The Great Gatsby This Research, paper – which is a mixture of a book review and an analysis of a problem will present ideas about searching the American Dream in connection with The Great Gatsby and the main characters and how successfully they could live the American Dream according to the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Moreover, this research paper will be about some interesting symbols by Fitzgerald. Also, it will give some general information about the author, and the story itself.
Could the characters live in peace with their own lives? Could they enjoy the outcome Of there own decisions? Could they live or did they find the American Dream? Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (Septet 24, 1896-Deck 21, 1940) was an American author, who wrote several famous novels, which are the works of the Jazz Age. He has many important novels, such as The Beautiful and Damned, This Side Of paradise, Tender is the Night, but ” Of course ” his most famous work is The Great Gatsby, which also has several film adaptations already.
People say, that this work has some biographical aspects of Fitzgerald life. The Great Gatsby was firstly published n 1925 by Scribner’s in New York. (source: https://en. Wisped. Org/wick/ ) According to James Tortuous Adams, the American Dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it.
It is not a dream Of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream Of social order in which each man and each woman shall be TABLE to attain to the fullest stature f which they are innately capTABLE, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position. ” (in his book: The Epic Of America, written in 1931 in Boston, peg. 214-215, the book was published by Little, Brown, and company) The American Dream was important for the poor immigrants in the United States, who were searching for opportunities.
In the 20th century, for people it was only about becoming rich, and making as much money as they could, and it is also represented in the novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayer the American Dream unattainTABLE. The writer asserts that it does not matter how hard you try, you could fail easier than reach your goals. The very first matter that must be mentioned is the money in connection with the American Dream. As readers read the novel the first thing comes to their mind is the wealth, and the luxury Of sass’s America.
Furthermore, the narrator Nick Caraway moves to a small house between huge mansions, which also represents that the people who lived in West Egg were wealthy. According to Roger Lewis Gatsby is really concerned with money. Once Jay Gatsby mentions to Nick: ћHer voice is full of money” offering to Daisy. This statement gives the idea that Mr.. Gatsby may think that money and love is on the same level. The readers associate that for him love should be related to wealth and money, and Daisy attracts him because she is rich, and readers may also think that for Gatsby love and fortune have the same level Of attraction.
On top Of that it is known that Jay Gatsby was really poor in his early life and he wanted to be rich to be acknowledged, and to be known as a famous rich person to impress Daisy. He wants to win Daisy attention with big parties and money. He buys almost everything in order to become accepted, but once Fitzgerald mentions that Gatsby bought his mansion in order to buy a ћdream” ” which makes him more likTABLE and close to the readers. (source: Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby – an essay written by Roger Lewis book: New essays on The Great Gatsby – edited by Matthew J.
Broccoli, published by the Press Syndicate of the University Of Cambridge in 1 985, printed in the LISA, page-57) In the novel, the main characters have different interpretations of the American Dream, they all lived it differently. For instance Jay Gatsby is materialistic, for him it as important to have his own properties and when he has all that he can, he needs just one more thing: Daisy’s love. Finding his love motivates Gatsby. When Daisy confesses that she loved him, it is still not enough for Gatsby. He wants to possess her, and he wants to hear that she has never loved Tom Buchanan.
For him, the American Dream was to win her beloved Daisy true love. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that Daisy became superficial and his dream failed utterly, because it turned out that for Daisy it was more important to be safe instead Of be truly loved by someone. Daisy Buchanan ivies in luxury with her husband, she married well and therefore her life is easy, because the Buchanan family is a wealthy one. But she can not live her life in peace because she knows that her husband is unfaithful and deep inside her, she knows that she still loves Gatsby. But she became superficial, and wealth is more important for her.
Nick Caraway lives in peace with his life. He is not that rich as his cousin’s family or his neighbor, but he is content with his life. He does not need the money and the fame to be happy. He considers Gatsby as his true friend, and he really wants to help him find happiness. He is the only one who knows the truth about him, and he still stands by him after his beloved friend’s death, which is really respecTABLE for the audience. Tom Buchanan is also an important character, he has his wife, and a beautiful child, and he is extremely wealthy and successful.
However, this is not enough for him at all, because he needs affairs and a mistress, Myrtle. He is incredibly possessive, because he had several mistresses before, but he cannot bear to see that Daisy loves someone else. He wants his wife just for himself, even when he was untrustworthy. (source: https:// www. Boot. De/3_rarebit/Engle CICS/Gatsby ) The novel is full of symbols which might be difficult to understand but after a careful reading they become understandTABLE. For instance, for Fitzgerald colors are really important. He symbolizes a lot of things with colors.
The most important color symbol is the green. Readers all know about the green light which appears at night, when Gatsby is standing in his own dock. This green light comes from the Buchanan residence’s dock, and Gatsby reaches out for it, wants to catch is. For him, this green light was real, he knows that one day he will be TABLE to touch it, and he worked for it. It represents his love awards Daisy, and also hoping to receive this love one day. The American Dream, which never comes true, is also represented by the green color.
Valley of ashes symbolizes the grey color, and this is the place where Wilson and Myrtle live. There’s no hope there, just lifelessness. It represents the poverty, and the colorless, pointless life. The white color means innocence and purity in the novel. In connection with Daisy everything is white. Her clothes, her car into he past, before she was married, also the color of her room was white. When Fitzgerald talks about her, he uses a lot Of adjectives tit this color, such as ћwhite neck” and ћwhite girlhood”. The yellow and the gold colors represent the money and the wealth in the novel.
For example Gatsby car is yellow. Fitzgerald calls Daisy the ћgolden girl”. Jay Gatsby also wears a gold tie with a white suit when he sees Daisy for the first time after 5 years. Once Nick mentions that the flowers in Mr.. Gatsby garden smell like gold. This also refers to money. There are other symbols as well in the novel, but these are not as significant as the colors. ( source: https://move. Angelfish. Com/jazz/attentiveness/symbolism. HTML ) The narrator Of the novel is surprisingly not Jay Gatsby, but Nick Cart-away who is not the main and the most important person in the novel.
It makes him a peripheral narrator, who sees the things from the outside. He is different from Gatsby, but they make a great friendship. Gatsby is wealthy, while Nick comes from a rather poor family. Nick is TABLE to make friends, while the main character is rather lonely, even when he has hundred Of people having fun in his mansion. As the story moves forward it turns out, that Gatsby is really ambitious, and thanks to this personality trait he became acknowledged and also a wealthy person. Whereas Mr.. Caraway does not mention any of his dreams or ambitions, he just lives for the present. Source: The Theme and narrator Of The Great Gatsby – an essay by Thomas A. Hanna ; book: Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Great Gatsby – A collection of Critical Essays edited by Ernest Ledgering, Published by the Prentice Hall Trade in 1984, peg. 61-69) In conclusion in The Great Gatsby the pursuit of the American Dream is happen to be different for the various characters Of the novel. The main point according to the writer, Fitzgerald, is that no matter how hard you try to achieve your goal it is not always you, who win. And you can only win by ruining other people’s lives, or future.
