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Examples Of Opulence In The Great Gatsby

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The Allure of Opulence: An Analysis of the Wealth, Disregard, and Superficiality in The Great Gatsby In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, an aura of status, wealth, and mystery surrounds Jay Gatsby’s opulent parties, enthralling residents of both West and East Egg. Nevertheless, the lavishness of these events unveils the hidden reality of the New York upper class; specifically, through the recurring motifs of vehicles and empty houses, Nick Carraway’s first experience at Gatsby’s house illustrates the carelessness of the rich and superficiality that underlines their lives. The ubiquitous, free-flowing alcohol, accompanied by the seemingly irrelevant and ignored car crash, demonstrates the arrogance of the rich, which Nick comes to recognize as he reflects upon Tom and Daisy’s complicity in …show more content…

Consequently, Nick ultimately finds Tom and Daisy stuck in a repetitive cycle of egoism and personal gain, stating that “they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money.or whatever it was that kept them together” (179). Furthermore, the explicit use of “creatures” (179) degrades the victims to mimic images of lesser beings, acknowledging the foibles of the individuals harmed by the couple’s negligence, yet supremely recognizing the devastating impact of their indifference on others. Likewise, although outwardly full of pride and status, the materialistic impulses that drive their lives plague the society of the rich; Gatsby’s interactions with his guests and Nick’s eventual reflection of New York’s widespread greed display their underlying trail of emptiness. Gatsby himself is represented as charming and socially adept, with a “heightened sensitivity to the promises of life” (Fitzgerald 2), yet nevertheless faces loneliness throughout the heights of his vibrant

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As Gatsby gives a tour to Nick and Daisy of his house, Nick notices changes in Gatsby’s mannerisms in response to Daisy’s reactions. Saying that “[Gatsby] revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from [Daisy’s] well-loved eyes” (91). Gatsby’s revaluation of his material wealth in response to Daisy shows that his love is embedded in his material possessions. He values only what Daisy values and Daisy tends towards expensive and extravagant things. Nick depicts Gatsby, saying that “in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real” (91).

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Jay Gatsby is a man of old money and a surplus of wealth. Those in the upper class expressed their wealth through lavish parties and get-togethers. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism and characterization to support the central idea that an ambiance of extravagance and wealth was showcased through the upper class. Gatsby’s party is full of bright colors and decorations. Fitzgerald states “… turkeys bewitched to a dark gold” (1).

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566 Words | 3 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," Nick Carraway is the narrator and main character who provides the reader with an insight into the lives of the wealthy socialites in 1920s New York. As he is introduced to Tom and Daisy Buchanan's opulent lifestyle, he uses language that reveals his opinion of them and what they represent. Through a careful analysis of the stylistic elements such as tone, diction, imagery, and syntax in Nick's language, it is clear that he views the Buchanan's as superficial, careless, and corrupt. Nick's use of tone sets the stage for his initial impression of the Buchanan's home and lifestyle. The opening of the novel finds Nick describing the East Egg as a "factual imitation" of a French chateau, which sets

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870 Words | 4 Pages

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” Nick is trying to call Gatsby’s lover Daisy but even she doesn 't answer. Nick previously had a large faith in humanity, but after Jay Gatsby passed away and nobody attended his funeral. He was able to realize that most rich people are careless. Rather than being similar to the rich people he hangs out with, Nick chooses to empathize and put friendship over image.

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1087 Words | 5 Pages

When the gaze of society becomes so focused on appearances, dishonesty may just be the price of fitting in. The story of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is set against the glittering and wasteful extravagance of 1920s New York, and is told through the eyes of the main character, Nick Carraway. Having recently moved in, Nick becomes involved with his lavishly wealthy neighbor, Jay Gatsby, who happens to be deeply in love with Nick’s cousin, Daisy Buchanan. As the story progresses, a conflict escalates between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, as Gatsby attempts to win Daisy’s affection with the subtle help of Nick and one of Daisy’s friends. Ultimately, in a tragic climax, Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy is shattered, and he fails to achieve what he had worked so hard for.

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854 Words | 4 Pages

It was ironic that even Nick, a person who was “inclined to reserve all judgment” (Fitzgerald 1), was able to see how money had made Tom and Daisy careless and lazy. Nick also notices that Daisy and Tom had disappeared right after Gatsby’s death. Daisy and Tom were wealthy enough to move out of Long Island, while they made everyone else solve the problem that they had left behind. It is easy for rich people to become weak and only focus on

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867 Words | 4 Pages

Thesis: In Luhrmann’s film of The Great Gatsby, the alteration of Nick's character from observer to a medical patient in a sanitarium emphasizes the effect of materialism on social relationships which ultimately maintains the tone of Fitzgerald's original piece. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald portrays Nick as a removed narrator in times of conflict where he comments on the materialistic nature blinding the upper class. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the narrator, Nick, foreshadows the impact of the Daisy and Gatsby’s excessive wealth on their actions by stating, “[...]

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1830 Words | 8 Pages

As Dan Groat once stated, “The weak thrive on indulgence”, referring to the lack of strength and health self indulgent people experience as consequence of their actions. Persistent attempts to commit selfish endeavors may have detrimental effects. Throughout The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald communicates the modernist perspective of loneliness and the decay of mental stability, as ramifications of self indulgence. Both Fitzgerald and William Golding convey the themes of a character’s mental decay while attempting to prove themselves, the loss of mental stability in attempt to achieve companionship, and the physical destruction that is associated with one’s self indulgence, throughout The Great Gatsby, and, Lord of the Flies. Both authors

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Gatsby has always wanted to provide Daisy with “a sense of security,” and convince her that “he was a perfection much as the same stratum as herself” (Fitzgerald 149). This is where Gatsby goes wrong because he perceives himself to be something that he is not; the “old money” stature that both Tom and Daisy are. Gatsby belongs to the “new money” group, which consists of individuals who have recently acquired wealth and live in West Egg. Gatsby has the means to make himself great, and he has the wealth of what society considers great, but his refusal to let go of the past causes him to be blind to Daisy’s true character. Both Tom and Daisy’s inherited wealth secures them into a prestigious society, one that they both value and want to stay apart of.

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1122 Words | 5 Pages

Gatsby confounds material success with emotional fulfillment and social acceptance- believing his fortune can capture the love of Daisy and the social acceptance of the high society. In that world he so wants to enter into, Buscará will be decisively challenged by every moral bankruptcy and snobbery that has developed a strong foundation in the world. The one-sidedness and extravagance of Gatsby's displays can never be enough to cross the chasm of origin between him and the old rich. Nick knows this disappointment and writes, "there must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams-not through her fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion"(Fitzgerald, 95) and how Gatsby "wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: 'I never loved you'" (Fitzgerald 109).

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1486 Words | 6 Pages

Guilherme Aiache Perrine Literature, SL, IB May 13 2024 An Unhinged Dream F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, is a novel set in a town named West Egg that takes place in the 1920s. The novel develops the life of Nick Carraway, the narrator, Jay Gatsby and his longtime love interest Daisy, as well as Jordan who is Daisy’s friend. Gatsby is a very wealthy man known for exuberant parties, as he focuses on his wealth and class, together with achieving his American dream. To show how the price one pays to achieve self-actualization can be doomed, Fitzgerald uses various methods to engage the reader.

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786 Words | 4 Pages

Depictions of Extravagance The “Roaring Twenties” was a time of great prosperity in America. F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the booming spirit of America in his book The Great Gatsby through his grandiose description of Gatsby’s parties. Baz Luhrmann draws from both The Great Gatsby and Hieronymus Busch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights” to portray his own cinematic interpretation of this time period. Philippa Hawker analyzes Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby parties and depicts their lavishness in her article “The subtle art of staging Gatsby's lavish parties.”

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549 Words | 3 Pages

For centuries houses have been a way to showcase an individual’s social class, lifestyle and personality. The 1920s, during which The Great Gatsby is set, was an era of excess wealth where social position held great importance. F. Scott Fitzgerald extraordinarily represents three distinct social classes, lifestyles and personalities during this time with his descriptions of the houses belonging to Nick, the Buchanans and Gatsby. Nick Carraway’s West Egg house is “a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked” (1.14) much like the man who resides in it. Throughout the novel, Nick acts as more of an observer rather than a participant.

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594 Words | 3 Pages

The 1920’s expressed great wealth and luxuriousness through excessive and lavish parties with dazzling effects and no apparent purpose other than to simply entertain. In Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s displays of affluence demonstrate that in the 1920’s, opulence was represented in forms of materialistic objects. Hieronymus Bosch's painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” suggests that sensuous temptations and the need for grandeur can lead to the corruption of purity. In Philippa Hawker’s article “The subtle art of staging Gatsby's lavish parties,” she describes the effective use of overindulgence and chaos in Gatsby’s parties to represent the shift in societal norms of conservative and refined parties to a more vulgarized form. In John F. Carter, Jr.’s article “‘These Wild Young People,’ by One of Them,” he exposes the changing perspective of his generation from the stringent realistic outlook of the older generation to his looser and more

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Though his Fitzgerald's portrayal of Nick Carraway is limited in comparison to other characters such as Gatsby and Daisy, Fitzgerald utilizes Nick’s character to reveal that the foundation of American social structure is constructed around the needs of the wealthy rather than the collective conditions of the nation as a whole. Many American’s who classify as either middle or lower class strive to attain a lavish lifestyle as a way to fully achieve the American dream of continuous social and economic growth. In The Great Gatsby, the lavish life style of Tom, Daisy and Gatsby serve as models of the American dream. However, through Nick's eyes we gain a glimpse of the destructive aspirations that are suppose to stand as exemplary templates of the

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