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Examples Of Power In The Great Gatsby

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The Great Gatsby is a classic book in which most characters’ lives revolve around wealth, however, that wealth could not buy them happiness. It is illustrated by F. Scott Fitzgerald where most of the story includes wealth and power. It also includes the Pursuit of happiness by which Jay Gatsby’s tries to get back the love of his life Daisy. His downfall is witnessed by his one and only good friend Nick Carraway. On one side of the story it is about love and money, but on the other darker side it is about the destruction of society’s morals. The central idea is developed through textual evidence, setting, and symbolism.

Jay gatsby the protagonist of the book is a prime example of how money cannot buy you happiness. Jay gatsby had risen …show more content…

Another example is in the first chapter when it seems to nick (narrator) that Daisy is mad that she is being cheated on by tom. Even with all the money tom has for her, she still feels this way. To nick, it also seems that tom is not even happy when nick states that He has a "hard mouth and a supercilious manner". The fact that Daisy is mad that she is being cheated on also shows that she is not happy with all the wealth she has, she cares about her husband being faithful. It is also demonstrated when Tom is even unhappy, being one of the wealthiest men. Lastly at the end of Gatsby’s funeral in chapter 9 when no one shows up but his dad, Nick, and some servants. The fact that Gatsby had no friends but nick who he had known for a little while just further shows how even with the money he wasn't able to gain some friends. He had all this money and yet was still …show more content…

The Big, empty and dusty house represents Gatsby’s heart without Daisy. How even though he has money he is nothing without daisy, he has nothing to live for without daisy. This develops the central idea because it shows how his dream to get Daisy was more significant than his dream to be wealthy that he thought of as a kid. Another example of symbolism is his yellow and lavish car. His car represents his enormous wealth and extravagant life. It also represents his place in society. For example, he is wealthy but will never be approved in Daisy's world of old family names and inherited wealth. Tom alludes to this when he calls

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The Great Gatsby is an American novel written by Scott Fitzgerald. On the surface, the book revolves around the concept of romance, the love between two individuals. However, the novel incorporates less of a romantic scope and rather focuses on the theme of the American Dream in the 1920s. Fitzgerald depicts the 1920’s as an era of decline in moral values. The strong desire for luxurious pleasure and money ultimately corrupts the American dream which was originally about individualism.

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It has long been said that money can’t buy happiness, but still people continue to use it’s acquisition to try to make themselves happy. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the title character struggles with this realization. The book is set in New York during the ‘Roaring 20’s’, a time famous for its parties and lavishness. The book examines the attitudes toward money within the upper particularly through the lense of the new-money title character, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby dedicated his life to the acquisition of money with the goal of eventually acquiring the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan.

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The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the novel suggests that the pursuit of wealth and one's successes can lead to a person's downfall and destruction. The novel follows the story of Nick Carraway and his experience with a man known as Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is a man who was not born into wealth but instead climbed his way to the top with one goal in mind, to be with his Beloved named Daisy Buchanan. But as the story progresses, Gatsby’s goal to be with Daisy takes a very drastic turn for the worse. In the story, there are two characters, Jay Gatsby and Myrtle Wilson, whose lives are ruined by their pursuit of success and everything they want in life.

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Tom is distinguished by the pedestal he puts himself on and by his lack of sympathy for other people. Tom says, "And what's more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time." (Fitzgerald 140). Tom seems to think that his wealth gives him a pass to treat people cruelly and that this might justify his behavior.

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Corrupt regimes are seen abusing their power to control and instill fear into the population. abusing of power is seen as a way to retain onto their power and stay ahead. The wealthy abuse their power for their own gain, Gatsby explains how powerful individuals are able to get away from their own mess and leave it for others, “I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. 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” (Fitzgerald 136-145), Tom and Daisy have enormous wealth which

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“Then wear that gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry “Lover, gold-hatted, high bouncing lover, I must have you” (title page). Throughout the novel, the Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents Tom Buchanan as a very controlling person who believes he is entitled to many things because of his wealth. Similar to the quote, Tom’s constant need for wealth and power leads to a need and want for everything in sight. If a reader were to read this book through the Marxist lens, they would see an obvious struggle between the powerful and powerless and how that directly coincides with how much money the person with power has. The main character with power and wealth in the novel is Tom Buchanan, and he uses his control to gain power over others.

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