Preview

Theme Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
601 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Theme Of Greed In The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is set in New York City and on Long Island, in two areas known as "West Egg" and "East Egg"—in real life, Great Neck and Port Washington peninsulas on Long Island. In the early 1920’s World War I had just come to an end. A new generation flocked from small towns to big cities in search of excitement, opportunity, and a “modern” way of living. Fitzgerald accurately portrays elements, such as greed, celebration and of the 1920’s in The Great Gatsby’s.
Fitzgerald accurately portrays the 1920s in The Great Gatsby's through greed by using the characters Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. During the 1920s the economy began to turn around and Americans felt the need to have more than they actually need. Daisy, the love interest of Gatsby, loves money and Gatsby even says that “her voice is full of money” (120). Daisy stays with her unfaithful husband because of his money and class and Gatsby only becomes rich because he feels the only way to win over Daisy is to become rich. Fitzgerald portrays the women of the 20’s correctly using Daisy
…show more content…
The Great Gatsby is set in a period immediately after the end of the First World War. After the pain and suffering experienced during World War I it was a time for celebration. People were expressing the freedoms they lacked during the war. Over the top, elaborate parties were what was happening, as illustrated by Jay Gatsby hosting extraordinarily flamboyant parties and Tom's continuous little excursions to his apartment in New York to have fun. Everybody during this era was out to have a good time. The characters are realistic. Jay Gatsby symbolizes those who, during this era, sought to fulfill the “American Dream” ; a dream of wealth and success, gained through hard work and success. Fitzgerald accurately describes the “American Dream” when he wrote, “Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry."

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald is a brilliant masterpiece in the world of literature which is packed with a lot of irony and . It is one of the greatest books ever written and one of the best books that I've ever read. The Great Gatsby can be interpreted in many ways. There are many themes but the main theme of the book, in my personal opinion, is the states the American Dream. One of the literary devices author uses to interpret central idea of the text is setting. Setting is the surroundings or environment of anything. Fitzgerald’s novel is set in the 1920s also known as Roaring Twenties, a period of sustained economic prosperity. All actions are occurring in Long Island, New York, Queens (Valley of Ashes) and Manhattan in the summer…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The 1920’s could be described as “a great time to be rich” in America. It was a time where the rich got richer, and the poor worked to better their lives. It was a time of hope; when people strived to achieve the American dream of money, family, and happiness. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, attempts to uncover the truth of the American Dream. It follows the experience of Nick Carraway and his meeting with the one and only Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is perceived as one trying to live out the American Dream - a man with great ideals determined to achieve the unachievable. It is through his pursuit of Daisy that Fitzgerald is able to show that the Dream itself is truly indeed unrealistic and corrupted by materialism.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby Vs Buchanan

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel exploring the roaring twenties and the American Dream. The story is told from the perspective of Nick Carraway during the summer of 1922. The novel explores the wealthy and mysterious Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful and fickle Daisy Buchanan and how it affects the characters around them, including the also wealthy Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband. Marrying him allowed Daisy to be as rich as Gatsby, but it also revealed that she and Tom had fundamentally different values than Gatsby. Although Gatsby’s and the Buchanans’ home lives appear similar, the small variances represent the fundamental differences between the occupants. Gatsby and the Buchanans both hold grand parties, but while…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby portrays the destruction of the American Dream in this story. It's a story of a man's attempt at love with a woman. The main theme isn't as romantic though. It all takes place over a few months in the summer of 1922 in Long Island,…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of The “American Dream” is corrupted by the desire of wealth using the literary devices and/or techniques of symbolism, imagery, and juxtaposition. In each chapter, James Gatz (Gatsby), Tom and Daisy Buchanan exploits their desires; however, the desire of money can disrupt their dreams. In the beginning, F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts the theme of The “American Dream” is corrupted by the desire of wealth using the literary device of symbolism. At the end of chapter one, Gatsby looks towards the green light from Daisy’s deck, the color green represents the symbolism of his dreams, wishes, and his ambition as Nick stated, “Involuntarily I glanced seaward-- and distinguished nothing except a green light, minute and far…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The great American classic- The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a story one man’s troubles and persistence for the girl of his dreams seen through the eyes of both the narrator and a character- Nick Carraway. The protagonist of the story, Jay Gatsby has waited 5 years for his “golden girl” to reappear in his life and is willing to do whatever it takes to get her. Party after party he hosts and no show after no show he takes a different approach and gets a middle man to reunite them and from there he hopes to reignite the flame that was once there love. This touching story of love and the never ending “search for the American dream” is set in 1922 New York, the roaring 20’s, a time where the rich enjoyed life and lived lavishly and almost completely without morality. It was in the time of the prohibition and many got rich quick off of bootlegging and importing illegal alcohol from Canada- as was the supposed story behind Gatsby’s great fortune. In the story, the towns have been split into two divisions, East Egg and West Egg. Both occupied by the rich, but segregated between “new money” (newly obtained money), and “old money” (generations of money). It is clear that while they do not get along, Gatsby’s people skills and charisma is top notch as he manages to attract the range of people to his parties in search for the one girl. As the story goes on, we learn more about Gatsby’s secret life- the life he’d hidden from everyone and pushed from himself. Everything from growing up less than generously too his father’s “failure”. We also meet characters such as Tom Buchanan- Daisy Buchanan’s husband who is clearly unappreciative of what he has as he is known to have many different mistresses. We also meet Daisy Buchanan, Nick’s cousin and Jay’s “Golden girl”. As the story goes on, we get to realize that she is a very shallow, weak character who is easily pressured and not much…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby is a book published in 1925 that revolves around the life of Nick Carraway and his experiences of moving to the east. The story, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is focused on showing the American Dream. Which is the notion that there is “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone.” Though how do the characters in the book represent the notion of the American Dream? Fitzgerald uses Gatsby to represent the American Dream and that people will go to great lengths to achieve it.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Daisy is a great example of how greed can obstruct your judgement and morality. The fact that in the story, Daisy says "Rich girls don't marry poor guys" and "You don't have enough money for me to marry you", tells us that she is all about monetary gain, even if it's at the cost of true love. Even when Gatsby, the man she said those things to, shows back up in her life with a new-found wealth that he obtained solely so he could obtain Daisy's love, she turns him down and stays married to a man stuck in the ways of the "old…

    • 105 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Napoleon Dynamite's once said,“ Great ambition is the passion of great character.Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them." Meaning that ambitions is a force that can alone endowed the promises of life. However, if overmastered it can lead to a sign of doom and destruction resulting, in one's premature demise. This holds truth because both Gatsby and Macbeth were driving by ambition and power. The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald during the 1920s. It was a time of era in which many individuals wanted to forget about their past and re-live their lives. Every individual had goals and ambitions to create an entirely different new live for them. Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare during the medieval ages. Shakespeare's tragedy is based on real-live Scottish reality in which he teaches his audience a lesson on the devastating effects of ambition. In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and in Macbeth written by William Shakespeare many similarities and difference are exhibited among the protagonist through the recurring theme of the devastation that follows when one…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main setting of The Great Gatsby is New York City, Long Island where the story is based in. The Importance of New York is that it represents glamour, wealth and the social community, adding to the characters in the book. The story would have not been the same if it weren’t set in New York, as the charisma of the city has to be conveyed in the story. The American dream for the main characters is represented in this city as described in this quote. “The City seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in tis first wild promise of all the mystery and beauty in the world.” This quote symbolizes how New York is a place where anything can happen, as it is one of the most exciting cities in the world. The significance of New York is of how the story of The Great Gatsby has to be carried out there as it is the epicenter of what goes on in the American society relating to business, economy and social community. Furthermore, the city is important in other…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    F. Scott Fitzgerald displays several prominent themes throughout The Great Gatsby. For example, Fitzgerald uses moral corruption, albeit there are other themes, but this one is the most prevalent. Without this theme, the novel would not have progressed anywhere near as fluid as it did the way Fitzgerald wrote the novel. Throughout the novel, the theme of moral corruption, aside from being subtly shown through the entire novel, becomes more prevalent throughout. This is demonstrated by Gatsby’s behavior and dreams corrupting Daisy’s morals even further than they already are. There is also the fact that there are acts of adultery committed by Tom and Myrtle. Aside from that, there is also Daisy’s second corruption as shown in the reason…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story about a man who becomes rich just to impress a past love. The novel portrays the American Dream and how it is elusive and cannot be grasped. The 1920s, the time the story takes place, was a time when lavish objects and people surrounded everyone. People that were poor wanted to become rich and people that were rich wanted to stay rich. In the books case, Gatsby, the wealthy main character, seeks to find his American Dream which ends up being Daisy, his long past love who seems to have never left his heart.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" is a text that is reflective of the Period in which it was written, the 'roaring' twenties. It was written in America during the mid-1920s, a time of moral decadence and feelings of complacency following the conclusion of the Great War. On the surface, the text appears to be about love, wealth and power, yet this first impression does not do justice to the text's many complexities and hidden depths. The text also explores corruption, idealism, faith and the illusions of dreams through the use of a variety of images and symbols. Primarily, "The Great Gatsby" deals with the corruption of the great American Dream, personified by Jay Gatsby, a dreamer intent on procuring the attentions of his long-time love Daisy Buchanan at any cost. The American dream offers faith in the possibility of a better life. The main theory behind the dreams is the belief that material wealth alone can bring that dream to fruition, and to this concept, Gatsby was "faithful to the end".…

    • 1740 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of misguided love between a man and a woman. Fitzgerald takes his reader through the turbulence and trials of Jay Gatsby’s life and of his pining for the girl he met five years prior. The main theme of the novel, however, is not solely about the love shared between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. The main purpose is to show the decline and decay of the American Dream in the 1920’s. The American Dream is the goal or idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all have the potential to live happy, successful lives. While on the surface, Gatsby looks like he lives a happy, successful life, he truly doesn’t. He spends his life working hard to make money to impress the beautiful and practically unattainable, Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life. He spends his money to throw ostentatious parties in his lavish house and to buy unnecessary materialistic goods. The Great Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s way of criticizing the decade and its lack of depth.…

    • 1649 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby, which was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story that reflects the life of the 1920's in New York. The 1920's was a decade of prosperity and opportunity, but also of prohibition and organized crime. The life in the 1920's was filled with moral decay (immoral decisions) and corruptness. Throughout The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald shows how the American Dream is dead through immoral decisions and corruptness in Gatsby's and Myrtle's life.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays