Essay Example on Themes in The Great Gatsby F Scott's Fitzgerald's Novel

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Themes in The Great Gatsby F Scott's Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is a carefully structured piece of literature that explores a variety of different themes The narrator of the story Nick helps the audience understand the different concepts in the novel by confiding in the reader right off the bat Nick tells the exhaustive story of his interaction with Jay Gatsby and the lengthy process Jay goes through to try to win Daisy back into his life Society money and love are all major themes in this novel These themes become clear as the novel stretches on Society and class becomes a major part of this novel and is noted from the very beginning Nick helps explain the importance of society in the beginning of the book Nick states I am still afraid of missing something if I forget that as my father snobbishly suggested and I snobbishly repeat a sense of the fundamental decencies is parceled out unequally at birth Fitzgerald 2 In this statement Nick is saying that there can be more to a person than just how much money they have Although he is claiming that money isn't everything he still does not include his full thoughts on this idea of having money He does not tell the readers if they thinks only rich people can have these decencies or if he is including the ones without money too The audience also can grasp the idea of society when Tom Buchanan reveals his feelings about living somewhere other than in the East Egg

Tom remarks Oh I ll stay in the East don t you worry 10 Tom's character in the story then goes on to state I d be a God damned fool to live anywhere else 10 This is when the readers are introduced to the old money and new money statuses The people living in the West Egg are considered new money which is where Gatsby lives The residents of the East Egg are referred to as old money because they have had money passed down to them Tom s remarks just show the tension lying in between the two very different groups of people This becomes a huge problem by the end of the novel In one instance Tom and Daisy attend one of Gatsby's elaborate parties where Tom becomes vastly disgusted that he is not familiar with any of the well known people there The people that attend Gatsby's party are all from new money and the Buchanans believe they are too good to associate with the party attendees The theme of money is very apparent and important in The Great Gatsby Each and every character in the book is obsessed with the idea of having money and being rich Wealth plays a primary role in the novel with many of the main conflicts revolving around money A lot of the money is obtained in a mysterious way and the readers only gain a small amount of insight about the money gain a couple times during the novel Nick observes The idea staggered me I remembered of course that the



World's Series had been fixed in 1919 but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as a thing that merely happened the end of some inevitable chain It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people with the single mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe 73 With this quote the audience is introduced to this mysterious money gain which the narrator thinks is an enormous crime Meyer Wolfsheim uses his underworld connections to make profit Fitzgerald uses this particular situation to help reintroduce the idea of new money to the readers After this event in the novel the audience can understand how Gatsby and the residents living in the West Egg earned their wealth This specific quote gives vast insight to how people earned their wealth in this time period If not one of the most complicated themes in the story the theme of love is repeated consistently throughout the story The characters in the story are driven by passion and love The only marriage that lasts is Tom and Daisy s after all of the affairs are over The audience learns throughout the novel that Gatsby developed his wealth in order to try to get Daisy back When Daisy goes over to Gatsby's luxurious mansion for the first time Nick states He hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well loved eyes 91 In this quote the readers embrace the idea of Jay Gatsby being so in love with Daisy that he loves everything she loves He is absolutely crazy about Daisy and wants everything that is important to her to be important to him This quote easily explains the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby They have so much desire to be together and their love for each other is so large but yet they do not end up together In conclusion the theme of society and wealth are obvious factors in the novel and love is a even more apparent theme Fitzgerald helps makes these three themes clear by giving supporting details and repetition of certain events The high class life consumes the characters and creates issues throughout the whole story along with the wealth they all have or are involved in The love that is shown by Gatsby and all the other characters is full of desire and passion and continues to be a big part of the story In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald is able to convey the themes of love wealth and society in an enlightening and descriptive way to reveal a completely twisted engaging plotline for the audience


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