Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby conveys to the reader the idea of corruption through illustrating people's lust for parties, their obsession to be wealthy, the difference between people who are newly rich and those who inherited their money on one hand, and the class contrast between the upper class and the lower class.
The Great Gatsby lends itself to many themes , but the primary purpose of the novel is to provide a sharp criticism of the American Dream as defined during the 1920s.
Gatsby is a clear embodiment of the American Dream: he was born poor and rose to achieve a higher wealth and social status. Nick explains, “[Gatsby's] parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people…
Gatsby's tragic flaw is his inability to wake up from his dream of the past and accept reality. His obsession with recapturing his past relationship with Daisy compels him to a life of crime and deceit.
The moral of The Great Gatsby is that the American Dream is illusory. Gatsby's dream was to be with Daisy, but even after he attained her lifestyle, he was unable to be with her. Meanwhile, the people that had money, like Daisy and Tom, could not achieve happiness either.
The major conflict in The Great Gatsby is the love triangle between Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy. Tom and Daisy will kill the two people with whom they are having affairs either directly or indirectly.
To Gatsby, Daisy represents the paragon of perfection—she has the aura of charm, wealth, sophistication, grace, and aristocracy that he longed for as a child in North Dakota and that first attracted him to her.
Climax There are two possible climaxes: Gatsby's reunion with Daisy in Chapters 5–6; the confrontation between Gatsby and Tom in the Plaza Hotel in Chapter 7.
“It captured the ideas of the [1920s] well, such as the themes around identity and materialism.” As American Studies combines both AP English Language and AP US History, reading Gatsby is intended to introduce students to both the history of the time as well as critiquing its values through the lenses of literature.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald offers up commentary on a variety of themes -- justice, power, greed, betrayal, the American dream, and so on.
The Disillusionment of the American Dream. The Emptiness of the Wealthy. Moral Conflict in Pursuit of the American Dream. The Consequences of Money and Materialism.
At the end of The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is revealed to have been a bootlegger; Daisy abandons him, Tom shoots him, and his funeral is sparsely attended. Nick reflects on the story in the last few paragraphs, noting that Gatsby built all of his wealth and status in service of reuniting with his lost love, Daisy.
Modern love in The Great Gatsby is a symbol of impossible love. Impossible for being too late, or at the wrong time, with the wrong person, or because of the restrictions placed by society on who it is suitable or appropriate to have a relationship with.
While The Great Gatsby captures the exuberance of the 1920s, it's ultimately a portrayal of the darker side of the era, and a pointed criticism of the corruption and immorality lurking beneath the glitz and glamour.
When he first goes to a party at Gatsby's, he seeks Gatsby out (presumably to thank him for his invitation), while the others at the party gossip about Gatsby and enjoy themselves. Similarly, after Gatsby's death, Nick is the only one who shows concern. Nick can therefore be seen as the moral compass of the story.
Theme is the main or central idea in a literary work. It is the unifying element of a story. A theme is not a summary of characters or events. Rather, it is the controlling idea or central insight of the story.
Amorously, Fitzgerald remembers, “At his lips' touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete,” shows the rebirth of Gatsby and Daisy's love. In comparison, this piece of the passage is a simile, too because it compares Daisy opening up to him again and a flower blooming.
When Tom insists on driving Gatsby's car into the city, Nick uses an oxymoron to describe the look on Gatsby's face: Daisy looked at Tom frowning, and an indefinable expression, at once definitely unfamiliar and vaguely recognizable, as if I had only heard it described in words, passed over Gatsby's face.
In the novel, West Egg and its denizens represent the newly rich, while East Egg and its denizens, especially Daisy and Tom, represent the old aristocracy. Fitzgerald portrays the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste.
Essential Questions and Skills:
How does Fitzgerald use symbolism and irony in the novel? What are the effects of the symbolism and irony? How does the novel's structure affect the unwinding of the plot? Using Oedipus and Hamlet as the archetypes of the tragic hero, is Gatsby a tragic hero?
The turning point in the novel which sets the fate for Gatsby is in the Plaza Hotel in New York City when Tom highlights the Gatsby's failure and that he will never be good enough for Daisy, which shatters his dreams.
Gatsby tells Nick an origin story: he's the son of wealthy now-dead Midwesterners, he went to Oxford, and then he fought bravely in WWI. Not only that, but he has a medal and a photograph to prove it!
The primary conflict in Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is between Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. Gatsby wants to rekindle his relationship with Daisy, who is now married to Tom.