The Great Gatsby Essay Example

The Great Gatsby Essay Example The Great Gatsby Essay The Great Gatsby Essay Essay Topic: The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby Is the story of Jay Gatsby narrated by Nick Caraway, the neighbor. The story shows deferent themes throughout the movie Like greed, power betrayal and Justice. It also shows a vivid peek of the American life In the sass. The lives of the characters revolve around the mysterious Gatsby which give the story an unexpected outcome. The only thing known at the beginner of the film about the mysterious Gatsby was that he had an extraordinary gift for hope. The hope being related to love, Just like a lot of other films it was intriguing to see how it involved the rest of the characters. Gatsby believed that if he was able to obtain what he wanted so badly, he would live happily ever after. Having the power would help him achieve such thing, with the surprisingly help of guy named Nick Caraway. He happened to be Gatsby neighbor and just like many people in the city of New York he was curious to see the great and famous Gatsby. Nick had moved to New York City to learn the bond business. Honest, reserve and willing to listen to whoever needed It. Having his house next to the enormous mansion of Gatsby made him wonder, what he was like, what he did and why so much extravagant parties. Surprisingly he received an Invitation to a Gatsby party where their friendship started and he happened to be the best helper to keep that gift of hope in order to reach his goal. The goal had a name Daisy Buchanan who was Nicks cousin. The work contains innumerous references to the fast-paced immoral lifestyles that the population were leading during the period the novel was set, the roaring 20s. The book also shows us a view on the American Society of the time. It shows us the failure of the American dream. The idea that American political idealisms strove to allow equality between everyone is crushed, the truth was actually a lot different. Social and ethnic discrimination was widespread and divisions between the classes were evident. Fitzgerald comments on the morality of the period in the characters within the story. He shows us characters from both sides of the social divide. In Myrtle, he portrays a woman, trapped in the valley of the ashes (Pg 29), which is socially nowhere. Although she is married to George, a hard-working man who desperately wants to be closer to his wife, she completely forgets her moral obligation to her him and enters into an affair with Tom Buchanan, in an attempt to break free from her social class. In this futile attempt to better herself socially, she only ends up becoming vulgar and corrupt, inheriting the immoral traits of Tom. As a result, she starts to shun members of her own society and belittles them, in doing so she loses all sense of self-respect. This is evident at the party in chapter two. The living room was crowded to the doors with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it, so that to move about was to stumble continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the garden of Versailles. (Pg 35) Here we are shown that although Myrtles apartment is clearly small her choice of furniture to occupy it is opulent and clearly over done. At the party Myrtle changes her attire, and as a result her character changes, with the influence of the dress, her personality had also undergone a change. (Pg 36) When Mrs. McKee compliments her on the dress, her response is disdainful and belittling. She says Its just a crazy old thing (Pg 37), I just slip it on when I dont care what I look like (Pg 37),. Here we can see how Myrtle is offhanded with Mrs. McKee. Myrtle also makes clear her greed when she announces a fanciful shopping list, she is apparently incapable of having real feelings of her own, so she relies on things to express emotion. It is clear that Myrtles attempts to climb the social ladder and become a member of the Buchanans class will never be accepted, they will evidently will never let her in, but she is too blinkered by her ambitions to live a glamorous glitzy lifestyle to realise. Another reflection on the immoralities of the period is how Gatsby makes his money. We discover that, through his dealings with Dan Cody, he has made his fortune by illegal sale of alcohol. As Gatsbys wealth grew he moved to New York. His house is located in West Egg. The house is described as a rather artificial place, it was a factual imitation of some Hotel De Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool Pg 11. Here we see how wealth is used to provide an artificial fai ade to Gatsbys life.