Examples Of Fashion In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby focuses on the excitement and adventure of the roaring twenties, a time filled with great economic success and parties said to last the whole decade. New to Long Island and New York, aspiring bond man Nick Carraway becomes infatuated with the lifestyle of his rich peers living the “American dream”. He gains interest in his mysterious neighbor Jay Gatsby, who lives in an incredible mansion and has a vast amount of wealth. Gatsby uses his money to try and steal his love, Daisy Buchanan from her unfaithful husband, Tom. Characters in The Great Gatsby are unhappy and unfulfilled with their lives due to greed manipulating their view of The American Dream. This skewed perception also affects their unreasonable life expectations and their narcissistic thoughts create a larger potential for failure, such as Gatsby’s extravagant plan to steal Daisy Buchanan.

One of the major topics that can be explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth. Fitzgerald uses physical location – setting- as a sort of short-hand for the various aspects of American society he wants us to care about. West Egg represents the newly wealthy, the gaudy and improper; East Egg represents the moral hollowness of old wealth, prim and proper but corrupt. New York stands for the pursuit of pleasure, while the Valley of Ashes represents the social and moral decay that has resulted from the unfettered greed and gluttony of society’s uber-rich. Gatsby was not ready and prepared for the corrupt world when he joined West Egg. He is constantly surrounded by evidence of the unhappiness that success can bring. Daisy and Tom’s marriage is an example for this symptom. It is full of deceit and lies and they are both looking for something different and greater. Gatsby is blinded by the fact that money cannot buy love. Therefore, there is a reason it is said that “money cannot buy happiness” - not that rich people aren’t still going to try in Fitzgerald’s novel. As a result, money is not everything, but for certain people it seems like materialism is. Daisy chose money over love when she chose to marry Tom over waiting for Gatsby. She ends up with a cheating husband and with all the money in the world, but no real happiness or sense of fulfillment. Her attempt to find happiness in her material possessions is typical for such

The selfishness of the American dream in the 1920’s is presented through Gatsby’s flaunt, and strive for wealth. Gatsby throwing all his expensive looking shirts into a pile demonstrates his flaunting of wealth. When he “took out a pile shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, … the soft rich heap mounted higher”, he is bragging about his wealth to Daisy, his one way ticket to the American dream (92). All of these expensive looking shirts make him look wealthier than he really is. For instance, the class looking flannel is a soft-woven fabric typically made of wool or cotton, and is very inexpensive. Gatsby wants to boast about his wealth to Daisy so she can see that he does have lots of money, and they can get back together. Daisy’s voice is full of money, and is a symbol of old money. If Gatsby can get Daisy, then he can be completely accepted as high class and ultimately achieve his American dream,

“He took out a pile of shorts and began throwing them, one by one before us, shorts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel which lost their fold as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher -- shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange with monograms of Indian blue” (Fitzgerald 92). Gatsby is flaunting of his wealth and luxurious materialistic items believing that is the only way to gain Daisy back and make it how it was five years ago. Gatsby starts as a poor farmer boy, but throughout the years he desires to be more and have more. To him, Daisy is someone he loves, but this love is based on materialistic objects and status, causing Gtabsy to focus and base his actions on money and wealth.

The 1920s is the decade in American history known as the “roaring twenties.” Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of life in the 1920s. Booming parties, prominence, fresh fashion trends, and the excess of alcohol are all aspects of life in the “roaring twenties.”

Gatsby believes that in order to achieve the past love with Daisy he first must show her that similar to Tom her husband he also has that important social standing. To show this high social class or imitation of the high social class Fitzgerald uses props such as books and clothing. For example in chapter three at the party that Nick attends the owl-eyed man said "See!" he cried triumphantly. "It's a bona-fide piece of printed matter. It fooled me. This fella's a regular Belasco. It's a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too - didn't cut the pages. But what do you want? What do you expect?" (p.30). The fact that Gatsby has spend money on all of these books that he has not even cut open to read shows that he desires this idea of social power and believes that to come about the American Dream he must first fit in with the upper class or old money. He shows daisy how wealthy he is by throwing his shirts all around the room. He does this in chapter four. This shows how much he longs for her approval. After Gatsby shows Daisy the shirts she starts to weep at their beauty, this shows how much social statues can effect someone.

Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a

The second character representation of money and materialism in the novel The Great Gatsby is shown through Daisy Buchanan. This is not only shown through the quote that began this essay in which she stated that she hoped her daughter will be beautiful fool, but also through the flashback into her wedding day with Tom. “‘I’m glad it’s a girl and I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool’”. This quote represents the theme materialism and money because Daisy recognizes that she is miserable by saying that she hopes that her daughter is a beautiful fool because then she will be too ignorant to see that her life's in ruins (as Daisy’s is) and that all she will see is the money that can give her comfort. This quote also shows that Daisy will not leave Tom even after she

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald’s use of exposition to illustrate the superficiality and flaws within Gatsby and Daisy conveys his disapproval with classism, and the letter to his daughter extends his hope for societal reform. When Gatsby insists that Daisy leave Tom to marry him, Daisy firmly postulates, “Rich girls don’t marry poor boys” (Coppola). Fitzgerald elucidates the social stratification in West Egg through Daisy’s love for materialistic items and her reluctance to marry Gatsby. Daisy is a token of the social trend to gain material and represents the twentieth century misconception

The culture of the upper class, illustrated by Tom and Daisy’s lifestyle, was a closed society that individuals such as the Wilsons had seemingly no chance of achieving. Tom and Daisy represented the old wealth which will cause conflict in between the society in their time when the book stated, “I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors eyes; fresh, green breast of the new world; the trees vanished where they made way for Gatsby’s house”

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby , the 1920’s is portrayed as a time of change and excitement. It was a time where women started dressing and were portrayed differently, feminism grew and was a major influence on the American culture.

However, to be part of the American dream, and the right social class it was almost impossible to create a perfect 'glittering surface ' that would make you a part of this materialistic society. Gatsby, constantly working on his 'glittering surface ' to become a part of this society, tries to perfect the elements of his American dream, which included financial success, material acquisitions, proper self-image, and social status. The most fashionable financial situation is "old money", meaning that you have been born into a large wealth and therefore do not need to work to support yourself. Tom and Daisy are in this classification, along with the rest of fashionable East Egg. Daisy was born into a life of wealth and privilege in Louisville and has no reason to trouble herself in anything involving the slightest bit of work. This almost makes it seem as her life is void of meaning, "What 'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?" Gatsby, on the other hand is the complete contrast of this. He is in the less fashionable, but certainly tolerable "new money" situation of West Egg. He has worked to acquire his wealth , even if he has done it through illegal means, "A lot of these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know." He has built up a great wealth from nothing, as he was born into a common life, with nothing but a dream, or an

Gatsby’s devotion to Daisy motivates him to earn more riches and be successful. In addition, when he invites Daisy over to his house he starts to “[revalue] everything in his house according to the measure it drew from her well loved eyes” (Fitzgerald 91). Gatsby’s observation of how Daisy examines his house, his luxurious objects, and wealthy lifestyle makes him obsessed with impressing her with his lavish items. In an attempt to impress Daisy, Gatsby throws expensive silk shirts onto Daisy and hopes that she is amazed at his ability to afford such objects. For this reason, Daisy responds, “They’re such beautiful shirts...It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-- such beautiful shirts before” (92). Daisy’s intense feelings to these high-priced shirts indicates she is not sad about regretting her marriage to Tom or missing being with Gatsby, but rather feels deprived of not possessing these well-made shirts. Daisy’s actions towards these shirts demonstrate her personality of being

One of the major topics explored in The Great Gatsby is the sociology of wealth, specifically, how the newly minted millionaires of the 1920s differ from and relate to the old aristocracy of the country’s richest families. 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. Gatsby, for example, lives in a monstrously ornate mansion, wears a pink suit, drives a Rolls-Royce,

When you think of the word fashion, what do you think? Do you think about outrageous runway outfits? Cocktail dresses? Tracksuits? Whatever your impression of fashion, it is obvious that fashion plays an important role in today's society. We are judged by our clothing and appearance on an everyday basis, so why not make the most of our choices?