Great Gatsby Essay According to the oxford Canadian dictionary the definition of irony is, “the expression of meaning using language that normally expresses the opposite.” I will discuss some instances were irony takes place within The Great Gatsby by F. Scott. Fitzgerald. Some of these examples of irony are Gatsby’s huge parties for Daisy, Tom’s two lovers, and Daisy’s car crash.
There is not much irony found in the Great Gatsby, but, there is irony found in the fact that Daisy killed Tom’s mistress, Myrtle Wilson. Not only was Daisy the one who killed Myrtle, she was also the reason that Jay was killed. The irony lies in the knowledge that both of these people were killed either by or because of Daisy and her need to feel loved. Daisy was also heartless in the murder because she allowed Gatsby to take the blame for her actions.
“There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired.” The Great Gatsby was written by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald and published in 1925, it is a novel about the dangers of excess and the disintegration of the American Dream. The American Dream is, that with enough work and determination, anyone, from any background, can achieve anything they want. This is shown in the story through the lives of three characters, Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and Myrtle Wilson, as they deal with love and the ramifications of the past among the wealthy of Long Island. The American Dream is connected to The Great Gatsby through the characters of Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, and Myrtle Wilson, as they all pursue their similar, yet differing versions of the American Dream.
The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is a novel that is known for its focus on the idea of the American Dream. The Great Gatsby has a relatively negative viewpoint, and revolves around the idea that the American Dream is indeed dead. In the 1920s the American Dream was corrupted due to the idea of easy money, and relaxed social values. The pursuit of happiness, was quickly replaced by the desire to strike it big, and get rich. For example, in the novel we are introduced to Gatsby's dream of having Daisy, and being dissatisfied with who he is.
The American Dream is a concept that has been very prevalent throughout the history of American literature. This idea has been shaped and tossed around with the changes that occur as humans and technology progress and sometimes is less thought of. F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a piece that uses this concept of hard work. Though the book does not emphasize it as much as it had been in the past, similar to how the idea was shrinking during the 1920s as new problems in America arise.
The 1920’s, America booming with newly found individuality, independence, and freedom that bared from the fallout of World War 1, a time where practically penniless men turned into billionaires overnight, and back again within the next, where women could dress, do, and go wherever they desired, but above all, what began to determined the world of some, that determined the world of many. “The Great Gatsby”, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a perfect example of this truth. This literary piece exemplifies a almost satire like critique of American life in the 1920’s. Each character of “The Great Gatsby” display a certain quality of a particular persona of the middle to high white social classes that were common at the time. All of which are observed by the self righteous judgemental eyes of Nick Carraway, through him we observe immoral, ill content, and irrational actions that enact all in the name of the pursuance of love and happiness.
Throughout the book Robin Talley uses situational and dramatic irony. Situational irony is when what happens is not what was expected to happen. This happens in the book when the day before Gretchen and Toni go to college, Gretchen tells Toni that she’s going to a different school, NYU, instead of the school that Toni wanted her to ho to so that she would be by her and Harvard. Another example of situational irony is when Gretchen and Toni make plans to visit each other every weekend when they go to college but end up going months without seeing each other and days not texting or calling each other. Dramatic irony is when the reader know what's going to happen but the characters do not.
Nick Carraway has idealized Gatsby, but the irony lies in his statement that Gatsby turned out fine, which is far from reality. At the beginning of the book, Nick portrays Gatsby in a positive light and idolizes him prematurely based on rumours, revealing his misconception before truly understanding Gatsby's character. As the story progresses to its conclusion, it becomes evident that George Wilson is the one who shoots Gatsby. George, under the mistaken belief that he had caused Myrtle's death, takes action by shooting Gatsby. In this situation, Daisy was behind the wheel, and Gatsby attempted to avert the accident by taking control of the steering wheel, but the events unfolded rapidly.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzegerald is a great representation of the mindset that the people had in the time it was written and the places it describes. The mood and tone set for the events that are told are very dreamy and fantasy-like. After all, the book’s main characters are indeed people that followed and ultimately achieved their so-called “American Dream”. The American Dream is a concept that was born with the United States’ independence as a country but defined specifically in the 1920-30s as the idea that any person in America that has their aspirations and goals shall achieve them and become successful, be they from any place or background.
Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses his characters to critique the American Dream through their moral choices. Specifically, the character of Jay Gatsby suggests that the American Dream is unattainable through inequality of opportunity and the corrupting influence of wealth. To establish, Gatsby demonstrates the inequality of opportunity of the American Dream from his acclimation of wealth. Gatsby had to work and earn his fortune while people like the East Egg inhabitants inherited their wealth. For instance, Nick now having learned the truth about Gatsby’s early life, recounting how “his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people” and how “[Gatsby] never really accepted them as his parents at all,” thus the figure of Jay Gatsby “sprang from his conception of himself.”
Gatsby is a clear-cut example of the American dream. In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald shows that Gatsby came from nothing when he says, “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people – his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.” (Fitzgerald 99). This shows that Gatsby comes from a poor and low-social-status family. It also shows that Gatsby was never really satisfied with his family background, and Gatsby even fantasized about having a better life ever since
The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of Gatsby’s pursuit of his old love, Daisy, from the perspective of the 1st person narrator, Nick Carraway. Fitzgerald paints a pessimistic picture of the state of the American Dream in the 1920s, suggesting that no matter how hard someone worked, they had little chance of becoming rich and fully achieving the American Dream through upward social mobility. At first, Fitzgerald seemingly suggests the idea that the American Dream is attainable through the character of Gatsby, who came from a poor, humble family and managed to become very rich in a short period of time. However, this perfect image is crushed when it is revealed in the novel that Gatsby gained all his money through criminal means rather than hard work in accordance with the original definition of the American
Satire in The Great Gatsby Is Fitzgerald's novel a love story that exposes the American ideals, or may it be a satire that highlights troubles throughout the American Society in the twenties? The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald uses satire to comment on the American society during the roaring twenties. Satire is visible through the contrast between Jay Gatsby and George Wilson, but most importantly through the Valley of Ashes and Gatsby’s parties. Using these characters and places, Fitzgerald shows the American dream has died and been replaced with the pursuit of money, rather than happiness.
After World War I, America seemed to provide unlimited opportunities for anyone willing to work hard—an American Dream. For many people the idea of accomplishing their American dream corrupted them, as they acquired wealth it changed them and made them a completely different person. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, we learn about a few character that appear to take advantage of the freedom of the 1920s, their lives reflect the hollowness that results when wealth and pleasure become ends in themselves. The three characters in this novel — George Wilson, Jay Gatsby, and Daisy Buchanan—show that chasing the American dream can have a very high cost in the end, and only end in misery. Nick first meets George Wilson while traveling with
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of the American Dream. Written in 1925, the book tells the story of a man named Jay Gatsby, whose main driving force in life is the pursuit of a woman called Daisy Buchanan. The narrator is Gatsby’s observant next-door neighbor, Nick Carraway, who offers a fresh, outsider’s perspective on the events; the action takes place in New York during the so-called Roaring Twenties. By 1922, when The Great Gatsby takes place, the American Dream had little to do with Providence divine and a great deal to do with feelings organized around style and personal changed – and above all, with the unexamined self .
