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The Great Gatsby And The Things They Carried

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Recommended: Discuss the great Gatsby as a novel of social criticism

The writings that I have created throughout the year have carried a tone of underlying societal errors and malpractices that manifest themselves within each and every character and work. In creating my portfolio I looked to use works that carried this underlying tone of social errors and the necessity to correct them. I found that although most if not all works carried this undertone, I struggled with separating one from another in terms of key themes and details until I started analyzing them more thoroughly through literary lenses. After going through this process, I was able to more accurately depict the specific social error the author was targeting such as the patriarchal practices in society and the over glorification of certain things …show more content…

Examples: Great Gatsby Essay, The Things They Carried Essay Portfolio Description: My works have been interpreted from the works of lauded authors that looked to deliver a deeper message than what was perceived at first. This influenced the way in which I interpreted these works incredibly in that I found that in most if not all works, there was an underlying theme of faults within society and how we need to improve upon our mistakes. This was most evident in the books, The Great Gatsby and The Things They Carried. Although each work looked to attack separate portions of societal practices, they ultimately could be grouped under the idea that we have developed a society that is flourishing with faults and that we must first recognize these errors and then correct them. Finding these ideas throughout these works was most easily done by looking at them through different interpretive lenses such as the marxist and gendered lenses. In the Great Gatsby, the author was looking to …show more content…

This left Gatsby constantly desiring more and more until he simply couldn’t achieve any more but still tried to and ultimately lost everything because of it. This interpretation serves to act as a part to the whole in that this book like every other book I read, looked to attack a certain aspect of society that was found to be flawed and in this case, it looked to attack the constant taunting by society to the individual to constantly push for a better life rather than being satisfied with one’s own life. Another example of this theme of attacking the faults in society through literature was through The Things They Carried. The Things They Carried followed the lives of a squadron of U.S soldiers fighting in Vietnam and took note of both the physical and more importantly the mental weight they had to carry throughout the conflict. The soldiers were forced to fight for their lives and in order to support their country, as well as the hope of seeing their families again.

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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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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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924 Words | 4 Pages

In a book about a tragic love story, one would not expect to find a deeper meaning behind the dangers of jealousy or peril of lust. However, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is a deeper meaning beyond jealousy and love. In The Great Gatsby, the author uses an empathetic storyline as a symbol to unwittingly give a complex depiction of the nuisance that people create that not only destroy our world but our society and gives warning to what will occur if we continue the path of destruction. With this intention, the brilliant opinionated writer, expressed his opinion through symbols such as the characters he uses, the setting the story takes place in, and the objects he uses in the book.

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585 Words | 3 Pages

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald presents many obstacles that Jay Gatsby has to overcome to achieve what he desires. Gatsby accomplishes some of these goals with his wealth and all the luxuries that it provides. The other characters views’ towards wealth along with Gatsby’s change the complexity of the book in many ways both positively and negatively. In my opinion, Gatsby’s wealth and luxuries propel him to what he desires but, also turn out to be his “Achilles-heel” in the end.

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How does having money lead to material gain? In the Roaring Twenties, people from all social classes suddenly became aware of the class differences. This awareness is a result of the jump on the Stock Market and the World War1. There were clear distinctions among social classes according to location, amount of material possessions and the way one acted. Fitzgerald explains these differences by giving the characters in his novel the Great Gatsby different social classes and he also shows these social divisions in the way the characters behave.

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1009 Words | 5 Pages

Reader’s perception is one of the most essential aspects of a novel, this refers to what the audience brings to the novel and determines whether a book is transcendent. The perception can be affected by several factors such as the format, the language and the message of the novel in general. A book can be interpreted differently according to culture, ideology, and even gender. The novel, The Great Gatsby written and published by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is faced with reader-response criticism by two different social groups; feminist, that want to achieve equal cultural and social representation for women, question the treatment the women in book receive by the men, yet view the novel as an example of the empowerment of females in during the 1920’s. Then Marxists, who analyse class relations, social conflict and social transformation, interpret the book by analysing the representation of a materialistic elite class and the struggle of the middle class to fit into their world.

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In both society today and The Great Gatsby, individuals of high stature abuse their power. Lastly, many people come to Canada and the United States for better opportunities, this relates to the theme of the American Dream. Many immigrants think that in the United States all their problems will go away and that success will come if they work hard enough. In this novel, Gatsby falls for the American dream and he works very hard for his money and although he finds success he isn’t content as he never becomes an equal to the East Egg. Through trying to become an East Egg resident he ends up dying, just like many immigrants struggle to come to the United States and end up disappointed.

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867 Words | 4 Pages

In the text, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a wide range of literary techniques to convey a lack of spirituality, and immorality. Techniques such as characterisation, symbolism, and metaphors help to cement the ideas Fitzgerald explores. However, there are some features to this world that redeem it. Which are displayed through expert execution of techniques like characterisation, contrast, and repetition. The world of The Great Gatsby is home to many morally corrupt and spiritually empty characters however, the world itself is not a spiritual and moral wasteland.

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Everybody wants to be the wealthy however the poor suffer lots as a result of the by-product of the capitalistic society. The by-product during this novel is the Valley of Ashes. This shows how individuals throw out regard for others in exchange of the pursuit to be wealthy (This is incredibly immoral). This is often believed to be the American Dream. On the opposite hand you have got extravagant parties at the Gatsby house simply to impress a lady.

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1756 Words | 8 Pages

Gatsby was a man who came up from essentially nothing by gaining his money through bootlegging and other illegal acts in order to gain a reputation in society. Gatsby’s constant desire to accomplish more in his life demonstrates the corruption of the American Dream. It is evident that Gatsby has had a thirst for the American dream since a young age, this is shown when Gatsby’s father says: “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind?

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973 Words | 4 Pages

For example, it was expressed in his repeated addresses to readers. His choice of words, like “do we really expect to stay afloat… [or] our fault lies not so much with our economy” (Fridman), shows the author does not try to blame other peoples, while admits all parts of the society, including “nerds and geeks”, should participate in the problem solving. The emotional appeal appears from the beginning of the text, as it was mentioned above. “There is something very wrong with the system of values in a society that has only derogatory terms” (Fridman), the author starts with the expression of his negative opinion about the situation. He uses the essay to flip reader to his side.

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In this essay, I admire how the writer starts her introduction sentence with an observation on her subject. The writer’s thesis is wordy but strong, and outlines the rest of the essay. Instead of using an entire quote, the writer paraphrased or used two or three important words from the quote to support her idea. The writer also analyzed the author’s ideas instead of stating exactly what the author wrote. The writer did however, use one to two long quotes that she could have shortened or paraphrased.

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Goodman is the best representative of people who have lost their beliefs in the true, the good and the beautiful things on earth; they would rather submit themselves to the evil sides. Many of us are simply a copy of Goodman Brown, swaying back and forth between truth and wrong. Sometimes we can make a righteous decision but other times we are like Goodman Brown destroyed by our own human nature. At the assembly, Devil, who disguised as an old man, says to Goodman Brown, “Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness.”

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813 Words | 4 Pages

While reading The Great Gatsby by F.Scott. Fitzgerald, Have you ever been searching for something, but you can 't seem to find it? This was Gatsby 's problem. Throughout the whole novel he was searching for love, but in the end he ended up not being able to overcome his loss, and he was overwhelmed by the events that was happening. ”

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In 5 years, I would have completed the Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) at Brock University or Ryerson University and would presumably acquire a paid position with the corporation I did my university co-op with. This is due to the fact that Brock University and Ryerson University have a well recognized Cooperative Education Program that is well documented to result in employment opportunities for its students. One of the reasons I chose to earn the Bachelor of Business Administration degree is because of my aptitude for business. Consequently, I am willing to fully immerse myself into my studies, moreover this is necessary as I have to sustain my honor roll, have great letters of recommendation, participate in extra-curricular opportunities, and volunteer in my community in order to be accepted into these prestigious university and co-op programs.

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