The Great Gatsby Essay

Submitted By valerialahti
Words: 938
Pages: 4
Open Document
Tom Buchanan vs. Gatsby
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in chapter two Tom Buchanan throws a Manhattan party that is later juxtaposes the Gatsby party in West Egg. Fitzgerald uses this comparison to depict the 1920’s as a period, after the war, corrupted with social and moral values. Although both parties of Tom and Gatsby’s are filled with booze and drugs, the purpose behind the parties are very diverse. Gatsby has parties simply to attract the attention of Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby himself didn’t attend his parties and was rarely seen during them. Tom attends the parties and becomes on one of the biggest boors there. Gatsby’s party also juxtaposed Gatsby’s actions; while all the guests attending his party are selfish and Gatsby was very generous, just like the guests wanted a good time at his parties and Gatsby wanted Daisy.
Daisy is now married to Tom, but before she and Gatsby were madly in love. Despite their passionate love, Daisy left Gatsby for Tom for this money, knowing Gatsby didn’t have anything. Becoming one of the wealthiest people in West Egg, Gatsby used his prosperity to get Daisy back. Gatsby’s parties are his hopeless attempts to draw Daisy’s attention back to him. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates his main juxtaposition through the comparison between Tom and Gatsby; the old money and the new money, the West Egg and the East Egg.
Island district of East Egg; Nick, like Gatsby, resides in nearby West Egg, a less fashionable area looked down upon by those who live in East Egg. West Egg is home to the nouveau riche, people who lack established social connections, and who tend to vulgarly flaunt their wealth. Like Nick, Tom Buchanan graduated from Yale, and comes from a privileged Midwestern family. Tom is a former football player, a brutal bully obsessed with the preservation of class boundaries. Daisy, by contrast, is an almost ghostlike young woman who affects an air of sophisticated boredom. At the Buchanans's, Nick meets Jordan Baker, a beautiful young woman with a cold, cynical manner. The two later become romantically involved.
Jordan tells Nick that Tom has been having an affair with Myrtle Wilson, a woman who lives in the valley of ashes, ­ an industrial wasteland outside of New York City. After visiting Tom and Daisy, Nick goes home to West Egg; there, he sees Gatsby gazing at a mysterious green light across the bay. Gatsby stretches his arms out toward the light, as though to catch and hold it.
Tom Buchanan takes Nick into New York, and on the way they stop at the garage owned by George Wilson. Wilson is the husband of Myrtle, with whom Tom has been having an affair. Tom tells Myrtle to join them later in the city. Nearby, on an enormous billboard, a pair of bespectacled blue eyes stares down at the barren landscape. These eyes once served as an advertisement; now, they brood over all that occurs in the valley of ashes.
In the city, Tom takes Nick and Myrtle to the apartment in Morningside Heights at which he maintains his affair. There, they have a lurid party with Myrtle's sister, Catherine, and an abrasive couple named McKee. They gossip about Gatsby; Catherine says that he is somehow related to Kaiser Wilhelm, the much-despised ruler of Germany during World War I. The more she drinks, the more aggressive Myrtle becomes; she begins taunting Tom about Daisy, and he reacts by breaking her nose. The party, unsurprisingly, comes to an abrupt end.
Nick Carraway attends a party at Gatsby's mansion, where he runs into Jordan Baker. At the party, few of the attendees know Gatsby; even fewer were
Show More

Related Documents: The Great Gatsby Essay

Why Is The Great Gatsby Great

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is great because of the way he is perceived by the people for living out the the American Dream. Gatsby's mansion, lavish parties and wealth give him a reputation of being great because he is living what people dream of. Gatsby is also great because he is a genuine romantic and will do anything to obtain his lifelong love Daisy, who is occupied by another man, Tom. Gatsby believes that Daisy doesn't truly love Tom and that Daisy truly loves him…

Words 1449 - Pages 6

Gatsby: The Great Gatsby and Gatsby Essay

THE GREAT GATSBY.. In the Great Gatsby the story is narrated in the past tense and seen through the eyes of Mr Nick Carraway.He is a young man from Minnestota, who after serving in World War 1, went on to New York to learn the bond business. He moves to the West Egg and soon becomes friends with his neighbour, the mysterious Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald, the author uses the the settings of the East and West Egg to present the differences in the classes and the demise of the American dream in the…

Words 1007 - Pages 5

Gatsby: The Great Gatsby and Gatsby Essay

11 (3) 22 April 2013 Lies and Deceit Frederick Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby portrays a rich man who obsesses over the love of his past and as a result ends his life. Lies and deceit take a major role during the novel, the biggest lie of them all being Mr. Jay Gatsby himself. All humans are innately dishonest and superficial which reveals the characters true disposition and as a result leads to discontent and in Gatsbys case, death. Frederick uses Symbolism, Characterization, and Diction to…

Words 1001 - Pages 5

Is The Great Gatsby Really Great

In life we aim to be great to always be caring and loving towards others and to have a legacy everyone will remember, but it's not easy to be all good. Not everyone is truly great everyone has flaws. To be great we must have Integrity and a special set of morals that we won't ever turn against, they always do the right thing. We must think of others before ourselves and do everything we possibly can to be good. Gatsby has fabricated an entire life built up with lies, the people around him are no…

Words 1638 - Pages 7

Love In The Great Gatsby

topic of many novels, movies, and songs. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, people see many different themes but the one that stands out to me most is the theme of love. The relationships in The Great Gatsby are not always centered around love, instead some are centered around status or wealth. Also, we see in the book how far some people are willing to go in hopes to acquire the one they love. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald uses the characters to…

Words 497 - Pages 2

The Great Gatsby Analysis

Fitzgerald wrote the classic, “The Great Gatsby” in 1925. It is considered a portrait of the golden age of jazz and all of its excesses. A typical book on the story begins with Jay Gatsby meeting and falling in love with a young Daisy while he is still an impoverished officer. When he is sent over seas Daisy marries the very rich yet brutal Tom Buchanan. Gatsby pursues wealth endlessly until he is a self made millionaire. Gatsby moves to New York and buys a great mansion. He begins to throw lavish…

Words 264 - Pages 2

Essay on The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald In F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' he proves the American dream to be nothing people pretending to be something they're not in hopes of a better life. So is the American dream still a living dream today? Well you would think it would be because you still hear some people still talk about it here and there, so that's what I hoped to find out. Here are some things I discovered in the process. It seems the American dream is very popular in American…

Words 1312 - Pages 6

Hope In The Great Gatsby

world is centered around fantasizing and dreaming, just like in The Great Gatsby. F Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, wanted “something new and beautiful”, this book was exactly that as millions of copies were sold. The book was published in the 1920’s; surrounding wealth, parties, alcohol, materialism, and love. With all of the events in the book, they are all tied to some sort of ‘hope’. In the novel The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the color ‘green’ to symbolize the main character…

Words 795 - Pages 4

Relationships In The Great Gatsby

within The Great Gatsby Throughout the novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald compares the connections between Gatsby/Daisy, Tom/Myrtle, Nick/Jordan; there are importance to these individuals. They can be between lovers, friends, and families. The novel shows these, but also the wrong types of relationships such as people having affairs.Throughout F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the relationships between the different characters, are dysfunctional, arrogant and materialistic. One can see that Gatsby and Daisy…

Words 840 - Pages 4

Symbolism In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald is a man who believes that God can be found in many places, which is prevalent in his book, The Great Gatsby. Throughout The Great Gatsby, one can find a plethora of religious references that are brought to light by the book’s characters Owl Eyes, Doctor Eckleburg, and Gatsby.This symbolism is found in the character’s actions and how the other characters react to them. One prevalent character that represents a divine deity is Owl Eyes. Within the book, there are several instances…

Words 1511 - Pages 7