The Third Chapter Of The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a curated definition of an era. It is set in the roaring twenties where corporate tyranny and generational wealth rule near all metropolitan areas and the bolstering effects of the industrial revolution are being felt at their heaviest. Taking place in New York City, the story follows a man named Nick Carraway, who inherited a large deal of money from his late parents. He lives in his apartment on the landmass known as West Egg. His neighbor, Jay Gatsby, is a resident of East Egg, where those who have run into great sums of money recently generally stay. The whole idea of Gatsby is that he is the avatar of the time, something that Nick despises, but is envious and a little intrigued by. The book

The first time that Gatsby is actually “shown” is all the way in the third chapter of the book; the first two are spent more or less exploring the symptoms of his presence. From the start, though, it’s not hard to decipher what Fitzgerald was trying to express with his character; he’s a man who grew up with society and knows how people around him work, but after attaining the amount of wealth he has, he’s fallen out of touch with any kind of dynamic which is second nature to anyone else in the city. In order to blind himself from the reality of his situation, he just shells out his wallet to anyone on Long Island, searching for acceptance–hoping that the one

Those who control wealth and property, and those who have sold themselves to the system, know what this life entails. The topic of the American dream being nothing but an illusion ties into the motivations of the characters who have achieved “The American Dream” and the consequences it has on their basic sense of self. The pinnacle of this description is the aforementioned Tom and Daisy Buchanan and the sum of their parts (whatever that may be). Living across the body of water that separates East and West Egg, Tom and his wife Daisy have secured themselves a comfortable state of living–financially and materialistically, that is. As Gatsby watches from afar at the dim, green light, Daisy is bored and Tom is irate at almost all hours at whatever exposes itself first to him that day. They, more or less, live separate lives and keep to themselves, not reluctantly, but also not because it particularly pleases either of them. Tom is often seen in the Valley of Ashes picking up his mistress, Myrtle, with whom he is not-so-secretly cheating on Daisy with–not that he cares all that much about what she thinks, anyway. Daisy enjoys having funds to play with and people that she can beckon, so she spends most of her time either lounging all day or going out with Nick, Jordan,