The Great Gatsby MWDS Essay Example

with having wealth for many generations. Nick unknowingly moves in beside Jay Gatsby, a charismatic man who throws extravagant parties every Saturday night.

While in New York, Nick connects with his cousin, Daisy, who lives in a large estate in East Egg, the Old Money district, with her husband Tom. Nick also meets their friend, Jordan Baker, with whom he establishes a romantic relationship. Nick soon finds out that Daisy and Gatsby had a past relationship that Gatsby is intent on continuing, and he gets sucked into the midst of the drama. Gatsby uses Nick to reestablish the connection between him and Daisy when he asks Nick to invite Daisy to tea, without her husband being present.

After an awkward evening, Daisy and Gatsby reestablish their relationship. Tom becomes very suspicious of Gatsby and Is appalled that his wife is having an affair with him even though he has been carrying on an open affair with a woman named Myrtle Wilson. Myrtle lives with her husband In The Valley of ashes, a poor area between West Egg and New York City. When the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, Nick, Gatsby, and Jordan) travel to Manhattan where he exposes Gatsby for the fraud that he is. Daisy loses all intention to run off with Gatsby.

On the way back to East Egg, Daisy is driving Gatsby car and in a panic, accidentally runs over and kills Myrtle Wilson. The distraught Mr.. Wilson then seeks vengeance on his wife's murderer and is told by Tom that it was Gatsby that was driving the car. Mr.

. Wilson minds Gatsby at his pool and shoots him to death and

then shoots himself. Nick has a funeral for Gatsby for which no one shows up but Gatsby father and one of the guests that had come to a party Gatsby had hosted. Nick leaves West Egg and severs all connection with the people he had met while in New York.

He is disgusted by the way Gatsby was treated and by the truths that he had learned about the people of the Old Money world that eventually lead to his return to the Midwest. Setting: The novel gravitates around the locales of East Egg and West Egg.

The two are definitively efferent communities separated by the vast Long Island Sound. During the asses, the time period in which the book is set, Flushing Meadow Park still remains a dump yard. It is referred to as the "Ash Heaps", an inescapable site visible from the autobahn to Manhattan.

Other locations included in the novel are Manhattan and Valley of Ashes.

Manhattan is where Nick comes from. Valley of Ashes is where Myrtle lives. The characters do not travel far. They typically remain sedate in their respective communities. That is a behavior that Gatsby disregards as he attempts to break into a new society and a new world.

Author's Style: Fitzgerald was a modernist. He was quite advanced for the time he was alive. He had symbolic imagery between characters. His descriptive writing is littered with imagery related to the themes.

His first person narrative is used realistically. The characters aren't necessarily heroes in their fictional worlds.

He has a slightly pompous tone at times. Example that demonstrates the author's style: "Then I heard footsteps on a

stairs and in a moment the thick's figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as mom women can" (page 29). Quotations: . "L hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.

Peg 68 Significance: Daisy says these words to Nick and Jordan as she describes her hopes for a child. Daisy hopes her daughter will grow up to be simple and beautiful because that is the only way that she will be able to completely enjoy life. This quote reveals more about Daisy because it basically describes what she wishes to become. 2. "He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor.

It understood you Just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself. " Peg 100 This is Nicks first close observation of Jay Gatsby. The description depicts Gatsby charisma. It also demonstrates how Gatsby is viewed by everyone else. His smile is also an example of the persona that Gatsby created with he was seventeen.

It is also a part of the man he wished to become. 3. "The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself.

He was

a son of God-a phrase which, if it means anything, means Just that-and he must be about invented Just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.

" Peg 96 Significance: Nick finally gives an insight into Gatsby past. He uses the comparison between Jesus and Gatsby to highlight the fact that Gatsby created another identity for himself. Gatsby transforms himself into the idea person when he was a teenager. He has not strayed room this persona, even though many obstacles have been thrown in his way to prevent him from fulfilling his dream. . "That's my Middle West .

.. The street lamps and sleigh bells in the frosty dark... 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 indictable to Eastern Life.

" Peg 170 Significance: Throughout the book, locations in the United States have been associated with themes and ideas. The east is affiliated with decadence, parties, a pursuit of wealth, and a fast-paced lifestyle. The West is associated with more traditional and moral values.

This quote exemplifies the fact that the characters are not meant for a lifestyle like one that is associated with New York.

5. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic 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 then one fine morning- So

we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. " Peg 34 Significance: Nick comments here on the struggle of humans trying to achieve their goals by constantly regressing o the past and trying to recreate it.

Because of this, we are unable to look at the future and move on from the past. Gatsby actions epitomize this idea as he struggles to recreate his love with Daisy and strive to have a future with the woman he supposedly loved. Symbols: 1. East Egg: The East Egg represents the Old Money World. These people have had their riches for generations and have no desire to neither flaunt their wealth nor openly associate with those who are not of their community.

2. West Egg: The West Egg symbolizes the New Money World. These people desperately try to get into the oral of the Old Money but fail at their attempts.

They always flaunt their riches so that they may gain the attention of others.

3. Clock Falling: The clock falling shows that Gatsby wants to preserve his past. He wants to rekindle this relationship that he's has with Daisy that is essentially broken, but he is unwilling to admit it. Point of view: The book is told in first person, from Nick Caraways perspective. Significance of the point of view: Telling the book from this point of view is kind of odd because the most visible part of the story is Jay Gatsby and his devotion to his dream.

I think he book would've been better if told from Gatsby view, since he's the main focus. It's a little bothersome that Nick

was mostly "invisible" when it comes to the book being told from his perspective. I wish that we would've been more of major character than he was. I guess that it's a good thing that we got Nicks point of view, because if it was in Gatsby POP, we would've missed Nicks evolution as a character from an invisible dude to someone who suddenly has opinions on everybody.

Characters: Name Role in Story Significance Adjectives Nick Caraway Narrator He narrates the story in his perspective.

He often added his outsider who is new to the wealth and certain behaviors which he associates with the East Coast. Honest, Judgmental Jay Gatsby Protagonist He represents the "nouveau richer. " Although he gains wealth Ambitious, Naive, Pretentious. Daisy Buchanan Gatsby romantic interest, Tom's wife She represents the typical woman who comes from an old money background. She runs over Myrtle Wilson, but isn't held responsible.

This shows the idea that rich people can get away with anything. Beautiful, Materialistic, Graceful, Enchanting. Critical reflection: I didn't like how Gatsby continuously threw parties to get Daisy's attention.