F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby Essay - 1013 Words

Wealth, Love, and the American Dream nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;It has been said that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is about the pursuit of the American dream. It has also been said that the novel is about love, ambition, and obsession. Perhaps both are true. Combined, these themes may be understood in their most basic forms among the relationships within the novel. After all, each character’s reason for belonging to a relationship speaks very strongly of what really makes him tick; each character’s manifestation of his own desires is found within his lover. Throughout the novel, what universally unites each character beyond anything else is the love of a dream or position and involvement in relationships for the success of†¦show more content†¦Nick notes that quot;It was hard to realize that a man of [his] own generationquot; is quite as wealthy as Tom really is (Fitzgerald 10). After all, Daisy married for money instead of love. It’s made clear that she loves Gatsby far more than she loves Tom, but grew tired of waiting before she finally decided to marry Tom. By the night before her wedding, it was too late for her to change her mind. quot;She groped around in a waste-basket she had with her on her bed and pulled out the string of pearls. ‘Take ‘em downstairs and give ‘em back to whoever they belong to. Tell ‘em all Daisy’s change her mine. Say ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine!’quot; (Fitzgerald 81). Her pathetic, drunken attempt to break a commitment by returning a gift is too little too late; Daisy’s desire to remain rich through union to Tom could not counter-act her love for Gatsby. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Tom Buchanan isn’t satisfied in his beautiful Daisy, the object of another man’s dream. Tom describes him as being victim of a permanent anti-climax, the result of the echo of a forgotten football game long ago. Perhaps this is why he has decided to take on a mistress. His lover, Myrtle Wilson, is also in a state of discontent. She doesn’t think much of her husband, George. quot;’I married him because I thought he was a gentleman,’ she said finally. ‘I thought he knew something about breeding but he wasn’t fit to lick my shoe’quot; (Fitzgerald 39). George Wilson may not be a very interesting guy;Show MoreRelatedF. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby937 Words   |  4 PagesThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers. Fitzgerald uses the Roaring Twenties as the setting of this novel. The twenties were a time of promiscuity, new money, and a significant amount o f illegal alcohol. Fitzgerald was a master of his craft and there was often more to the story than just the basic plot. He could intertwine political messages and a gripping story flawlessly. In the case of The Great Gatsby, he not only chronicles a love story, butRead MoreF. 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Gangsters played a heavily influential role in the new money aristocracy of the 1920s. The indifference was mainly due to the advent of Prohibition in 1920. One majorRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby Essay913 Words   |  4 Pages The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. â€Å"In the years immediately after the completion of The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald was unable to provide his art with any such endorsement† (Collins). Fitzgerald was unable to get his book published because of insufficient funds. According to Harris, â€Å"F Scott Fitzgerald wrote his greatest novel in France in 1924, having exiled himself in order to get some work done† (Harris). The best novel Fitzgerald has written he wrote when he was in France. AccordingRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby Essay998 Words   |  4 PagesF. 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Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby Essay1411 Words   |  6 PagesF. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby The greatness of an individual can be defined in terms far beyond tangible accomplishments. In F. Scott Fitzgeralds classic American novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsbys greatness comes from his need to experience success and his will to achieve his dreams. Nick Carraway narrates the story, and his cousin, Daisy Buchanan, is Gatsbys love. Daisy, however, is married to Tom Buchanan, a wealthy, arrogant womanizer who despises Gatsby. Gatsby feels theRead MoreEssay on F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby968 Words   |  4 Pages The 1920s was a time of excess and growth. Economically, it was a time for great financial gain. Largely because of improvements in technology, productivity increased while overall production costs decreased, and the economy grew. Not only was this time filled with prosperity, but corruption as well. People who had previously worked day and night finally acquired leisure time. Some of the most wealthy people made the choice to fill this free time with gluttony and lust. Many authorsRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby Essay1009 Words   |  5 Pages In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, many of the characters live in an illusory world and only some can see past this. In the novel, West Egg and its residents represent the newly rich, while East Egg represents the old aristocracy. Gatsby seeking the past, Daisy is obsessed with material things, Myrtle wanting Tom to escape her poverty, George believing that T.J. Eckleburg is God, and Tom believing he is untouchable because of his power and wealth are all examples of the illusionRead MoreF. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby954 Words   |  4 PagesJay Gatsby. Gatsby lives in a mansion and has extravagant parties every Saturday. Gatsby’s real name is James Gatz and he was born at a farm in North Dakota. He went to St. Olaf’s University but dropped out two weeks later do to the humiliation of being a janitor. One day he was fishing at Lake Superior and he saw a yacht owned by Dan Cody. He rowed towards the yacht to warn Dan about an approaching storm. Dan was very grateful and took Jay on board. There, Jay introduced himself as Jay Gatsby. Since