I had to write an essay on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I had to describe how the occasions and events in the novel portrayed the society and how it related to the novel as a whole.
This is pretty much a rough draft and I would like all the feedback I can get on it.
Thanks so much! Oh and just to let you know I am a high school junior so don't go too hard on me.
=D
In The Great Gatsby when Nick first goes to one of Jay Gatsby's parties, the greedy, selfish acts of the couples and guests, depicts how money-hungry and popularity-driven the society of the early 1920's was. No member of the parties ever thanked Gatsby and only came for the alcohol, food, and entertainment. Not one guest sincerely cared for the trouble Gatsby went through to hold these wonderful social gatherings.
Picture this-a beautiful house, music booming, people mingling around drinks and small talk. Sounds wonderful, right? Now picture the same scene, but all the guests leave without so much as a "thank you" or even a little "goodbye." It doesn't sound so enticing does it? Well for the 1920s it wasn't an uncommon occurrence in the slightest. And as shown in this novel by Fitzgerald, it really didn't pose much of a problem for anyone. The only person who ever gave the situation much thought was Nick Carraway, the story's narrator. He came from a well-to-do family and had many morals. The thought of egotistical people disgusted him. On one occasion, his first invitation to Gatsby's party, he got a close look at the greedy guests and described it very vividly. He said, "I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited - they went there... Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all..." Why didn't Gatsby ever tell the guests to leave and not come back? The reason is a rather simple one, that isn't too surprising. It was all to impress one woman-Daisy Buchanan: a woman known for beauty but rarely for her wisdom. These acts, by the guests and Gatsby himself, all formulate a wide look in the lives of this time period. Fitzgerald paints the picture for us to see quite intensely.
Self-indulgence is often abused and even more often it can become a nuisance. That is on of the many themes being delivered in The Great Gatsby. And we can see this many times. At the party Nick attends, all the attendants walk around as if they own the place, and don't even try to find the host. To them, it is a chance to have fun for free and show off how "upper-class" they are. But in all actuality it is extremely pathetic. We can tell that Fitzgerald's tone was very disapproving of the character these people had, which is brought forth in his negative descriptions at Gatsby's parties. At one point during the night, Nick wanders around aimlessly in marvel and curiosity. He stumbles across many couples arguing over leaving the party. Some want to stay because they could care less if Gatsby wanted them gone or not, but their companions felt it was time to make an exit. Such childish squabbles that occurred. This again, characterized the guests to portray real-life, insatiable people that many can relate to.
Another event in The Great Gatsby was Gatsby's funeral. It correlates directly with Gatsby's huge celebrations, really revealing how heartless the society truly was. At his funeral, not only did no one show up, no one wanted to. All those guests who'd used him in the past had looked the other way when Gatsby needed friends the most. Fitzgerald really knows how to bring the story to life through his words. A good sense of the characters can easily be imagined; heads held high, chins jutting out, poised, elegant steps, and graceful, almost condescending speech.
The Great Gatsby-how does it depict society? Clearly, society is seen as popularity-driven and unfeeling for the 1920's. This was the "Jazz Age", the "Roaring 20s;" only one thing was on everyone's mind: money. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the parties and other big occasions to let the reader understand his point of view and to engage thought. By doing so, he was able to create a work of art that flows beautifully throughout and sounds complete in its entirety. In my honest opinion, not many novels have come so close as to describe society so well as Fitzgerald did.
This is pretty much a rough draft and I would like all the feedback I can get on it.
Thanks so much! Oh and just to let you know I am a high school junior so don't go too hard on me.
=D
In The Great Gatsby when Nick first goes to one of Jay Gatsby's parties, the greedy, selfish acts of the couples and guests, depicts how money-hungry and popularity-driven the society of the early 1920's was. No member of the parties ever thanked Gatsby and only came for the alcohol, food, and entertainment. Not one guest sincerely cared for the trouble Gatsby went through to hold these wonderful social gatherings.
Picture this-a beautiful house, music booming, people mingling around drinks and small talk. Sounds wonderful, right? Now picture the same scene, but all the guests leave without so much as a "thank you" or even a little "goodbye." It doesn't sound so enticing does it? Well for the 1920s it wasn't an uncommon occurrence in the slightest. And as shown in this novel by Fitzgerald, it really didn't pose much of a problem for anyone. The only person who ever gave the situation much thought was Nick Carraway, the story's narrator. He came from a well-to-do family and had many morals. The thought of egotistical people disgusted him. On one occasion, his first invitation to Gatsby's party, he got a close look at the greedy guests and described it very vividly. He said, "I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited - they went there... Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all..." Why didn't Gatsby ever tell the guests to leave and not come back? The reason is a rather simple one, that isn't too surprising. It was all to impress one woman-Daisy Buchanan: a woman known for beauty but rarely for her wisdom. These acts, by the guests and Gatsby himself, all formulate a wide look in the lives of this time period. Fitzgerald paints the picture for us to see quite intensely.
Self-indulgence is often abused and even more often it can become a nuisance. That is on of the many themes being delivered in The Great Gatsby. And we can see this many times. At the party Nick attends, all the attendants walk around as if they own the place, and don't even try to find the host. To them, it is a chance to have fun for free and show off how "upper-class" they are. But in all actuality it is extremely pathetic. We can tell that Fitzgerald's tone was very disapproving of the character these people had, which is brought forth in his negative descriptions at Gatsby's parties. At one point during the night, Nick wanders around aimlessly in marvel and curiosity. He stumbles across many couples arguing over leaving the party. Some want to stay because they could care less if Gatsby wanted them gone or not, but their companions felt it was time to make an exit. Such childish squabbles that occurred. This again, characterized the guests to portray real-life, insatiable people that many can relate to.
Another event in The Great Gatsby was Gatsby's funeral. It correlates directly with Gatsby's huge celebrations, really revealing how heartless the society truly was. At his funeral, not only did no one show up, no one wanted to. All those guests who'd used him in the past had looked the other way when Gatsby needed friends the most. Fitzgerald really knows how to bring the story to life through his words. A good sense of the characters can easily be imagined; heads held high, chins jutting out, poised, elegant steps, and graceful, almost condescending speech.
The Great Gatsby-how does it depict society? Clearly, society is seen as popularity-driven and unfeeling for the 1920's. This was the "Jazz Age", the "Roaring 20s;" only one thing was on everyone's mind: money. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the parties and other big occasions to let the reader understand his point of view and to engage thought. By doing so, he was able to create a work of art that flows beautifully throughout and sounds complete in its entirety. In my honest opinion, not many novels have come so close as to describe society so well as Fitzgerald did.
