Jimmy Muller Mrs.Heveron-Smith English 11R Red Question 2 Great Gatsby Epigraph F. Scott Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby, includes a short saying at the beginning of the novel, otherwise known as an epigraph, which is intended to tell the theme or main idea of the book. But after finishing the novel, we the reader, can detect a sense of irony in the epigraph. On first glance, the reader is meant to see the epigraph as a man who wants a women and is willing to do whatever it takes to get her but that is not what it is about once finishing the book. Fitzgerald makes the speaker of this epigraph seem almost like a grandfather or a very old a wise elderly man who is talking about this topic through his own life experiences. Due to this, we …show more content…
“Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too”. The speaker hints at the idea of the “her” in the epigraph as being more than just daisy or any girl for reason. The speaker is suggesting that it is Gatsby’s wants and desires throughout his life and by saying “If you can bounce high, bounce for her too” he is saying that Gatsby should put all his efforts into trying to get what he wants in his life. While in the hotel in New York City, Tom Buchanan and Gatsby get into an argument about them being the same type of people. Gatsby says that him and Tom are the same people because they both have money and large houses and live a nice and cushy life. Tom says they are completely different people because Tom has a family and his money is old inherited money and not made by scamming people out of bonds, as compared to Gatsby’s fortune. This infuriates Gatsby because he wants that life but he cannot control facts about his family and he cannot change the way he made his money. Gatsby wants to be Tom deep inside but he knows he cannot be. The speaker of the epigraph is suggesting that Gatsby reaches for the dreams he can control but Gatsby gets greedy and goes after things he knows he cannot ever have in his life. This is one reason that “she” will not cry out for Gatsby, because he is going after things he