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Examples Of Ambition In The Great Gatsby

566 Words3 Pages

Ambitions are not always a good thing. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Jody Starks is a former laborer who through ambition and hard work was able to move to Eatonville and become the mayor. However once Jody became the mayor and achieved his ambitions he began to neglect his wife Janie and her needs. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Jay Gatsby grew up poor in the Midwest but through his ambition and a little bit of illegal alcohol sales was able to become wealthy and live in New York across from Daisy the love of his life. Gatsby throws extravagant parties in an attempt to get Daisy’s attention so they can fall in love again. Gatsby eventually gets killed because Daisy ran someone over with his car. When Nick goes to Gatsby’s funeral none of the people who attended his parties attended his funeral because Gatsby didn't actually spend anytime with them becoming friends because he was so focused getting Daisy back. Focusing solely on one's ambitions can distract from their personal …show more content…

Jody Starks “had always wanted to be a big voice but de white folks had all de sayso where he come from and everywhere else exceptin’ dis place dat colored folks was buildin’ theirselves” (Hurston 45). This quote shows how Jody aspires to become part of a colored town so he can have a say in the government and his life in general. This shows how Jody had ambitions to improve upon his situation in life. After Janie cooked poorly for one dinner “She wasn’t petal-open anymore with him. She was twenty-four and seven years married when she knew. She found that out one day when he slapped her face in the kitchen” (Hurston 91). As Jody reaches his ambitions he begins to beat and neglect his wife. Beating his wife is clearly not a good thing for him to do in his personal life. Clearly, Jody neglected his personal life and his wife by focusing singularly on his ambitions and

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Their Eyes Were Watching God Relationships

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Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

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In The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald shows how society gets corrupted trying to achieve the American Dream through the characterization of many characters like Gatsby. Jay Gatsby was a man who rose from nothing to being extremely wealthy, many would consider him as someone who has reached the American Dream. However after so much work he never really got the one thing that made him happy. Many critiques like Fussel argues that Gatsby is corrupted by the values and attitudes he holds in common with the society that destroys him. Others like Callahan and Gunn believe that the Great Gatsby tries to convince people that money and success is everything but they failed in the end by showing how miserable Gatsby is without Daisy.

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Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

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Albert Einstein, a renowned physicist, once said, “Money only appeals to selfishness and always tempts its owners irresistibly to abuse it." He conveys that money acts like a drug, drawing in those who selfishly desire it into an endless pit of desire. Once one has delved into that pit, the need to abuse what is offered consumes the person as whole, leaving them to be nothing but a hollow shell of their greed. This idea once again presents itself in Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, through numerous characters. Primarily, there are Daisy and Tom Buchanan, a wealthy couple from East Egg, Long Island who abuse their status and wealth in order to benefit themselves.

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