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How Does Fitzgerald Use Religion In The Great Gatsby

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In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes religion, God, and theology to represent the moral corruption of the Jazz Age and the tragedy of the American Dream. The novel is set in the 1920s, and follows several characters including Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man who is determined to win back the love of Daisy Buchanan, a woman for whom he is willing to make any sacrifice. The moral corruption of the era is represented through the characters’ disregard for morality and their attempts to defy God and traditional Christian beliefs as they live lavishly. Through the characters’ actions, Fitzgerald implies that the pursuit of pleasure and wealth leads to the tragedy of the American Dream, which can be seen through the tragic fate of some characters.Religion, …show more content…

Nick, the narrator, first meets Myrtle while on a trip with Tom. Myrtle lives in The Valley of Ashes which represents the death of American dreams. "Myrtle Wilson's husband, who was retreating swiftly into the background, knew nothing except that he was in some manner in Myrtle's company and that he had no right to be there," (Fitzgerald 7). According to this quotation, the characters have given up on the moral obligations of marriage and adopted the hedonistic way of life of the Jazz Age. Additionally, Daisy, Nick's cousin, is immediately attracted by Gatsby the moment she meets him and learns of his wealth. Well, I've had a very difficult time, and I'm fairly pessimistic about everything," Daisy says (Fitzgerald 86). As it is a prevalent subject of the Jazz Age, this implies that Daisy has forsaken conventional morals in favor of financial luxury and pleasure. Fitzgerald thus uses religious themes to illustrate the moral decay of the …show more content…

It was a question of luck that I should have rented a house in one of the oddest communities in North America, Nick reflects on his stay in the East (Fitzgerald 2). This phrase paints a dismal picture of the American Dream by implying that the protagonists live in a society where pursuing wealth has substituted pursuing virtue and religion. Additionally, while Gatsby and Nick are talking about his past, Gatsby says, "Can't repeat the past? You can, of course (Fitzgerald 111). This suggests that Gatsby is making an effort to reject conventional Christian values, which is a tragic rendering of the American Dream. Therefore, Fitzgerald utilizes theology to portray the tragedy of the American

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These sacrifices and their impact on the lives of those who chase it has been showcased in this social satirical novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald uses the character Jay Gatsby as a representation of people striving to accomplish the American Dream in his novel. Through his character, he reveals that despite the American Dream's promise of success and happiness, the pursuit of wealth and power often leads to corruption, alienation, and

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The first way Fitzgerald depicts religion being replaced by wealth in The Great Gatsby, is through the worship of the billboard of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg. In the Bible, God is a grand and perfect being that watches over and protects mankind from harm. He is seen as kind and loving by those who follow Him. Even though the billboard is depicted gloriously as a God would be, it is not gracious towards those to who look to it, unlike the God in the Bible. This consumeristic billboard of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg watches over the dirtiest, poorest place in the book, the valley of ashes.

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To further explain, Fitzgerald captures materialism-induced corruption with

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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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In his book, The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald shines a blinding light on the lifestyle of Americans living on the East Coast during the Jazz Age. He uses the story and the characters to show the ways in which the “American Dream” have been perverted. Specifically he uses the character of Jay Gatsby to illustrate the greed for material things that permeated the era. Jay Gatsby thinks he can buy happiness.

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“Gatsby goes to spectacular lengths to try to achieve what Nick Carraway calls “his incorruptible dream” (Sutton1). Gatsby’s moral decline through his life shows his failed attempt at the American dream. “The collapse of Gatsby’s attempt to win Daisy proves that dreams, money, and blind faith in life’s possibilities, are not enough for a man to reach his goals”

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In The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald shows how society gets corrupted trying to achieve the American Dream through the characterization of many characters like Gatsby. Jay Gatsby was a man who rose from nothing to being extremely wealthy, many would consider him as someone who has reached the American Dream. However after so much work he never really got the one thing that made him happy. Many critiques like Fussel argues that Gatsby is corrupted by the values and attitudes he holds in common with the society that destroys him. Others like Callahan and Gunn believe that the Great Gatsby tries to convince people that money and success is everything but they failed in the end by showing how miserable Gatsby is without Daisy.

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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered to be one of the greatest American novels ever written and continues to be read 133 years later. Mark Twain published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the United Kingdom in December 1884, then later on in the United States in February 1885. The novel is a satire in which Twain gives his views about slavery during that time period. Set in the Mississippi River along Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas, the novel follows the storyline of a young boy named Huck Finn and a runaway slave named Jim. Huck and Jim form a friendship that endures many hardships and troubles.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is written as a mockery of American ideals, and emphasizes materialism, sexual immorality, and selfishness. Though it appears at first glance to be a love story about Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, The Great Gatsby is actually a satirical take on American culture, especially in the 1920s. In the 1920s, known as the “Roaring Twenties”, America’s economy was booming, jazz was immensely popular, and alcohol had been banned. Organized crime ran rampant, and Americans seemed to lose their moral values.

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel "The Great Gatsby", the author paints a vivid picture of the roaring twenties, a time of wealth and extravagance for many Americans. However the wealthy of this time period would often commit corrupt and hollow acts during this time period, simply for personal gain. Fitzgerald's novel mainly centers around the newly wealthy Jay Gatsby, and his love for the beautiful but married Daisy Buchanan and the things he would do to try and win her over. Through his portrayal of the characters and their actions, Fitzgerald explores the theme of the hollowness or selfishness, among the rich and wealthy of this time period.

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In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald skillfully highlights Gatsby's ultimate failure in achieving the American Dream, underscored by the illusion he creates and his misplaced faith in this dream. Driven by an insatiable desire for wealth and social status, Gatsby constructs an elaborate facade in a desperate attempt to win back Daisy Buchanan, the woman he loves. However, this grand illusion of success and happiness eventually crumbles, exposing the profound emptiness and moral decay that lie beneath its surface. As the novel's narrator, Nick Carraway, keenly observes, "There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

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“Instead of being the warm center of the world, the Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe,” (3). The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is about various characters pursuing each of their own dreams, whether it be love, wealth, or happiness; they each go through their own trials and tribulations to hopefully find the path of which they belong. Fitzgerald’s attitude towards American Life in the 1920’s can generally be described as nefarious, where a great deal of situations are unethical due to how society worked in the early 20th century. Gatsby was a wealthy man who used dishonest methods in order to obtain his love and fortune, but perished before he could realize his dream. His use of lies and deceit to advance his

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The Corruption of The American Dream in The Great Gatsby In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates society in the 1920’s and the desire for the people with in it to achieve the American Dream, which embodies the hope that one can achieve power, love and a higher economic/social status through one’s commitment and effort. The novel develops the story of a man named Jay Gatsby and his dream of marrying what he describes as his “golden girl”, also known as, Daisy Buchanan, his former lover. Fitzgerald explores the corruption of the American dream through the Characters; Myrtle, Gatsby and Daisy.

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An important theme in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the corruption of morals because of wealth. It doesn’t matter if one comes from old or new money, wealth will corrupt the morality of even the humblest. The first example of wealth corrupting morals is in the indifference to infidelity between the married Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. The next example of wealth corrupting morals is seen in Jordan Baker’s actions to keep her luxurious lifestyle. Third, Jim Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth lead to the corruption of his morals.

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