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The Sense Of Self In The Great Gatsby

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‘A Sense of Self’ Essay A Sense of Self is a unique quality that differs from one person to another and yet may involve multiple identities. Explore the extent to which the protagonists in the texts you have studied appear to possess one or more identities. Refer closely to the texts in developing your response. This essay will revolve around four main texts, namely ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Twelfth Night’, ‘New Selected Poems’ and ‘The Lost Continent’ by Scott Fitzgerald, William Shakespeare, Carol Ann Duffy and Bill Bryson respectively. ‘The Great Gatsby’ is a highly symbolic meditation of America in the 1920s. An era of decayed social and moral values imbued in reckless extravagance, Fitzgerald hence conveys the ultimate corruption of the …show more content…

The eponymous character was born the day he met Dan Cody and invented himself a new life. Ultimately, Gatsby created and fabricated his own ideal ‘identity’ to meet his expectations: “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his platonic conception of himself […] so he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year- old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” Two identities therefore arise: Jay Gatsby and James Gatz. Yet one can almost see the threads of James Gatz behind the Gatsby facade. With Daisy, Gatsby loses the carefully constructed identity: he reverts to the young soul seeking for his place in the world, with “a touch of panic” in his voice when he realises that Daisy has “slipped away [and become something] no longer tangible”. In this way we can identify the importance of society and expectations in the portrayal of the different identities. To illustrate one more example, there is the case of Myrtle, leading on to the importance of clothing in the portrayal of these identities. Nick Carraway notes that “under the influence of the dress, her personality had also undergone a change”. Through clothing, Myrtle obtains the tools to change her identity, hence expressing a different identity to achieve the ultimate purpose of ‘belonging’ to the

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Gatsby’s desperate longing for something more than what he had at such a young age urged him to create the persona of “Jay Gatsby” from the ordinary James Gatz. Comparably, the young Gatz spent much

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects on the human need for self-fulfilment through his characters committing themselves to a person, an object, or a goal that takes them away from the reality that conflicts with what they want their life to look like. Though nearly everyone is The Great Gatsby is remarkably wealthy or of an upstanding family, they all experience dark times, and because of this they need to dedicate themselves to something as way of an escape, because even if everything is wrong, a person can still work towards something to make it, or themselves, better. The tragic character of Jay Gatsby has dedicated years of his life to striving towards Daisy, a woman whose way of life contrasted so greatly from

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Throughout “The Great Gatsby”, published by award-winning author F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, multiple characters are shown to go through major changes in their personalities or the way they are portrayed. Be it the concept of Daisy as a pure, angelic being at the beginning quickly morphing into one of her as a superficial person, or the perception of Gatsby as a rich, enigmatic man contorting into one of him as a naïve and blind protagonist, each character’s development affects the book’s plot and works for character development. In the forefront of this development is the narrator himself, Nick Carraway, as he changes radically to understand the world around him. Take, for example, the way that Nick’s naïveté in the introduction is overtaken,

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If we were Romantic selves in the previous era, how are modern individuals like subjects caught in the spider web of modern structures? These structures allow some individuals to be a self while others are cast as subjects. In Klages ‘Interlude: Self to Subject’, self is defined as “a conscious being who had the power of logic and rationality to discover the truth about workings of the world, and who was able to act and think for himself or herself, independently of external influences, and also able to think reflectively about the status of his or her own being.” On the other hand, subject is defined as “radically decenters the idea of self, stripping it of its autonomy and its ability to deduce ‘truth’ ” Both of these definitions can be used for defining the motives of the characters in the Great Gatsby.

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As said by other critics, “Jay Gatsby's determination to establish a new identity for himself sets him apart from the other characters in the text” (Verderame). Gatsby grew up as a poor farmer boy. Born into poverty from the beginning, Gatsby cared little for his family and was determined to leave them behind for a new life. This tragic past encourages Gatsby to entirely start a new life by changing his identity and personality before the reader is even introduced to the character. “So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (98).Critics say, “In doing so, Gatsby has proven to himself that he can successfully change the story of his past” (Scisco).

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“James Gatz — that was really, or at least legally, his name… The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God.... So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” ( 99) Gatsby was just a ideal, a dream that was conceived from James Gatz , a poor boy. He changed everything, lied about his past and truly believed that he was Jay Gatsby.

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Reaching a higher class and wealth are aspects of success that many aspire to achieve. Although that may be true, in reality, as a person begins to expand their goals toward the American dream, they tend to spiral downward and crash in the end. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, pertains to an ambitious character; falling short of the American dream, resulting in a tragedy. Specifically, the book follows a young man named Gatsby and his dream to finally meet the love of his life, Daisy, who he hasn't seen in five years. Gatsby goes to great lengths in order to grab Daisy’s attention, by throwing lavish parties, which he had to achieve by becoming a bootlegger.

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The third chapter from the novel the Great Gatsby, in my opinion deserves the title “The Man behind the Myths” due to the many rumors and stories circling him and his ghost like appearances at his parties. Due to the narrator's, Nick, description of Gatsby and his actions during this chapter should be given this name. Throughout this chapter Nick speaks with and overhears many rumors about the party host, Gatsby. Not many people really know he is because he remains hidden within the abundant crowd which consumes his property.

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The deception of the characters in Fitzgerald’s novel signifies the emptiness and artificial lifestyle of people in the 1920s. From a young age, Gatsby has never accepted the life he was born into, always seeking a way to participate in the abstract customs of the rich, resulting in his lies to convince Daisy as well of others of his rich background. Gatsby is presented as a character that has not been able to transition his life to the present day time period, keeping his eyes shut from the realities of his dreams, "Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!"(Fitzgerald 116). In Gatsby’s attempt to change all the features he was born with, including his name, James Gatz, he fails to realize that his dreams are not worthy of him and he will never be able to achieve them.

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Gatsby was destined to be self consumed and insecure. The only thing that could solve this was, of course, someone else to reinforce his homemade identity, and that someone was Daisy, the golden girl. Daisy exemplified everything Gatsby wanted in life. Five years ago Gatsby met Daisy while he was in the army, they fell in love. With self motivation he uses her to find himself in the world that has created him into the man that he is today.

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Jay Gatsby through most of the book has a very alluding personality but in his behavior to the general public is incredibly charismatic and well spoken. Our first glimpse of him is in Chapter two when he stands on his dock reaching out into the the distance towards what Nick sees as a green light on the other side of the bay. The mysterious behavior at the start of the novel sets the scene for the reader's perception of Gatsby's personality that their is a mystery to him and he is longing for something since he was reaching out into the bay for something. When Nick meets Gatsby at the party he acts very suave as he conversed with Nick as if they were old friends. Gatsby also stood at the top of the stairs at the same party and simply looked

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The ultimate setting of a story creates an atmosphere for the plot and characters. This atmosphere can change over time, evolving characters and influencing their behavior, or remain stagnant and still have the same effect. Jay Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby, Abigail Williams, The Crucible, and Emilia, Othello, all three display idea that the society a character develops in and the setting of a story can shape them into becoming a victim, villain, or venerable (respectively). Different from the ‘Great” in the title name, and argument can be made for Gatsby to be an illusive victim.

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The Great Gatsby GEOGRAPHY Throughout the novel, places and settings symbolize the various aspects of the 1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the dissolute, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West is connected to more traditional social values and ideals. Themes: The American Dream "Whereas the American Dream was once equated with certain principles of freedom, it is now equated with things.

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Some humans dedicate their entire lives in achieving what they believe their dream is. What makes life truly intriguing is whether or not one is able to achieve their own dream. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has an esteem for hosting and creating giant, glamorous, and elegant parties on his ritzy estate. Although many people always attend his parties, hardly any in attendance could admit to personally knowing him. Due to the simple fact that no one can mention a personal story with Mr. Gatsby, many rumors arouse and diffuse among the party goers.

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