Examine the ways in which The Great Gatsby explores the corruptive effects of wealth.
Examine the ways in which The Great Gatsby explores the corruptive effects of wealth. The Great Gatsby was set in the 1920s and in this time wealth was spread all over America, particularly in New York, and in F. Scott Fitzgerald's fictional villages of the East and West Egg, where The Great Gatsby was set. In America many people had made their money by themselves without the help of an inheritance. Wealth was displayed in the type of car you drove, to the size and position of your house, and this idea that each person, no matter what their background, could succeed, was known as the 'American Dream'. This occurred because unlike England where there was a clearly defined class system, in which people remained within their class level, in America a poor person born into poverty could by whatever means, become a wealthy person, mixing in society with other wealthy people. This is no more evident than in F. Scott Fitzgerald's character Jay Gatsby. However, such wealth often attracted jealousy, and in turn, corruptive behaviour. In the 1920s, America was a financial goldmine with many individuals making huge sums of money. Post-World War One, many women entered the workforce, and factory production methods improved, creating a significant boost to America's economy. More often than not, however, some of the money that people made was earned through corruptive methods. Two
HOW DOES FITZGERALD TELL THE STORY IN CHAPTER 1 OF THE GREAT GATSBY?
"HOW DOES FITZGERALD TELL THE STORY IN CHAPTER 1 OF 'THE GREAT GATSBY'?" The opening chapter of any novel is fundamental in setting the tone for that which follows it: Fitzgerald therefore ensures that the first chapter of the 'The Great Gatsby' firmly imprints certain key themes into the mind of the reader, using a variety of devices to do so. The very first thing that Fitzgerald makes clear to the reader is the perspective from which the novel will be presented. From the first sentence, it is plain that there is a first person narrator, meaning that the narration will opinionated and cannot be taken as fact. The narrator is a man called Nick Carraway, and the first thing the reader learns about him is something which his father told him when he was younger, which he has been "turning over in (his) mind ever since" (i.e. something essential to our understanding of his views and actions: a core part of his psyche). This turns out be his father telling him that "all the people in the world haven't had the advantages that (he has) had". As a consequence of this advice, Nick tells is, he has always been "inclined to reserve all judgements", showing the reader that he will not tend to present his views on a person before he has had a chance to learn more about them. This appears to make him an ideal narrator for a story, because all of his views will be given after
Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 1
Fitzgerald uses a first-person retrospective narrator in Nick to allow the employment of a partially-involved story combined with his reflective perceptions on situations. Fitzgerald builds Nick's perceptions as fickle, having him claim 'I'm inclined to reserve all judgements' yet quickly contradicts this trait as he tells 'the intimate revelations of young men' are 'marred by obvious suppressions'. By Fitzgerald doing this, the audience are given an immediate opinion on Nick, realising he is likely to be inconsistent and an unreliable narrator. Fitzgerald highlights this by his ambivalence towards Gatsby, having him claim 'there was something gorgeous about him' yet describing his 'unaffected scorn' towards him. Fitzgerald also makes it clear Nick is a self-conscious story teller, telling himself 'after boasting this way of my tolerance' to allow the basis of Nick's reliability to be questioned throughout the novel. Fitzgerald has Nick go over what he is written to make it seem obvious that he is selecting events and words, such as claiming Gatsby 'had vanished' to make the chapter seem more dramatic. As the reader currently knows little about Gatsby's character, Nick's unexpected description of his disappearance at the end makes Gatsby seem more gripping, building the reader's anticipation of his entrance. Therefore, any of the events throughout the chapter are to be
The Great Gatsby - In your opinion how effective is Fitzgerald in evoking the 'ironies and disorders' and the 'wonderful glow' of the Twenties?
Deniz Besim 13 SNC 'The Great Gatsby offers the most profound and critical summing up we have of the ironies and disorders behind the wonderful glow of the Twenties' (Malcolm Bradbury). In your opinion how effective is Fitzgerald in evoking the 'ironies and disorders' and the 'wonderful glow' of the Twenties? Fitzgerald establishes from the first chapter that having returned from 'the East,' Nick Carraway wants 'the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever' (pg 8). This is ironic for it is essentially this 'uniform[ity]' and 'moral attention' that the characters of the novel and which the society they represent lack. Fitzgerald presents how it is primarily these deficiencies, which create the ironies and disorders behind the beautiful yet superficial glow of America in the Twenties which he depicts both through his characters and through what they narrate to us. In fact by focusing on characters that belong to the high class dominating society of America in the Twenties, Fitzgerald targets the heart of both what represents Americas 'wonderful glow' and the dysfunctions operating behind it, which Fitzgerald effectively sums up through Nick's accounts. It is significant in fact that Nick's accounts are dedicated to Gatsby who Lionel Trilling has concluded 'comes inevitably to stand for America itself' for not only is it through him and his parties
Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in Chapter 7
Fitzgerald uses a semantic field of references to heat to build the tension at the start of the chapter. Fitzgerald has Nick claim 'the next day was broiling' whilst saying it was 'the warmest' of the summer. Fitzgerald has Nick use the superlative to suggest that the events in the chapter will be significant as those around Nick 'perspired' and 'simmered', The build up of tension allows the chapter to contribute to the novel's form as an American Tragedy, with the build up of heat preparing the reader for Gatsby's seemingly inevitable downfall. This tension is displayed by Fitzgerald through the use of Nick's commentary on various pieces of speech, telling Tom's 'temper cracked a little' and telling how the butler 'roared'. Fitzgerald uses this technique to make it clear to the reader that the chapter is significant in creating Gatsby's tragedy, with the day being 'too hot' causing 'trembling' between the characters. Fitzgerald also chooses not to place any of Gatsby's history in the chapter, unlike previous chapters before it, to show the significance of the current events in shaping Gatsby's future due to the murder of Myrtle. Fitzgerald uses the voice of Michaelis to describe Myrtle's death, allowing a blunt description without emotion. Before Michaelis' account, Fitzgerald has Nick use a prolepsis claiming 'so we drove on toward death'. This makes it clear to the reader
Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby,
Simon Everett Task A -Examine the relationships between the narrator of each novel and the character who so fascinates them in each case. Over the last fifty years, since the release of On The Road in 1957, it has not been uncommon for critics to draw parallels between Kerouac's semi-autobiographical novel and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, released thirty-two years previously. It is for certain that both the novels share many similar traits, both examine concepts of American ideals and The American Dream, both are heavily influenced by the jazz age of the time, but nothing binds the novels closer to one another than the authors' use of the first person narrative and that narrators relationship with their leading character. It is perhaps the most common reading to see both Jay Gatsby and Dean Moriarty awarded iconic status by their corresponding narrators. The connotations concerning the epithet found in the very centre of Fitzgerald's title alone can bring an image to the reader's mind of one of history's great leaders, putting Gatsby in league with characters such as Alexander the Great, Catherine the Great, Peter the Great and Frederick the Great. It would seem obvious from the title that Gatsby is one beheld with admiration and respect by the narrator. The relationship between Kerouac's Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty is often viewed in much the same light. The
Death of the American Dream
Death of the American Dream In Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, all the characters are, in one way or another, attempting to achieve a state of happiness in their lives. The main characters are divided into two groups: the rich upper class and the poorer lower class, which struggles to attain a higher position. Though the major players seek only to change their lives for the better, the idealism and spiritualism of the American Dream is eventually crushed beneath the harsh reality of life, leaving their lives without any meaning or purpose. Tom and Daisy Buchanan, the rich socialite couple, seem to have everything they could possibly desire; however, though their lives are full of material possessions, they are unsatisfied and seek to change their circumstances. Tom, the arrogant ex-football player, drifts on "forever seeking a little wistfully for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game"(Fitzgerald pg. 10) and reads "deep books with long words in them"(pg. 17) in order to have something to talk about. Though he appears happily married to Daisy, Tom has an affair with Myrtle Wilson and keeps an apartment with her in New York. Tom's basic nature of unrest prevents him from being satisfied with the life he
Was Gatsby Great
How Great is Gatsby? The title of the novel, 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is ironic as the heading's character is neither 'great' nor named Gatsby. He is a criminal who has altered his harsh surname of Gatz to the melodic Gatsby and the life he has created for himself is an illusion. The book's name is the first feature that appeals to the reader. Before even opening the book the person expects Gatsby to be great. The caption, 'The Great Gatsby', itself suggests a theatrical billing given to an artist. It could also symbolise the act of Gatsby's life in the novel. Fitzgerald presents Gatsby as living a luxurious life, with plenty of friends, no worries and an honest man. Yet by the end of the novel his whole illusion unravels and the reader discovers that he has many problems, he is dishonest and has no true friends. One of the ways in which Gatsby is 'great' is the fact that he is extremely wealthy and owns many material items such as a yellow station wagon and a "Rolls-Royce". Fitzgerald uses descriptive words such as "hulking patent cabinets', "massed suits" and "shirts pilled up like bricks in stacks a dozen high" to emphasise Gatsby's luxurious lifestyle. Furthermore, to encapsulate his wealth Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby in royal, rich colours like "Indian blue" and "apple green and lavender." Materialism is important to Gatsby as he sees it as the only
Symbolism in the Great Gatsby
Symbolism in The "Great Gatsby" The critic Harold Bloom once wrote, "Never has symbolism played such a crucial part in the very foundation of a novel as it does in Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby." Essentially the great gatsby appears to be a novel depicting the doomed romance between a man and a woman. However, the main theme of the novel is a completely un-romantic one. Although the novel only takes place over several months, and only in New York, it serves as a microcosm for the 'Jazz Age' of America, and of the famous American Dream. Fitzgerald illustrates this time as being one of moral deprivation ( Tom Buchanan's racism), as well as a decay in social values, as the characters actions are powered by greed, and the empty pursuit of pleasure ( the promiscuity of Tom, Daisy and Myrtle). This sort of behaviour was typical of the 1920's and because of this behaviour ,parties- not dissimiliar to the opulent parties hosted by none other than 'The Great Gatsby'- were in abundance in this time. These parties were a corruption of 'The American Dream' because 'The Dream' was no longer about achieving a better life than your parents, however in the eyes of money americans 'better' translated to 'richer', so the thirst for money depicted in the novel, is symbolic for the attitudes of both men and women in 1920's America. Nick explains in chapter 9, that the
Discuss the effectiveness of the opening chapter of Fitzgerald’s ‘the Great Gatsby’.
DISCUSS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE OPENING CHAPTEROF FITZGERALD'S 'THE GREAT GATSBY' In order to discuss the effectiveness of an opening chapter it is first necessary to outline what defines an effective first chapter. Undoubtedly it is essential that we be given a 'feel' for the book, a clear sense of the writers' style. Moreover it is within this section we would expect to be introduced to the main characters of the novel and hints as to what may happen next. Finally it is equally important the author describes the setting; both of the physical surroundings and references that allow us to place the text in terms of time and place. In the first chapter Fitzgerald sets up a first person narrator, Nick Carraway, who is omniscient due to his seemingly non-judgmental nature. Within the opening paragraph Carraway informs us he is "inclined to reserve all judgments" and as a result is "privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men". Consequently we are able to witness interesting revelations as Nick "opens up many curious natures" which enhances the effectiveness of the opening chapter. Some admissions add to our enjoyment of the book for example Daisy tells a humorous, anecdotal "family secret...about the butler's nose". Other disclosures expose more of the characters. This is evident when Miss Baker "hesitantly" tells Carraway of Tom's affair. However some may
