Great Gatsby

Gatsby is then reminded of his low status when Daisy’s mother“…had found her packing her bag one winter night to go to New York and say goodbye to a soldier who was going overseas. She was effectually prevented, but she wasn’t on speaking terms with her family for several weeks.” (75) From that moment Gatsby becomes motivated to become one of the wealthy elite in order to win Daisy and her family.

When F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing The Great Gatsby, he was not only working as a writer, he was an artist painting a piece through his words. While making the lives of fictional characters come to life for the reader, one of the main tools he used to do this was by using the symbolism of colors. Nick Carraway, the main character, befriends many of the wealthiest and corrupt people of Long Island, while exposing them for what they truly are in the journeys he endures with them. His extravagant use of colors to illustrate scenes and characters helps us determine the symbolism behind them, and how they’re used to expose the true personalities of the characters.

In the beginning, Jay Gatsby can be seen as an evil man. He brags to Nick Carraway about how he knows the person who rigged the World Series in 1919. Fitzgerald writes, “‘Meyer Wolfshiem? No he’s a gambler.’ Gatsby hesitated, then added coolly: ‘He’s the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919.’” This shows how Gatsby is friends with a shady person and the hesitation

that he has achieved has been part of the plan conceived by him to try

The Great Gatsby is too concerned with conveying a picture of 1920s American society to have relevance to modern readers.

He constructs a mansion, throws opulent parties, bathes in luxuries, and uses Nick Carraway as a liaison all to attract Daisy’s attention. Daisy represents everything that Gatsby endeavors for—the narrator compares her to a golden girl. Trying to pinpoint what exactly made her voice so distinctive, Gatsby and Nick conclude that her voice is “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” (120). The idiosyncrasy of her voice is that it draws one in with quietude and contains promises of secret pleasures such as vast riches, luring men in with her raspy, indulgent murmurs. Unfortunately, Gatsby is too late in realizing that money is not synonymous with happiness, as explored in the following paragraph.

“Her voice is full of money.” (Chapter 7) Daisy became the Holy Grail for Gatsby and she represented everything he ever wanted in life. Maybe he believed that having Daisy would mean that he had, finally, escaped that past he had of being a poor nobody. Nevertheless, Gatsby’s undoing was, at the end, his adamant wanting to regain Daisy.

Gatsby was alone for a moment with Nick when he gave a small glimpse into what he saw in Daisy with this weirdly worded compliment. “Her voice is full of money” (120). A short but simple sentence tells alot about Gatsby. Instead of listing qualities he adores and appreciates in her Gatsby may not be in love with daisy the person, but in love with daisy, a member of a high ranking social class. Since Gatsby was told he couldn't be with her when he was young and poor he always envied. Later on he elaborates on the short statement regarding what he sees in daisy. “High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl” (120). This is what he envisions her in his mind when he thinks of Daisy. This adds to the prominence of Daisy’s public perception. She is viewed as the golden girl and a prize, the best there is, Gatsby wants to be associated with the best and

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is seen as a mysterious character that’s not called great or bad. The Great Gatsby takes place in the 1920’s during the “roaring twenties” or called as the “Jazz Age”, a period ending the Great Depression and an era where jazz and dancing become trendy. Gatsby does not seem to be fit to be called “great”, instead he is fit for being called a determined man. Some may not call Gatsby “great” because of his lies and some will call him “great” because he is a man who is determined to get Daisy back from Tom or because Gatsby is a nice man who does not have much ignorance like Tom. An example why Gatsby do not deserve to be called a “great” man is because he is a liar and a “great” man does not

In many instances, Gatsby showed signs of selflessness. But, if the reader were to dig deeper into the roots of the story, they will be able to see that under the kind acts and good deeds, Gatsby’s intentions were always selfish. After the car scene, Tom, Jordan, Daisy and Nick returned to Daisy and Tom’s house. As Gatsby waits outside of the home, Nick, unknowingly, asks Gatsby whether or not Daisy was driving. Gatsby replies saying, “Yes, but of course I’ll say I was” (Fitzgerald 143). When Gatsby took Daisy’s place in the murder of Myrtle, although seeming kind-hearted, his only reason for this was to earn Daisy’s love and to impress her. Gatsby has somewhat put up an image of himself to be the pure and almighty man that deserves Daisy more. Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby’s business partner, mentions to Nick of Gatsby’s chivalrous actions towards women saying, “Yeah, Gatsby’s very careful about women. He would never so much look at a friend’s wife” (Fitzgerald 72). Although Meyer Wolfshiem’s comment on Gatsby about him being a gentleman, and how he would never look at another man’s wife, Gatsby proceeds to exceed all expectations and have an affair with Tom’s wife, Daisy Buchanan. Yes, some might say his only reason for doing so was out of true love and destiny but, in either case, it was morally wrong. In every action that Gatsby commits for Daisy, his selfishness secretly hides beneath it, shading itself from light so no one will approach the real man that lurks behind the curtains of self pride.

“Her voice is full of money.” Jay Gatsby said this while talking to Nick about Daisy. Daisy is a prime example of what people call a “gold digger.” She proves the theme, once the world reveals some of its riches; people tend to forget their values. Throughout the entire book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we see over and over people turning their backs to love for money. They are shown money and never look back; a deep and powerful lusts controls them. While reading this book it conjures up many emotions such as sadness, anger, and depression. At the end of the book, the realization of the true human condition shows its true colors, and leaves the book full of depression.

After the war, Gatsby’s only goal was to posses enough wealth to bring Daisy back. He acquired millions of dollars from businesses he did. “Gatsby bough this house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (78). His love for Daisy was the only thing that made him the man he was. He was intelligent, rich and even famous, all because of her. He threw big parties were many celebrities went and were thousands of dollars were spent in liquor and food just to call Daisy’s attention. “I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night…” (79), recalled Jordan, Gatsby’s friend, one night. All that Gatsby possessed was only and exclusively to show Daisy he could give her the life she wanted.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is told from the perspective of one of the main characters, Nick Carraway. Nick tells the story of a man named Jay Gatsby, who is his neighbor in the West Egg. Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby as a man who everyone wants to know and copy but deep down are very envious of him. Gatsby trusts few people and those whom he trusts know his life story. To everyone else, he is a mystery. Everyone seems obsessed with Jay Gatsby. For this reason the novel revolves about rumors of Gatsby rather than the truth.

There are different identities that Gatsby creates for himself, with all of them relating to each other in the end. The identity that he creates for himself is a wealthy man, who lies about his history to get to the top. He appears to be likeable by most New Yorkers because so many people attend his outrageous parties that he throws. The reason Gatsby throws these parties is all for one person, Daisy, as he “half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night, but she never did” (80). Because she never attended one of his parties, he sought out Jordan Baker to help him find a way to get together with his previous lover. For years, he worked hard to become successful in his “business”. With all of the money that he gained from this, he “bought a house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (79). Gatsby hoped that Daisy would notice him and his wealth, and therefore, leave Tom. He believed that if he was perceived as the “better” man, she would go back to him.

She repeatedly exhibits her attraction to wealthy and high-class people. Near the end of the novel, Gatsby finally states that Daisy’s voice is “’full of money.’” At that moment, Nick suddenly realizes that “it was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle in it, the cymbals’ song of it… High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl...” Daisy comes from a home of higher-class people. She enjoys the pleasure and privileges that money brings her. Unlike Gatsby, she has always been and always will be an “insider.” All the men love her, and all the women want to be her. Although he exerts himself to earn her “love,” Gatsby is never truly accepted by her and her world. Had Gatsby been born in better circumstances, he would not be the outsider he is.