Timelessness In The Great Gatsby

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Classic literature is timeless as the characters in The Great Gatsby have identical values and attitudes towards particular themes and ideas in their society as we do today and will continue to no matter when you pick up this novel. The Great Gatsby written by F.Scott Fitzgerald in 1925 tells the story in 1922 through the eyes of Nick Caraway. Set in West Egg, New York Nick tells the story of how his extremely wealthy neighbour Jay Gatsby sets out to win back his former girlfriend Daisy Buchanan who he lost once he went off to the War. Gatsby was a man who through extravagant parties every weekend to try and be noticed by Daisy. After many event and confrontations the story ends in Gatsby’s death and his vision of his American Dream over .has …show more content…
In the early stages of the novel Gatsby invites daisy over to his mansion after they have lunch at Nick’s house for the first time after Gatsby had returned from the war. He invites Daisy inside his mansion and shows off all his expensive items as she falls in love with them. "They 're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the think folds. "It makes me sad because I 've never seen such – such beautiful shirts before." The author has used this example of dialogue to symbolise how wealth is a source of power, and with this power the wealthy can have whatever they want. The author showing us that Daisy only falls back in love with Gatsby because she see what he now has and how rich he really is. This shows us that during the 1920’s society’s attitude towards wealth was that if you had money you could get whatever you wanted in life. In today’s world it seems to be exactly the same for example in a Nine MSN article written by Lowri Turner she says this “A man exists not as an equal partner in a kind, loving, relationship, but merely as someone to be fleeced for as much money as possible.” This quote tells us that in relationships females see rich males to be a soul provider to all high end items as they carry …show more content…
This shows us that in 90 years or so humanity still have the same values and attitudes towards the idea of the American Dream. In chapter five of the novel we understand Gatsby’s true value for the American Dream when he says to Daisy, “You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock… Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her.” Through the authors use of dialogue he has confirmed to the readers that the light at the end of Daisy’s dock symbolises Gatsby’s American Dream, how it acts as a reminder of what he hopes to achieve with Daisy when he looks out to it every night shows us that he is constantly striving for it. This example shows us that Gatsby’s attitude towards the idea of the American Dream is that no matter how many times something goes wrong he can only try harder to make it happen the next time. Similarly former professional basketballer Michael Jordan recalled the moment when he was cut from his high school basketball team, a significant moment in his career. For Jordan this moment acted like his

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