Critical Interpretation of The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a 1920 novel written by the American author Scott. Fitzgerald. The novel itself takes place in Long Island, New York throughout the summer of 1922. Nick Carraway, Daisy’s cousin, peripherally narrates the novel in first-person. The story revolves around Jay Gatsby, a young man who famously grew to the great wealth that he had desired from a very young age. The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy is one of the main focuses of the novel. One of Gatsby’s motivations towards achieving success and obtaining a flashy fortune was his love for Daisy Buchanan. He dedicated his life to being successful enough to gain her hand in marriage, however by the time he returns from doing so,
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This is how women were supposedly meant to behave. Simone de Beauvoir uses the term [the] “Other” to label how women are treated as on object whose existence is defined and interpreted by the dominant male. The Great Gatsby is full of wealthy and powerful men where women are absolutely the “Other”. Daisy is a more conventional character whose main is concern is money and carries little independence. An important quote from Daisy is “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” Here she is regarding her daughter, Pammy, criticizing women’s position in society while appearing to accept it at the same time as a kind of defeat. She seems to be accepting the role of a woman as being something pretty to look at with little opportunity and treated unequally in life, compared to a …show more content…
Gatsby started off dirt poor in life whereas tom was given a push start, born into a filthy rich life. According to The American dream this should not affect them, however it is proved to be corrupted by the vulgar upper class’s burning desire for wealth. Besides Gatsby’s uprising wealth, people of New York show up to his parties unannounced, use him for his money and disrespectfully spread unkind rumors about him like “I heard he killed a man” and “He was a German spy during the war” (Pg.#). Social position is clearly judged on where you come from, as being wealthy was not enough for Gatsby’s reputation to be untarnished. He didn’t grow up with a well-known family name full of money and he is aware of this. This lead him to change his name and manner to what he had learned from the wealthy yacht-owner he voyaged with for five years as a seventeen-year-old boy. Gatsby was always determined to become wealthy, learned the ways of the upper class and lied and exaggerated his upbringing when amongst them. Creating a new name shows how important social image was at the
This is how women were supposedly meant to behave. Simone de Beauvoir uses the term [the] “Other” to label how women are treated as on object whose existence is defined and interpreted by the dominant male. The Great Gatsby is full of wealthy and powerful men where women are absolutely the “Other”. Daisy is a more conventional character whose main is concern is money and carries little independence. An important quote from Daisy is “I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool- that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” Here she is regarding her daughter, Pammy, criticizing women’s position in society while appearing to accept it at the same time as a kind of defeat. She seems to be accepting the role of a woman as being something pretty to look at with little opportunity and treated unequally in life, compared to a …show more content…
Gatsby started off dirt poor in life whereas tom was given a push start, born into a filthy rich life. According to The American dream this should not affect them, however it is proved to be corrupted by the vulgar upper class’s burning desire for wealth. Besides Gatsby’s uprising wealth, people of New York show up to his parties unannounced, use him for his money and disrespectfully spread unkind rumors about him like “I heard he killed a man” and “He was a German spy during the war” (Pg.#). Social position is clearly judged on where you come from, as being wealthy was not enough for Gatsby’s reputation to be untarnished. He didn’t grow up with a well-known family name full of money and he is aware of this. This lead him to change his name and manner to what he had learned from the wealthy yacht-owner he voyaged with for five years as a seventeen-year-old boy. Gatsby was always determined to become wealthy, learned the ways of the upper class and lied and exaggerated his upbringing when amongst them. Creating a new name shows how important social image was at the