Research Paper on The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald's most
celebrated novel, ‘The Great Gatsby’, is connected with many
things that have to do with American life in the flourishing
twenties. Things such as the misuse of alcohol and the quest of
other desires, including that obscure existence, the ‘American
dream.’ Overall it is the tale of Jay Gatsby, told by Gatsby's
friend and neighbor, Nick Carraway, a bonds salesman in New
York. Three other considerable figures are Daisy Buchanan, Tom
Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson. Nick is distantly related to Daisy,
whose affluent husband, Tom, went to college with Nick. Myrtle
is coupled to a mechanic but is sleeping with Tom.
Fitzgerald's novel suggests
deposing the Biblical maxim that the love of money is the root
of all evil. For all his characters, money values excessively.
And this approach is a primary ethical concern of the novel.
Fitzgerald's characters wrongly believe money can buy them love,
friends, and satisfaction. Fitzgerald does not criticize money
as such but rather illustrate that the only thing having a lot
of money endorse is a dishonest class system whose members at
length value it above all else. Love, friends, happiness, none
of these can be acquired forever, but money can uphold one's
place in an immoral society.
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One of the most significant themes in the novel is class and
social status. It is a hurdle for almost every individual. East
and West Egg acts as a symbol of this in it's natural
characteristic. Tom and Daisy live on the East, which is far
more civilized and well bred. Nick and Gatsby are on the West,
which is for people who don't have any true reputation, even if
they have money. The green light shines from the East Egg luring
Gatsby towards what he has always desired. And Daisy, the woman
that Gatsby has always fascinated but never gets, lives on East
Egg. The barrier that the water effect between these worlds in
representative of the barrier that keeps these people apart from
one another and from much of what they want.
The green light is a diverse portion of representation in the
book. It's most apparent interpretation is that the light is
indicative of Gatsby's aspiration for Daisy, but that is too
naive. Gatsby has spent his whole life longing for anything more
valuable. Even when he has his large house full of fascinating
people and all of their care, he still desire for Daisy. He
fabricated in his dreams for the future a place for her, and he
will not be satisfied to have that gazing hole. The green light
depicts all of Gatsby's longings and wishes.
“Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby opens with Nick Carraway, the
novel's narrator, introducing himself as a man who tends to
listen and observe without passing judgment. Carraway
immediately proceeds to preface the story he recounts over the
course of the novel by passing judgment on his former
companions. Mysteriously hinting at themes which will pervade
the plot of his tale Carraway reflects, When I came back from
the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in
uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no
more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human
heart. Only Gatsby...was exempt from my reaction -- Gatsby who
represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn".
Thus, providing plenty of room for speculation as to what
provoked such a critical response, Nick begins his story.
‘The Great Gatsby’ is arguably Fitzgerald's best work. A
depiction of the Jazz Age in all of its retrogression and
overflowing, Gatsby seized the spirit of the author's generation
and merited itself an enduring place in American mythology.
Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby incarnates some
of Fitzgerald's most enduring passion: money, longing, greed,
and the promise of new beginnings. Gatsby's rise to fame and
ultimate fall from grace becomes a kind of ominous story about
the American Dream.
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