The Great Gatsby Research Paper

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“Follow your dreams.” Most inspiring books or movies are not complete without using this ubiquitous phrase. Need to decide on a career? “Follow your dreams.” Need to plan a vacation? “Follow your dreams.” Need to decide who to marry? “Follow your dreams already!” But what really happens when you invest in a dream and follow it? Many authors use humanity's tendency to dream and protect its dreams as major plot themes. F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of these writers. F. Scott Fitzgerald captured humanity’s tendency to fantasize and protect their fantasies in stories like “The Diamond as Big as The Ritz,” “The Ice Palace,” and The Great Gatsby.
F. Scott Fitzgerald started out a boy from Minnesota, became a celebrity, and posthumously became a legend …show more content…

Gatsby throws his life away for a chance at his dream. His obsession over Daisy causes him to become a criminal and a full-time liar. Sadly, Gatsby is not the only character to go to extremes to protect his dream. Tom Buchanan lives the dream. He has lots of money, a beautiful wife, and a mistress (great, right?). Unfortunately, Gatsby takes away both his wife and his mistress. Tom responds to this by essentially causing Gatsby’s death. But this life can not be real. Gatsby’s dreams cannot fit into reality. Fitzgerald said, “ Daisy tumbled short of his dreams-- not through her own fault, but because, of the colossal vitality of his illusion, it has gone beyond her, beyond everything... no amount of fire or freshness, can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” …show more content…

Scott Fitzgerald’s writing captured a truth about humanity. We will always want what we cannot have and we will always deny that fact. Through the stories of a ridiculously wealthy criminal family, a young southern belle, and a thoroughly self-made man, Fitzgerald found the themes that unite us. Humanity will always look to a shining, pure future whether it is possible or not. Television, books, and other people make us strive for more and more. Our insatiable love of money, possessions, and other people will always surge in us. Fitzgerald F. Scott Fitzgerald captured the concepts of fantasy, protection of fantasy, and fantasies struggling with reality in his short stories and