gatsby through connotative words, advanced punctuation and sentence structure, and other details.

    Read More

  • Jay Gatsby is a Sympathetic Character in Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth. Ever since meeting Dan Cody, his fascination for wealth has increased dramatically. He even uses illegal unmoral methods to obtain hefty amounts of wealth to spend on buying a house with “ Marie Antoinette music-rooms, Restoration Salons, dressing rooms and poolrooms, and bath rooms with sunken baths.” (88) His wardrobe is just as sensational with “ shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine fennel.” (89) Gatsby buys such posh items to impress Daisy but to him, Daisy herself is a symbol of wealth. Jay remarks, “[Daisy’s] voice is full of money.” (115). For him, Daisy is the one who is “ High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden gir...

    Read More

  • Money and Corruption in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    1745 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives. In the novel entitled the great Gatsby, the ideals of the so called American dream became skewed, as a result of the greediness and desires of the main characters to become rich and wealthy. These character placed throughout the novel emphasize the true value money has on a persons place in society making wealth a state of mind.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Analysis

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Great Gatsby Rhetorical Analysis

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a book about a young rich man that had a mysterious past. The author intentionally chose Nick as the narrator of this story. He is Gatsby’s neighbor, and he often contradicts himself. He said he was taught by his father to not criticize people, but he often criticized people including Gatsby. Critics in real life often behave like Nick and are hypocritical.

    Read More

  • Essay On Daisy's Expectations In The Great Gatsby

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin with, Gatsby’s love for wealth and aristocracy that he has seen as an essential part of his life even during his childhood is what drives Gatsby to pursue Daisy. This is largely due to the fact that Daisy typifies everything that Gatsby desires; the aura around Daisy is one of social grace and opulence that is prevalent among the socially elite. In a specific scenario Nick reflects on a conversation he had with Gatsby concerning Daisy’s voice alone. He states that her “inexha...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Dreams In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gatsby’s poor childhood greatly influenced his admirable dream to want a better life for himself. Growing up, Gatsby was very poor. “His parents were shiftless unsuccessful farm people-his imagination never really accepted them as his parents at all.” (pg. 98) Growing up, he hated his parents for the fact that they were poor as well as their lifestyle. When he was a teenager, he left his home to pursue a more prosperous life. After Gatsby left, he saw a yacht that belonged to a wealthy man, Dan Cody. This represented the rich lifestyle that he longed for. His ambitions to be a part of the upper class grew. Gatsby worked on the yacht for Dan Cody until Cody died. After this period of time, he began to act “rich” and took on this new persona. Gatsby had to completely change who he was. He even changed his name. The name he was born with was James Gatz, When Daisy and Gatsby met, they fell in love. She was from a very wealthy family. Gatsby knew that obtaining her would prove that he had embraced the upper class lifestyle. They couldn’t marry because he was not from a well-known family. Gatsby though...

    Read More

  • The Rich and The Poor in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    587 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts the vast social difference between the old aristocrats, the new self-made rich and the poor. He vividly interprets the social stratification during the roaring twenties as each group has their own problems to deal with. Old Money, who have fortunes dating from the 19th century, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The New Money made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth. As usual, the No Money gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving them forgotten or ignored.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Final Essay

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    As depicted by Scott F. Fitzgerald, the 1920s is an era of a great downfall both socially and morally. As the rich get richer, the poor remain to fend for themselves, with no help of any kind coming their way. Throughout Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the two “breeds” of wealthier folk consistently butt heads in an ongoing battle of varying lifestyles. The West Eggers, best represented by Jay Gatsby, are the newly rich, with little to no sense of class or taste. Their polar opposites, the East Eggers, are signified by Tom and Daisy Buchanan; these people have inherited their riches from the country’s wealthiest old families and treat their money with dignity and social grace. Money, a mere object in the hands of the newly wealthy, is unconscientiously squandered by Gatsby in an effort to bring his only source of happiness, Daisy, into his life once again. Over the course of his countless wild parties, he dissipates thousands upon thousands of dollars in unsuccessful attempts to attract Daisy’s attention. For Gatsby, the only way he could capture this happiness is to achieve his personal “American Dream” and end up with Daisy in his arms. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy is somewhat detrimental to himself and the ones around him; his actions destroy relationships and ultimately get two people killed.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Quote Analysis

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Nick and Daisy were at Gatsby’s house, Daisy cried “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful shirts before”(Fitzgerald 92). At Mr. Gatsby’s house, Gatsby was showing Nick and Daisy around his house and showing them his clothes. Then Daisy started crying because that’s all she wanted was a lot of money and a big house and Gatsby has that, but her husband Tom doesn’t. Daisy started to notice that she should have waited for Gatsby because now he has everything she wants and Tom doesn’t have a lot of money like Mr. Gatsby. “She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby nothing” exclaimed Nick (Fitzgerald 149).

    Read More

  • The Valley of the Ashes in the Great Gatsby

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    The valley is described as a “desolate” place where “ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills into grotesque gardens”. (21) Ashes that dominate the area take the shape of natural greenery. The term “grotesque gardens” uses alliteration, with juxtaposition; to highlight the odd pairing of ashes and greenery. Ashes are associated with death while ridges and “gardens” represent the potential to flourish and grow in the promise and ideal of equality as in “the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams.” (143) The trees that once stood here were able to speak to man’s dreams, which allude to America, the land able to speak to man’s dreams and capacity for wonder. All this is replaced by grey ash that suffocates the inhabitants, restricting them to their social class. This presents a bleak image of hopelessness that surrounds the valley.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Response

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    “You can use all the quantitative data you can get, but you still have to distrust it and use your own intelligence and judgment.”- Alvin Toffer In The Great Gatsby we find out that one of our characters’ (Nick Carraway) did not trust Gatsby from the beginning, yet he gives Gatsby a compliment. At the end of the chapter Nick says “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together!” to Gatsby.

    Read More

  • Daisy's Love In The Great Gatsby

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Daisy’s original impression of Gatsby is evident in her early letters to him, “...he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself- that he was fully able to take care of her” (149). Daisy loved Gatsby under the false hope that they belonged to the same social class. She grew up surrounded by riches, never working a day in her life, and she could not comprehend the struggles of a man who must work for the food he eats each day. Daisy knew that she must marry when she is beautiful, for being a beautiful rich girl of good social standing was her highest commodity and most valuable chip in marrying well. In order to live a secure life, she had to find someone the had the means to provide for her extravagant lifestyle, and the deep care for her that would allow Daisy to do as she pleased. The only definition of love Daisy knew was one of disillusioned power and commitments under false pretenses in order to keep the wealthy continually rich. Daisy acknowledges the false pretenses of marriage for the wealthy in how she describes her daughter’s future. She tells Nick, “‘And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this

    Read More

  • Social Mobility in The Great Gatsby

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, in The Great Gatsby social mobility can to some degree be achieved by everyone. The highest social class cannot be reached by outsiders. This a class that you must belong to or marry in to, you cannot work your way up to it.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Chapter 1 Analysis

    415 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a drama filled novel that gives the reader a fascinating insight into the protagonist and the narrator of the story. Right at the beginning of the story, we are introduced to the protagonist Nick Carraway. From this point on, we learn that Nick grew up in the Midwest and was part of a wealthy family, who became wealthy from a wholesale hardware business. We also learn that Nick attended and graduated from Yale University just like his father and that he had fought in World War 1. Nick does eventually return from the war but on his return feels very bored in the Midwest[Minnisota or Wisconsin] and decides to move to New York to become a bond salesmen.

    Read More

More about The Great Gatsby Quote Analysis

Open Document