ipl-logo

The Great Gatsby Response Essay

716 Words3 Pages

Lydia G. Hay
Honors English 11
Mr. Berka
17 March 2023
Idolatry - Final Writing Response
The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is narrated by Nick Carraway, who finds himself stuck in his friend's love affairs, watching them all strive to achieve the American Dream. The Great Gatsby tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy yet lonely man who endlessly pursues the married woman he once loved, Daisy Buchanan. Meanwhile, Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, a woman trying to escape the lower-class life she’s stuck in. Reading The Great Gatsby helps a follower of Jesus to become more of an “idolatry discerner” by showing what greed and arrogance can do to a person and how quickly things can disappear when putting your identity into worldly …show more content…

They each believed that having all that the dream entails would fulfill their desires. When Gatsby’s talking to Nick about Daisy he says “‘Her voice is full of money’” (Fitzgerald 120). This shows Gatsby’s attraction, to not only Daisy but her wealth as well, which he finds much value in. From the way she portrays herself, to the way her voice sounds when in conversation, you can sense her wealth and background. Gatsby’s greed and want for wealth and the dream are similar to Myrtle Wilson's as she wants Tom's. Myrtle says “‘I married him because I thought he was a gentleman… I thought he knew something about breeding, but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe’” (Fitzgerald 36). Myrtle was referring to her marriage to Geroge and the dissatisfaction and disappointment it has brought her. She isn’t impressed with his lifestyle because the lavish one she dreams of is more than he can provide. The “American Dream” is not only a false hope, but a false promise as well to people like Myrtle. The Dream is deceiving and its priorities and goals are what make it such an unrealistic

Show More
Related

The Great Gatsby Dbq Essay

671 Words | 3 Pages

During the 1920’s, many people were power-hungry. They all wanted to be at the top and be the richest of the rich and be able to buy whatever they want. The 1920’s was a time where people were able to go from rags to riches, industries were growing and making money, and it was also the era of the Prohibition, a law that banned alcohol. “The Great Gatsby” was able to reflect on noticeable and non-noticeable aspects of the 1920’s. It reflects on the postwar disillusionment, the rise of the nouveau riche, and how business became the new religion for the United States.

Read More

Examples Of Myrtle In The Great Gatsby

167 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the literary work of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald spreads the message that to obtain the “American Dream,” you must be willing to sacrifice social status, economic achievement, and the pursuit of happiness. As the story progresses, Fitzgerald illustrates Myrtle and Daisy climbing the social ladder through relationships. When Nick and Jay voyage through the Valley of Ashes to pick up Myrtle, Nick exclaims, “With the influence of the dress, her personality had also changed” (Fitzgerald 34). Swiftly, Mrytle surrounds herself with the wealthy she switched her personality to match their social status. Likewise to Myrtle, Daisy also formed a relationship with Tom to improve her social status.

Read More

The Great Gatsby Dbq Essay

1672 Words | 7 Pages

The American Dream comes and goes throughout everyone’s lives in America. But for some, it shows a spark of hope of a dream that will allow them to succeed in life. Whether it is something that people want to have in their lives or having a goal in their mind, it is what allows people to continue pushing through life and doing everything to get what they want. The American Dream creates a vision of what people want in their future but, if this “vision” fails, many people would either give up or find a new dream. There are many reasons why people give up on their dreams, but some, they believe that it is out of their control to accomplish their dreams such as the main characters in The Great Gatsby.

Read More

The Great Gatsby Dbq Essay

2213 Words | 9 Pages

Living the American Dream, a once in a lifetime experience. That’s how it’s depicted in The Great Gatsby, like in real life you must be lucky to live the American Dream. Yet, that experience can slip right out of your hands with today’s society. Fitzgerald’s vision of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby is similar to today’s ideals as it was influenced by American history, depicts the hardships, different ideas of the American Dream, lack of mobility, and inequalities in society. Like in real life, the character’s actions were influenced by historical events.

Read More

Satire In The Great Gatsby Essay

1181 Words | 5 Pages

This notion is established through Myrtle’s own dialogue with Tom, with her begging for “one of those dogs” (23). In response, Tom arrogantly decides that “[the dog] is a bitch” and to “go and buy ten more dogs with [the money]” (24). This contrast between rich and poor highlighted within Tom and Myrtle’s relationship depicts how even between two polar opposite people, money will have the same negative affect on each of their mindsets. The way Fitzgerald characterizes Myrtle from the start as one with a personality and relationship with money similar to that of Daisy illustrates perfectly how greed and avarice have permeated the minds of even those without it in the first place. With this exchange, Fitzgerald characterizes Tom as one with faux power, making people believe that with his surplus wealth, he can do anything, however, as the book progresses, the only thing he can do with his wealth is win those that see wealth as power, like Daisy or Myrtle.

Read More

The Toxic American Dream In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

1260 Words | 6 Pages

In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the American Dream, and its pursuit, poisons the characters and causes their downfall. Myrtle, trapped with a husband she loathes in The Valley of Ashes, dreams of a wealthy life. This results in her affair with Tom, Daisy’s husband, and her obsession with him. Myrtle longs for the life Daisy has, and her jealousy grows throughout the novel.

Read More

Examples Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby

1059 Words | 5 Pages

(Fitzgerald 29) That quote explains how the character of Myrtle Wilson, who is having an affair with Tom, is driven by her desire for wealth and status, but ultimately suffers a tragic fate. Myrtle’s vitality is contrasted with her lack of beauty, which suggests that the dream can have a corrupting influence on people’s values and priorities. Another way in which The Great Gatsby critiques the American Dream is through its

Read More

Explain The Destruction Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

1143 Words | 5 Pages

The author explains that Gatsby did all in his effort to get better for Daisy, but ended up dying in the midst of it. The author depicts this by stating, “Furthermore, his success obviously doesn’t last – he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back” (Wulick). The author also brings in the idea of George and Myrtle Wilson trying to achieve the American Dream. It is mentioned that George wants a better life just as much as Myrtle does. However, Myrtle seeks a better life through Tom and having him buy her materials.

Read More

Response To The Great Gatsby

744 Words | 3 Pages

Fitzgerald Hamilton Letters Response Question 1: Based on all of these letters, what do you make of Fitzgerald’s relationship with Maxwell Perkins? How does F.’s confidence in Max challenge/reinforce what we think of the author? Based on the letters I think that Fitzgerald and Maxwell had a close relationship, Fitzgerald relied on Maxwell many times throughout his journey of writing The Great Gatsby for guidance and direction of how to write his chapters.

Read More

Great Gatsby Essay

558 Words | 3 Pages

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, several characters come to the American dream in diverse ways. The American dream constantly changes from person to person, and The Great Gatsby does a fantastic job of showing this in its characters. James Gatz, for example, believes his life will not be complete without the love of his life Daisy Buchanan, who in Gatsby’s mind is the paragon of perfection, Gatsby becomes obsessed with winning Daisy back and living out this perfect idea of a life with her. “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: “I never loved you.” (Fitzgerald 5 109)

Read More

Great Gatsby Essay

999 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, By F.Scott Fitzgerald it is revealed that Gatsby's background is not everything he told Nick it was, his parents still alive and his money not where Nick think is from. But why did Nick believe everything in Gatsby's facade?Jay Gatspy is a liar and a good one with not ever breaking his story to Nick until little bits of it showed eventually, with the name change, lying about where he is from, and how he got the money to become wealthy. Jay Gatspy, Nick's wealthy neighbor and in the end “friend” if you could call him that. Everyone around Nick called his friend Gatsby or Jay or something along those lines. But it is revealed that at his funeral his fathers last name is Gatz, “...I told him that all arrangements had been

Read More

Great Gatsby Response Essay

510 Words | 3 Pages

When I was in the 10th grade English class, I read “The Great Gatsby,” for the first time. I started to judge a book by its cover and compared it to the book that we read for other assignments. But I later started to feel after reading more than half of the book that “The Great Gatsby” deserves respect because its attention-grabbing, many plot twists, and the complexity of the vocabulary and literary use, make the reader think throughout the book. One thing that intrigued me was the attention-grabbing throughout the book. When something happened to a character, I was always wondering what was coming next and how the others would be affected by that event.

Read More

Love And Desire In The Great Gatsby

1890 Words | 8 Pages

Ambitions: Myrtle and Daisy had chased both love and money, at different point in their life. For both of them, it is their ambition and dreams that they seek to fulfill themselves with. Regardless of their backgrounds, they remain the same in their wants towards something they don’t have, or in Daisy’s case, choosing what they want over everything else, regardless of how much they already have of it. Myrtle had married Wilson, not for the money he had owned, as he did not own any, but simply because she “thought that he was a gentleman”. However, Myrtle’s ambition was money, because when Wilson neither produced riches nor at the very least, gave her the love initially wanted, she turned to Tom to receive them both.

Read More

Great Gatsby Essay

797 Words | 4 Pages

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly” - Langston Hughes. In 1924, F. Scott Fitzgerald published a book entitled The Great Gatsby. The novel is narrated by Nick Carroway, and follows the story of Nick, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby, an old lover of Daisy’s whose only goal is to once again be reunited with her, no matter the cost. The green light on the end of the Buchanan’s dock reappears several times throughout the novel. It symbolizes Gatsby’s dream of being reunited with Daisy, the money and material possessions he spent years collecting in hopes of being deemed worth in her eyes, and his motivation to keep fighting for her, even when it seemed as if she had forgotten about him.

Read More

Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

1180 Words | 5 Pages

When she first laid eyes on Tom, she knew she would be able to have the social status and way of life that came with great wealth. Myrtle’s husband was not rich enough to give her the luxurious lifestyle she craved and Myrtle did not believe her marriage reflected her social class. Her husband worked with cars and didn’t earn a large amount of money nor did he acquire a large inheritance. Myrtle was ready to leave her husband for Tom yet Tom was not willing to give up his reputation for her since he never really wanted her. The day Myrtle was hit by Gatsby’s car she was indeed chasing money.

Read More

More about The Great Gatsby Response Essay

Related Topics

Open Document