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Analyzing Themes In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

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1. Introduction

No themes are so human as those that reflect for us, out of the confusion of life, the close connection of bliss and bale, of the things that help with the things that hurt, so dangling before us forever that bright hard metal, of so strange an alloy, one face of which is somebody’s right and ease and the other somebody’s pain and wrong. -Henry James, Preface, What Maisie Knew.

This diploma paper presents themes in the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, as one of American literature’s foremost masterpieces. “The Great Gatsby” is the classic tale of the American dream; how ambitious a man can be, identity issues, the joy one seeks in life, the past that one cannot let go and the tragedy that living a dream may …show more content…

As Trilling implies, the novel is growing in significance for years and this could never happen if the style and form were not right as they are. Its aesthetic dignity shape and style are the novels formal achievement. This novel has become a part of the American mythology. Like Hemingway or Norman Mailer, F. Scott Fitzgerald possesses mythological status (Bloom, …show more content…

Some of the main materials used in this paper are as follows: Tate, Mary Jo. Critical Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald 1998, Bloom, Harold. Scott Fitzgerald the Great Gatsby 2010, Ed, Anne Marie. Literary Themes for Students: American Dream 2007, Broccoli, Matthew J. New Essays on the Great Gatsby 2002, Gale, C. L. A Study Guide for F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby 2015, Mangum, B. F. Scott Fitzgerald in Context 2013, Bryer, J. R. F. Scott Fitzgerald: New Perspectives 2000, Miller, J. E. The Fictional Technique of Scott Fitzgerald 1957, West, J. L. A Short Autobiography 2011, Curnutt, K. A Historical Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald 2004.
The paper consists of six parts where the first part is an introduction to the paper. Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald is discussed in the second part, with a general overview of the author’s life and his numerous works. The third part devotes to the relevant information about the novel, which lists some significant elements regarding the novel, therefore I will briefly go through the plot, characters, setting, and

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