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What Does Gatsby's Mansion Symbolize

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The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest American novels ever written. It has a wide variety of symbols that are portrayed in the book. One of the symbols that Fitzgerald portrays is Gatsby’s mansion. Gatsby’s mansion has a lot of meaning in this book. Gatsby’s house symbolizes an owner who does now know their true identity. No matter how big and draw dropping Gatsby’s mansion was, it still did not fulfill his happiness. Gatsby’s mansion can relate to his personality, emotions and how he tries to reinvent himself during the novel. Like when James Gatz turns into Jay Gatsby and slowly becomes one of the wealthiest men in the world. Gatsby was always trying to change himself so Daisy would notice him. “Turning a corner, I saw that it was Gatsby’s house, lit from tower to cellar” (81). Gatsby’s house was bright and everybody could see it at one moment and the next moment it wasn’t. “It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night…” (113) Gatsby house changed just like his emotions changed. So Fitzgerald could be using the mansion to represent Gatsby’s attitude. Gatsby’s mansion can relate to the fakeness of Gatsby. Gatsby’s library was full of books that were actually real. “Absolutely real---have pages and everything. I thought they’d be nice durable cardboard. Matter of …show more content…

Gatsby had the biggest house in the West Egg and had everything he could dream of and it still didn’t satisfy him. The only thing that could satisfy him was Daisy. He wanted a bigger house than Tom and he wanted fancier and more expensive furniture than Tom because he believed that Daisy would love him again if we did. He revolved his whole life around one girl and it ruined him. The bigger house and fancier furniture did not win him Daisy, it lost him his life. Money is the root of all evil. Fitzgerald does a great job at showing how money cannot truly fulfill a

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Gatsby has spent his whole life trying to prove to Daisy and everyone around him that he is worthy of her. The only way to be on the same social level as her is to turn himself into new money. Since this is not possible, he has to try to convince to others that he truly is old money. To do this, he becomes rich, and lies about his past, but the only way for him to complete this idea is if he is with Daisy. She is the final piece in his American dream.

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Wanting to gain status, Gatsby shows his wealth by throwing extravagant parties and purchasing expensive items to display. To announce himself as a man of wealth to the New York upper class, he purchases a “factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (5), his mansion in West Egg. It is here that he chooses to throw parties every weekend, where everyone shows up, though rarely people are actually invited. It is here that he is able to show off the true extent of his wealth to other rich folk. For example, in his library, he has a collection of “absolutely real” books, rather than “durable cardboard” (45), expected by Owl Eye, and attendant of one of Gatsby’s parties.

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Gatsby had bought that house so he could get close to Daisy, who was one of the few people that brought true happiness to someone for a little. While Gatsby could have just bought a cheaper house to get closer to Daisy because despite his wealth she never came to one of his parties. The money was thought to be the source of his happiness because of the amazing house he owned when instead the love of daisy was the reason he saw even a glimpse of

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Instead, Gatsby’s motivation is to make himself someone who can give Daisy the luxuries and monetary stability she desires. His reason for living is ripped away from him when Daisy choses to remain with Tom, and he is now stripped of

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Gatsby is essentially heartbroken. The house that once symbolized so much opulence is now symbolic of the wealth Gatsby cannot obtain. The matter betrays him that Daisy chose her rich expenditures over Gatsby and his desires for the same wealth. Fitzgerald exercises symbolism to show the shift in Gatsby’s feelings from love to betrayal. Subsequently, the author uses vigorous metaphors to explain his eagerness to attain

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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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Michael Valderrama Hodgins AM Studies Block A 12/5/16 Gatsby’s Mansion Symbolism is the use of symbols to supply things with a representative meaning or to represent something abstract by using an existing object. Gatsby’s mansion is a symbol of himself, his love for Daisy, and a representation of the 1920s. James Gatz, the small town boy from North Dakota, dreamed of obtaining his American Dream. He perceived the American Dream as a way to obtain wealth and status in order to win the hand of the love of his life Daisy.

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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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Fitzgerald makes it apparent throughout the novel that Gatsby does everything in hopes to compete against Tom and impress Daisy. For example, Gatsby throws lavish parties every weekend with the hope that Daisy will stumble in, and then they will be reunited and return to their old ways. Additionally, when Gatsby moves to the West Egg, he purposefully purchases an extravagant mansion near the Buchanan’s mansion where he can view their emerald light on his dock. Throughout the duration of The Great Gatsby, Gatsby noticeably envies Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, for seizing the life that Gatsby was not able to achieve. Gatsby longs to return to the passionate relationship they had five years prior and maybe even create a family similar to the family Daisy has with Tom.

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When he buys the home the man who had been living there before him had just died. This is foreshadowing of his dream not being able to work out. Gatsby throws extravagant parties every night. The only reason he does all this is because he is hoping daisy will come one night. In the end of the novel Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him.

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In the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, what Jay Gatsby feels for Daisy Buchanan is obsession. Gatsby revolves and rearranges his entire life in order to gain her affections. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy resulted in him buying a mansion across the lake from her, throwing huge parties, and spending years of his life trying to become rich. Gatsby bought mansion intentionally across the lake from Daisy just to be closer to her.

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