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Character Development In The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel that fully encompasses the harsh realities of living in America during the 1920s. The story digs into territory of the lives of men and women from that era that is far more detailed than any history book could ever dream of achieving. We as readers get the pleasure of grasping the traits of each character on a more individual level rather than simply scratching the surface of character development like a vast majority of books seem to. The struggles we see progress throughout the story are issues we still can empathize with in modern day. Some of the obstacles the individuals in this novel face are financial discrimination, marital/relational dissonance, and the clear separation of statuses …show more content…

Gatsby longed after the green dock light night after night in attempt to fill the void of Daisy’s distance. She is so close that he could almost grab it, but just like the ultimate dream, Daisy is unattainable as well. Gatsby has all the riches he could possibly want, but he actually is attempting to grasp more than solely wealth in his dream. Daisy would be his missing puzzle piece if he only could win her heart. Gatsby holds parties in hopes that Daisy will attend and they will reconnect, but all that effort he put into making this home for Daisy was all for naught. Daisy did not deserve a man as giving as Gatsby. She toyed him for every penny he was worth. Gatsby cannot seem to get his head out of the gutter in regards to Daisy even though he is keenly aware of how manipulative she was. The green dock light was described as “ a minute and far away”, but Daisy was not the dream he should strive for to begin …show more content…

Whether the characters are flaunting an air of snootiness because of wealth, hopelessly romanticizing a woman who is not worth the time, or wishing for a sign in their current occupation, Fitzgerald draws back each word and action to one common theme. All the talk about unattainable goals and failed attempts to clench this dream makes you wonder if it really is achievable at all. The characters of this book believe that it is reachable, but they all seem to be stuck in the past. What is the American Dream? Is it the achievement of many awards? Is it owning large quantities of material objects? Does this dream mean climbing to the next rung on the ladder of success? To many or most these definitions may be so. However, it seems that FItzgerald may also be telling us that the real American Dream is first the privilege of having the opportunity to realize these dreams. When we do we achieve or earn some level of success, what then do we do with it? Do we let the dream consume us, or do we gather up the responsibility for other’s lives and share the dream? Fitzgerald uses symbols such as the eyes on the billboard, the color yellow, and distant green lights to pinpoint the direction we should aspire to take in regards to this dream. The American Dream is real, and you can form it into whatever you put your mind to. However, we must always remember

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Fitzgerald’s National Ethos: The American Dream The 1920s in American history was an incredibly significant era, bringing about a multitude of major changes and societal shifts. As affluence and success became the center focus of American culture, this society following The Great War was one in which Americans had grown to yearn the classic “American Dream”. The work of artists, like F. Scott Fitzgerald to capture such work has been consequential to telling the story of the ever-shifting trajectory of the twentieth century in the United States.

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At the end of The Great Gatsby, Nick reflects upon Gatsby’s life and pursuit on the beach where “the green light” at the end of Daisy’s dock can be seen. As a significant metaphor, “the green light” represents Gatsby’s dream which guides him to keep pursuing wealth and social status, while the position of the light, the distant and inaccessible Daisy’s dock, indicates the close connection between Gatsby’s unreal dream and Daisy, and as well the disillusionment of the dream. In the last three paragraphs, Nick explains the disillusionment of Gatsby’s dream, “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (162). Gatsby has always strived for his ambition and dream.

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The Great Gatsby is a wonderful novel that explains the drive and want to have the American Dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald and his life really show the true meaning of the American Dream and how hard and difficult it is to achieve it. He went through many hardships during his life and yet he still was able to come close to achieving the American Dream. The Idea behind the American Dream is that anyone can go from being poor to rich and live a healthy lifestyle and get the most out of life without being financially unstable.

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Scott Fitzgerald would say that the American dream is a concept that you can achieve greatness or better circumstances by any means that you can. Also, the real dream is not riches because then people would become reckless, but the real goal is to reach ultimate happiness. He would say this because when people desire for something they are not, they go to measures the affect others and the outcomes are not often positive. The novel and Gatsby’s story show that the failure of achieving his dreams proves the the foolishness of short-cutting the dream by corruption without hard work, integrity, or real love. Fitzgerald’s version of the American dream would say that all have the ability to gain more success with hard work and being true to yourself.

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The American Dream is different for everyone, however, all will fight for it. They will struggle for their ideal of the American Dream. Fitzgerald shows this with all of his characters. He shows what all of them are willing to do to achieve their happiness, and what happens when it is taken away.

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(Fitzgerald 98). One obvious literary device Fitzgerald uses to describe Nick’s view of how Gatsby is close to reaching his American dream by using a simile, comparing how stars are close to the moon as Gatsby is to Daisy’s dock. The green light on Daisy’s dock is a symbol representing Gatsby’s American dream, and how he is trying to reach and grab it once again. However, that American dream slipped right through his fingers in the past. Gatsby turned his life around so that he would have a chance at getting back

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"The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream." In this quote, by Azar Nafisi, it explains how dreaming can be tainted by reality, and it that if you don 't compromise you may suffer. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the American Dream is one the many themes in this book. The American Dream that most people in this book obtains to have is wealth, statist, a fun social life, and someone to lust. It is the life we all strive to have until we obtain it and see it 's meaningless composure.

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Character development is literary device used in every piece of writing. It can be large or small. The characters change in one way or another. Character development can be clearly stated or hinted by the author. Authors explain character developments via dialogue, actions, conflicts, and many other things.

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The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and narrated by a man named Nick Carraway. This novel was written with the intent of showing the readers how morally corrupt the 1920s were. Throughout the novel, characters abandon their moral values for a materialistic lifestyle. The novel depicts a great picture of the roles men and women played in the 1920s. Even with the changing roles of men and women, they continued to rely heavily on whom they were married to and what social class they belonged to.

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Set in motion from the moment he saw her, Gatsby’s illusions are centered on the idea of winning Daisy’s heart. The power of Gatsby’s idolatry of Daisy is clear when he meets with her again, and the two become passionate towards one another: “He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God” (Fitzgerald 110). Clearly, Gatsby has a strong desire to be with Daisy. However, Gatsby knew that in order to join himself with Daisy, he would have to pursue her way of life as well (Rowe). This begins Gatsby’s obsessive illusions, one of which focuses on the green light on the dock outside Daisy’s mansion.

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John A. Pidgeon says that, “The theme of Gatsby is the withering of the American Dream”(Pidgeon 179). The prime example of this is Gatsby, who “believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther” (Fitzgerald 180). The green light symbolizes Gatsby’s dream to be upper class with Daisy, but he can never reach it. Furthermore, it is frustrating for him that when he does attain wealth, Daisy is still out of his reach.

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Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is the author of the twentieth century American classic, The Great Gatsby. It is a story of the American dream, settled down in the 1920’s, with issues of the time period being, prohibition, women, class structure, crime, and many more, The Great Gatsby has a taste of each. Fitzgerald incorporated subjects of his time and his very own experiences into the story to portray an era of social and moral values. The 1920’s were a time of breaking morals Class structure and wealth were among the highest pleasures achievable. The 20’s were an era of Jazz; with extravagant music playing throughout all hours of the night.

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Fitzgerald focused on the shift in the American Dream - from being the idea of self-fulfillment, dignity and comfort that is achieved through hard work, to being equated with the pursuit of wealth and power, and identifying happiness with having money. The novel depicts the rise and fall of the concept and describes the causes of its decay. The downfall of the American Dream is most accurately shown through the main protagonist of the story – Jay Gatsby. To reiterate, the American Dream is the concept that anyone can achieve a better life and become self-fulfilled, if they put enough effort to it and make the most of their abilities.

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The American Dream is known to most as the pursuit of wealth and success through hard work. In the first paragraph of the passage, Fitzgerald describes his own idea of the American Dream. Sitting on the beach Nick thinks of the land “that flowered once for Dutch sailor’s eyes – a fresh, green breast of the new world”(180)

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The green light Gatsby is staring at across the bay reaching out towards the light. The green light is Daisy’s dock across the bay Gatsby stares at the light because he misses Daisy, she is his hope, his love, his everything he could ever want. Daisy is Gatsby’s dream he did everything in his life to get what Daisy would want so they could live happily ever after. “I went with them out to the veranda. On the green Sound, stagnant in the heat, one small sail crawled slowly toward the fresher sea.”

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