The roaring twenties was a time for happiness and celebration, but the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows a different side of this dynamic decade. Fitzgerald uses a poignant, yet hopeful tone to show the shadier side of the nineteen twenties most refuse to look at, while tying in the brighter side. In The Great Gatsby, the reader is sucked into a story of corruption, and empowerment by the rich hidden by extravagant parties and bright colors. Jay Gatsby, who only dreamt of wealth and love had an ideal dream life, that ideal life could be defined as his “American Dream”. His dreams were later crushed by very powerful people, careless people, people who used and abused others to get their way, no matter the consequences. Those people were Tom and Daisy Buchanan, they were the empowered rich. They crushed Gatsby’s American Dream, by being careless. Gatsby created this extravagant life for one reason, and one reason only; to impress the girl he fell in love with, years ago. The girl he gave his heart to hold forever, but after Gatsby left for war, she married someone else, someone who was from old money, like her. She married Tom Buchanan. Although Daisy was married, Gatsby held onto the hope that they would find a way to be together again, and forever. Close to the end, the reader wonders if matters will work out in Gatsby’s favor or not, but after the tragic accident that bring three dreams to an end, the reader ignores Gatsby’s hopefulness and just hopes for a happier ending, when in reality, nothing ends the way anyone wishes it to. Gatsby is a hopeful man. No matter what happens he holds on to the hope of what could be, of what he always dreamed could be, of his “American Dream.” A dream in which he has ac... ... middle of paper ... ...hed everything he had ever dreamt of, only to die tragically in the end, with no one by his side. Good things only last so long, The Great Gatsby showed the darker side of the 1920’s, which was hidden behind false identity, and fake smiles. The corruption, the affairs, the abuse that most got away with, just so long as they could pay off their dues with their riches. The poignant, yet hopeful tone is about life and how it almost always ends in heartbreak or death. Life, no matter your accomplishments, ends in a depression, it sucks you down, and you either fight it or it kills you. The world is a dog eat dog world. You fight to stay alive, to make something of yourself, to survive, and in the end you usually always end up dead in a ditch somewhere, because the world took everything you had and so much more, and you have been drained of your ability to fight back.
Knowing from their different circumstances, he could not marry her. So Gatsby left to accumulate a lot of money. Daisy, not being able to wait for Gatsby, marries a rich man named Tom. Tom believes that it is okay for a man to be unfaithful but it is not okay for the woman to be. This caused a lot of conflict in their marriage and caused Daisy to be very unhappy.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s conflicts between passion and responsibility demonstrate that chasing empty dreams can only lead to suffering. Gatsby’s motivation to achieve his dream of prosperity is interrupted when his fantasy becomes motivated by love. His eternal struggle for something more mirrors cultural views that more is always better. By ultimately suffering an immense tragedy, Jay Gatsby transforms into a romantic and tragic hero paying the capital price for his actions. Gatsby envokes a deeper Conclusion sentence
“When it comes to cars, only two varieties of people are possible - cowards and fools.” This quote by Russel Baker perfectly exemplifies the meaning of cars in the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Careless driving is a common symbol throughout the book representing the aloofness of the wealthy characters and their inability to establish control in their lives. The characters in this story are constantly “driving”, trying to convince the world that wealth is all that it’s cracked up to be. Cars are, in this situation, both the figurative and literal driving force of life. When the characters climb into the wrong seat of the car, they are surely headed for trouble By comparing those born into money and power and those that had to work for their status, Fitzgerald shows us the carelessness and the inability to establish control in life that comes along with predetermined wealth.
curious way, and as far as I [Nick Carraway] was from him I could have
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of rags to riches, passion, and the hollowness of the upper class. A common wonder regarding this piece is the question of what it is that makes Gatsby so great. Through the use of works by Harlem Renaissance poets such as Langston Hughes and Claude Mckay, with a connection to the themes of the story, the questionable greatness of the notorious Jay Gatsby can be proven valid.
The passage begins ‘One autumn night’, autumn is commonly thought of as a season of death and renewal, when the leaves fall from the trees, so do the metaphorical leaves that are referred to throughout the novel, in many places where the theme of nature is prevalent. The garden itself is commonly used as a symbol for Gatsby’s social standing, and the vibrancy of his life. Now that the ‘leaves are falling’, we can see that daisy has captured his ‘godlike’ attention, as it is portrayed throughout the novel, but also his heart. As the life of his garden is given to the ground, so is his life given to daisy, whose name itself refers to the theme of nature.
The Roaring 20's was a time of celebration, but to many the 20's were instead
Mobs. The Mafia. Gangs. Organized crime has been a part of America’s history for a long time. The height of their glory days in the US occurred during one specific time period: the 1920s. They are featured in novels of the time, reminiscences, and have held a strange pull over the American people since. People are fascinated with the inner workings of the organizations and the lives of those on the inside. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s affiliation with organized crime prevents him from attaining his ultimate dream of living in East Egg and taints him in the eyes of Daisy Buchanan, forever preventing them from having a relationship.
In Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, Thoreau talks about his experiences dining with the wealthy. He speaks about how they have no hospitality and all they talk about is money. Thoreau says, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth” (436). Thoreau is stating how he would rather have truth than money. The characters in the Great Gatsby want exactly the opposite as Thoreau. Where he wants truth all they want is money. They want to hide their problems behind their money and enjoy the carefree activities of the rich and famous. The Roaring 20’s was a time of carefree enjoyment. However, what is often over looked is how those who indulged themselves refused to accept the consequences of their actions. Instead, they hid behind their shield of money, which gave them the freedom and privilege to live a careless, and sometimes-unscrupulous lifestyle. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the wild parties and other unruly actions of the rich to show how the more money one has in a society, the more privilege and freedom they have to get away with immoral and unethical things.
In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby and Nick talk about Gatsby's attempt to impress Daisy in order for her to leave Tom Buchanan and they to finally be together. Nick reminds Gatsby of a very true concept on the subject of the past, “I wouldn't ask too much of her,” I ventured. “You can't repeat the past” (Fitzgerald, ch. 6). I feel that Nick said these lines in order to allow Gatsby to realize that not all things can be as they once were and you shouldn't get your hopes up. Of course, Gatsby reiterates back, “Can't repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald, ch. 6). Reading that quote, I felt that I could actually be there when Gatsby said it, the tone had such conviction behind it and you could feel that he had such an undeniable belief that it's possible and that he could just step through the echo's of the past and change it all in a heartbeat. Just for a man to rekindle the sparks of an otherwise, dead relationship with the woman of his dream. As time propels forward, people and ideas change and what may have worked out before, may not work out now. I feel that Gatsby's clinging to the past and his obsession with Daisy is what ultimately led to his downfall. I agree with Nick, the past cannot be undone and you cannot relive it and no amount of money or power of will, can change that and it was Jay Gatsby's obsession with the past, affections for Daisy and his deceit about his past that are the reasons why you shouldn’t try to relive the past.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a one of the best stories written during a chaotic period in our nation’s history, The Jazz Age. The Twenties were a time of social experiments, self-indulgence, and dissatisfaction for majority of Americans. Fitzgerald depicts all these characteristics throughout the novel with his interesting themes, settings, and characters. The most elaborate and symbolic character Fitzgerald presents to his readers is Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby as a vehicle to explore the idea of The American Dream, which was a key element in shaping American society and it’s citizens. Fitzgerald does not sugar-coat his definition of the American Dream, but lets his protagonist voice these elements and its decline, challenging the reader to explore the true nature of America in the 1920s.
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.
Wealth and economic success struck the lives of the Americans living during the 1920s. Lavish lifestyles, overindulgence, and gaudy apparel were the rage of this decade. At this time, “America [had become] the wealthiest country in the world with no obvious rival” (America in the 1920s). Francis Scott Fitzgerald, an American writer of that time, employed the events of his life and the realities of the world around him in order to create one of the most influential works in the history of America: The Great Gatsby. Through his work, Fitzgerald was capable of portraying the truth behind the luxurious scenes of the 1920s. Fitzgerald’s unveiling of veracities produced a strong reaction from those of his time and has left a lasting impression on the centuries that have followed.
Nick describes Gatsby as “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life(Ch.3).” Such description unifies the appearance of Gatsby with people’s expectation of a man who accomplished the American dream. The obsession with wealth often blinds people from the potential crisis. The crisis of having everything they worked and struggled for redefined if the reality fails them. Just like strivers who chase the American dream, Gatsby also spent his whole life in pursuit of his American dream, which Daisy was a major component of.
Many of these events from Fitzgerald's early life appear in his most famous novel, The Great Gatsby, published in 1925. Like Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway is a thoughtful young man from Minnesota, educated at an Ivy League school (in Nick's case, Yale), who moves to New York after the war. Also similar to Fitzgerald is Jay Gatsby, a sensitive young man who idolizes wealth and luxury and who falls in love with a beautiful young woman while stationed at a military camp in the South.