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What makes The Great Gatsby great?

They called him an "ultra-modernist" and dismissed his books as overrated and forgettable, just "so much unnecessary evanescence travelling first class". When his third novel was published, on 10 April 1925, a characteristic review complained: "The boy is simply puttering around. It is all right as a diversion for him, probably … But why he should be called an author, or why any of us should behave as if he were, has never been satisfactorily explained to me." At the last minute, he had asked his editor if they could change the new novel's title to Under the Red, White and Blue , but it was too late. F Scott Fitzgerald's ultra-modernist novel about jazz-age America would be called The Great Gatsby , and one anonymous reviewer spoke for most of its first readers in describing it as "one of the thousands of modern novels which must be approached with the point of view of the average tired person toward the movie-around-the-corner, a deadened intellect, a thankful resigning of the attention, and an aftermath of wonder that such things are produced".

The Great Gatsby would indeed create an aftermath of wonder – in ways that its initial audience could not have imagined. Almost 90 years later, Gatsby is regularly named one of the greatest novels ever written in English, and has annually sold millions of copies globally. This slim novel of fewer than 50,000 words, a story of secret visions and gaudy revels, of sudden violence and constant envy, shimmers with a magic that readers have long recognised. But over the past two years, both The Great Gatsby and its author have been seeing a marked resurgence of interest. In the last 12 months in Britain alone, there have been stage versions at Wilton's Music Hall and the King's Head theatre in London, the eight-hour reading, Gatz , was staged by the American Elevator Repair Company last year to rave reviews, and the Northern Ballet's dance adaptation will open soon at Sadler's Wells. Some of Fitzgerald's long-overlooked poems, letters and stories are suddenly being published and are circulating online. Several new books are in the works, one about The Great Gatsby 's enduring appeal, and two about Fitzgerald's time in Hollywood, while my own book, which traces the genesis of The Great Gatsby , is about to be published. Gatsby has been thoroughly inspected and crawled over, lifted up and shaken out for every last detail it can surrender to its fascinated readers, but this remarkable novel has some surprises left.

Meanwhile Scott's wife, Zelda, often called the original flapper, has been enjoying her own renaissance, with a play last year at Trafalgar Studios about her life, and several books about her life coming out this year. When iconic figures re-emerge into the spotlight, you can bet that merchandising will soon follow: we are surrounded by haute couture and high street "Gatsby" dresses, speakeasies and prohibition cocktails, beads and headdresses, Gatsby clutches and iPhone covers, 1920s jazz standards and Charleston lessons.

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All this, and Baz Luhrmann, too: Luhrmann's new film version of The Great Gatsby , which will open the Cannes film festival before Charlestoning its way around the world, is released this month. Leonardo DiCaprio will play the hopeful hero with a shady past, and Carey Mulligan is Daisy, the shallow woman he adores. Joel Edgerton is very well cast as Daisy's husband, the bullying Tom Buchanan, while Tobey Maguire must create a character from the voice of the elusive, self-effacing Nick Carraway, the novel's narrator, which is probably the trickiest aspect of dramatising The Great Gatsby , harder even than bringing the magnetic, paradoxical, chimerical Jay Gatsby to life.

Gatsby has been filmed four times to date, but it has been nearly 40 years since the last big-screen adaptation, Jack Clayton's 1974 version , with a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby. It was the first version to be filmed in colour. Luhrmann's taste for extravaganza seems to most people to suit Gatsby perfectly, although it is in fact a far more tightly controlled novel than it seems, and Luhrmann is not known for his restraint.

Previews suggest a film of decadent, epicurean extravagance and debauchery. Its reputation for revelries aside, Fitzgerald's novel in fact features just three parties, and only one of these offers paeans to its own splendours. The first party is the sordid little gathering in the flat of Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchanan's mistress, when Tom breaks Myrtle's nose for merely mentioning his wife Daisy's name. The third and final party is at Gatsby's mansion, but Fitzgerald uses it to shift the story's mood definitively from enchantment to disenchantment: Daisy and Tom attend, and their contempt for Gatsby's world exposes its tawdriness, its tinsel wrappings. Only the second party, with Nick as lyrical witness to its glories, features the magical prose that lingers in readers' minds – the girls floating among the whisperings and the moths and the champagne, yellow cocktail music rising over the blue gardens, the opera of voices pitching a key higher — and even that party has little of the saturnalia that seems to characterise Luhrmann's vision.

Although colour is central to the novel, the first surviving film version is a black-and-white noir thriller from 1949 starring Alan Ladd. In true Hollywood mid-century style, the film grows deeply uncomfortable with the reprehensible behaviour of its characters and forces them all to repent at story's end; the final moments of the film bring a cascade of changes of heart. Even Tom feels contrite and tries to save Gatsby, while Gatsby delivers a remarkably incoherent speech about saving young men like him from older men like him ("What's going to happen to kids like Jimmy Gatz if guys like me don't tell them we're wrong?"). Twenty years before the noir Gatsby was the first cinematic version, a silent film from 1926 that has been lost, although the academic Anne Margaret Daniel recently revealed in the Huffington Post that a letter in the Fitzgerald archives shows that Scott and Zelda attended a screening of the film in 1927: Zelda wrote to their daughter that it was "ROTTEN and awful and terrible and we left."

Whether Fitzgerald would have enjoyed any of the subsequent stage and film versions any better is open to some question. Gatsby is about the superiority of imagination over reality, which makes it very difficult to dramatise well. It is a novel of layered projections: Gatsby projects his fantasies on to Daisy, and we can't be certain whether Nick is projecting his fantasies on to Gatsby, or is instead the only person to see past Gatsby's facade to the grandeur of the real man.

Among the dismissive early reviews of the novel was one by the influential critic HL Mencken, who called Gatsby little more than "a glorified anecdote" . Understandably frustrated at the general failure of critical acumen all around him, Fitzgerald wrote to his friend Edmund Wilson : "Without making any invidious comparisons between Class A. and Class C., if my novel is an anecdote so is The Brothers Karamazov … Of all the reviews, even the most enthusiastic, not one had the slightest idea what the book was about." He might well have said the same thing about the dramatic versions to come, which some of us would argue move ever further away from what the novel is about, and toward our myths about it. But, beyond question, Fitzgerald would have been delighted at the adulation his masterpiece has long inspired.

When he composed The Great Gatsby , Fitzgerald was one of the most successful writers of his era, among the decade's highest-paid writers of magazine fiction. He had been young, brash, ambitious; when he became his own success story he won Alabama belle Zelda Sayre and the pair rapidly became legendary for their revels, incarnating the "flappers and philosophers" who populated the jazz age – the name Fitzgerald himself bestowed upon the era he and Zelda still embody.

But Fitzgerald also had serious artistic ambitions, and when he began The Great Gatsby he set out to write "a consciously artistic achievement". "I want to write something new ," he told his editor, Max Perkins, in the summer of 1922 , "something extraordinary and beautiful and simple & intricately patterned"; later he added that his new novel must have "the very best I am capable of in it or even as I feel sometimes, something better than I am capable of". From beginning to end this is a story about capability, about our reach exceeding our grasp.

Redford and Farrow in The Great Gatsby - 1974

What made Gatsby emphatically "new" was not its focus upon modern life, however: Fitzgerald had written of nothing else since the start of his career. Since the appearance of his first novel, This Side of Paradise , readers had been shocked at his revelations about the younger generation, the gin-swilling, party-hopping, table-dancing young men and women who shot craps and danced to the déclassé rhythms of jazz. And one of the reasons that most of its early readers couldn't see Gatsby 's greatness was because it, too, seemed merely to report on their modern world.

What they couldn't yet appreciate was that this insider's guide to the enchantments of the jazz age was also an uncanny glimpse into the world to come. To take just one example, in The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald wrote one of the most glamorous novels in history, which has itself become a kind of glittering celebrity novel. But it also demolishes the workings of celebrity, parsing the way that gossip becomes currency in the fame business, rumour a gauge of spurious greatness. Today, more often than not any artistic work itself is subordinated to the "vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty" that is celebrity culture, but Gatsby 's pleasures transcend the pleasure-seeking world that it indicted.

It was a world few understood better than the Fitzgeralds. When the 20s started to roar, Scott and Zelda grabbed a drink and jumped into the centre of the stage, where they stayed until 1930, when the centrifugal force of their lives suddenly sent them both reeling into extremity. Until then, the Fitzgeralds were the life and soul of the prohibition party, and he was its greatest chronicler.

"There seemed little doubt about what was going to happen," Fitzgerald wrote later. "America was going on the greatest, gaudiest spree in history." By the early 1920s, he could already sense that "the whole golden boom was in the air – its splendid generosities, its outrageous corruptions and the tortuous death struggle of the old America in prohibition". As the spree kicked off, Fitzgerald found that "a fresh picture of life in America began to form before my eyes". By 1924, he was painting an indelible picture of that new life, setting his new novel in 1922 (just after the "general decision to be amused that began with the cocktail parties of 1921"), in order to tell of "a whole race going hedonistic, deciding on pleasure".

The party had begun, and all of America was invited. Wealth remained a social barrier, but it was no longer impenetrable. Speakeasies were breaking down old social barriers by creating spaces where the upper crust rubbed shoulders with the lower orders. At the same time, the new money from bootlegging and its related enterprises, and from an almost totally unregulated stock market, enabled the rapid rise of energetic men – and some women – prepared to break a law or two: and the riches to be gained soon enticed the well-educated into joining the fray. Corruption was rife, law-breaking suddenly a way of life. But even amid the boom, poverty lingered: in the underground economy of bootleggers, hustlers, gangsters, prostitutes, pimps and cocaine dealers, and in the legitimate service economy of chauffeurs and taxi drivers, bellboys and chambermaids, immigrants from Europe, or black migrant workers from the south, driven into the great migration north, and ending up in Harlem. Nightclubs sprang up where they played jazz and drank gin and danced the Charleston and the Black Bottom.

Fitzgerald understood early that the party couldn't last for ever. "It was borrowed time anyhow – the whole upper tenth of a nation living with the insouciance of grand dukes and the casualness of chorus girls." Less than five years after Gatsby was published, the market would crash, and the Great Depression fell like a curtain over the festivities. Fitzgerald began to reflect on the age he had come to epitomise in a series of great essays – "My Lost City," "Echoes of the Jazz Age," "Early Success," and the largely forgotten "My Generation" – and stories, including the haunting "Babylon Revisited".

The jazz age may have ended, but the age of advertisement had begun, and in Gatsby Fitzgerald wrote one of the earliest indictments of a nation in thrall to the false gods of the marketplace. Nearly a century later, his cautionary tale has returned to haunt us, warning again of the perils of boom and bust, holding a mirror up to our tarnished world. Fitzgerald's hero, the poor farm boy named Jimmy Gatz who reinvents himself as Jay Gatsby, who "sprang from a Platonic conception of himself", epitomises the self-made man. But Gatsby is also unmade by his faith in America's myths and lies: that meritocracy is real, that you can make yourself into whatever you want to be, that with money, anything is possible. (The historical irony is that Gatsby is destroyed because in his world money did not make everything possible – but in our world it increasingly does. Today the illusion of Jay Gatsby would not have shattered like glass against Tom Buchanan's "hard malice": Gatsby's money would have insulated him and guaranteed triumph – an outcome that Fitzgerald would have deplored more than anyone.) Attempting to pass himself off as a patrician, Gatsby tries too hard, his every gesture and word a dead giveaway to the people around him. Tom Buchanan doesn't believe that Gatsby went to Oxford because he wears a lurid pink suit. The marginal character Owl-Eyes, who has been drunk for a week, can see clearly that Gatsby is putting on a show. Gatsby is not merely a fake, he is an obvious fake.

But the novel works in the opposite direction. Its performance is almost perfect: an apparently insouciant ease belies the intensely clever, dynamic writing and carefully limited perspective. It is a novel of ellipses: to understand it well, we must learn to read between the lines, as Gatsby fails to do. The gilded, art deco opera of Fitzgerald's language is extremely risky, always in danger of becoming as kitschy as Gatsby's pink suit. Once or twice Fitzgerald's command does slip: when he is reunited with Daisy, for example, Gatsby is delighted to discover "twinkle-bells of sunshine in the room", and when he falls in lovewith her he wants to "suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder". Sometimes even a classic falls short of our dreams – frankly, the less said about twinkle-bells of sunshine and breastfeeding wonder, the better. But for the most part Fitzgerald's prose is a kind of experiment in restrained extravagance.

Just as the style is nearly paradoxical in its ability to cut both ways, so are the novel's meanings. It is a celebration of intemperance, and a condemnation of its destructiveness. It is about trying to recapture our fleeting joys, about the fugitive nature of delight. It is a tribute to possibility, and a dirge about disappointment. It is a book in which the glory of imagination smacks into the grimness of real life. As Fitzgerald's editor Max Perkins wrote in 1925: it is "a story that ranges from pure lyrical beauty to sheer brutal realism". The hard facts of power and economics play out against the mythological promises of fantasy and ideology. Gatsby learns the hard way that being found out is inevitable, escape from his past impossible; but Nick beats a retreat back home, escaping back into his own nostalgic past. We find ourselves surveying the waste and wreckage after the party ends, but ready to carouse some more.

Gatsby is a fable about betrayal – of others, and of our own ideals. The concept that a New World in America is even possible, that it won't simply reproduce the follies and vices of the Old World, is already an illusion, a paradise lost before it has even been conceived. By the time Gatsby tries to force that world to fulfil its promise, the dream is long gone. But that doesn't stop him from chasing "the green light" of wealth and status, the dangled promise of power that can only create a corrupt plutocracy shored up by vast social inequality.

If that sounds familiar, it should: our gilded age bears a marked resemblance to Fitzgerald's. It has become a truism that Fitzgerald was dazzled by wealth, but the charge infuriated him: "Riches have never fascinated me, unless combined with the greatest charm or distinction," he insisted, adding later, "I have never been able to forgive the rich for being rich, and it has colored my entire life and works". He wasn't in thrall to wealth, but making a study of how it was corrupting the country he loved. "Like so many Americans," Fitzgerald wrote in his 1927 story "Jacob's Ladder" , "he valued things rather than cared about them."

The materialistic world of Gatsby is defined by social politics in a metropolitan America. It is a story of class warfare in a nation that denies it even has a class system, in which the game is eternally rigged for the rich to win. As the eminent critic Lionel Trilling observed in 1951: "Fitzgerald, more than anyone else of his time, realised the rigorousness of the systems of prestige that lie beneath the American social fluidity." In fact, as a young man Fitzgerald described himself as a socialist, and in the 1930s, like almost all writers of his era, he became interested in communism (although he was soon unimpressed). And it is certainly true that if Fitzgerald was a socialist, he was the original champagne socialist.

He was so far ahead of his time that we are only just catching up with him. Fitzgerald even recognised our obsession with youth, writing in 1934 of Nicole Diver in Tender is the Night : "she was enough ridden by the current youth worship, the moving pictures with their myriad faces of girl-children, blandly represented as carrying on the work and wisdom of the world, to feel a jealousy of youth." And he understood early that Americans try to liberate themselves from history, to float free from it, because part of the so-called American dream, bound up with fantasies of starting over, is the escape from time and mutability into a purely sybaritic present.

Gatsby is destroyed by the founding American myth: that the marketplace can be a religion, that the material can ever be ideal. At the beginning of the novel Fitzgerald writes of Gatsby's capacity for hope; at the end he writes of man's capacity for wonder. And the distance that the novel traverses is the defeat of that capacity, its surrender to our capacity for cynicism. All that enchantment withers up and blows away, skittering with the leaves across Gatsby's dusty lawn.

In the unforgettable closing passage of The Great Gatsby , Fitzgerald makes it clear that if his story is about America, it is also a universal tale of human aspiration. Nick Carraway wanders to the shore at the edge of the continent and imagines Dutch sailors seeing America for the first time: "Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder."

The trees are long gone, replaced by vulgar mansions and the wasteland of ash heaps next to which poor George and Myrtle Wilson live, "contiguous to absolutely nothing". What is left is what was always there – the imagination. But even this Fitzgerald undercuts: pandering, after all, is ministering to mere gratification. The idea that America panders to our fantasies is the precise opposite of the American dream. We are forever chasing the green light, a chimera, a false promise of self-empowerment in which we are desperate to believe. And yet although it is a lie, we can't survive without it, for we always need something commensurate to our capacity for wonder, even if it compels us into a contemplation we neither understand nor desire.

And so we falter forward, lost in the aftermath of wonder that follows The Great Gatsby .

F Scott Fitzgerald
Leonardo DiCaprio
Baz Luhrmann

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A Summary and Analysis of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The Great Gatsby is the quintessential Jazz Age novel, capturing a mood and a moment in American history in the 1920s, after the end of the First World War. Rather surprisingly, The Great Gatsby sold no more than 25,000 copies in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s lifetime. It has now sold over 25 million copies.

If Fitzgerald had stuck with one of the numerous working titles he considered for the novel, it might have been published as Trimalchio in West Egg (a nod to a comic novel from ancient Rome about a wealthy man who throws lavish parties), Under the Red, White and Blue , or even The High-Bouncing Lover (yes, really).

How did this novel come to be so widely acclaimed and studied, and what does it all mean? Before we proceed to an analysis of Fitzgerald’s novel, here’s a quick summary of the plot.

The Great Gatsby : plot summary

Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, is a young man who has come to New York to work on the stock exchange. He lives on the island of West Egg, where his neighbour is the wealthy Jay Gatsby, who owns a mansion.

One evening, Nick is dining with his neighbours from East Egg, Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Tom is having an affair, and goes to answer the phone at one point; Daisy follows him out of the room, and their fellow guest, a woman named Jordan Baker, explains to Nick about Tom’s mistress.

A short while after this, Nick is with Tom when Tom sets up a meeting with his mistress, Myrtle, the wife of a garage mechanic named Wilson. Nick attends a party with Tom and Myrtle; Tom hits his mistress when she mentions Daisy’s name.

In the summer, Gatsby throws a number of lavish parties at his mansion. He meets Jordan Baker again and the two are drawn to each other. Nobody seems to know the real Gatsby, or to be able to offer much reliable information about his identity. Who is he?

Gatsby befriends Nick and drives him to New York. Gatsby explains that he wants Nick to do him a favour: Jordan Baker tells him that Daisy was Gatsby’s first love and he is still in love with her: it’s the whole reason Gatsby moved to West Egg, so he could be near Daisy, even though she’s married to Tom. Gatsby wants Nick to invite both him and Daisy round for tea.

When they have tea together, Gatsby feels hopeful that he can recover his past life with Daisy before she was married. However, he knows that Daisy is unlikely to leave Tom for him. When she expresses a dislike for his noisy parties, he scales down his serving staff at his house and tones down the partying.

When they are all at lunch together, Tom realises that Daisy still loves Gatsby. Tom goads Gatsby as he realises he’s losing his mistress and, now, his wife. While staying together in a suite at the Plaza Hotel, Daisy tells Tom that she loves both men.

On their way back home, Gatsby’s car accidentally hits and kills Myrtle Wilson, Tom’s mistress, who has rushed out into the road after her husband found out about her affair. Tom finds her body and is distraught. Nick learns that Daisy, not Gatsby, was driving the car when Myrtle was killed.

Gatsby also tells Nick that he had built himself up from nothing: he was a poor man named James Gatz who made himself rich through the help of a corrupt millionaire named Dan Cody.

The next day, Nick finds Gatsby dead in his own swimming pool: Wilson, after his wife was killed by Gatsby’s car, turned up at Gatsby’s mansion to exact his revenge. Wilson’s body is nearby in the grass. The novel ends with Nick winding up Gatsby’s affairs and estate, before learning that Tom told Wilson where he could find Gatsby so he could take revenge.

The Great Gatsby : analysis

The Great Gatsby is the best-known novel of the Jazz Age, that period in American history that had its heyday in the 1920s. Parties, bootleg cocktails (it’s worth remembering that alcohol was illegal in the US at this time, under Prohibition between 1920 and 1933), and jazz music (of course) all characterised a time when Americans were gradually recovering from the First World War and the Spanish flu pandemic (1918-20).

One reason The Great Gatsby continues to invite close analysis is the clever way Fitzgerald casts his novel as neither out-and-out criticism of Jazz Age ‘values’ nor as an unequivocal endorsement of them. Gatsby’s parties may be a mere front, a way of coping with Daisy’s previous rejection of him and of trying to win her back, but Fitzgerald – and his sympathetic narrator, Nick Carraway – do not ridicule Gatsby’s behaviour as wholly shallow or vacuous.

Fitzgerald’s choice to have a first-person narrator, rather than a more detached and impersonal ‘omniscient’ third-person narrator, is also significant. Nick Carraway is closer to Gatsby than an impersonal narrator would be, yet the fact that Nick narrates Gatsby’s story, rather than Gatsby telling his own story, nevertheless provides Nick with some detachment, as well as a degree of innocence and ignorance over Gatsby’s identity and past.

Nick Carraway is both part of Gatsby’s world and yet also, at the same time, an observer from the side-lines, someone who is not rich and extravagant as many in Gatsby’s circle are, yet someone who is ushered into that world by an enthusiastic Jay Gatsby, who sees in Carraway a man in whom he can confide.

Nevertheless, Fitzgerald deftly sets the world of West Egg, with Gatsby’s mock-chateau and swimming pool, against the rather grittier and grimier reality for most Americans at the time. If Gatsby himself symbolises the American dream – he has made himself a success, absurdly wealthy with a huge house and a whole retinue of servants, having started out in poverty – then there are plenty of reminders in The Great Gatsby that ‘the American dream’ remains just that, a dream, for the majority of Americans:

About half way between West Egg and New York the motor-road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes – a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air.

This is the grey, bleak, industrial reality for millions of Americans: not for them is the world of parties, quasi-enchanted gardens full of cocktails and exotic foods, hydroplanes, and expensive motorcars.

Yet the two worlds are destined to meet on a personal level: the Valley of Ashes (believed to be modelled on Corona dump in Queens, New York, and inspired by T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land ) is where Wilson’s garage is located. The dual tragedy of Gatsby’s and Wilson’s deaths at the end of the novel symbolises the meeting of these two worlds.

The fact that Gatsby is innocent of the two crimes or sins which motivate Wilson – his wife’s adultery with Tom and Daisy’s killing of Myrtle with Gatsby’s car – hardly matters: it shows the subtle interconnectedness of these people’s lives, despite their socioeconomic differences.

What’s more, as Ian Ousby notes in his Introduction to Fifty American Novels (Reader’s Guides) , there is more than a touch of vulgarity about Gatsby’s lifestyle: his house is a poor imitation of a genuine French chateau, but he is no aristocrat; his car is ‘ridiculous’; and his very nickname, ‘the Great Gatsby’, makes him sound like a circus entertainer (perhaps a magician above all else, which is apt given the magical and enchanted way Carraway describes the atmosphere and detail at Gatsby’s parties).

And ultimately, Gatsby’s lavish lifestyle fails to deliver happiness to him, too: he doesn’t manage to win Daisy back to him, so at the same time Fitzgerald is not holding up Gatsby’s ‘success’ uncritically to us.

Is Gatsby black? Although he is known for having been played in film adaptations by Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio, and the novel does not state that Gatsby is an African American, the scholar Carlyle V. Thompson has suggested that certain clues or codes in the novel strongly hint at Gatsby being a black American who has had to make his own way in the world, rising from a poor socio-economic background, and not fully accepted by other people in his social circle because of racial discrimination.

Whether we accept or reject this theory, it is an intriguing idea that, although Fitzgerald does not support this theory in the novel, that may have been deliberate: to conceal Gatsby’s blackness but, as it were, hide it in plain sight.

In the last analysis, The Great Gatsby sums up the Jazz Age, but through offering a tragedy, Fitzgerald shows that the American dream is founded on ashes – both the industrial dirt and toil of millions of Americans for whom the dream will never materialise, and the ashes of dead love affairs which Gatsby, for all of his quasi-magical properties, will never bring fully back to life.

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10 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby”

I regret the several hours wasted in slogging through this low-prole distraction.

You might want to start with something like Dick and Jane.

One of my favorite novels. I have always loved this book. No matter how may times I read it, more is revealed.

The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite novels. Thank you for the detailed analysis! I can also add that Fitzgerald includes lots of symbols in the novel. To my mind, one of the most vivid symbols is a giant billboard with the face of Doctor TJ Eckleburg which is towering over the Valley of Ashes. These eyes are watching the dismal grey scene of poverty and decay. I guess the billboard symbolizes the eyes of God staring at the Americans and judging them. In case seomeone is interested in symbols in The Great Gatsby, there is a nice article about it. Here: https://custom-writing.org/blog/symbols-in-the-great-gatsby

While I could imagine and accept a modern film version of Gatsby as black, I really can’t espouse the notion that Fitzgerald had that in mind. If you know anything about American society in the 1920s, you’d know that you didn’t have to be black or of some other minority to be outside the winner’s circle. US society may still have tons of problems accepting that all people are created equal, but back then, they weren’t even thinking about blacks et al very much. They were quite happy to ostracize Italians, Irish, Catholics, etc, without batting an eye.

This is such a widely misunderstood book, by scholars as well as regulars.

Daisy was the victim of love. She would’ve married Jay while he was in the army. Also, Jay’s so-called symbolic “reaching” is nothing more than him trying to understand self love, to attain it, to unravel the “mystery! ” of it. But he never realizes he’s totally in love with himself, which is his biggest issue other than preying on Daisy’s real love.

And Nick ” Carraway” …. Care-a-way, care-a-way… What self-appointed moral man witnesses nakedly two married plotters sceam against a neighbor they like, or any person in serious need of legal, emotion aid, AND DOES NOTHING. Yeah, care a way, Nick, just not your way! And Come On!! who the hell doesn’t judge others….that’s the ENTIRE POINT OF EVERY BOOK AND LIFE.

WHAT preyed on Gatsby preys upon every person everywhere. Influences of life and choices we make because if them. Gatsby’s such an interesting, centralized , beloved character because he represents everyone’s apparent embracement of the childhood notion, ” we can have it all and make our own consequences, and if not, let’s see if I can manipulate time successfully. Gatsby’s us the full human demonstration of self love at all costs and quite deliberately finding a way disguise and masquerade and mutate and thus deny this very fact while simultaneously trying to make it MAGICAL AND MYSTICAL.

ARTISTS, from geniuses to so-called laypeople, are all simple people with very basic emotions. That’s where ALL starts. They are not Gods, nor do they desire misunderstanding. Frankly, they just wanna see if you have any common sense. Once you get passed that, all literature resembles EVERY aspect of life.

A terrific novel and not bad adaptation as a movie by DiCaprio, I thought! While some of the comments on here are a little excessive, there is much to be said for the symbolism in the book. I rather like the fact that ‘West Egg’ and ‘East Egg’ surely hints at questioning who is the ‘good egg’ and who is ‘the bad egg’. The place names are so unusual that this must be deliberate (‘bad egg’ has been around since at least 1855) and we’re left to wonder just what is good and bad here. No character comes out smelling of roses in this story, which – for me – makes the novel utterly compelling.

Well said, Ken. It’s the subtlety of the characterisation which makes it for me – I know a lot of critics and readers praise the prose style, but I think it’s the way Fitzgerald uses Carraway’s narration to reveal the multifaceted (and complex) nature of Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and even himself that is so masterly. I’ve just finished analysing the opening paragraphs of the novel and will post that up soon!

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Why Is The Great Gatsby A Great Read? A Detailed Analysis of the Book

If you need a book to spark an informative discussion during your book clubs, you could try out The Great Gatsby. It is such an interesting read. The plot-line is so fascinating, however, with great attention being placed on each character. It, in turn, piques the reader’s interests and leaves them thirsting for more.

Reading a book takes time, and you might want to know beforehand if it will be a good read for you or not. For this, there are so many essays on The Great Gatsby that can give you analysis report on what the book is about. These essay examples would give you detailed analysis on The Great Gatsby, explain the plot, each character and cast, and their part in the entire storyline.

Beginning/Foreword

The Great Gatsby, written by F.Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and the continuous pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a woman who he loved during his youth. Although the main plot is simplified, it encapsulates thought-provoking themes ranging from appearance vs. reality, social inequality, and yearning to relive the past. For these few reasons, respective of the date of publication and era, The Great Gatsby remains relevant in our society.

The Great Gatsby was written during the age of Jazz or the Roaring Twenties. The classical story vividly portrays post-war America, jazz music, free-flowing illegal liquor, and most importantly, the pessimistic examination of the American Dream. Although it did not sell many copies during the first publication, it could be perfectly described as a massive flop.

However, it was revived during World War II. It became one of the books selected to be shipped to the American soldiers during the war. By 1945, 155,000 copies had been shipped to the American soldiers.

This is because the story motivated and resonated with the young men fighting during World War II. Due to the massive audience and lovers of the books, it garnered the attention of literary critics. Not long after this breakthrough, The Great Gatsby was referred to as a classical story and accepted into the literary canon, with several documentaries and free essays and analysis showing a perfect retelling of the plot. Over the years, professors and literary critics have also given analysis of The Great Gatsby from different perspectives.

It Is One Of The Most Popular American Stories

Having explained the breakthrough and boundaries surpassed by The Great Gatsby, there is no doubt that it is one of the most popular American stories, irrespective of the era and date of publication. There are certain reasons why the book and essay appeal to young readers hence making it a good American story. The novel captures the essence of the American Dream.

Everyone loves a good self-success story ; imagine the story of Mark Zuckerberg. Stories like this give hope and education to the younger generation because somehow, they love to believe all dreams are attainable. Basically, “if you work hard enough, you can succeed.” However, it also deconstructs the ideology through the demise of Jay Gatsby. Also, it portrays the romance of the 20th century and shows the importance of power, how corrupted and useful it could be.

Remains Relevant

Apart from being a great American story, it still retains its relevance as a modernist novel. Many literary critics and university professors often wonder why it has never lost its essence over the years. Due to the depth of ideas and wisdom embedded in the book, there is always a new perspective or angle whenever critiqued or taught.

Story About Crazy Love

An alluring point about The Great Gatsby book is the idea of love. From the simplified plot, one could imagine that love revolves around Jay Gatsby trying to win over the girl of his dreams. While, on the surface, the love Jay Gatsby had for Daisy Buchanan could be described as an obsession, something somewhat impure. Regardless of the wealth and riches made through gambling and bootlegging, his life still has dissatisfaction.

The author uses Daisy to represent the past; by portraying Daisy as Jay’s love interest, a woman he could not get before, we observe the same optimistic view towards life.

Irrespective of her being married, he still views her as an object, hoping that he can get the girl if he tries hard enough. This belief guarded his actions towards the whole novel, like buying a mansion just to see the girl.

Immortal Prose

Immortal prose that must be commended, The Great Gatsby is a novel that uses great style and techniques of writing. Apart from the literary critics and scholars, fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work and book lovers have praised the work over the centuries.

Each character, scene, and statement play an important role in creating a good literary text. Literary and English students must learn Gatsby for this very purpose.

The book would forever remain one of the greatest American stories because it is extremely relatable to every college student and adult. Through the lens of each character, we can find a bit of ourselves. So next time you’re in a book club, try to read The Great Gatsby.

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Why ‘The Great Gatsby’ is the Great American Novel

Sure, I knew that F. Scott Fitzgerald had an up-and-down career and a bad drinking habit and wound up dying at a young age while working as a script doctor in Hollywood. But until I read Maureen Corrigan’s terrific book, “ So We Read On : How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why it Endures,” I had no idea that Fitzgerald’s books were out of print by the time of his death. He had fallen so low. At one point in the 1940s, his widow, Zelda, had to make ends meet by busing tables in a restaurant in between her stays at a sanitarium, Corrigan reports.

Fitzgerald had soared to stardom at a precocious age, with his 1920 novel “ This Side of Paradise .” It was the kind of book that made him a cultural celebrity more than a literary titan: Scott and his dazzling wife did all the things that young, smart, fabulous people were supposed to do in the Roaring Twenties, like go to parties in Manhattan and on Long Island and then jump on a ship to Europe to hang out in Parisian cafes with other young ex-pat Americans, like that chap named Ernest Hemingway. They vacationed on the French Riviera. They spent boatloads of money, but Fitzgerald kept things together by cranking out short stories and commanding a fine price for them.

At some point in all this, he vowed to write a really great, modern novel, and he did just that circa 1924-25. It’s a short novel, just nine chapters, each built around a party scene — though the final “party” is, of course, a funeral.

“ The Great Gatsby ,” however, didn’t sell well. Few literary critics registered that there was something special about the book. Fitzgerald was dismayed by the reception, and then “Gatsby” and its cultural milieu were overtaken by events as the Jazz Age gave way to the Depression. All those glitzy characters gulping martinis and staying up too late didn’t resonate in a nation that suddenly hungered for grittier, dustier literary fare. Fitzgerald eventually produced another novel, “ Tender is the Night ,” but it was a relatively weak effort, and Fitzgerald wound up in Hollywood with a profound sense that he’d lost his magic touch as a writer. Meanwhile, Zelda had suffered a series of breakdowns; Scott was in charge of raising their daughter, Scottie.

The last royalty check he received from Scribner’s was for $13.13, and apparently that was solely for books that the author himself had purchased. In May 1940, he wrote to his brilliant editor, Max Perkins:

“I wish I was in print. It will be odd a year or so from now when Scottie assures her friends I was an author and finds that no book is procurable. . . . Would the 25 cent press keep Gatsby in the public eye — or is the book unpopular. Has it had its chance?”

Corrigan documents how, after Fitzgerald’s death just before Christmas in 1940, “Gatsby” came back, establishing itself as part of the modern American canon. The novel received a boost from the war: With millions of Americans in uniform overseas, the U.S. government developed a program to ship them compact paperbacks to read in their down time. “Gatsby” was one of the books selected for the Armed Services Editions. That resulted, Corrigan reports, in 155,000 paperback copies of “Gatsby” being shipped overseas in 1945. Meanwhile Fitzgerald’s friends and admirers worked diligently on the reputation-reclamation project. The sudden popularity of paperbacks coincided with the return of “Gatsby” to the mainstream of American letters. In 1949, Hollywood produced a version of “Gatsby” with Alan Ladd in the title role.

Rather quickly, in part because it’s a short novel and easy to read, “Gatsby” because a fixture in high school English classes. Corrigan pinpoints 1951 as the critical year of the Fitzgerald revival. That happened to be the year that J.D. Salinger published “ The Catcher in the Rye ,” in which Holden Caulfield notes that his older brother made him read “Gatsby.”

“I was crazy about The Great Gatsby ,” Holden tells us. “Old Gatsby. Old sport. That killed me.”

I can’t emphasize enough how much fun Corrigan’s book is. This is what I read in recent weeks as relief from my research on hypothetical dystopian futures . Her book reminds me a lot of my friend Paul Hendrickson’s masterpiece “Hemingway’s Boat,” a similar effort at literary archaeology. (Paul was my colleague in the Style section back in the day.) Both books have the remarkable effect of making you understand why you like to read, and why literature can somehow grab you across great expanses of time and cultural differences, and how this human innovation known as writing — the rendering of life into symbols that can erupt in another person’s brain as a story — is the ultimate killer app. Yes, Plato was right to fear this technology.

What makes “Gatsby” the Great American Novel, Corrigan argues, is the combination of its extraordinary rendering of the American vernacular — it’s a “voice-driven novel” — and its success at capturing the aspirational (if borderline delusional) nature of the American psyche:

“Gatsby’s magic emanates not only from its powerhouse poetic style — in which ordinary American language becomes unearthly — but from the authority with which it nails who we want to be as Americans. Not who we are; who we want to be . It’s that wanting that runs through every page of Gatsby, making it our Greatest American Novel. But it’s also our easiest Great American Novel to underrate: too short; too tempting to misread as just a love story gone wrong; too mired in the Roaring Twenties and all that jazz.”

Her book explores the water themes everywhere in the novel (which I’m not sure I ever noticed) as well as way the book is almost absurdly over-structured, right down to the way Gatsby has his big reunion with Daisy Buchanan precisely in the center of the story.

In my own occasional stints as a writing teacher I have asked students to excise words from various difficult-to-cut literary passages (a McPhee* assignment, you know), and one of my selections is from “Gatsby.” Imagine trying to shorten this passage by two lines of type:

Already it was deep summer on roadhouse roofs and in front of wayside garages, where new red gas-pumps sat out in pools of light, and when I reached my estate at West Egg I ran the car under its shed and sat for a while on an abandoned grass roller in the yard. The wind had blown off, leaving a loud, bright night, with wings beating in the trees and a persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the earth blew the frogs full of life. The silhouette of a moving cat wavered across the moonlight, and turning my head to watch it, I saw that I was not alone — fifty feet away a figure had emerged from the shadow of my neighbor’s mansion and was standing with his hands in his pockets regarding the silver pepper of the stars. Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavens.

That, friends, is how it is done.

And, of course, there’s that incomparable run of amazing writing at the end of the book, in which Gatsby is gone and the narrator, Nick Carraway, is pondering his friend’s tragic life and imagining what the Dutch sailors saw when they first came upon that part of the world. The very end is among the most famous passages in literature:

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning —- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Now let’s hear from Corrigan. She teaches literature at Georgetown and is the book critic of NPR’s Fresh Air. I sent her a few questions by e-mail and she graciously replied.

Q: Why did Fitzgerald’s star fade so badly in his own lifetime? How much of that was cultural in nature – the coming of the Depression and a loss of interest in the Jazz Age? Were the critics just unable to see what was great about Fitzgerald’s writing?

Corrigan : I think Fitzgerald was seriously rattled by the fact that “The Great Gatsby” didn’t sell well. He expected it to outdo his two previous novels, and it turned out to sell fewer copies than “This Side of Paradise” and “ The Beautiful and Damned ” (about 21,000 copies). It took Fitzgerald a long time to write his fourth novel, “Tender is the Night,” and he had several false starts (including a murder story and a medieval tale). Of course, “Tender is the Night” didn’t sell very well either: Rich folks on the Riviera weren’t a popular topic during the Great Depression, even though the novel doesn’t glorify wealth. So, I think Fitzgerald’s quick decline was a combination of a loss of confidence and a perception by the American reading public that he was out of step with the proletarian times. That said, Fitzgerald wrote “ The Crack-Up ” essays during the ’30s, many brilliant letters and some wonderful short stories. Fitzgerald never stopped working as a writer; after all, he had to support Zelda (in private sanitariums) and their daughter Scottie (in private school and college). And, he never stopped trying to get “The Great Gatsby” republished and recognized as the masterpiece he knew it to be.

Q: Why was “Gatsby” so much better than his other work? He just found his zone and blocked out everything else?

Corrigan : Fitzgerald writes to his editor Maxwell Perkins in 1922 that he’s begun working on a third novel that’s going to be different: “simple and beautiful and intricately patterned.” “Gatsby” is more modern than the novels that came before: It’s tighter and much more consciously architectural in its design. (For instance, every chapter is centered on a “party” of sorts — including the failed “party” of Gatsby’s funeral at the end. With the exception of Daisy (the femme fatale), every major character in the novel is stretching out their arms for someone or something that’s out of their reach — Nick for Gatsby, Gatsby for Daisy, Tom for Daisy, Myrtle for Tom, George Wilson for Myrtle and so on. If you read Fitzgerald’s first two novels, they’re looser and, in the case of “Beautiful and Damned,” really verbose. Less was more for Fitzgerald — he was a poet, and he did better with tighter forms like the short story, the letter, the autobiographical essay and the short novel.

Q: What’s been the reaction to your book from the professional lit-crit folks and English professors?

Corrigan : Positive! I’ve gotten loads of approving letters from high school English teachers, and they’re the ones I value most because those teachers live with “Gatsby” year after year, as I do. Also, “Gatsby” scholars like Jackson R. Bryer and Morris Dickstein have been very complimentary. I’ve also had wonderful reception from Fitzgerald’s granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan. The only person who out and out panned my book was Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker. Gopnik faulted me for not discussing John Galsworthy, Compton Mackenzie — writers whom Fitzgerald admired as a Princeton undergrad but outgrew by the time he was writing “Gatsby.” Go figure. I guess it’s good that there’s someone out there arguing for the importance of Galsworthy and Mackenzie.

Q: If you had to do a similar book about a different novel, which one would it be? Let’s just imagine you’re not the world’s biggest “Gatsby” fan. What other book deserves this kind of treatment?

Corrigan : Oh, that’s a tough question. I think “Moby Dick” deserves the kind of intense — some might say obsessive — attention I’ve given to “Gatsby”; also “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights” (although Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar in their classic critical work, “ The Madwoman in the Attic ” did a pretty fantastic job of close reading for those novels). Willa Cather’s “ My Antonia ” is a gorgeous American classic that deserves more attention.

Q. Are there any books written in the last 20 years that might plausibly be in the conversation about the Great American Novel?

Corrigan : Hmmm. I was one of the three Pulitzer Prize jurors who served on that ill-fated 2012 Pulitzer Prize committee — the one where the Pulitzer Board ended up not awarding the prize. We three jurors nominated “ Train Dreams ” by Denis Johnson, “ The Pale King ” by David Foster Wallace and “ Swamplandia ” by Karen Russell. I’d say out of those three excellent choices, “Train Dreams” is the one that might be eligible for Great American Novel status. I’m not sure that anything written in the last 20 years, however, beats out “ Beloved ” for Great American novel contender.

Here is my 1995 essay “When Genius Bombs” that concludes with a discussion of the mediocrity of “Tender is the Night” and Fitzgerald’s analysis of his own failings.

The Top 10 most-favorite and wunnerful books of all time according to some list that got published.

Here is my blog discussing Tracy Chevalier’s advice on writing well (in which I put in a good word for the virtues of hard work).

Rando link maybe but here’s a column I did on Aging Stud-Muffin movie stars coping with the indignities of middle age (think Fitzgerald at 44).

* My story on John McPhee’s writing class , from the Princeton Alumni Weekly.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Books — The Great Gatsby

Essays on The Great Gatsby

The great gatsby essay topic examples.

Whether you want to analyze the American Dream, compare and contrast characters, vividly describe settings and characters, persuade readers with your viewpoints, or share personal experiences related to the story, these essay ideas provide a diverse perspective on the themes and complexities within the book.

Argumentative Essays

Argumentative essays require you to analyze and present arguments related to the novel. Here are some topic examples:

1. Argue whether the American Dream is achievable or illusory, as depicted in The Great Gatsby .
2. Analyze the moral ambiguity of Jay Gatsby and the consequences of his relentless pursuit of the American Dream.

Example Introduction Paragraph for an Argumentative Essay: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a tale of ambition, decadence, and the elusive American Dream. This essay delves into the complex theme of the American Dream, exploring whether it remains attainable or has transformed into a tantalizing illusion, luring individuals like Jay Gatsby into its enigmatic embrace.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for an Argumentative Essay: In conclusion, the analysis of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby invites us to reevaluate our perceptions of success and fulfillment. As we contemplate the fate of Jay Gatsby and the characters entangled in his world, we are challenged to define our own version of the American Dream and the sacrifices it may entail.

Compare and Contrast Essays

Compare and contrast essays enable you to examine similarities and differences within the novel or between it and other literary works. Consider these topics:

1. Compare and contrast the characters of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, exploring their contrasting worldviews and motivations.
2. Analyze the similarities and differences between the portrayal of the Jazz Age in The Great Gatsby and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises .

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Compare and Contrast Essay: The characters and settings in The Great Gatsby and other literary works offer a rich tapestry for comparison and contrast. This essay embarks on a journey to compare and contrast the enigmatic Jay Gatsby and the brash Tom Buchanan, delving into their contrasting values, aspirations, and roles within the novel.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Compare and Contrast Essay: In conclusion, the comparison and contrast of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan illuminate the divergent paths individuals can take in pursuit of their desires. As we consider the consequences of their choices, we are prompted to reflect on the complexities of ambition and morality.

Descriptive Essays

Descriptive essays allow you to vividly depict settings, characters, or events within the novel. Here are some topic ideas:

1. Describe the opulent parties at Gatsby's mansion, emphasizing the decadence and extravagance of the Jazz Age.
2. Paint a detailed portrait of Daisy Buchanan, focusing on her beauty, charm, and the allure she holds for Gatsby.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Descriptive Essay: The Great Gatsby immerses readers in the lavish world of the Roaring Twenties. This essay embarks on a descriptive exploration of the extravagant parties at Gatsby's mansion, capturing the opulence and hedonism of the era, as well as the illusions they create.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Descriptive Essay: In conclusion, the descriptive portrayal of Gatsby's parties serves as a vivid snapshot of the Jazz Age's excesses and the fleeting nature of indulgence. Through this exploration, we are reminded of the allure and transience of the materialistic pursuits that captivated the characters of the novel.

Persuasive Essays

Persuasive essays involve arguing a point of view related to the novel. Consider these persuasive topics:

1. Persuade your readers that Nick Carraway is the moral compass of the story, serving as the voice of reason and morality.
2. Argue for or against the idea that Gatsby's love for Daisy is genuine and selfless, despite his questionable methods.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Persuasive Essay: The Great Gatsby presents a tapestry of characters with complex moral dilemmas. This persuasive essay asserts that Nick Carraway emerges as the moral compass of the story, guiding readers through the labyrinth of decadence and disillusionment in the Jazz Age.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Persuasive Essay: In conclusion, the persuasive argument regarding Nick Carraway's role as the moral compass underscores the importance of ethical navigation in a world characterized by excess and moral ambiguity. As we reflect on his influence, we are compelled to consider the enduring value of integrity and virtue.

Narrative Essays

Narrative essays offer you the opportunity to tell a story or share personal experiences related to the themes of the novel. Explore these narrative essay topics:

1. Narrate a personal experience where you encountered the allure of materialism and extravagance, similar to the characters in The Great Gatsby .
2. Imagine yourself as a character in the Jazz Age and recount your interactions with Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan.

Example Introduction Paragraph for a Narrative Essay: The themes of The Great Gatsby resonate with the allure of a bygone era. This narrative essay delves into a personal encounter with the seductive pull of materialism and extravagance, drawing parallels to the characters' experiences in the novel.

Example Conclusion Paragraph for a Narrative Essay: In conclusion, the narrative of my personal encounter with the allure of materialism reminds us of the timeless nature of the themes in The Great Gatsby . As we navigate our own desires and ambitions, we are encouraged to contemplate the balance between aspiration and morality.

Differences and Similarities Between Tom and Gatsby

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The Portrayal of Female Characters in F.s. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

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April 10, 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Novel; Fiction, Tragedy

Jay Gatsby , Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, Jordan Baker, Meyer Wolfsheim, George B. Wilson, Trimalchio, Mr. Gatz

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote "The Great Gatsby" with multiple motivations in mind. Firstly, he sought to critique the materialistic excesses and moral decay of the Roaring Twenties, a period of post-World War I prosperity. Fitzgerald aimed to expose the disillusionment and hollowness behind the glittering facade of the American Dream. Additionally, he drew inspiration from his own experiences and observations of the wealthy elite and their decadent lifestyles. Through the character of Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald explored themes of unrequited love, longing, and the pursuit of an unattainable ideal. Ultimately, Fitzgerald's intent was to capture the essence of an era and offer a profound commentary on the human condition.

The story revolves around Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a married woman with whom he had a romantic past. Narrated by Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest, the novel delves into the opulent and extravagant lives of the wealthy elite in Long Island. As Gatsby throws lavish parties in the hope of rekindling his relationship with Daisy, the narrative explores themes of love, wealth, illusion, and the disillusionment that comes with the pursuit of the American Dream.

The American Dream , decadence, idealism, resistance to changes, social excess, caution.

The influence of "The Great Gatsby" extends far beyond its initial publication in 1925. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel has become a literary classic, revered for its exploration of themes such as wealth, love, and the elusive American Dream. It remains relevant due to its timeless portrayal of human desires, societal decadence, and the consequences of relentless pursuit. The book's vivid characters and atmospheric prose have inspired countless writers and artists, shaping the landscape of American literature. With its commentary on the dark underbelly of the Jazz Age, "The Great Gatsby" continues to captivate readers, serving as a cautionary tale and a poignant reflection of the human condition.

1. During F. Scott Fitzgerald's lifetime, approximately 25,000 copies of the book were sold. However, since then, it has gained immense popularity, selling over 25 million copies and establishing itself as one of the most renowned American novels. 2. The Great Gatsby did not have its original title as the author considered various options, ranging from "Under the Red, White and Blue" to "The High-Bouncing Lover." These alternative titles were potentially revealing too much about the content prematurely. 3. In 1926, just a year after its publication, the book was adapted into a film, demonstrating its quick transition from page to screen. 4. Fitzgerald's cause of death is believed to have been tuberculosis rather than a heart attack. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 44. 5. The price of this famous novel at the time of its publication in 1925 was $2, representing its value in that era. 6. The Great Gatsby did not immediately receive critical acclaim upon release. However, it has since garnered recognition and praise, becoming a significant literary work.

"The Great Gatsby" has made a significant impact on various forms of media, captivating audiences across generations. The novel has been adapted into several films, with notable versions including the 1974 adaptation starring Robert Redford and the 2013 adaptation featuring Leonardo DiCaprio. These cinematic interpretations have brought the story to life visually, further immersing audiences in the opulent world of Jay Gatsby. Additionally, the novel has been referenced and alluded to in countless songs, television shows, and even video games, solidifying its cultural significance. Its themes of love, wealth, and the pursuit of the American Dream continue to resonate and inspire creative works in popular culture.

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.’” “I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” “Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” “So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.” “I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

Studying "The Great Gatsby" holds great importance due to its enduring relevance and literary significance. The novel offers profound insights into themes such as wealth, love, social class, and the corruption of the American Dream. Its exploration of the Jazz Age exposes the allure and emptiness of a materialistic society, making it a compelling study of human desires and societal decay. F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterful prose and symbolic imagery provide rich material for analyzing character development, narrative techniques, and social commentary. Moreover, delving into the novel's historical context allows for a deeper understanding of the cultural and societal shifts of the 1920s.

The inclusion of "The Great Gatsby" as an essay topic for college students stems from its exploration of themes like the American Dream, the juxtaposition of poverty and wealth, and the destructive allure of corruption. The character of Gatsby embodies the American spirit and can be paralleled to contemporary individuals fixated on materialism and fame as measures of romantic success. Furthermore, this literary masterpiece holds a significant place in American literature, as F. Scott Fitzgerald skillfully weaves socio-cultural elements into each sentence, providing a timeless portrayal of American life that resonates across generations. The choice to analyze and write about "The Great Gatsby" allows students to delve into these thought-provoking themes and examine their relevance to society.

1. Stallman, R. W. (1955). Conrad and The Great Gatsby. Twentieth Century Literature, 1(1), 5–12. (https://doi.org/10.2307/441023) 2. John Jerrim, Lindsey Macmillan, (2015). Income Inequality, Intergenerational Mobility, and the Great Gatsby Curve: Is Education the Key?, Social Forces, Volume 94, Issue 2. (https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/94/2/505/2583794) 3. Robert C. Hauhart (2013) Religious Language and Symbolism in The Great Gatsby’s Valley of Ashes, ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 26:3 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0895769X.2013.798233) 4. Burnam, T. (1952). The Eyes of Dr. Eckleburg: A Re-Examination of “The Great Gatsby.” College English, 14(1), 7–12. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/371821) 5. Tom Phillips (2018) Passing for White in THE GREAT GATSBY: A Spectroscopic Analysis of Jordan Baker, The Explicator, 76:3. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00144940.2018.1489769?scroll=top&needAccess=true&role=tab) 6. Matterson, S. (1990). The Great Gatsby and Social Class. In: The Great Gatsby. The Critics Debate. Palgrave, London. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-20768-8_9) 7. Licence, A. (2008). Jay Gatsby: martyr of a materialistic society: Amy Licence considers religious elements in The Great Gatsby. The English Review, 18(3), 24+. (https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA173676222&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=09558950&p=LitRC&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E5a84816e) 8. Khodamoradpour, Marjan and Anushiravani, Alireza, (2017) Playing the Old Tunes: A Fiskean Analysis of Baz Luhrmann's 2013 Cinematic Adaptation of the Great Gatsby. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, Volume 71. (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3020752) 9. Anderson, H. (1968). THE RICH BUNCH IN" THE GREAT GATSBY". Southern Quarterly, 6(2), 163. (https://www.proquest.com/openview/6a9e704a476d873aada2d2529821b95a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2029886)

Relevant topics

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Book Guides

The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it's most commonly understood as a pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a limited amount of social cache in 1920s NYC, only to be rejected by the "old money" crowd. He then gets killed after being tangled up with them.

Through Gatsby's life, as well as that of the Wilsons', Fitzgerald critiques the idea that America is a meritocracy where anyone can rise to the top with enough hard work. We will explore how this theme plays out in the plot, briefly analyze some key quotes about it, as well as do some character analysis and broader analysis of topics surrounding the American Dream in The Great Gatsby .

What is the American Dream? The American Dream in the Great Gatsby plot Key American Dream quotes Analyzing characters via the American Dream Common discussion and essay topics

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book.

To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.

What Exactly Is "The American Dream"?

The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, or nationality, can be successful in America (read: rich) if they just work hard enough. The American Dream thus presents a pretty rosy view of American society that ignores problems like systemic racism and misogyny, xenophobia, tax evasion or state tax avoidance, and income inequality. It also presumes a myth of class equality, when the reality is America has a pretty well-developed class hierarchy.

The 1920s in particular was a pretty tumultuous time due to increased immigration (and the accompanying xenophobia), changing women's roles (spurred by the right to vote, which was won in 1919), and extraordinary income inequality.

The country was also in the midst of an economic boom, which fueled the belief that anyone could "strike it rich" on Wall Street. However, this rapid economic growth was built on a bubble which popped in 1929. The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, well before the crash, but through its wry descriptions of the ultra-wealthy, it seems to somehow predict that the fantastic wealth on display in 1920s New York was just as ephemeral as one of Gatsby's parties.

In any case, the novel, just by being set in the 1920s, is unlikely to present an optimistic view of the American Dream, or at least a version of the dream that's inclusive to all genders, ethnicities, and incomes. With that background in mind, let's jump into the plot!

The American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Chapter 1 places us in a particular year—1922—and gives us some background about WWI. This is relevant, since the 1920s is presented as a time of hollow decadence among the wealthy, as evidenced especially by the parties in Chapters 2 and 3. And as we mentioned above, the 1920s were a particularly tense time in America.

We also meet George and Myrtle Wilson in Chapter 2 , both working class people who are working to improve their lot in life, George through his work, and Myrtle through her affair with Tom Buchanan.

We learn about Gatsby's goal in Chapter 4 : to win Daisy back. Despite everything he owns, including fantastic amounts of money and an over-the-top mansion, for Gatsby, Daisy is the ultimate status symbol. So in Chapter 5 , when Daisy and Gatsby reunite and begin an affair, it seems like Gatsby could, in fact, achieve his goal.

In Chapter 6 , we learn about Gatsby's less-than-wealthy past, which not only makes him look like the star of a rags-to-riches story, it makes Gatsby himself seem like someone in pursuit of the American Dream, and for him the personification of that dream is Daisy.

However, in Chapters 7 and 8 , everything comes crashing down: Daisy refuses to leave Tom, Myrtle is killed, and George breaks down and kills Gatsby and then himself, leaving all of the "strivers" dead and the old money crowd safe. Furthermore, we learn in those last chapters that Gatsby didn't even achieve all his wealth through hard work, like the American Dream would stipulate—instead, he earned his money through crime. (He did work hard and honestly under Dan Cody, but lost Dan Cody's inheritance to his ex-wife.)

In short, things do not turn out well for our dreamers in the novel! Thus, the novel ends with Nick's sad meditation on the lost promise of the American Dream. You can read a detailed analysis of these last lines in our summary of the novel's ending .

Key American Dream Quotes

In this section we analyze some of the most important quotes that relate to the American Dream in the book.

But I didn't call to him for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone--he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward--and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. (1.152)

In our first glimpse of Jay Gatsby, we see him reaching towards something far off, something in sight but definitely out of reach. This famous image of the green light is often understood as part of The Great Gatsby 's meditation on The American Dream—the idea that people are always reaching towards something greater than themselves that is just out of reach . You can read more about this in our post all about the green light .

The fact that this yearning image is our introduction to Gatsby foreshadows his unhappy end and also marks him as a dreamer, rather than people like Tom or Daisy who were born with money and don't need to strive for anything so far off.

Over the great bridge, with the sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.

A dead man passed us in a hearse heaped with blooms, followed by two carriages with drawn blinds and by more cheerful carriages for friends. The friends looked out at us with the tragic eyes and short upper lips of south-eastern Europe, and I was glad that the sight of Gatsby's splendid car was included in their somber holiday. As we crossed Blackwell's Island a limousine passed us, driven by a white chauffeur, in which sat three modish Negroes, two bucks and a girl. I laughed aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled toward us in haughty rivalry.

"Anything can happen now that we've slid over this bridge," I thought; "anything at all. . . ."

Even Gatsby could happen, without any particular wonder. (4.55-8)

Early in the novel, we get this mostly optimistic illustration of the American Dream—we see people of different races and nationalities racing towards NYC, a city of unfathomable possibility. This moment has all the classic elements of the American Dream—economic possibility, racial and religious diversity, a carefree attitude. At this moment, it does feel like "anything can happen," even a happy ending.

However, this rosy view eventually gets undermined by the tragic events later in the novel. And even at this point, Nick's condescension towards the people in the other cars reinforces America's racial hierarchy that disrupts the idea of the American Dream. There is even a little competition at play, a "haughty rivalry" at play between Gatsby's car and the one bearing the "modish Negroes."

Nick "laughs aloud" at this moment, suggesting he thinks it's amusing that the passengers in this other car see them as equals, or even rivals to be bested. In other words, he seems to firmly believe in the racial hierarchy Tom defends in Chapter 1, even if it doesn't admit it honestly.

His heart beat faster and faster as Daisy's white face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete. (6.134)

This moment explicitly ties Daisy to all of Gatsby's larger dreams for a better life —to his American Dream. This sets the stage for the novel's tragic ending, since Daisy cannot hold up under the weight of the dream Gatsby projects onto her. Instead, she stays with Tom Buchanan, despite her feelings for Gatsby. Thus when Gatsby fails to win over Daisy, he also fails to achieve his version of the American Dream. This is why so many people read the novel as a somber or pessimistic take on the American Dream, rather than an optimistic one.

...as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes--a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby's house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." (9.151-152)

The closing pages of the novel reflect at length on the American Dream, in an attitude that seems simultaneously mournful, appreciative, and pessimistic. It also ties back to our first glimpse of Gatsby, reaching out over the water towards the Buchanan's green light. Nick notes that Gatsby's dream was "already behind him" then (or in other words, it was impossible to attain). But still, he finds something to admire in how Gatsby still hoped for a better life, and constantly reached out toward that brighter future.

For a full consideration of these last lines and what they could mean, see our analysis of the novel's ending .

Analyzing Characters Through the American Dream

An analysis of the characters in terms of the American Dream usually leads to a pretty cynical take on the American Dream.

Most character analysis centered on the American Dream will necessarily focus on Gatsby, George, or Myrtle (the true strivers in the novel), though as we'll discuss below, the Buchanans can also provide some interesting layers of discussion. For character analysis that incorporates the American Dream, carefully consider your chosen character's motivations and desires, and how the novel does (or doesn't!) provide glimpses of the dream's fulfillment for them.

Gatsby himself is obviously the best candidate for writing about the American Dream—he comes from humble roots (he's the son of poor farmers from North Dakota) and rises to be notoriously wealthy, only for everything to slip away from him in the end. Many people also incorporate Daisy into their analyses as the physical representation of Gatsby's dream.

However, definitely consider the fact that in the traditional American Dream, people achieve their goals through honest hard work, but in Gatsby's case, he very quickly acquires a large amount of money through crime . Gatsby does attempt the hard work approach, through his years of service to Dan Cody, but that doesn't work out since Cody's ex-wife ends up with the entire inheritance. So instead he turns to crime, and only then does he manage to achieve his desired wealth.

So while Gatsby's story arc resembles a traditional rags-to-riches tale, the fact that he gained his money immorally complicates the idea that he is a perfect avatar for the American Dream . Furthermore, his success obviously doesn't last—he still pines for Daisy and loses everything in his attempt to get her back. In other words, Gatsby's huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy ("He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God" (6.134)) are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself.

George and Myrtle Wilson

This couple also represents people aiming at the dream— George owns his own shop and is doing his best to get business, though is increasingly worn down by the harsh demands of his life, while Myrtle chases after wealth and status through an affair with Tom.

Both are disempowered due to the lack of money at their own disposal —Myrtle certainly has access to some of the "finer things" through Tom but has to deal with his abuse, while George is unable to leave his current life and move West since he doesn't have the funds available. He even has to make himself servile to Tom in an attempt to get Tom to sell his car, a fact that could even cause him to overlook the evidence of his wife's affair. So neither character is on the upward trajectory that the American Dream promises, at least during the novel.

In the end, everything goes horribly wrong for both George and Myrtle, suggesting that in this world, it's dangerous to strive for more than you're given.

George and Myrtle's deadly fates, along with Gatsby's, help illustrate the novel's pessimistic attitude toward the American Dream. After all, how unfair is it that the couple working to improve their position in society (George and Myrtle) both end up dead, while Tom, who dragged Myrtle into an increasingly dangerous situation, and Daisy, who killed her, don't face any consequences? And on top of that they are fabulously wealthy? The American Dream certainly is not alive and well for the poor Wilsons.

Tom and Daisy as Antagonists to the American Dream

We've talked quite a bit already about Gatsby, George, and Myrtle—the three characters who come from humble roots and try to climb the ranks in 1920s New York. But what about the other major characters, especially the ones born with money? What is their relationship to the American Dream?

Specifically, Tom and Daisy have old money, and thus they don't need the American Dream, since they were born with America already at their feet.

Perhaps because of this, they seem to directly antagonize the dream—Daisy by refusing Gatsby, and Tom by helping to drag the Wilsons into tragedy .

This is especially interesting because unlike Gatsby, Myrtle, and George, who actively hope and dream of a better life, Daisy and Tom are described as bored and "careless," and end up instigating a large amount of tragedy through their own recklessness.

In other words, income inequality and the vastly different starts in life the characters have strongly affected their outcomes. The way they choose to live their lives, their morality (or lack thereof), and how much they dream doesn't seem to matter. This, of course, is tragic and antithetical to the idea of the American Dream, which claims that class should be irrelevant and anyone can rise to the top.

Daisy as a Personification of the American Dream

As we discuss in our post on money and materialism in The Great Gatsby , Daisy's voice is explicitly tied to money by Gatsby:

"Her voice is full of money," he said suddenly.

That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money--that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it. . . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl. . . . (7.105-6)

If Daisy's voice promises money, and the American Dream is explicitly linked to wealth, it's not hard to argue that Daisy herself—along with the green light at the end of her dock —stands in for the American Dream. In fact, as Nick goes on to describe Daisy as "High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl," he also seems to literally describe Daisy as a prize, much like the princess at the end of a fairy tale (or even Princess Peach at the end of a Mario game!).

But Daisy, of course, is only human—flawed, flighty, and ultimately unable to embody the huge fantasy Gatsby projects onto her. So this, in turn, means that the American Dream itself is just a fantasy, a concept too flimsy to actually hold weight, especially in the fast-paced, dog-eat-dog world of 1920s America.

Furthermore, you should definitely consider the tension between the fact that Daisy represents Gatsby's ultimate goal, but at the same time (as we discussed above), her actual life is the opposite of the American Dream : she is born with money and privilege, likely dies with it all intact, and there are no consequences to how she chooses to live her life in between.

Can Female Characters Achieve the American Dream?

Finally, it's interesting to compare and contrast some of the female characters using the lens of the American Dream.

Let's start with Daisy, who is unhappy in her marriage and, despite a brief attempt to leave it, remains with Tom, unwilling to give up the status and security their marriage provides. At first, it may seem like Daisy doesn't dream at all, so of course she ends up unhappy. But consider the fact that Daisy was already born into the highest level of American society. The expectation placed on her, as a wealthy woman, was never to pursue something greater, but simply to maintain her status. She did that by marrying Tom, and it's understandable why she wouldn't risk the uncertainty and loss of status that would come through divorce and marriage to a bootlegger. Again, Daisy seems to typify the "anti-American" dream, in that she was born into a kind of aristocracy and simply has to maintain her position, not fight for something better.

In contrast, Myrtle, aside from Gatsby, seems to be the most ambitiously in pursuit of getting more than she was given in life. She parlays her affair with Tom into an apartment, nice clothes, and parties, and seems to revel in her newfound status. But of course, she is knocked down the hardest, killed for her involvement with the Buchanans, and specifically for wrongfully assuming she had value to them. Considering that Gatsby did have a chance to leave New York and distance himself from the unfolding tragedy, but Myrtle was the first to be killed, you could argue the novel presents an even bleaker view of the American Dream where women are concerned.

Even Jordan Baker , who seems to be living out a kind of dream by playing golf and being relatively independent, is tied to her family's money and insulated from consequences by it , making her a pretty poor representation of the dream. And of course, since her end game also seems to be marriage, she doesn't push the boundaries of women's roles as far as she might wish.

So while the women all push the boundaries of society's expectations of them in certain ways, they either fall in line or are killed, which definitely undermines the rosy of idea that anyone, regardless of gender, can make it in America. The American Dream as shown in Gatsby becomes even more pessimistic through the lens of the female characters.

Common Essay Questions/Discussion Topics

Now let's work through some of the more frequently brought up subjects for discussion.

#1: Was Gatsby's dream worth it? Was all the work, time, and patience worth it for him?

Like me, you might immediately think "of course it wasn't worth it! Gatsby lost everything, not to mention the Wilsons got caught up in the tragedy and ended up dead!" So if you want to make the more obvious "the dream wasn't worth it" argument, you could point to the unraveling that happens at the end of the novel (including the deaths of Myrtle, Gatsby and George) and how all Gatsby's achievements are for nothing, as evidenced by the sparse attendance of his funeral.

However, you could definitely take the less obvious route and argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, despite the tragic end . First of all, consider Jay's unique characterization in the story: "He was a son of God--a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that--and he must be about His Father's Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty" (6.7). In other words, Gatsby has a larger-than-life persona and he never would have been content to remain in North Dakota to be poor farmers like his parents.

Even if he ends up living a shorter life, he certainly lived a full one full of adventure. His dreams of wealth and status took him all over the world on Dan Cody's yacht, to Louisville where he met and fell in love with Daisy, to the battlefields of WWI, to the halls of Oxford University, and then to the fast-paced world of Manhattan in the early 1920s, when he earned a fortune as a bootlegger. In fact, it seems Jay lived several lives in the space of just half a normal lifespan. In short, to argue that Gatsby's dream was worth it, you should point to his larger-than-life conception of himself and the fact that he could have only sought happiness through striving for something greater than himself, even if that ended up being deadly in the end.

#2: In the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred," Hughes asks questions about what happens to postponed dreams. How does Fitzgerald examine this issue of deferred dreams? What do you think are the effects of postponing our dreams? How can you apply this lesson to your own life?

If you're thinking about "deferred dreams" in The Great Gatsby , the big one is obviously Gatsby's deferred dream for Daisy—nearly five years pass between his initial infatuation and his attempt in the novel to win her back, an attempt that obviously backfires. You can examine various aspects of Gatsby's dream—the flashbacks to his first memories of Daisy in Chapter 8 , the moment when they reunite in Chapter 5 , or the disastrous consequences of the confrontation of Chapter 7 —to illustrate Gatsby's deferred dream.

You could also look at George Wilson's postponed dream of going West, or Myrtle's dream of marrying a wealthy man of "breeding"—George never gets the funds to go West, and is instead mired in the Valley of Ashes, while Myrtle's attempt to achieve her dream after 12 years of marriage through an affair ends in tragedy. Apparently, dreams deferred are dreams doomed to fail.

As Nick Carraway says, "you can't repeat the past"—the novel seems to imply there is a small window for certain dreams, and when the window closes, they can no longer be attained. This is pretty pessimistic, and for the prompt's personal reflection aspect, I wouldn't say you should necessarily "apply this lesson to your own life" straightforwardly. But it is worth noting that certain opportunities are fleeting, and perhaps it's wiser to seek out newer and/or more attainable ones, rather than pining over a lost chance.

Any prompt like this one which has a section of more personal reflection gives you freedom to tie in your own experiences and point of view, so be thoughtful and think of good examples from your own life!

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#3: Explain how the novel does or does not demonstrate the death of the American Dream. Is the main theme of Gatsby indeed "the withering American Dream"? What does the novel offer about American identity?

In this prompt, another one that zeroes in on the dead or dying American Dream, you could discuss how the destruction of three lives (Gatsby, George, Myrtle) and the cynical portrayal of the old money crowd illustrates a dead, or dying American Dream . After all, if the characters who dream end up dead, and the ones who were born into life with money and privilege get to keep it without consequence, is there any room at all for the idea that less-privileged people can work their way up?

In terms of what the novel says about American identity, there are a few threads you could pick up—one is Nick's comment in Chapter 9 about the novel really being a story about (mid)westerners trying (and failing) to go East : "I see now that this has been a story of the West, after all--Tom and Gatsby, Daisy and Jordan and I, were all Westerners, and perhaps we possessed some deficiency in common which made us subtly unadaptable to Eastern life" (9.125). This observation suggests an American identity that is determined by birthplace, and that within the American identity there are smaller, inescapable points of identification.

Furthermore, for those in the novel not born into money, the American identity seems to be about striving to end up with more wealth and status. But in terms of the portrayal of the old money set, particularly Daisy, Tom, and Jordan, the novel presents a segment of American society that is essentially aristocratic—you have to be born into it. In that regard, too, the novel presents a fractured American identity, with different lives possible based on how much money you are born with.

In short, I think the novel disrupts the idea of a unified American identity or American dream, by instead presenting a tragic, fractured, and rigid American society, one that is divided based on both geographic location and social class.

#4: Most would consider dreams to be positive motivators to achieve success, but the characters in the novel often take their dreams of ideal lives too far. Explain how characters' American Dreams cause them to have pain when they could have been content with more modest ambitions.

Gatsby is an obvious choice here—his pursuit of money and status, particularly through Daisy, leads him to ruin. There were many points when perhaps Gatsby ;could have been happy with what he achieved (especially after his apparently successful endeavors in the war, if he had remained at Oxford, or even after amassing a great amount of wealth as a bootlegger) but instead he kept striving upward, which ultimately lead to his downfall. You can flesh this argument out with the quotations in Chapters 6 and 8 about Gatsby's past, along with his tragic death.

Myrtle would be another good choice for this type of prompt. In a sense, she seems to be living her ideal life in her affair with Tom—she has a fancy NYC apartment, hosts parties, and gets to act sophisticated—but these pleasures end up gravely hurting George, and of course her association with Tom Buchanan gets her killed.

Nick, too, if he had been happy with his family's respectable fortune and his girlfriend out west, might have avoided the pain of knowing Gatsby and the general sense of despair he was left with.

You might be wondering about George—after all, isn't he someone also dreaming of a better life? However, there aren't many instances of George taking his dreams of an ideal life "too far." In fact, he struggles just to make one car sale so that he can finally move out West with Myrtle. Also, given that his current situation in the Valley of Ashes is quite bleak, it's hard to say that striving upward gave him pain.

#5: The Great Gatsby is, among other things, a sobering and even ominous commentary on the dark side of the American dream. Discuss this theme, incorporating the conflicts of East Egg vs. West Egg and old money vs. new money. What does the American dream mean to Gatsby? What did the American Dream mean to Fitzgerald? How does morality fit into achieving the American dream?

This prompt allows you to consider pretty broadly the novel's attitude toward the American Dream, with emphasis on "sobering and even ominous" commentary. Note that Fitzgerald seems to be specifically mocking the stereotypical rags to riches story here—;especially since he draws the Dan Cody narrative almost note for note from the work of someone like Horatio Alger, whose books were almost universally about rich men schooling young, entrepreneurial boys in the ways of the world. In other words, you should discuss how the Great Gatsby seems to turn the idea of the American Dream as described in the quote on its head: Gatsby does achieve a rags-to-riches rise, but it doesn't last.

All of Gatsby's hard work for Dan Cody, after all, didn't pay off since he lost the inheritance. So instead, Gatsby turned to crime after the war to quickly gain a ton of money. Especially since Gatsby finally achieves his great wealth through dubious means, the novel further undermines the classic image of someone working hard and honestly to go from rags to riches.

If you're addressing this prompt or a similar one, make sure to focus on the darker aspects of the American Dream, including the dark conclusion to the novel and Daisy and Tom's protection from any real consequences . (This would also allow you to considering morality, and how morally bankrupt the characters are.)

#6: What is the current state of the American Dream?

This is a more outward-looking prompt, that allows you to consider current events today to either be generally optimistic (the American dream is alive and well) or pessimistic (it's as dead as it is in The Great Gatsby).

You have dozens of potential current events to use as evidence for either argument, but consider especially immigration and immigration reform, mass incarceration, income inequality, education, and health care in America as good potential examples to use as you argue about the current state of the American Dream. Your writing will be especially powerful if you can point to some specific current events to support your argument.

What's Next?

In this post, we discussed how important money is to the novel's version of the American Dream. You can read even more about money and materialism in The Great Gatsby right here .

Want to indulge in a little materialism of your own? Take a look through these 15 must-have items for any Great Gatsby fan .

Get complete guides to Jay Gatsby , George Wilson and Myrtle Wilson to get even more background on the "dreamers" in the novel.

Like we discussed above, the green light is often seen as a stand-in for the idea of the American Dream. Read more about this crucial symbol here .

Need help getting to grips with other literary works? Take a spin through our analyses of The Crucible , The Cask of Amontillado , and " Do not go gentle into this good night " to see analysis in action. You might also find our explanations of point of view , rhetorical devices , imagery , and literary elements and devices helpful.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download them for free now:

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Why Is Gatsby Great?

Jay Gatsby is considered to be “great” in the paradoxical context. He is “great” because of his dreams, wealth, status in society, festivities, and personality. However, it is contradictory because all this greatness cannot provide him with the only thing he needs – love.

Detailed answer:

Gatsby definitely was “great,” and there is an enormous amount of evidence to support this fact. First, it is necessary to mention that Jay has not always been successful and wealthy. He started his life as a child in need. The guy had to work hard to provide himself and his family with food and clothes. Therefore, he achieved a specific status and became rich, which shows that he is indeed “great.”

Then, Gatsby had to work hard and take advantage of the different opportunities life gave him. All the struggles were only to achieve the biggest dream – love . The protagonist was motivated by it and was ready to fight for the heart of his lover. Thus, this desire also highlights the greatness of his nature.

His attempts were unsuccessful, and his lover decided to stay with her husband. Still, Gatsby loved her wholeheartedly and sacrificed himself for her happiness. This fact indicates that his love was pure, and his intentions positive. Hence, Gatsby is “great” because of his dedication and kindness.

Jay Gatsby was “great” for many different reasons. He became wealthy and successful and had a big and loving heart. Unfortunately, the protagonist’s life did not turn out the way he expected. But it taught him a lot for sure.

Looking for an inspiring idea for a paper on The Great Gatsby? Take a look at our Essay Titles for The Great Gatsby: Best Topics and Examples to find the perfect one!

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Summary (Chapter 2)
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Summary (Chapter 7)
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Summary (Chapter 9)
Symbolism & Style
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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Biography
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IvyPanda. (2022, September 6). Why Is Gatsby Great? https://ivypanda.com/q/why-is-gatsby-great/

"Why Is Gatsby Great?" IvyPanda , 6 Sept. 2022, ivypanda.com/q/why-is-gatsby-great/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Why Is Gatsby Great'. 6 September.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Why Is Gatsby Great?" September 6, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/q/why-is-gatsby-great/.

1. IvyPanda . "Why Is Gatsby Great?" September 6, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/q/why-is-gatsby-great/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Why Is Gatsby Great?" September 6, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/q/why-is-gatsby-great/.

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The Great Gatsby and the GOP

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Vague Visages

Movies, tv & music • independent film criticism • soundtrack guides • forming the future • est. 2014, know the cast: ‘dark matter’.

Dark Matter Cast - Every Actor and Character in the Apple TV+ Series

The Dark Matter cast features Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly and Alice Braga. This info article contains minor spoilers and cast/character summaries for Blake Crouch’s Apple TV+ series. Check out more streaming guides in Vague Visages’ Know the Cast category, and then browse complete soundtrack song listings in the Soundtracks of Cinema section.

Dark Matter centers on a Chicago-based physicist named Jason Dessen. When the protagonist transports to an alternate reality, he uses his skill set to theorize about a solution. The narrative follows Jason as he attempts to protect his family while searching for clarity about his predicament. Here’s every actor and character in Dark Matter , an adaptation of Blake Crouch’s 2016 novel.

Read More at VV — Know the Cast: ‘Sugar’

Dark Matter Cast: Joel Edgerton as Jason Dessen

Dark Matter Cast on Apple TV+ - Joel Edgerton as Jason Dessen

Character Profile: A college professor in Chicago. He is a physicist who teaches quantum mechanics. Jason arrives in an alternate reality in which he’s been missing for 14 months.

Edgerton’s Resume: Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (2013), Gordo in The Gift (2015), Richard in Loving (2016), Ridgeway in The Underground Railroad (2021), Owen Lars in Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

Read More at VV — Know the Cast: ‘Franklin’

Dark Matter Cast: Jennifer Connelly as Daniela Vargas Dessen

Dark Matter Cast on Apple TV+ - Jennifer Connelly as Daniela Vargas Dessen

Character Profile: Jason’s wife. She is a Chicago-based artist. Daniela reveals that her relationship with Jason failed in an alternative timeline.

Connelly’s Resume: Jennifer Corvino in Phenomena (1985), Jenny in The Rocketeer (1991), Marion Silver in Requiem for a Dream (2000), Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001), “Penny” Benjamin in Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Read More at VV — Know the Cast: ‘Palm Royale’

Dark Matter Cast: Alice Braga as Amanda Lucas

Dark Matter Cast on Apple TV+ - Alice Braga as Amanda Lucas

Character Profile: Jason’s colleague in an alternative timeline. She is a lab psychiatrist. Amanda worries about Jason’s mental health after his 14-month disappearance.

Braga’s Resume: Anna in I Am Legend (2007), Isabelle in Predators (2010), Beth in Repo Men (2010), Frey in Elysium (2013), Teresa Mendoza in Queen of the South (2016-21)

Read More at VV — Know the Cast: ‘Manhunt’

Dark Matter Cast: Jimmi Simpson as Ryan Holder

Dark Matter Cast on Apple TV+ - Jimmi Simpson as Ryan Holder

Character Profile: Jason’s friend. He is a famous neuroscientist who wins the Pavia Prize. Ryan clashes with Jason about the past during an alternative timeline.

Simpson’s Resume: Liam McPoyle in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-13), Gavin Orsay in House of Cards (2014-15), William in Westworld (2016-20), Walter in Black Mirror “USS Callister” (2017), Spencer Clay in The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022)

Read More at VV — Know the Cast: ‘Constellation’

Dark Matter Cast: Dayo Okeniyi as Leighton Vance

Dark Matter Cast on Apple TV+ - Dayo Okeniyi as Leighton Vance

Character Profile: Jason’s colleague. He is the CEO of a neuroscience company. Leighton and Amanda welcome Jason back to “reality.”

Okeniyi’s Resume: Thrush in The Hunger Games (2012), Marcus in The Spectacular Now (2013), Oloman in See (2019-21), Charles Antetokounmpo in Rise (2022), Paul in Fresh (2022)

Read More at VV — Know the Cast: ‘The New Look’

Dark Matter Cast: Oakes Fegley as Charlie Dessen

Dark Matter Cast on Apple TV+ - Oakes Fegley as Charlie Dessen

Character Profile: Jason and Daniela’s 15-year-old son. He is a student at St. Peter High School who enjoys anime and skateboarding. Charlie hopes to attend an art school.

Fegley’s Resume: Young Judd in This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Pete in Pete’s Dragon (2016), Ben in Wonderstruck (2017), Young Theo Decker in The Goldfinch (2019), Chad Thomas in The Fabelmans (2022)

Read More at VV — Know the Cast: ‘Criminal Record’

The Dark Matter cast also includes:

Marquita Brooks as Dawn Lawrence
Amanda Brugel as Blair Caplan
Tiff Abreu as Mindy
Bassam Abdelfattah as Anthony
William Smillie as Matt
Missy Fierro as Violet
Suzy Dias as Chloe
Jenne Kang as Dr. Julianne Springer
Jimmy Styx as Gunter
Kate Eastman as Detective Jamie Mason
Peter Sipla as Dr. Randolph
Meghan Maureen McDonough as Barbara Underell
Rolando Boyce as Dr. Joseph Hart
Jason Huysman as Mike Underell
Brandon Dahlquist as Marcus Sakey

Q.V. Hough ( @QVHough ) is Vague Visages’ founding editor.

Categories: 2020s , Apple TV+ Originals , Drama , Know the Cast , Science Fiction , Streaming Originals , Thriller , TV , TV Cast Guides

Tagged as: 2024 , Alice Braga , Amanda Brugel , Apple , Apple TV+ , Bassam Abdelfattah , Blake Crouch , Cast Guide , Cast List , Character List , Dark Matter , Dayo Okeniyi , Drama TV , Jason Huysman , Jenne Kang , Jennifer Connelly , Jimmi Simpson , Jimmy Styx , Joel Edgerton , Kate Eastman , Marquita Brooks , Meghan Maureen McDonough , Missy Fierro , Oakes Fegley , Peter Sipla , Q.V. Hough , Rolando Boyce , Science Fiction TV , Streaming , Streaming on Apple , Streaming on Apple TV , Suzy Dias , Television , Television Actors , Television Actresses , Television Cast List , Thriller TV , Tiff Abreu , TV Actors , TV Actresses , TV Cast , TV Cast List , TV Characters , TV Plot , TV Series , TV Show , William Smillie

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A concert hall bathed in golden light is mostly full of people in seats. There are three levels of seats along the walls, along with an orchestra section, and there is a stage illuminated in purple light with a piano and a drum set visible.

5 favorite places

Eugene Levy’s Toronto

The Canadian comedian, known for “American Pie,” “Schitt’s Creek” and now, “The Reluctant Traveler,” isn’t at all reluctant to share what he loves about his hometown.

Eugene Levy called Koerner Hall, at the Royal Conservatory of Music, one of his favorite places to see concerts. “The acoustics are impeccable,” he said. Credit... Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times

Supported by

By Abbie Kozolchyk

May 9, 2024

As you might guess from the title of Eugene Levy’s latest series — “The Reluctant Traveler” — he’s a guy who’s happy to stay put.

The show, now in its second season on Apple TV+ , follows Mr. Levy, a 77-year-old comedy legend known for his roles in “Waiting for Guffman,” “American Pie,” “Schitt’s Creek” and more, as he defies his anxieties about airports, heights, temperatures, textures and vast swaths of the animal kingdom. With great consternation, he leaves his comfort zone — Canada, as he often reminds viewers — to shadow an expert moose caller in Sweden, herd 600 sheep through a German resort town and politely avoid an octopus aboard a Greek trawler.

Eugene Levy leans against a wall with his right hand holding the knot of a navy blue tie. He is wearing a dark blue shirt and a rust-colored blazer. He has dark-framed round glasses and dark hair combed back with some gray mixed in. He has one of his distinctive thick eyebrows raised and is smiling with closed lips.

Raised in Hamilton, Ontario, about 40 miles southwest of Toronto, Mr. Levy got his big break in 1972 alongside Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin and Paul Shaffer in a celebrated production of “Godspell” at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theater . He has since called the city — and one historic, leafy neighborhood — home.

“Rosedale is a residential area that is right in the heart of Toronto,” he told me over coffee at Tavern on the Green, in New York, where he’d joined the cast of the fourth season of “ Only Murders in the Building .” With new skyscrapers going up “a mile a minute” in Toronto, he said, the scene from our table in Central Park looked a little like his view from Rosedale. He and his wife, Deborah Divine, are neighborhood loyalists — Avant Goût , a local bistro, has been their go-to for decades — but spots in other areas rank high, too.

Here are five of Mr. Levy’s favorite places in Toronto.

1. Terroni Bar Centrale

“Deb and I would usually do our daily constitutional in the morning and end up at Bar Centrale for a latte and some of their fine pastries,” he said, adding that the croissants are especially good at this spot in Summerhill, a neighborhood that borders Rosedale. Occupying the ground floor of the multistory Terroni Price restaurant in a 19th-century brick building, Bar Centrale forgoes the Wi-Fi you might expect with your coffee in favor of a wall’s worth of international magazines and — according to Mr. Levy — a staff full of good conversationalists.

2. Harry Rosen

The flagship of this family-run men’s wear emporium on Bloor Street is one-stop shopping for Mr. Levy. “I hate traveling around to different places to get different things,” he said, very much on brand. This place “has every designer, if that’s what you’re into, and everything from socks to tuxedos.” There’s also a sumptuous grooming department, a tailoring service and an array of coffee table books on topics like racecars, rockers and tattoo art.

3. CN Tower

Touristy? Sure, Mr. Levy acknowledged. Still, this approximately 1,815-foot communications and observation tower offers unrivaled views of the city and Lake Ontario, even if — like him — you avoid the acrophobia-inducing glass-floored sections. “We used to take the kids there when they were young,” he said. “I couldn’t even put my toe on the edge of the glass, but my kids would just destroy me — they would lie down on it.” A less stressful view: Rogers Centre , the stadium next door, where you can see the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball. “I’ve been a Jays fan for, I guess since they started in ’77,” Mr. Levy told me. He clarified his brand of fandom during a Season 2 episode of “The Reluctant Traveler”: “I don’t go and paint my face,” he told the Spanish footballer Héctor Bellerín , but “in a championship game, I’ll stand up and give them, you know, a thumbs-up.”

4. The Royal Conservatory of Music

“The musicianship coming out of the Royal Conservatory is just awesome,” said Mr. Levy, quick to note that his wife “would go there when she was a kid taking piano lessons.” (Students at the 138-year-old institution have included the pianist Glenn Gould and the singer Sarah McLachlan .) Mr. Levy loves concerts at the attached Koerner Hall — “the acoustics are impeccable” — where you can see top students or international stars .

5. Windsor Arms Hotel

The 1972 “Godspell” role became Mr. Levy’s first steady acting paycheck: “That was huge,” he said. And with his windfall (“140 bucks every single week”) he started enjoying meals and late-night cocktails, or cake and coffee, at the Windsor Arms , a 10-minute drive from the theater. The hotel was popular, he said, because it was “quiet and more residential” than others. (The suites feel like genteel prewar apartments, with musical instruments and plenty of plush seating.) One of Mr. Levy’s favorite old haunts there — the Courtyard Cafe — is now the Courtyard, an event space worth a quick wander to see where, among other things, Elton John and David Furnish held an engagement party. Mr. Levy, now a connoisseur of 5:30 p.m. dinners, is no longer the late-night cake-and-coffee guy he once was — but he still gives the place, you know, a thumbs-up.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

52 Places: Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

Mumbai: Spend 36 hours in this fast-changing Indian city by exploring ancient caves, catching a concert in a former textile mill and feasting on mangoes.

Kyoto: The Japanese city’s dry gardens offer spots for quiet contemplation in an increasingly overtouristed destination.

Iceland: The country markets itself as a destination to see the northern lights. But they can be elusive, as one writer recently found .

Texas: Canoeing the Rio Grande near Big Bend National Park can be magical. But as the river dries, it’s getting harder to find where a boat will actually float .

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COMMENTS

What makes The Great Gatsby great?
F Scott Fitzgerald's ultra-modernist novel about jazz-age America would be called The Great Gatsby, and one anonymous reviewer spoke for most of its first readers in describing it as "one of the ...
Is Gatsby Great? Analyzing the Title of The Great Gatsby
Shallow and Straight-Faced. This version takes "great" as a straightforward compliment, meaning "wonderful.". In this version, Gatsby is great because he is the richest, coolest, handsomest dude, who drives the best car and throws the most banging parties. In this take, the title means total admiration: Gatsby is nothing but greatness.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is F. Scott Fitzgerald's third novel. It was published in 1925. Set in Jazz Age New York, it tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth. Commercially unsuccessful upon publication, the book is now considered a classic of American fiction.
A Summary and Analysis of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is the quintessential Jazz Age novel, capturing a mood and a moment in American history in the 1920s, after the end of the First World War. Rather surprisingly, The Great Gatsby sold no more than 25,000 copies in F. Scott Fitzgerald's lifetime. It has now sold over 25 million copies. If Fitzgerald had stuck with one of the ...
What makes Gatsby great in The Great Gatsby?
Share Cite. Gatsby is great because he, simply put, retains an optimism and ability to dream that the vast majority of other characters in the book do not. When Nick returns from the war, he feels ...
The Great Gatsby Essays and Criticism
Romantics relate to Gatsby's unrelenting commitment to Daisy, the love of his life. But beneath all the decadence and romance, The Great Gatsby is a severe criticism of American upper class ...
Why Do We Keep Reading The Great Gatsby
It's creepier and profoundly, inexorably true to the spirit of the nation. This is not a book about people, per se. Secretly, it's a novel of ideas. Gatsby meets Daisy when he's a broke soldier and senses that she requires more prosperity, so five years later he returns as almost a parody of it.
Why is The Great Gatsby considered good literature?
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby has earned the classification as a worthy novel and a classic work because it meets the following criteria:. 1. It clearly is an artistic work that expresses ...
Why Is The Great Gatsby A Great Read? A Detailed Analysis of the Book
Immortal prose that must be commended, The Great Gatsby is a novel that uses great style and techniques of writing. Apart from the literary critics and scholars, fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work and book lovers have praised the work over the centuries. Each character, scene, and statement play an important role in creating a good literary text.
Why is Gatsby great?
20. Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is no doubt smart, talented, and brave. But he only pursues his own egoistic desires, is quite delusional in his love affairs, does not hesitate to destroy a family, does not create anything, and does not make others happy. So why is he great?
Best Character Analysis: Jay Gatsby
Gatsby was born "James Gatz," the son of poor farmers, in North Dakota. However, he was deeply ambitious and determined to be successful. He changed his name to "Jay Gatsby" and learned the manners of the rich on the yacht of Dan Cody, a wealthy man who he saved from a destructive storm and ended up being employed by.
88 Perfect Essay Topics on The Great Gatsby
Welcome to The Great Gatsby Essay Topics page prepared by our editorial team! Here you'll find a large collection of essay ideas on the novel! Literary analysis, themes, characters, & more. Get inspired to write your own paper! We will write a custom essay specifically. for you for only 11.00 9.35/page.
Why 'The Great Gatsby' is the Great American Novel
Why 'The Great Gatsby' is the Great American Novel. Sure, I knew that F. Scott Fitzgerald had an up-and-down career and a bad drinking habit and wound up dying at a young age while working as ...
The Great Gatsby Essay Examples
The Great Gatsby Essay Topic Examples. Whether you want to analyze the American Dream, compare and contrast characters, vividly describe settings and characters, persuade readers with your viewpoints, or share personal experiences related to the story, these essay ideas provide a diverse perspective on the themes and complexities within the book.
Best Analysis: The American Dream in The Great Gatsby
Book Guides. The Great Gatsby is a tragic love story on the surface, but it's most commonly understood as a pessimistic critique of the American Dream. In the novel, Jay Gatsby overcomes his poor past to gain an incredible amount of money and a limited amount of social cache in 1920s NYC, only to be rejected by the "old money" crowd.
Why Is Gatsby Great?
He is "great" because of his dreams, wealth, status in society, festivities, and personality. However, it is contradictory because all this greatness cannot provide him with the only thing he needs - love. Detailed answer: Gatsby definitely was "great," and there is an enormous amount of evidence to support this fact.
The Great Gatsby Critical Essays
Gatsby retains the American Dream in its purest form. A. He has the quality of the original seekers of the dream—the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. III. He adheres to the precept of ...
Why Is Gatsby Great
The American Dream In The Great Gatsby Essay 1133 Words | 5 Pages. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of the American Dream. Written in 1925, the book tells the story of a man named Jay Gatsby, whose main driving force in life is the pursuit of a woman called Daisy Buchanan.
Why Is The Great Gatsby Great
The Great Gatsby Is Great Essay. 912 Words | 4 Pages. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is an appropriate title for the novel because Gatsby himself is great. He is great because he is able to fool everyone that he is and always has been a person of high social and economical class, he is great because he isn't like Tom and Daisy, he ...
Comments
The Great Gatsby is a wonderful book. I taught it for many years too in colleges. And I was thriled by. how much my students loved the book: its sad, elegiacal mood, Daisy and Tom's utter crassness, and Gatsby' and Nick's naive but beautiful belief that America can be still something wonderful for all our faults and mistakes.
Dark Matter Cast: Every Actor and Character in the Apple Series
The Dark Matter cast features Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly and Alice Braga. This info article contains minor spoilers and cast/character summaries for Blake Crouch's Apple TV+ series. Check out more streaming guides in Vague Visages' Know the Cast category, and then browse complete soundtrack song listings in the Soundtracks of Cinema ...
Five Places to Visit in Toronto, With Eugene Levy
He and his wife, Deborah Divine, are neighborhood loyalists — Avant Goût, a local bistro, has been their go-to for decades — but spots in other areas rank high, too. Here are five of Mr. Levy ...
What is the conflict between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan in The Great
The first conflict is obvious. The two men both want the same woman. Gatsby wants her for love, Tom, I think, just wants her because she "belongs" to him. The second conflict is less obvious. It ...