Preview

Romanticism In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
812 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Romanticism In The Great Gatsby
The novel 《The Great Gatsby》written by Scott Fitzgerald is often classified as a masterpiece about American dream,and it is believed to be written in 1925. It is a time that the entire America was under the strong influence of the Roaring twenties,and as we know, Scott Fitzgerald is a distinguished representative of the Lost generation in America. As a result, this novel is influenced by the thoughts of the lost generation.The essential thought of the lost generation is loneliness and disillusion in spirt, is to emphasize its own set of values rather than their elders. It strongly stresses the importance of personal characteristic and freedom or personal liberation, or in other words, hedonism and self-indulgent spree. In the novel,Scott Fitzgerald …show more content…
He believes that the future can return him to his past and to his love, Daisy, but time blocks Gatsby’s dream, for Daisy has made Gatsby an only memory by marrying Tom. Gatsby was designed as a vivid symbol of idealism, and made the roaring twenties of materialism more romantic.However, Scott Fitzgerald also showed that the biggest reason for Gatsby’s unavoidable destruction is his romanticism. Gatsby fell in love with Daisy’s aura of luxury, grace and charm, and lied to her about his own background in order to convince her that he was good enough for her. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality. Since he has succeeded in this reality, he gradually entered a state of self-hypnosis, and in his romantic fantasy, he believed that money could make or break everything.In my personal opinion, in this novel, Gatsby can also be seen as the symbol of the crumbling American dream in the …show more content…
They used to think that their dream are within reach, and their lives will be consumed by the passion and dignity of life. As mentioned before, Nick and Gatsby are the apathy and fantasy of Scott Fitzgerald, so that their way of chasing dreams are different definitely. Gatsby’s greatness came from his passion to his American dream, or in another word, Daisy. Gatsby made almost all of his decisions out of a desire to relive his love with Daisy; while Nick would rather watch the game. Gatsby showed a romantic hopefulness that is lastly tragic, and he prefers to escape from the present and selectively relive the past. In the end, however, he died for his unrealistic fantasy of Daisy since he had lost touch with present and himself. Nick stood on the moral high ground in the novel. And for Nick, as mentioned before,Nick’s apathy and tolerance due to his father’s advice was ultimately changed since the death of Gatsby. I think maybe Scott Fitzgerald wanted us to understand that it is this thing that made Nick a real person than just a moral

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Analyzing F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, confirms Fitzgerald's realism and outlook of life during the 1920s. He uses literary devices such as symbolism, metaphors, and hyperboles to manipulate the idea of the American Dream, repetition of diction to put emphasis the characters situations, and he uses tone shift to represent the controversial feeling the characters had for one another. Fitzgerald focuses on the corruptions of the American Dream and the lack of morals in human society. Gatsby, the main character in Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, seeks to repair his relationship with the only women he loves, Daisy. Daisy leaves Gatsby, while he is at war, for a man of wealth and high social status.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ridge Scholarship Essay

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages

    On the surface, The Great Gatsby reads as a story of thwarted love between a man and a woman. The real theme of the novel, however, encompasses a highly symbolic meditation on 1920’s America as a whole, and, in particular, the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920’s as an era of decaying social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby himself hosts every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a representation of American society of Roaring Twenties having three social class divisions amid the pursuit of American Dream and presenting the changing trend of social, economic and relationship freedom of females relating to gender, race, ethnicity, sex and sexuality within the class framework found in the portrayal of the characters. Divided people into the old money upper-class, the Buchanans and Jordan Baker; the new money upper-class, Gatsby; the middle class, Nick; and the working class, the Wilsons and minor ones based on wealth and family background are prevailed in the ways of their differences regarding education, residence, earning source, life style, reputation and attitudes.…

    • 110 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” is a chronicle of its times. Times of prohibition, bootleggers and economical prosperity, but also the times of people still recalling the World War I, those who try to forget its horror and compensate all the harms suffered, with the life full of luxury. The period of 1920s, so called Roaring Twenties, is the time when the United States experienced cultural revolution. The lifestyle changed and the old values, such as morality disappeared, replaced by money and corruption. As the one who lived in that era, F. S. Fitzgerald became a strong critic of his contemporary’s lifestyles. One of the major themes of the novel is the criticism of the society for its trend to waste everything.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though he is the narrator of the book he does not have too big of a role in the storyline. Fitzgerald chose a great way to tell the story by using Nick as an observer of the story and also taking place in it at times. Nick gives the readers a better view on the story. However, while Nick is a spectator, his role is needed. Nick begins his story with an important point; that he has no bias in the favor of Gatsby when he says, “Gatsby turned out all right at the end, and it was what preyed on Gatsby...” Later in the book he admits that he believes every man to be worthy of some virtue and that Gatsby’s is honesty. Fitzgerald starts the book by giving us Nick's thoughts on the summer that the story tells. About a half of page long explains how Nick's experience with Gatsby and Daisy has ended his curiosity in the "abortive sorrows and short winded elations of men." (Page…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby is a novel that is treasured as a renewable book in American literature collections. Read among a variety of age groups, it holds testament to its honorary title. The missive of the how the pursue of American dream can lead to consequences and decoration are not only evident in the star characters, but in the relevance of modernity, drama, and composition in F. Scott- Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fitzgerald makes Gatsby a character who never settles for less, he always wants more in his life. It is because of this trait the disables Gatsby from reaching his American Dream which was Daisy, because he always wanted more from her. Once Jay killed myrtle wilson and lost Daisy his life was over he thought, he spent his life getting all these nice things so he could get Daisy rather than trying to get her with personality he used his money as power to get. That plan backfired on Gatsby because she choose Tom over Gatsby like the Beatles song “Money Can’t buy me love” Gatsby could not use his money to get Daisy. Like all the great things America did like the with the huge stock market increase. It all can Crashing when the stock market collapsed in 1929. Also, Gatsby and Daisy relationships shows that the American dream can never be reached. Gatsby and Daisy both of each as better than they actually were. Gatsby thought Daisy was the most amazing women in the world, really she was just an awkward and attractive women who just had a lot of money. Gatsby thought that the money she had translated into love which does not. Daisy is not that great just like the American dream is not great because it is going to turn its back on you just like Daisy turned her back on Gatsby. Daisy thought that Gatsby was also the most amazing person in the word. Daisy was able to be woed only on the nice things that Gatsby had. She never got know him on a personal level. Again Gatsby was not as great as Daisy thought he was. Gatsby was Just a man with money who threw huge parties, who never really showed himself. Gatsby too may seem great like…

    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    We, the readers, are witness to multiple adulterous affairs, murder, illegal alcohol use, as well as a lack of camaraderie between friends. Fitzgerald's diagnosis that decadence is the real killer of the American dream manifests itself in many characters and in many ways throughout The Great Gatsby. The most obvious is Gatsby who's dream is to come back from his time spent in the armed forces, much wealthier than he left, with the hope that his newfound wealth will allow him to win back the heart of Daisy who he left behind. When Gatsby left he didn't have the financial power to secure Daisy's devotion to him, for she became much more interested in the material possessions than love, which made her vulnerable to Tom Buchanan's wealthy appeal. Gatsby sees that the only way he can reclaim her is by impressing her with a fortune . Gatsby becomes so intent on accomplishing this goal that in his mind the ends justify the means, without question. We are never told exactly how Gatsby procures his wealth, except that it most likely from illegal bootlegging and perhaps some ties to the mafia. This is Gatsby's first major deviation, chronologically, from Franklin's American Dream. Next, he turns his back on our narrator, Nick, who offers to help him achieve his…

    • 2687 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jay Gatsby's Dream

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is more than obvious that Jay Gatsby’s dream is to refurnish the love that once was between him and Daisy. Throughout the novel, it has been stated by Gatsby himself-and certain other characters in the book- that the one thing he wanted in life was to be back with Daisy and have back their love. At the beginning of the novel Nick’s conversation with Jordan is about Gatsby and his almost-obsessive intentions with Daisy, “the modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths- so that he ‘come over’ some afternoon to a stranger’s garden.” While this may seem almost obsessive to Nick, it symbolizes how Gatsby buying a house closer to…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby Greed

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “Gatsby transforms to get to the top. Instead of working hard and going to school, Gatsby drops out and takes the criminal highway to wealth.” (Galley) For Gatsby, Daisy is his American Dream, and he hopes his money could impress and satisfy her needs. Gatsby is madly in love with Daisy which explains why he fails to realize that she’s everything that’s wrong with the American Dream. Gatsby’s dream is destroyed when Daisy chooses to be with Tom. “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald 101). Gatsby’s obsession with his American Dream of becoming wealthy and winning over Daisy by his status and wealth leads to his downfall. Now that Gatsby is without his dream, his life is without purpose, and will never be the same. Not only is Gatsby’s American dream corrupt, but so is the…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fitzgerald wrote a story that comments on American Ideals. The story is very Ironic because Gatsby lives the life that every American dreams of having, except for love. This book was written as a satire that comments on American ideals in the 1920’s. In “The Great Gatsby” there are two themes. One is “the American Dream is unattainable because of the desire to be rich” and the other is “the search for the American Dream is more enjoyable than attaining it.”…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The “Great Gatsby” isn’t so great after all. Gatsby’s life is like a puzzle and if there’s one piece that doesn’t fit in then it’s ruined. That missing piece was Daisy therefore he isn’t so great. Gatsby loves to show off and flaunt his personality, therefore he wants to prove to Nick that he can earn Daisy’s love back, considering the fact that he hasn’t failed to earn something that he’s wanted before. Gatsby is proves that he is unable to move beyond the past and currents of life keep…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 talks about the decline of the ‘American Dream’ and how it is not what everyone would like to thinks it is. This story is a huge drama all about love, loss and heartbreak that brings readers through a story that is fascinating and amazing. Fitzgerald shows readers how greed, false love, and jealousy ruined the idyllic American Dream.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    F. Scott Fitzgerald has written many books and short stories. One of these pieces of literature is The Great Gatsby. This has been one of his most popular works along with Tender is the Night. The book’s popularity allowed it to be adapted into multiple different films. The theme of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is the faultiness of humanity, and Fitzgerald’s purpose of the novel is to convey that life is not perfect; furthermore, this work displays useful lessons for students to learn from.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic twentieth-century story of Jay Gatsby's quest for Daisy Buchanan, examines and critiques Gatsby's particular vision of the 1920's American Dream. Written in 1925,…

    • 2426 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays