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Examples Of Journal Entries For The Great Gatsby

1233 Words5 Pages

Journal Entry #1 The various settings in The Great Gatsby serve to represent a theme or character of the novel. The first chapter introduces the reader to West Egg and East Egg. Nick describes West Egg as the “less fashionable of the two”, even though both sides contain equally enormous amounts of wealth. East Egg represents the social graces and aristocratic values of the old rich, such as the Buchanans who inherited their wealth. At the end of the novel, Nick views Tom and Daisy as careless aristocrats who care little about the damage that they cause others. On the other hand, West Egg is representative of all those who self-made their success. This side is ostentatious and showy with their money. Gatsby is an example of this through the …show more content…

Throughout the course of the book, Nick becomes completely immersed in and engrossed by the opulent lives of the people he knows. He almost seems to lose his own identity in the process. Nick repeatedly mentions how he is angered or annoyed by what they (the rich people in his life) are saying or doing, yet he is repeatedly drawn to them. However, at this point, both the reader and Nick become aware of the fact that he is just an observer and does not contribute anything to the situation. Furthermore, thirty is usually a big milestone for people, but for Nick, his birthday slowly creeps up on him and this realization occurs at the end of the day. The thirtieth birthday marks the final transition from youth to the brutal realities of adulthood. On the same page in the novel, Nick thinks to himself, “I was thirty. Before me stretched the portentous, menacing road of a new decade.” Once again, Fitzgerald seems to be drawing a parallel on a larger scale. The upcoming decade of Nick’s life represents The Great Depression which lies ahead in the …show more content…

On page 20, Nick observes Gatsby: “he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily, I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away”. The light is described as ‘minute and far away’, which shows how impossible it is to reach it. Gatsby is trying to recreate the past for the duration of the novel, but to no avail. Furthermore, since Daisy represents status and wealth, the light also represents the improbability of achieving the materialistic American

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1104 Words | 5 Pages

1. “Ships at a distance have man’s wish on board.” (Hurston 1). The very first sentence of the novel reminds most about the novel the Great Gatsby, the quote is saying that men have dreams that are achieved, wanted, or never achieved.

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698 Words | 3 Pages

Fitzgerald portrays the East Egg and West Egg as two distinct classes of social status. For example, Gatsby's lie to Daisy about his rich family causes her to leave him and marry Tom, a wealthy man from East Egg. Therefore, Tom is an elite and part of the upper class. In contrast, West Egg is build off of lower and middle class

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927 Words | 4 Pages

Diary 1 Nick Carraway distinguishes himself as both the creator and the storyteller. He calls himself a man of liberality and a man of incredible ethics. He battled in war, and now fills in as a bondsman on Long Island. He joins his cousin, Daisy, and her better half, Tom, for supper one night where they examined current occasions, and also methods of insight. In the wake of returning home, Scratch sees Gatsby, his neighbor, yet chooses to abandon him be.

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2737 Words | 11 Pages

Nikki Vollrath 3/1/15 The Great Gatsby Response Journal Chapter 1 The narrator and book’s author in the story, “The Great Gatsby,” is Nick Carraway a man from the Midwest with a wealthy family. Nick starts by telling us about some thing he learned from his father. He learned not to judge people because they haven’t had the same advantages that he has in life.

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924 Words | 4 Pages

Chapter 1: 2. When Nick first enters the Buchanan's house, the scene is not presented realistically. It is said that, "...the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor" (12). The women are painted as objects or even furniture in the room. This makes it seem as though Tom Buchanan is indeed the man of the household, and a strong one at that.

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785 Words | 4 Pages

Nick seems not to be oblivious to his sadness, although he lacks knowledge about the cause of the emotion, for he admits that dinner alone at the Yale Club is, “for some reason [,]…the gloomiest event of [his] day” (62). After dinner, Nick studies in the library, which he considers a quiet and “good place to work”, although he does mention that “there generally a few rioters”, which contradict Nick’s purpose for studying there, because if Nick really didn’t want to be disturbed he would go home (62). After studying for about an hour, “if the night [is] mellow” Nick restlessly “strolls around” the avenues and although among many, he still “[feels] a haunting loneliness” and can “[feel] it in others”(62). However, Fitzgerald relates Nick’s loneliness to that of “young clerks”, who “wast[e] the most poignant moments of night and life” “loitering” and waiting around for people to come and provide work for them, which parallels Nick’s own method of wasting time and waiting for people to provide him with something to

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708 Words | 3 Pages

Nick’s American Dream was the opposite of Gatsby’s; he always strived to see and do new things every day, constantly reaching for the future, while Gatsby only wanted to relive his past with Daisy. Once Nick feels like there is nothing left for him to discover in New York, he moves back west to rediscover the lost excitement after Gatsby’s death. Nick also believed that Gatsby was foolish in his American Dream because it was unattainable. Nick uses imagery to illustrate the appeal of West Egg before Gatsby’s death, describing the illusions of “those gleaming, dazzling parties”, stating that he could “still hear the music and the laughter, faint and incessant” (Fitzgerald 179).

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612 Words | 3 Pages

The next major symbols in The Great Gatsby are the East and West Egg, and the differences between them. Nick and Gatsby live in West Egg. It is not as luxurious as East Egg, Nick describes it as, “the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not little sinister contrast between them” (14). West Egg seems as though it is for the families and people who are newly wealthy, Gatsby for example, or young, as Nick has moved into a small house, with the “consoling proximity of millionaires - all for eighty dollars a month” (14). When comparing West Egg to East Egg, the reader is able to see what each island symbolizes, which helps to create depth in the novel.

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2324 Words | 10 Pages

With their opulent lifestyles, the characters, such as Nick, begin to lose track of time. Nick says, “I just remembered that today’s my birthday” and thinks to himself, “Thirty--the promise of a decade of loneliness,” (Fitzgerald 135). Nick, too, emerges as a lonesome character. He ironically blames his thirties for bringing loneliness while he has felt this way for some time. Nick can not differentiate between his feelings of past and future because of the odd passage of time in West Egg.

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1201 Words | 5 Pages

Nick had attempted to escape from this lifestyle but because he was unable to make a complete decision in the beginning, he kept living it through the Buchanans; they were Nick’s window to the past. He witnesses Tom’s affair being “insisted upon wherever he was known” (21) without shame, and Daisy “[turn] out the light” (117) in her relationship with Gatsby, as it it never happened. A quiet bystander, never interfering, he experiences their life of ignorance, one with no repercussions, the one he had. Unwilling to remove himself from them, he instead complies to their wants, their decisions that create a sense of accomplishment. Doing nothing to change and move on from his past, Nick makes his choice to move to the east pointless.

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1016 Words | 5 Pages

He stopped caring about his strong abhor of the wealthy East Egg crowd considering Gatsby was West Egg and New Money. He did not hold the general arrogance that those of Old Money did. At this point, Nick is devout to Gatsby and determined to protect his legacy. The once seemingly impartial narrator has now seen Gatsby in a brighter light than he has others, through rose tinted

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708 Words | 3 Pages

Resolution of the story The Great Gatsby starts at chapter 9, after the tragic incident has ended. The chapter opens where Nick has moved back to the west and is reflecting back to the day of the incident. It also unfolds Gatsby’s past through acquaintance with Gatsby’s father, Gatz. After Gatsby’s death, no one else wanted to arrange Gatsby’s funeral and as Nick was the only “real” friend, he decided to take care of the funeral. Many can be seen from chapter 9 that relates to the text such as the green light.

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755 Words | 4 Pages

Jacobo Delara Mr. Horner English II CP September 15 2014 The Great Gatsby The classic American Novel Nick Carraway is man from a wealthy family in Minnesota moving to west egg to learn about the Bond business. Then he gets involved with Mr. Gatsby which then sparks the beginning of the novel.

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747 Words | 3 Pages

In the story by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby symbolism is shown all throughout the story with Gatsby as he was in the war shows how he goes insane at times with other people. Another symbol used in the book is how the author uses “east and west eggs” to show two different villages where gatsby and daisy live. The most important symbol of the story was the green light at the end of daisy’s dock not only can symbolize the money that gatsby gained for Daisy but also shows Gatsby’s dream to change what happened, it gives Gatsby something to hope for. All in all Symbolism is shown all throughout the story with all the main characters but Gatsby stood out the most in the story; even being insane.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzerald expresses a negative view of the 1920's and the American Dream. He does this using the characters, setting, and symbolism. One character Fitzgerald uses to show his view of the 1920s is Nick. Nick doesn't have much of an effect on the story, he just observes everything as it happens and makes silent judgements of those around him. The reader experiences the story through his eyes and sees the world the way Nick perceives it.

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