Great Gatsby Essay

Describe at least one important character in the written text.                         Explain how this character is revealed to you throughout the text.

CHARACTER REVEALED EVIDENCE
Daisy  White -“High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl”

-“The windows were ajar and gleaming white”

Gatsby  American Dream, -“This fella’s a regular Belasco…What realism… didn’t cut the pages.”

-“He stretched out his arms…distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away,”

Nick Narrative point of view, – “I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two”

-“Whenever you feel like criticising any one,” he told me,Just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

 

“Perfection is an illusion which is needed to disguise the emptiness within”. The world-famous novel  “The Great Gatsby” written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of Nick Caraway’s summer  in 1920’s New York. Throughout the novel there are three main characters: Gatsby, Daisy, and Nick.

Throughout the novel James Gatz better known as Jay Gatsby, represents illusion and how you can not reinvent yourself or the past.

Gatsby is revealed as a rich person who has accomplished the American Dream. He is revealed through his massive mansion that full of materialistic items such as the library with ‘uncut’ books. We know he is rich because he uses phrases such as ‘old sport’ which is often used by rich people from ‘old money’. Whereas in reality he has failed. Gatsby has failed to reinvent his past with Daisy which was his goal throughout the book. The dream of being with daisy and being part of the ‘old money’ society seems so close but is actually out of reach.

In the novel Owl-Eye’s mentions about Gatsby that “This fella’s a regular Belasco.” Gatsby’s illusion is then shown through Owl-eye’s statement of what he sees “What realism… didn’t cut the pages.”  When Owl-Eye’s refers to Gatsby.

In the first quote the reference to David Belasco describes Gatsby’s staged life. David Belasco was a man that set up scenes with props, he was a play writer  and theatrical producer. This relates to Gatsby because he has being setting up his life ( arranging the props) to make everyone believe that he is a wealthy man that comes form ‘old money’. The second part of the quote where Owl-Eyes talks about the books being uncut describes Gatsby himself and his materialistic life. In the era of the book people used to get buy their books uncut and would have to cut the books themselves before reading, meaning that if the book is uncut it has not yet being read. Gatsby’s uncut books represent that a lot of what he presents to the world is a facade. He wants people to believe that he is a well-educated man, an Oxford man, but in fact he only spent a short time there after the war. He has built up this  image of himself that is inconsistent with the reality and facts of his life. These  unopened books represent Gatsby himself: mysterious, undeveloped, closed up and unopened.

We first get introduced to Gatsby when Nick sees that Gatsby “stretched out his arms”. Nick then goes on to say that Gatsby has distinguished a “single green light, minute and far away,”. The green light appears multiple times…

When Gatsby is seen with his arms stretched out it is almost as if Gatsby was trying to reach out for something.

In this novel, one of the main characters, Nick, presents himself as a non judgmental person. However, throughout the book we get to understand that his judgments are presented through his narrative point of view. At the beginning of the book, one of the first things that Nick (narrator) tells us, is some advice that his father told him in his ” younger more vulnerable years”. Nick’s father said that whenever he felt like judging someone he should “remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” His father is basically saying not to judge a book by its cover. Fitzgerald put this quote in as one of the first because he wants it to be misjudged. The entire novel is based on judgment, and miss judgment which many readers do not realise. The fist quote where Nick says in his younger “more vulnerable years” he is suggesting that he used to be very vulnerable and he still is, just not as vulnerable as he once was. The advice that his father gave him is a quote which lays down the foundation for Nick’s character and personality.Nick’s father also expresses that Nick was given all of these opportunities and chances but he never flaunts them , he takes them for granted. 

One thought on “Great Gatsby Essay”

  1. Christina, there are some wonderful moments of original thought in here!

    Your unpacking of the evidence is strong (the explain part) but I want to challenge you to introduce your evidence in a way that maintains this standard.

    Look at the statement “Gatsby’s illusion is then shown through…”- can you see how this sounds a little clunky and not as smooth as the other sentences around it? Re-read your work- how can you make sure that all of it flow together?

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