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Research Paper On The Great Gatsby

1886 Words8 Pages

The American Dream is, for many, the idea of having more opportunities and living a better life. Many people come to the United States primarily attracted by better job opportunities for themselves and their families. They view America as a place of opportunity where prosperity and success can be attained through perseverance and hard work. The American Dream is a recurring subject in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," acting as both an analysis of the elusive nature of prosperity and pleasure in American society and a driving force behind the actions and motivations of the main characters. He captures readers with his examination of the illusions that envelop the American Dream and the complexity of the human condition. "The Great Gatsby" …show more content…

The story offers a vivid depiction of Jazz Age society, where excess and extravagance are the characteristics of success, set against the lavish backdrop of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald examines the intricacies of wealth and its effects on people and society at large through the characters of Nick Carraway, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby. In "The Great Gatsby," Fitzgerald delivers a sharp indictment of the materialism and moral decay that characterize American culture, where wealth plays a significant role. According to the writer, “They’re a rotten crowd,....You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (118) In these words, Nick Carraway, the book's narrator, conveys his displeasure with the ostentatious and wealthy individuals who live in the world of East and West Egg. The novel's condemnation of the vacuous aspirations and shallow morals of the upper class is further highlighted by Nick's revelation that Gatsby, despite his sudden wealth and flamboyant lifestyle, retains a moral integrity and authenticity lacking in his wealthy associates. Fitzgerald implies in this quotation that a person's genuine worth and value are determined by their deeds and character, rather than just by their financial status. The protagonist of the book, Gatsby, personifies the classic American dreamer as he relentlessly pursues wealth and power in an effort to win back Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life. In addition to serving as emblems of the excesses of the day, his elaborate parties and displays of riches also draw attention to the superficiality and emptiness that can result from pursuing monetary achievement. The concept of "love" in Fitzgerald's is presented as intricate and multidimensional, entwining themes of illusion, longing, and desire. The narrative explores several manifestations of love,

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986 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby reveals the truths of the 1920s about corruption, class, society and wealth. Fitzgerald shows the greed of the characters for money and power, especially the character of Daisy Buchanan, a woman who chose money over her love. The protagonist Jay Gatsby rises from poverty to opulence to win his love Daisy back. Nick Carraway, a man who witnesses the life of the pathetic man, Jay Gatsby. Through the characterization of Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald reveals that wealth can pull one in the trap of corruption, dishonesty and one’s loss of self.

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384 Words | 2 Pages

Fitzgerald’s use of imagery & dialogue reveals the world of the new money is more than “rich people”. The imagery used to represent material wealth shows it can only go so far. After showcasing their wealth, what is next? This is how their void is formed, everyone feels they need to be great, but barely put any effort towards it. Gatsby throwing parties lead to nothing but superficial connections, which were forgotten in an instance and his ultimate persona of “Jay Gatsby”.

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1494 Words | 6 Pages

Introduction The Great Gatsby is a film based off the Novel written by an American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. About a fictional town set off the West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. It was released in 2013, directed by Baz Luhrmann along side Craig Pearce (writer/actor). Part of what makes Fitzgerald 's novel such a favorite piece is the way he is able to analyze the society of which he was also a part of.

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929 Words | 4 Pages

He comes across a millionaire named Jay Gatsby who unsuccessfully tries to achieve want he wants in his life through his wealth. The pursuit of achieving excessive wealth has numerous consequences such as carelessness, egocentricity, and loneliness. Fitzgerald exposes the repercussions

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705 Words | 3 Pages

When someone’s spouse is still in love with an old partner, the results of what could happen may vary depending on what the partner does, & who comes back into the spouse's life. This could cause issues for both sides. In the novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the 3 main characters: Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby, are in a love triangle due to an old relationship Daisy and Gatsby once had many years ago. When Gatsby and Daisy reunite, the spark restarts, and Tom realizes that Daisy still loves Gatsby. The main emotions shown are dissatisfaction, and hypocrisy.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

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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971 Words | 4 Pages

Scott Fitzgerald explores the relationship between wealth and happiness through the lives of its characters. Set in the roaring twenties, the story focuses on the life of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy man who throws extravagant parties to win back Daisy Buchanan. Despite his wealth and luxurious lifestyle, Gatsby is unable to find true happiness, as his love for Daisy is unattainable. However, this seems to be a case of overambition and materialism on the part of Gatsby as Tom and Daisy are able to live quite a happy life. While Tom and Daisy were unfaithful and had affairs with Myrtle and Gatsby respectively, their wealth allowed them to put the past behind them and take luxurious trips while not having the stress of working a job.

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby"

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657 Words | 3 Pages

What qualities truly make someone great? The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, takes place in 1922, in New York City. Nick Carraway, the narrator, moves to West Egg, a place of new money. His mysterious and very wealthy neighbor, Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties every weekend. He throws these parties to hopefully draw his ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan, back to him.

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911 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author presents the chase for the American Dream through the character Jay Gatsby, and his illegal and corrupt ways of achieving success. The American Dream is the belief that anybody can achieve great wealth and prosperity despite the class an individual was born into. Although the American Dream embodies the idea that anybody can achieve success. But as read in the novel, it is apparent that the American Dream is not for everyone. Jay Gatsby attempted to cheat success by using crime, corruption and manipulation to his advantage.

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1639 Words | 7 Pages

The novel is a critique of the American Dream and Fitzgerald’s interpretation of the false ideology: "It portrays the doomed passion of rich Jay Gatsby for Daisy Buchanan and evokes the sophistication and squalor of New York. The book is remarkable for describing the glamour and the dream of Gatsby, showing the hollowness of this vision as it turns to dust" (Bobek 36). Even with all his material success and his pursuit of the American Dream, Gatsby is empty and still in search of fulfillment, while he has achieved the American Dream by all standards of being a self-made man with a rags-to-riches story, he lacks substance and connection to others. Similarly to Gatsby, Tom has achieved everything the American Dream is about in his materialistic success and marriage, yet he is still unfulfilled and wants to regain the thrill and climax he experienced in his youth. During the opening of the book, Nick describes Tom and his successes: "Her husband, among various physical accomplishments, had been one of the most powerful ends that ever played football at New Haven—a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards saviours of anti-climax" (10).

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1581 Words | 7 Pages

John Barnes Mr. Noreen English (H) 4 8 April 2024 The Great Gatsby America was founded on the ideal “that all men are created equal”. This same principle guarantees the rights of “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Along with the founding of America came a vision of opportunity- a dream of meritocracy. When corrupted, this dream is a mission to accumulate money and power by any means necessary.

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1611 Words | 7 Pages

Scott Fitzgerald utilizes characterizations to explore and critique the decadence and moral decay of the era. Through the characterization of Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald highlights the disillusionment of the American Dream and the emptiness of wealth and materialism. Through the characterization of Daisy Buchanan, Fitzgerald critiques the moral decay of the era, and through the characterization of Tom Buchanan, Fitzgerald represents the decadence of the era through his boisterous and bullish personality. Finally, through the narration of Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald provides the reader with a unique perspective and a voice of reason and morality. The effectiveness of the characterizations in The Great Gatsby is evident in the way Fitzgerald's characters are still discussed and analyzed today, nearly a century after the publication of the novel.

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1208 Words | 5 Pages

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and narrated by a man named Nick Carraway. This novel was written with the intent of showing the readers how morally corrupt the 1920s were. Throughout the novel, characters abandon their moral values for a materialistic lifestyle. The novel depicts a great picture of the roles men and women played in the 1920s. Even with the changing roles of men and women, they continued to rely heavily on whom they were married to and what social class they belonged to.

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773 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby Greed can ruin a person’s life. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows this in his classic novel, The Great Gatsby, a sad love story about the rich title character, Jay Gatsby, and his obsession to win back the love of the now married Daisy Buchanan, his former girlfriend. The extravagant lifestyles of Gatsby and the wealthy socialites who attend his parties lead to lost dreams and wasted lives. These men and women are absorbed by material pursuits. In Jay Gatsby’s case, all the money in the world could not replace what he truly desires, Daisy.

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