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How Does Fitzgerald Create Identity In The Great Gatsby

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However, behind the deceptive appearance of Gatsby is a character who represents selflessness and morality, both of which are seen to be vacant in the upper class. Fitzgerald is able to expose Gatsby’s true identity through his words and actions whilst simultaneously criticising the vices of the upper class. One of the most visually striking points in “The Great Gatsby” is when Owl-eyes “ascertained” that the books in Gatsby’s library are “real” (pg 47). The expectation that the majority of items brought by the upper class is to satisfy appearance is one made by anyone associated with the class; it is to Owl-eyes a surprise that these books are real as appearance is greatly valued above substance in the upper class. In Owl-eyes, Fitzgerald has developed a character that “is presented as someone who pierces the façade” of the upper class with his sole function to expose to the reader how the behaviour of Gatsby is …show more content…

This is reinforced further with Gatsby “having one on those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it” (pg 49) with Fitzgerald’s diction of the word “rare” detailing how Gatsby’s words and actions further distances himself from the upper class. Unlike the rest of people at the party, Gatsby is not someone driven by “easy money in the vicinity” (pg 43) but instead is “concentrated on you… believed in you… assured you” highlighting his appreciation of others rather than the self-indulgent attitude depicted by the rest of the upper class. The words and actions of Gatsby reveal a character with a great deal more substance than others that surround him, emphasising further how Gatsby’s actions are polar to the philosophy of the upper class, even though his appearance is similar. The void between Gatsby and the rest of the upper class only expands further when we take the ending of the text into

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Understanding This quote is important because it shows the gatsby’s characteristics and

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Fitzgerald describes Gatsby’s smile through its effect on people. Nick describes how the smile makes the recipient feel special and confident. The word “rare” that is used to describe the smile shows the readers the importance and uniqueness of it. Nick says that his smile is rare in a sense that it assures anyone he smiles at, yet it does not seem to affect Nick. The word “you” is repeated multiple times in the second half of the passage.

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Gatsby hosts extravagant parties in an effort not only to boost his social status, but also to look for Daisy. Many wealthy, and often wild people attend these large social events held by Mr. Gatsby. Some of the guests even come lacking an invitation, “Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.” (41)

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Leona Nguyen Mr. McNichol AP English III 27 March 2023 Religion and Moral Corruption in The Great Gatsby People generally disregard Fitzgerald's religious upbringing and thus overlook this significant factor in his writing, and yet The Great Gatsby is so heavily analyzed because of its Catholic allusions. As a preamble to describe Gatsby’s opulent party, Fitzgerald portrays a Catholic Mass to present readers the grandeur and transcendence that the party evokes. The congregation cannot receive Holy Communion without a priest, likewise a party cannot start without a host; and analogously, Gatsby is represented as the host to his Masslike jamboree. Moreover, Fitzgerald also associates the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg from a valley of ashes

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In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses many differnt retorical devices to add a personal flare to his work. He uses diction, symbolism, and irony to adress many different themes. These themes include Materialism, The American Dream, and includes a sharp and biting ridicule on American society in the 1920’s. The main point of Fitzgerald, arguement is one where he sharply criticizes the Society of the time.

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He is one of his guests, who is surprised to find that Gatsby’s books are real and not just empty covers designed to create an image of a great library. The discovery that Gatsby has real books, I think impressed Owl-Eyes and that was the turning point of his respect for Gatsby. That real respect, I

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, there is no question that Jay Gatsby, West-Egg nouveau riche and mysterious host of frequent, extravagant parties, is wealthy; nevertheless, few of his guests understand how he became so. Preoccupied with the festivities, other newly-rich party-goers neither know much about their host nor appear interested in finding out. Nick’s sincere request to meet the man who sent him the invitation is met by amused replies that Gatsby does not exist. In large part, this statement is true; for Gatsby hardly exists beyond his guest’s fantasized perceptions of him. Because of Jay Gatsby’s ambiguous past, Rumors prevail as a common theme of conversation among Gatsby’s guests, as they speculate how he acquired such material wealth.

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Throughout ‘The Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald presents the idea that the wealthy people are spilt into two distinct groups. The first group are the characters born into wealth, for example; Tom and Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker. These are the characters that come from generations of wealth and have the ‘easy life’. They do not work, nor have to worry about anything other than themselves. They have security and ‘peers’ whom share the same taste as them.

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At the end of The Great Gatsby, Nick reflects upon Gatsby’s life and pursuit on the beach where “the green light” at the end of Daisy’s dock can be seen. As a significant metaphor, “the green light” represents Gatsby’s dream which guides him to keep pursuing wealth and social status, while the position of the light, the distant and inaccessible Daisy’s dock, indicates the close connection between Gatsby’s unreal dream and Daisy, and as well the disillusionment of the dream. In the last three paragraphs, Nick explains the disillusionment of Gatsby’s dream, “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (162). Gatsby has always strived for his ambition and dream.

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Many of you sitting here today have been to his mansion to attend his preposterous parties. Gatsby’s parties were true to this time period, the day after his parties, his servants were, “repairing the ravages of the night before,(43).” Few of you actually knew Gatsby, he was a generous man, a successful businessman, a man of great passion, and has a rare smile to him. Gatsby lived his life for a sole purpose,

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What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too –” this quote is from the first party that Nick attended at Gatsby’s house, and there are a lot of rumors about Gatsby which he has created for himself. A very important character in this part is the Owl Eyes who helps “expose” Gatsby’s fake appearance emphasizing the hollowness of the wealthy and once again suggesting that the creation of a perfect appearance is the best that can be hoped for. He notices that all of the books in Gatsby’s library are real, however they are all uncut.

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The visual appearance of the upper class, as presented by Fitzgerald in “The Great Gatsby”,, is a perfect example of how deceptive appearance can be in misleading others. This is shown to the reader through Gatsby, when he deceives Daisy into believing he is of higher class than the “penniless young man” (pg 141) he actually is. The identical army uniform that Gatsby wears strips away at his personal and true identity by instead producing a common and undistinguishable image resulting in no aspect of his lower social class being revealed. The deceptiveness of appearance is highlighted through Fitzgerald’s diction of the word “cloak” (pg 141) with the word, used to describe the effect of Gatsby’s uniform, providing connotations of secrecy and deceit to the character of Gatsby’s and thus depicting just how effective appearance can be at deceiving others from a

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All of the people at his parties did not care much about Gatsby, as none of them attended his funeral; they were only there to eat, drink, and be merry. These attendees represent the majority of the wealthy society during the 1920’s. There was a surplus of leisure and wealth, and those who didn’t obtain a high status envied those who were able to. Those who were wealthy were greedy to become wealthier, and showed gluttony through their materialistic

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Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is a wealthy man with dubious sources of money; Gatsby is renowned in New York due to the lavish parties he holds every friday in his mansion. These are spectacles that fully embody the wealth and glamour of the roaring twenties, and are narrated through the eyes of another character Nick Carraway, an ambitious 29 year old man that recently moved back to a corrupt new york in a cramped cottage next to Gatsby’s palace. After admiring the careless behaviour of the parties from a distance, Nick gets a personal invitation to Gatsby’s next party, he promptly becomes infatuated by the extravagant and frivolous lifestyle the parties portray, along with the superficial

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But what gave it an air of breathless intensity was that Daisy lived there—it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at his camp was to him” (158). The phrase “breathless intensity” characterizes Gatsby’s reaction to seeing such wealth, and the word “air” expresses a sort of intangibility of her wealth. The juxtaposition between Gatsby and Daisy’s perspectives, “breathless” versus “casual,” allude to an insurmountable gap between the idea of the self-made man and the difficulty of actually achieving upward class mobility in America. Here, Fitzgerald suggests that true wealth and class also require a comfortability and casualness toward luxury as evidenced by his comparison of Daisy’s house to Gatsby’s tent. Even when Daisy is ready to leave Tom and Gatsby has the extravagant lifestyle, he is not satisfied.

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