Great Gatsby Essay - 1356 Words

The Great Gatsby nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;There are many different types of people in this world. Apart from physical features, it is the characteristics of a person that makes him/her original. Nick Carraway the narrator of The Great Gatsby, has qualities which are the complete opposite of those of Tom Buchanan, his cousin-in-law. In the novel, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses the comparison between two cousins to show how their differing characteristics reflects the themes of morality and reality versus illusion. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One of Nickamp;#8217;s Characteristics, that is incompatible with Toms is that Nick is cautious when speaking. On an occasion when Mr. Gatz said something that Nick disagreed with ,†¦show more content†¦amp;#8220;They were careless people, Tom and Daisy they smashed up thing and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.; (Pg. 180-1) Nick shows his good judgement of Tom and Daisy being careless people. On the contrary, Tom makes baseless judgements that are visible in the following quote. amp;#8220;Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next theyamp;#8217;ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white. (Pg. 130) This quote reveals how Tom scorns the blacks for no apparent reason. Nickamp;#8217;s reasonable judgements reflect reality, for he sees things as they really are. On the other hand, Tomamp;#8217;s baseless judgements reflect the illusions in his world, for his judgements are what he only views to be right. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Nick and Tomamp;#8217;s ability to make judgements reveal how good of judgements they make in their relationships. Nick is honest in his relationships. Before going back to the mid-west, he went and talked to Jordan about their relationship, as the following quote reveals: amp;#8220;There was one thing to be done before I left, and awkward, unpleasant thing that perhaps had better been left alone. But I wanted to leave things in order and not just trust that obliging and indifferentShow MoreRelated Great Gatsby1497 Words   |  6 PagesIn chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby Nick is invited to one of Gatsby’s extravagant parties. He arrives only to find he doesn’t know where Gatsby is, and then he runs into Jordan Baker. Together they set off to find Gatsby and they head to the library where they find â€Å"Owl Eyes†, a drunken man trying to get sober. After talking to â€Å"Owl Eyes† for awhile they head outside again where Nick unknowingly starts a conversation with Gatsby. After revealing himself, Gatsby tells Jordan that he would like to speakRead MoreThe Great Gatsby806 Words   |  3 Pagesthey smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money...and let other people clean up the mess they had made... (P. 179). During the 20s, many peoples American dream was to go out, party and be free, the roaring 20s. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an explanation of how people acted. People went to parties, lived in luxurious homes, criticized each other, and wanted to achieve their dream by trying to live it. The Wilson marriage is a failure because its one-sidedRead MoreGreat Gatsby5612 Words   |  23 PagesThe Great Gatsby – Study Guide Chapter 1 1. Why is Nick Carraway made the narrator? The device of giving Nick the function of narrator lends psychic distance from the story. Nick is part of the action, yet he is not one of the principals. He shares some of the emotions and is in a position to interpret those of the others. However, the happens are not center on him. 2. What kind of relationship exists between Nick and the Buchanans? It is completely superficial. He speaks of themRead MoreAnalysis Of The Great Gatsby 1526 Words   |  7 Pagesperson, no matter what his or her origins, could succeed in life on the sole basis of his or her own skill and effort. The Great Gatsby is a novel about what happened to the American dream in the 1920s, a period when the old values that gave substance to the dream had been corrupted by the vulgar pursuit of wealth. What Fitzgerald seems to be criticizing in The Great Gatsby is not the American Dream itself but the corruption of the American Dream. What was once--for Ben Franklin, for example, orRead MoreProhibition in the Great Gatsby1355 Words   |  6 Pagessale of alcohol. The law was put into effect to lower the crime and corruption rates in the United States in the 1920s. It was also said to reduce social problems and lower taxes. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald examines the negative repercussions of prohibition on the economy, characters in the Great Gatsby, and on the different social classes of the 1920s. Prohibition was passed to eradicate the demand for liquor but had the inadvertent effect to raise the crime rates in American. RobertRead MoreFeminism In The Great Gatsby1643 Words   |  7 PagesSocietal conventions of the time era, however, reinforce patriarchal ideologies and traditional values, as women were expected to marry and be subservient to their husbands. This is perpetuated in works of literature of the time era, notably The Great Gatsby, published by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. Feminist literary theory helps expose the misogynist undertones of the novel by examining the power relationship between men and women. The novel suggests that women are powerless and objectified in theRead MoreThe Great Gatsby Analysis709 Words   |  3 Pagesabsurdity. Looking back at the decade, some may see it as a negative and a beginning of unlawfulness that created our current era. On the other hand, others may see this time period as expressive and free spirited. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby to display the creative side of the decade. He was able to describe what the 1920s were about by describing the distinct life of a man who lived through the decade and his crazy life story. Several characters involved in the story were bold andRead MoreColors in The Great Gatsby758 Words   |  3 Pages Colors are very apparent in The Great Gatsby. They often show up as descriptions to many important items throughout the book, and make those items resemble symbols. The color white confuses the reader, and often causes him/her to rethink their logic. It describes false purity and deception within something, which is very apparent in the character Daisy in this novel. The color grey gives the reader a comparison, and that is of humans to machines. Something that is lifeless is described as grey.Read MoreEssay on The Great Gatsby1404 Words   |  6 Pagesnouveaux riches often clashed with the established wealth, as evident throughout F. Scott Fitzgeraldâ€℠¢s The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s narrator, Nick Carraway, suddenly finds himself submerged in the paper-thin morals, and shallow values of upper-class New York after migrating from the Western interior. Throughout the novel, Nick is highly cynical of American society. Thus, The Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s means of criticizing the worsening family structure of American society, the newfound materialisticRead MoreThe Great Gatsby635 Words   |  3 PagesThe one thing that Gatsby really wanted to show to Daisy was the mansion and the valuable belongings he owned. The reason he was so focused on making it sure it happened, could be for various reasons. When Daisy left Gatsby to marry Tom, Gatsby was heartbroken. The reason was not because she didnt love Gatsby, it was simply due to the fact that Gatsby didn’t have enough wealth back then compared to Tom. Daisy came from a not so wealthy family and having wealth played an important part in her life