I just started writing this essay for English on a topic of my choice, which was how the epigraph relates to Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The requirements for the essay are simple; a one page analysis based paper explaining a thesis (so there is no into paragraph). Any help is appreciated, especially on the areas of showing vs. telling, summary vs. analysis, and why my essay topic matters. Here's what I have so far:
--
(epigraph)
Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her;
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too,
Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover,
I must have you!"
Although it may seem at first as if Gatsby is merely trying to show off to Daisy how well he has done on his own, he is actually trying to gain Daisy's love and affection in the only way he knows how: through wearing the gold hat and bouncing high.
From the beginning of the novel it is evident that the main difference between East Egg, where Daisy lives, and West Egg, where Gatsby lives, is the higher level of wealth and sophistication which resides in East Egg. When Daisy and Gatsby had originally met, they were madly in love with one another, but Gatsby was only able to give Daisy a letter and promise of his return after the war, whereas another man was able to provide for her the worry-free life and pearl necklaces to which she is accustomed (76). This prompts Gatsby to strive to wear the "golden hat", which the East Eggers simply inherit, for the sole purpose of gaining back Daisy's love. For the following three years, Gatsby saves up the money he makes from his drug and oil businesses to buy the house across the bay from Daisy (90). When Daisy finally comes to see the house a few years later, she is astounded by the size, asking through her tears if it is "that huge place there?" (90). The emphasis placed on the word "there" implies that Daisy never expected Gatsby to become so wealthy and she starts to question whether she made the right choice in rejecting Gatsby five years earlier.
As they enter the house, Gatsby shows Daisy all the trinkets he has collected and all the rooms in which he dwells. In Gatsby's bedroom, Daisy stops to use a dull gold hairbrush which absorbs her attention (91). Meanwhile, Gatsby starts to open his closed to show Daisy what's inside. One by one Gatsby throws "shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue" on the ground, with no intention to pick them up (92). At this realization, Daisy falls into a passionate weep. Gatsby hopes this moment will be the moment where Daisy exclaims that she "must have [him]" since he has worn the gold hat and bounced for her, but instead she remarks on how beautiful the clothes are.
---
Again, any help is very much appreciated (and will be cited under the awknowledgements part of the paper)
--
(epigraph)
Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her;
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too,
Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover,
I must have you!"
Although it may seem at first as if Gatsby is merely trying to show off to Daisy how well he has done on his own, he is actually trying to gain Daisy's love and affection in the only way he knows how: through wearing the gold hat and bouncing high.
From the beginning of the novel it is evident that the main difference between East Egg, where Daisy lives, and West Egg, where Gatsby lives, is the higher level of wealth and sophistication which resides in East Egg. When Daisy and Gatsby had originally met, they were madly in love with one another, but Gatsby was only able to give Daisy a letter and promise of his return after the war, whereas another man was able to provide for her the worry-free life and pearl necklaces to which she is accustomed (76). This prompts Gatsby to strive to wear the "golden hat", which the East Eggers simply inherit, for the sole purpose of gaining back Daisy's love. For the following three years, Gatsby saves up the money he makes from his drug and oil businesses to buy the house across the bay from Daisy (90). When Daisy finally comes to see the house a few years later, she is astounded by the size, asking through her tears if it is "that huge place there?" (90). The emphasis placed on the word "there" implies that Daisy never expected Gatsby to become so wealthy and she starts to question whether she made the right choice in rejecting Gatsby five years earlier.
As they enter the house, Gatsby shows Daisy all the trinkets he has collected and all the rooms in which he dwells. In Gatsby's bedroom, Daisy stops to use a dull gold hairbrush which absorbs her attention (91). Meanwhile, Gatsby starts to open his closed to show Daisy what's inside. One by one Gatsby throws "shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue" on the ground, with no intention to pick them up (92). At this realization, Daisy falls into a passionate weep. Gatsby hopes this moment will be the moment where Daisy exclaims that she "must have [him]" since he has worn the gold hat and bounced for her, but instead she remarks on how beautiful the clothes are.
---
Again, any help is very much appreciated (and will be cited under the awknowledgements part of the paper)
