Modern Day Comparison

Cheating on spouses is a main topics present throughout The Great Gatsby. In today's society, this still happens quite often. The most recent incident of this is Tiger Woods cheating on his wife. This closely mirrors the events in The Great Gatsby because it involved higher class people doing things that condescend their status in society. This shows that even nearly 90 years after the time period of The Great Gatsby that people with wealth still act in ways that demean them and take risks that may ruin or negatively affect the lives around them.

Bibliography

www.essortment.com/all/prohibitionamer_refo.htm

www.chicagohs.org/history/capone.html

www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html

Literary Elements

The author's purpose in writing the Great Gatsby is to record the era of the "roaring 20's." America needed some classic literature, and F. Scott Fitzgerald filled the bill in recording the years of organized crime, alcohol, and morality flying out of the window. His tone, or the tone of Nick Carraway, is one of an amused spectator. He has feelings, no doubt, but he almost laughs at the wild, despicable behavior of his upper class peers. The mood that the audience perceives is one of amusement, disbelief, excitement, and shame. The roaring 20's made the common day Americans feel invigorated and entertained that our ancestors were such unbelievable people. The overall voice of the author is distant, yet present. He presents his story in an almost journalist way, but you feel the sentiments of Nick as he follows around Jay Gatsby.

Character Sketch: Daisy Buchanan

Daisy Buchanan grew up in a fluffy environment. She was born into a wealthy family, and she never had to work a day in her life. She was accustomed to the finer things in life, and not the uncomfortable ones. She grew up near the woman golf player, Jordan Baker. Jordan foils Daisy with her cool, nonchalant attitude, which makes Daisy seem like a wild child. In her youth, Daisy spent her time driving around young men in her little, white car. Many men she spent her days with with soldiers. One of them was called Jay Gatsby. He fell madly in love with her before going off to the war. Never having to be troubled, Daisy wasn't used to waiting for letters or waiting for Gatsby to come home to her. Instead, she turned her pretty little head in a new direction. She met a young, rich male named Tom Buchanan. She saw an opportunity to have a financially secure life and she took it. Five long years went by. In this time, Tom had cheated on her, Gatsby had become wealthy, and she took a more cynical outlook on life. She said to her cousin, Nick, what she said to the nurse who delivered her baby. "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." When she killed Tom's mistress, she didn't stick around for Gatsby. She chose the easy route and left him behind.

Character Sketch: Nick

Nick is the main protagonist of the novel.  The story follows him through his encounters with the people in the novel.  Nick is a younger man who moves to the community simply because it's a cheap place to rent out in a nice neighborhood.  While living there his life changes through meeting people and coming into contact with an entirely different culture then the one he is used to.  Nick is an easy going type of character who doesn't have any major conflicts with anyone.  In fact much of the story is almost seen as him looking onto this mess of people and drama.

"And if you think I didn't have my share of suffering-look here, when I went to give p that flat and saw that damn box of dog biscuits sitting there on the sideboard, I sat down and cried like a baby.  By God it was awful----"

This quote is significant because he sys it to Tom when he sees him after Gatsby's death.  He is angry at Tom because Tom gave away Gatsby's car to the killer.  Nick also feels that although he was seen as an outsider that eh still suffered too.

Theme of the Great Gatsby

The Themes of The Great Gatsby are numerous. The most prominent are that money cannot guarantee happiness, and love can last forever in one's mind.

Gatsby always wanted to have Daisy by his side, and not a giant pile of cash. Unfortunately, what he received was a giant pile of cash. He tried to use this money and luxurious lifestyle to woo Daisy into his arms somehow. After he met Daisy again, no matter how different she was from his memories, he denied all of it. He had his Daisy, and he was happy.

Even though it had been five long years since Gatsby had last seen Daisy, he was just as in love with her when he met her than when they had last parted. The reason for this was because he survived on the memory of Daisy. He built her up in his head as a perfect goddess. The reality, is that Daisy was a spoiled, pampered woman who never had to lift her finger for anything. He made it seem, in his head, as if Daisy never loved Tom and she married him simply because she couldn't wait for Gatsby to return from the war.

Gatsby

Gatsby is the character of which most of the focus is set on in the story. Gatsby is considered to be in his early 30s but it is never specifically given. He is a love obsessed millionaire who tries to impress the love of his life, Daisy. This love for Daisy has caused him to resort to shady criminal activity that allows him to rise to a social status that he sees fit for impressing Daisy. This love of Daisy eventually leads to his death. Gatsby tries to cover for an accident Daisy had which killed a women, and in retribution is shot in his pool. A quote that describes his optimism toward other's beliefs was, "Can't repeat the past?...Why of course you can!"

The Great Summary

Nick Carraway walks nervously into his eccentric neighbor's garden. The lights are shining brilliantly and illuminating the merry faces of all the guests. He weaves around the swinging couples on the dance floor. The musical laughter and bubbling champagne swirls in a blur as Nick navigates through Mr. Gatsby's party. He glances all around him in search for a man he has never met. That's when he sees a peculiar man, separated from the crowd, staring off somberly into the Sound.

This fantastical novel is set in the Prohibition Era, where alcohol was illegal and plentiful. The reader follows Nick Carraway as he is immersed in the New York life. He lives on Long Island, where he meets an interesting character by the name of Gatsby. Gatsby lives on an immaculate property on which there is a massive, sparkling party for all of the wealthy. Nick is so fascinated by Gatsby as they are thrown together in a tangle of love ties and secret business. Jay Gatsby, however, is fascinated by a relative of Nick's whom he has waited to see for five long years.

Tipsy History

One minute passed midnight on January 16th 1920 made the manufacture and distribution of alcohol a crime in America. America cried to stop the poison of alcohol from ruining their lives. What Congress actually did was increase the amount of organized crime, give rise to the American Mafia, and cause massive corruption and underground parties.

When the Volstead Act was passed, it invented a new crime to be performed by the powerful and crafty. Bootlegging was when someone made and sold alcohol illegally. The most famous and dangerous bootlegger in American history is Al Capone. He turned lawful American lawless with his underground work in gambling, saloons, and brothels. Between 1925-1930, Capone brought in a humongous $100,000,000 a year.

Underground parties became a giant social aspect among young, adventurous America. Speakeasies were underground saloons in which heavy carousing and dancing occurred in the big cities. The idea of a good time in the Prohibition Era was to party and do something illegal. While the promiscuous youth amused themselves underground, the religious America was scared that this bill had not preserved Christianity as they had hoped.

Author Info

Francis Scott Fitzgerald lived from 1896-1940. He was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He wrote four complete novels and had an unfinished novel published after his death. Fitzgerald was married to Zelda Sayre and they had one child together named Frances Scott “Scottie” Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald entered the army during World War I after dropping out of Princeton. He worked in Hollywood writing materials for movies including Gone with the Wind.

Fitzgerald was a heavy alcoholic which made him sick toward the end of his life. He had two heart attacks, the second of which killed him. His wife was in mental hospitals for her schizophrenia and died in a fire there in 1948. In 2009 Fitzgerald was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

10 Vocabulary Words

1. Fractiousness: Refractory or unruly, readily angered. (7)
His speaking voice, a gruff husky tenor, added to the impression of fractiousness he conveyed.

2. Accentuated: To give emphasis or prominence to. (11)
She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which accentuated by throwing her body backwards at the shoulders like a young cadet.

3. Infinitesimal: Indefinitely or exceedingly small. (13)
After an infinitesimal hesitation he included Daisy with slight nod, and she winked at me again.

4. Cordial: Courteous and gracious. (42)
I found it necessary to attach myself to some one before I should begin to address cordial remarks to the passers-by.

5. Rivulets: A small stream. (51)
The tears coursed down her cheeks-not freely, however, for when they came into contact with her heavily beaded eyelashes they assumed an inky color, and pursued the rest of their way in slow black rivulets.

6. Somnambulatory: To walk during sleep. (69)
Gatsby took an arm of each of us and moved forward into the restaurant, whereupon Mr.Wolfsheim swallowed a sentence he was starting and lapsed into a somnambulatory.

7. Caravansary: An inn, usually with a large courtyard. for overnight accommodations. (114)
So the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in their eyes.

8. Vicariously: Performed or exercised, received. (131)
As though neither of them had anything to conceal and it would be a privilege to partake vicariously of their emotions.

9. Portentous: Momentous, ominously significant or indicative. (135)
Before me stretched the portentous, menacing road of a new decade.

10. Bulbous: Bulging, large or fat. (171)
He held up two bulbous fingers.