 |
Essay on The Book The Great Gatsby Text
While the great gatsby is a highly specific portrait of american society during the roaring twenties, its story is also one that has been told hundreds of times, and is perhaps as old as america itself: a man claws his way from rags to riches, only to find that his wealth cannot afford him the privileges enjoyed by those born into the upper class. The central character is jay gatsby, a wealthy new yorker of indeterminate occupation. Gatsby is primarily known for the lavish parties he throws each weekend at his ostentatious gothic mansion in west egg. He is suspected of being involved in illegal bootlegging and other underworld activities. In some sense, the novel is nick 39 s memoir, his unique view of the events of the summer of 1922 as such, his impressions and observations necessarily color the narrative as a whole. For the most part, he plays only a peripheral role in the events of the novel he prefers to remain a passive observer. The buchanans live in the posh long island district of east egg nick, like gatsby, resides in nearby west egg, a less fashionable area looked down upon by those who live in east egg. Do Universities Check Dissertation PlagiarismWest egg is home to the nouveau riche, people who lack established social connections, and who tend to vulgarly flaunt their wealth. Like nick, tom buchanan graduated from yale, and comes from a privileged midwestern family. Tom is a former football player, a brutal bully obsessed with the preservation of class boundaries. Daisy, by contrast, is an almost ghostlike young woman who affects an air of sophisticated boredom. A woman who lives in the valley of ashes, an industrial wasteland outside of new york city. After visiting tom and daisy, nick goes home to west egg there, he sees gatsby gazing at a mysterious green light across the bay. Tom buchanan takes nick into new york, and on the way they stop at the garage owned by george wilson. Nearby, on an enormous billboard, a pair of bespectacled blue eyes stares down at the barren landscape. These eyes once served as an advertisement now, they brood over all that occurs in the valley of ashes. In the city, tom takes nick and myrtle to the apartment in morningside heights at which he maintains his affair. They gossip about gatsby catherine says that he is somehow related to kaiser wilhelm, the much despised ruler of germany during world war i. The more she drinks, the more aggressive myrtle becomes she begins taunting tom about daisy, and he reacts by breaking her nose. Nick carraway attends a party at gatsby 39 s mansion, where he runs into jordan baker. Before the party, nick himself had never met gatsby: he is a strikingly handsome, slightly dandified young man who affects an english accent. Gatsby asks to speak to jordan baker alone after talking with gatsby for quite a long time, she tells nick that she has learned some remarkable news. He claims to come from a wealthy san francisco family, and says that he was educated at oxford after serving in the great war during which he received a number of decorations. Hec Online Phd ThesisWolfhsheim is a notorious criminal many believe that he is responsible for fixing the 1919 world series. Later, jordan baker explains the reason for gatsby 39 s anxiety: he had been in love with daisy buchanan when they met in louisville before the war. Gatsby has meticulously planned their meeting: he gives daisy a carefully rehearsed tour of his mansion, and is desperate to exhibit his wealth and possessions. Gatsby is wooden and mannered during this initial meeting his dearest dreams have been of this moment, and so the actual reunion is bound to disappoint. Despite this, the love between gatsby and daisy is revived, and the two begin an affair. He was born james gatz in north dakota, but had his name legally changed at the age of seventeen. Though gatsby inherited nothing of cody 39 s fortune, it was from him that gatsby was first introduced to world of wealth, power, and privilege. To tom, gatsby is part of the new rich, and thus poses a danger to the old order that tom holds dear. Despite this, he accompanies daisy to gatsby 39 s next party there, he is exceedingly rude and condescending toward gatsby. Nick realizes that gatsby wants daisy to renounce her husband and her marriage in this way, they can recover the years they have lost since they first parted. Gatsby 39 s great flaw is that his great love of daisy is a kind of worship, and that he fails to see her flaws. He believes that he can undo the past, and forgets that daisy 39 s essentially small minded and cowardly nature was what initially caused their separation. The only reason he threw such parties was the chance that daisy or someone who knew her might attend. In an attempt to make tom jealous, and to exact revenge for his affair, daisy is highly indiscreet about her relationship with gatsby. Although tom is himself having an affair, he is furious at the thought that his wife could be unfaithful to him. He forces the group to drive into the city: there, in a suite at the plaza hotel, tom and gatsby have a bitter confrontation. Tom denounces gatsby for his low birth, and reveals to daisy that gatsby 39 s fortune has been made through illegal activities. Daisy 39 s real allegiance is to tom: when gatsby begs her to say that she does not love her husband, she refuses him. Tom permits gatsby to drive daisy back to east egg in this way, he displays his contempt for gatsby, as well as his faith in his wife 39 s complete subjection. On the trip back to east egg, gatsby allows daisy to drive in order to calm her ragged nerves. Primary Lined Writing Paper With Picture BoxPassing wilson 39 s garage, daisy swerves to avoid another car and ends up hitting myrtle she is killed instantly. Gatsby, however, refuses to leave: he remains in order to ensure that daisy is safe. George wilson, driven nearly mad by the death of his wife, is desperate to find her killer. Wilson, who has decided that the driver of the car must also have been myrtle 39 s lover, shoots gatsby before committing suicide himself. After the murder, the buchanans leave town to distance themselves from the violence for which they are responsible. Nick is left to organize gatsby 39 s funeral, but finds that few people cared for gatsby. Argumentative Essay on Is The Death Penalty EffectiveOnly meyer wolfsheim shows a modicum of grief, and few people attend the funeral. From henry, nick learns the full scope of gatsby 39 s visions of greatness and his dreams of self improvement. Thoroughly disgusted with life in new york, nick decides to return to the midwest. Tom tries to elicit nick 39 s sympathy he believes that all of his actions were thoroughly justified, and he wants nick to agree. Nick muses that gatsby, alone among the people of his acquaintance, strove to transform his dreams into reality it is this that makes him great. Nick also believes, however, that the time for such grand aspirations is over: greed and dishonesty have irrevocably corrupted both the american dream and the dreams of individual americans. next section character list previous section about the great gatsby buy study guide how to cite ross, jeremy. Scott fitzgerald's 1925 novel the great gatsby is a tragic love story, a mystery, and a social commentary on american life.
|
 |
