Great_Gatsby_Analysis

LITERARY ANALYSIS Submitted By Malcolm Sex American Lit Mrs. McMillan is a fucking whore cunt April 20, 2010 The Great Gatsby is not so great. He lives a troubled life and spent all of his energy trying to get Daisy’s attention. Gatsby has an impure and unethical outlook on life. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, characterization, symbolism, and the point of view demonstrated the theme of corruption throughout the novel. Fitzgerald creates very round characters and many are corrupt. They think that money is everything and they are driven by wealth. Gatsby uses his money to lure Daisy and to form an intimate relationship. He wants her to know every item or piece of wealth that he owns. ““I want you and Daisy to come over to my house,” he said, “I’d like to show her around.” “You’re sure you want me to come'” “Absolutely, old sport”” (Fitzgerald 89). When Daisy begins to fall in love with Gatsby, she already has a life with Tom and loves his money. The day of her wedding Daisy was crying and drunk and babbling about she does not want to commit herself to Tom, and she regrets marrying him. Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby all like to flash their wealth around and it makes them feel above everyone else, especially the people who lived in the Valley of Ashes. The only character that is not corrupted by money was Nick. He says that he does not judge people and is the most honest person he knows. Nick does not have a huge surplus of money, but he lives well and his morals have stayed intact. West Egg has honorable morals and East Egg has sinful morals. Nick and Gatsby have better morals than Daisy, Tom, Jordan or any of the other characters living in East Egg. “At her first big golf tournament there was…a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round” (Fitzgerald 57). This quote shows how Jordan does not have righteous morals at all. She lies, cheats, and steals if it will help her in any way. Jordan is selfish person and thinks that the world revolves around her. Daisy and Tom are both married and they both cheat on each other; Daisy sees Gatsby and Tom sees Myrtle. They break their wedding vows willingly and do not care enough to stop cheating on each other. The greater majority of the characters in this novel are corrupt. The symbolism in this novel affects how characters are analyzed. Fitzgerald enjoyed incorporating color symbolism throughout his novel. The color green is described many times and could possibly mean envy or greed. Gatsby is described as green and he covets Tom Buchanan immensely, because he has what he cannot buy, Daisy. Gatsby also envies the guests at his parties because they are old money and seem more important than himself, who is new money. He is literally green with envy. Yellow symbolizes moral decay or corruption in this novel. Yellow symbolism is used throughout the novel and adds an extra layer of depth. "The lamp-light, bright on his boots and dull on the autumn-leaf yellow of her hair" (Fitzgerald 18). This quote is about how Tom and Jordan are on their way to moral decay as the seasons progress. Tom is having an affair with Myrtle and actively breaking his wedding vows. He also did not enjoy Gatsby’s company, and even hires a detective just to prove some minor details about Gatsby. Fitzgerald repetitively described Gatsby’s car as yellow and symbolizes how he wants to be old money, but he is not. Looking at Daisy’s name, the reader can see that she is corrupt. A daisy flower has white pedals of innocence on the outside, but a yellow part on the inside full of corruption. Color symbolism can be used for East Egg. An egg is white and pure on the outside, but the inside is yellow and corrupt. The point of view is how the reader receives the information on the symbols. The point of view affects what the reader perceives of the characters and the narrator forces their world view upon the reader. The point of view is first person non-omniscient and is in the eyes of Nick. Nick also affected the tone and message of the book. It is difficult to discover how intimate the other characters are when the point of view is not omniscient. ““You’re just embarrassed, that’s all…Daisy’s embarrassed too.” “She’s embarrassed'” he repeated incredulously” (Fitzgerald 87). From Gatsby’s point of view, he cannot read Daisy’s emotions well because he is nervous. If Gatsby knew how Daisy felt before that moment, he probably would have acted differently. There are many possible causes of why a person may become corrupt. Money can corrupt, and it did in The Great Gatsby. The theme of corruption was depicted by characterization, symbolism, and the point of view. Bibliography 1. F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.