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The Great Gatsby Research Paper

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Research Paper In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses literary devices such as foreshadowing and metaphors to examine the American dream and the baggage that comes with it. Each of the characters within the novel has their own vision of the American dream. For some, the dream is everlasting wealth and high social status, while for others the dream is an opportunity to achieve great success with hard work and determination. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald introduces characters who have inherited the dream, and others who are working hard to achieve their dreams and goals. Although the American dream has long driven people to dream big, Fitzgerald illustrates how ability, culture, and social status limits the possibility …show more content…

The Lower class consisted of characters such as Myrtle and George Wilson, who owned a gas and service station. Their gas and service station was located in the Valley of Ashes. The Author uses the Valley of Ashes to help readers grasp an understanding of America’s working class during the 1920s. Fitzgerald described the Valley as, “A fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (Fitzgerald). Fitzgerald’s description helps readers understand the big picture of the working class during this …show more content…

"Scott Fitzgerald’s Criticism of America." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 311, Gale, 2015. Literature Criticism Online, http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.ocean.edu:2048/apps/doc/JCXXWI094725562/GLS?u=toms86543&sid=GLS&xid=b41264ed. Originally published in Sewanee Review, vol. 62, no. 2, 1954, pp. 223-246. Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940. The Great Gatsby. New York. Scribner's sons, 1925. Print. Kraus, Joe. "De-Centering the Canon: Understanding The Great Gatsby as an Ethnic Novel." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 311, Gale, 2015. Literature Criticism Online, http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.ocean.edu:2048/apps/doc/HGDSZN027184049/GLS?u=toms86543&sid=GLS&xid=558c4631. Accessed 20 Mar. 2018. Originally published in Multiethnic Literature and Canon Debates, edited by Mary J. Bona and Irma Maini, State U of New York P, 2006, pp. 127-144. Roberts, Marilyn. "Scarface, The Great Gatsby and the American Dream." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg, vol. 210, Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center, http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.ocean.edu:2048/apps/doc/H1420085350/LitRC?u=toms86543&sid=LitRC&xid=be203caf. Accessed 22 Mar. 2018. Originally published in Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 1, 2006, pp.

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