Do I dare?
I take a look at the Universe and at first glance I see a magnificent entity “revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot,” (Fitzgerald pg. 31) so grand in scale that nothing can ever be compared to it. The universe is beautiful in its complexity and is mind numbing even at first glance and it becomes even more difficult to comprehend as you begin to pinpoint human life. Looking back in time through the course of human existence I look through our “troubled history and sympathized with the brave struggles” (Fitzgerald pg. 66) of this world. Whose brave struggles contradict one another so majestically that they highlight the ideals and virtues of a resilient species the human race is kind and generous but it is also destructive and greedy.
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“I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be;” (Eliot line 116) I, as well as every other free thinking human being, have a side of myself that is selfish and greedy while I also am caring and thoughtful of my surroundings. It is undisputable that no matter what I do to change my ways I will always have some part of me that is selfish and I can’t change that no matter what I do. “It is impossible to say just what I mean,” (Eliot line 109) without discrediting myself or by offending someone else but the truth is everyone is selfish and that means myself included. Every day we prioritize ourselves we put our needs in front of others, no one is selfless. This outlook is beyond cynical, I will admit, but I hold these views to be true for “I have known them all already,” (Eliot line 55) during my short life on earth. There is small hope for the universe and the human spirit if you really go looking for it. For one it is possible to suppress ones selfishness by neglecting the ego until one’s “egotism is no longer nourished,” (Fitzgerald pg. 20) so that one can spend an amount of time focusing on others. Each person has their own survival mechanism that keeps their morals afloat and mine is that “I am slow thinking and fill out interior rules that act as brakes on my desires,” (Fitzgerald pg. 58) and for most of the time my brakes work. At other times they fail me and I have a whole mess of problems I must now deal with. Why can’t I just …show more content…
These are all simple laws of nature that one thing cannot stay constant forever and yet I struggle with this idea and I try to fight it. I’m only comfortable in the known and the routine. So when I look at the universe I see something comfortable and yes, I would be more than happy to eliminate the violence from this modern era. I would take out the oppression and the depression but if I take this away from the world we live in then what monstrosity will take its place? What if it is somehow worse and there ends up being more death and more hate in the world how “should I then presume?” (Eliot line 73) How do I change it in its current state? If I dare to change the universe “then where should I begin,” (Eliot line 74) with the depression or the oppression? This world is not an algebraic formula where we can find out which of the two is the independent and which is the dependent variable. Is it the depression forcing the oppression or the oppression causing the depression? Frankly I wouldn’t want my life to be explained in the way of a formulaic solutions, lucky for me that is the case for the more complex things in the world, anything touched by freewill to be exact. I suppose it’s quite possible to “face the whole external world for an instant” (Fitzgerald pg. 48) and figure everything out but by the
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.
The Great Gatsby is based upon wealth in the “Roaring 20’s”. The novel itself contains not a single dull moment of the narrators experience in the East, as it reflects people’s aspirations corrupted by greed and money. In addition, the romance between characters can help relate the readers to the novel. The film does a great job capturing almost all the aspects of the novel; through colors and themes. It gives the viewer a clear understanding of how shallow characters get mixed up into complex
The Great Gatsby is too concerned with conveying a picture of 1920s American society to have relevance to modern readers.
Will true love itself keep people satisfied and motivated? Both F. Scott Fitzgerald and E.E. Cummings support this idea in their works. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby died protecting the love of his life, and in the poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town” anyone and noone died satisfied with the love they shared with each other. Both show that love is still present in the world and that there are still some people in the world who actually care about others, Both authors use tone, imagery, and symbolism to reveal this concept.
Since American literature’s emergence, the American dream has become a conceptual ideal for many people throughout history. Although the dream has its own distinct aspects throughout different time periods, it predominantly focuses on the foundations of wealth, success and a desire for something greater. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, is primarily known for the numerous lavish parties he throws each weekend at his ostentatious mansion in West Egg in an attempt to reunite with Daisy Buchanan, a woman he falls in love with prior to entering the war before the Roaring Twenties. However, he is seized with an impotent realization on the fact that his wealth cannot afford him the same privileges as others that are born into the upper echelon. Gatsby is completely blinded from his opulent possessions until he becomes oblivious of the fact that money cannot buy love or happiness. Throughout the story, the predilection for materialistic features causes many characters to lose sight of their aspirations, demonstrating how a dream can become easily corrupt by one’s focus on acquiring wealth and power.
Fitzgerald writes a story with a character that is considered “larger than life”; he throws massive parties, is in love with a married woman, is rich and goes by the name of Jay Gatsby. Nick is the narrator who is sees a different side of Gatsby that sees him “great” aside from his wealth and corruption. Nick grew up in the Jazz age and it was replaced with the vitality, and favor of the artificial American dream. Gatsby’s life was full of winnings along with failures that followed him into death throughout the novel; never the less he achieves a form of “greatness” because of his morality in Nick’s perspective.
I think Nicks reasons for thinking of Jay Gatsby as "the great Gatsby", is because Jay Gatsby has done or said he has done a lot in his life to get to where he is today. He makes himself sound very good when he tells nick everything in the car. Nick was sort of shocked by how successful he is or was. Jay is not keeping his past from society; he's more open with it. People decide to make up these rumors because Gatsby was never really noticed by anyone to be able to tell the truth about everything he's done in his past.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the compelling story of the lengths one man goes to in order to try and win back the love of his youth. In order to do so, the titular figure of the novel, Jay Gatsby, reinvents himself from the hardscrabble soldier of his younger years into an enigma of a millionaire; during his time living at West Egg, Gatsby is revered by all, but known by none. Despite the lavish lifestyle which has made him ever so well known, Gatsby is never able to win back Daisy, the girl who has for so long represented the culmination of all of his desires. To convey the complex themes of the novel, Fitzgerald makes use of the literary techniques discussed in How To Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster, especially in his portrayal of the geography of the Eggs and in Gatsby’s quest to win Daisy’s affection. In his novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s desperate struggle to ingratiate himself into Daisy’s life to illustrate how one can never overcome the socio-economic barriers placed upon them at birth.
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
Selfishness is defined as the act of being someone who lacks concern for others, only caring for personal gain. Often, people are selfish due to a lack of empathy, misinformation, or a lack of information. The ability of literature to have us experience different worlds through different perspectives is fairly useful for combating this. In fact, literature can shock us about the idea of selfishness and give us pause and new insights into it, if not necessarily cause us to realize our own lack of selflessness and shock us out of it.
Daniel Quinn’s novel Ishmael discusses the aspiration the character Ishmael has toward teaching his student known as the narrator to “save the world”. Ishmael teaches the narrator to understand and form ideas, based on examining the question “why are things are the way they are”? Ishmael 's teaching help the narrator and the reader explore culture and ourselves in a new light, helping the narrator and the reader understand the quote stating "It should be noted that what is crucial to your survival as a race is not the redistribution of power and wealth within the prison but rather the destruction of the prison itself."(255). In order to interpret the quote the narrator and ourselves first had to understand “why things are the way they are”.
In the book The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Daisy Buchanan is a perplexing character. She is charming and pretty, yet her personality is almost robotic. Daisy has no sincere emotions; she only knows social graces and self-preservation. A materialistic society makes Daisy a jaded person who lacks any real depth.
One of my favorite classic rock songs has always been “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen. I grew up listening to my dad’s music and this is one song that has always stuck with me. When I first found out that it was inspired by the Novel “The Great Gatsby” by F Scott. Fitzgerald I was shocked, I had never really listened to the lyrics before. After Reading the book and listening to the song a few more times, I realized that every verse is loosely based on different main characters. This gave the song new meaning for me, it now makes me picture the characters from the book and also has reminiscent sadness attached to it while still connecting to the idea of the American dream, a theme which is also very prevalent in the great Gatsby. The inspiration of characters for verses in this song makes it connects with the book on a whole new level.
What is the significance of an individual’s essence within the vast universe? Surrounded in an environment where all life resides do humans play the role of hegemony? Each human is unique, separated by interactions and relationships compiled throughout the journey of life. But, no matter how these experiences could shape an individual, the most basic pillars of life will always endure. All humans share land on this planet, breathe the same air, and are equally mortal. Composed by Louise Bogan, the role of humanity is put into perspective in the poem, “Night.” The speaker emphasizes nature’s immense presence in the universe. As the plot of “Night” develops, the interconnected relationships found in nature are revealed, using imagery to show
“The relationship between the energies of the inquiring mind that an intelligent reader brings to the poem and the poem’s refusal to yield a single comprehensive interpretation enacts vividly the everlasting intercourse between the human mind, with its instinct to organise and harmonise, and the baffling powers of the universe about it.”