Detailed answer: “The Great Gatsby” is a novel by Francis Scott Fitzgerald published in 1925 . The plot tells the story of young Americans living in the West Egg and East Egg of upper-class Long Island.
The plot tells the story of young Americans living in the West Egg and East Egg of upper-class Long Island. Fitzgerald masterfully depicts the glamorous and roaring twenties, with their thirst for life and hedonistic pleasures. The main plotline of the novel tells the readers about a love story. A mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby tries to win back a married young lady Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby lives in a massive palace on the banks of the river and throws fancy parties there to impress Daisy. But her bonds with her husband are quite strong. At the same time, she knows he is cheating with Myrtle Wilson. By the way, there is an unexpected turn of events. At the end of the story, Daisy hits Myrtle, who doesn’t survive in a car accident.
Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, said this to his friend Nick Carraway in order to convince both himself and Nick that he could recapture Daisy Buchanan, his former love. However, some of Fitzgerald’s critics argue that, on a second level, Fitzgerald is asking this question of his own audience. Fitzgerald used his life as a frame for his own work, so some critics argue that he stays stuck in the past and writes from his own limited world view. I believe the argument that Fitzgerald simply transformed his life events into literature discredits the author and overlooks his development as a writer. In conclusion, I intend to review Fitzgerald’s works chronologically and use them to present evidence that Fitzgerald grew as an author over time.
Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, said this to his friend Nick Carraway in order to convince both himself and Nick that he could recapture Daisy Buchanan, his former love.
Fitzgerald has created a character obsessed with the idea of perfect reality in Jay Gatsby; the "perfect reality" being the achievement of the American Dream. Gatsby, who has managed to acquire sought out wealth and new money status through bootlegging is still not satisfied, as he yearns greatly for Daisy whom he believes is the key to the completion of his American Dream. Gatsby's desperation for Daisy and the American Dream is apparent when he stands with his "hands in still his pockets", "reclining against the mantlepiece in a strained counterfeit of perfect ease". The act of putting his hands in his pockets appears very collected and self-assured, as should the move of reclining against a mantelpiece; however Fitzgerald describes Gatsby's action as a "strained counterfeit of perfect ease", the words "strained" and "counterfeit" exposing how Gatsby is faking his cool to try and hide his nervousness. Gatsby's inability to stay calm during his encounter with Daisy represents his build up of anticipation for his ideal reality that he is so desperate to obtain. Gatsby's fixation for the American Dream is exemplified further when he catches the falling clock. The mantelpiece clock, which symbolizes Gatsby and Daisy's time spent together in the past, is "defunct" because they have not met since five years ago, thus time on the clock, as well as Gatsby's image of Daisy, has halted since they last met. Instead of letting the broken clock fall and break, Gatsby catches it, unable to let go of the broken past as he clings on to the no longer existing conception of Daisy, who he desperately needs it to be real for the sake of his American Dream. Despite all of Gatsby's efforts to achieve his American Dream, he is killed before he does, and with this pitiful conclusion Fitzgerald is critiquing not only the falsity of the American Dream, but also the futility of perfection that we humans so eagerly strive for. Gatsby dies chasing for this impossible notion of perfection — of perfect status, perfect family, and a perfect society where all honest effort is rewarded — otherwise known as the American Dream. However the very character who is supposed to represent the virtue of the American Dream is immoral; the very character who is supposed to represent the glamour of the American Dream is never content with his life. With this, Gatsby serves as Fitzgerald's reminder that ideals are not reality, that corruption will always exist, and that perfection is not what we should strive for.
Gatsby’s desperation is seen in chapter 6 where Gatsby meets Daisy. “In a strained counterfeit of perfect ease”, Gatsby is very nervous, meeting and talking to Daisy for the first time in a while. Gatsby then leans against a mantle piece, tipping a “defunct” “clock” off of it.
The clock symbolises Gatsby’s past about Daisy. Nick says that they “all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the floor” showing that they all thought that the ideal image of Daisy is broken in Gatsby. When he tips the clock, he “caught it with his trembling fingers, and set it back in place.”.
When Nick says to Gatsby that he “can’t repeat the past,” Gatsby “looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand,” and says he is “ going to fix everything just the way it was before.”.
Through Gatsby, the theme of society's obsession of perfection, success, and illusion as well as corruption is developed and Gatsby is a constant reminder to the reader that the American Dream and the ideals / expectations that surrounds the American Dream is unattainable and unrealistic. Reply.
It is shown in passage one that there is an old clock that had stopped at Gatsby’s house. The clock symbolises Gatsby’s past about Daisy. Nick says that they “all believed for a moment that it had smashed in pieces on the floor” showing that they all thought that the ideal image of Daisy is broken in Gatsby. When he tips the clock, he “caught it with his trembling fingers, and set it back in place.” This shows how Gatsby is wanting to protect his past: the image of an ideal life with Daisy. Passage two supports the idea of Gatsby relying about his past. When Nick says to Gatsby that he “can’t repeat the past,” Gatsby “looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand,” and says he is “going to fix everything just the way it was before.” Gatsby strongly denies that the past can not be repeated, as Gatsby is dreaming about his dream of his past, an ideal life with Daisy. The past lurking in the house shows why Gatsby is trying to protect everything that represents the past in his house, such as the old clock. The way he says fix shows that he is dreaming of the past, and thinks that the present is not “right”. This is because it is not like Gatsby’s ideal life, and he thinks that his ideal life is what Daisy will want too. This shows how Gatsby is an egoist, by showing that he is doing everything for his ideal life. This criticizes the idea of the American Dream as Gatsby is illegally making money for his own ideal, while the people in the Valley of Ashes are working hard legally for their family.
As in the chapter 6, Fitzgerald described Gatsby as ambitious and always move forwards and never give up easily. I feel like as Gatsby grew older he's lost those ambitions since he took the easier and immoral way to archive his American dream, since he kind of noticed that it will never happen, no matter how hard he's trying. (This is linking back to the chapter 3 about Vally of Ashes.) Anyways, I feel that James Gatz are more indicated and more committed to his goals and life more than Jay Gatsby. ""