The Humanization of Literature “Listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness, like a heartbeat, drives you mad in the stillness of remembering what you had.” -Stevie Nicks Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is among the most frequently interpolated American novels, from the Peanuts comic strip to Taylor Swift songs. This high engagement is driven by newly popularized narrative techniques that mimic the human condition in poetic capacity that transcends the standard romance novel. In short it satisfies the ego of a classics reader while engaging the modern. Fitzgerald’s blend of elegiac and colloquial style engaged readers, contriving the modern narrative. Thus, Fitzgerald’s application of focalization is a prime example of The Great Gatsby’s …show more content…
The mind does not flow in a straight line, it forgets, remembers, adds, and amends. Hence the use of flashbacks such as Nick writing of Jordans recollection of first meeting Gatsby at seventeen and Daisy’s wedding. This works particularly well mimicking the familiar face and unplaceable feeling, giving the book a more natural flow contributing to the realistic narrative readers love. However, flashbacks also contribute to the book's longing aesthetic as the memory typically tightropes between recollection and fantasy. Such as in reminiscence of five years prior when Gatsby walked Daisy home, Nick was “reminded of something--an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had heard somewhere a long time ago” (Fitzgerald 118). A common recurrence of memories feeling significant and characters grappling at their meaning. This not only allows for the reader to form their own analysis from the subtle symbolism, but once again models how people would dissect their pasts in real life, not treated to a view above the trees. Also not immune from getting caught up in memory or of imperfect recollection, the hazy atmosphere colored by glossy post-detailing, just creates a pretty
He truly believes he can recreate his past with Daisy, exactly the way he wants it to be. But in reality, their future would not be the same. By believing so fully in their past, Gatsby becomes obsessive. Before Gatsby dies, Nick speculates that Gatsby no longer cared if Daisy called him or not and“if that was true he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (Fitzgerald 161). If instead Gatsby put his hope into a better future, he would not have wasted his life longing for a dream.
Gastby’s romanization of the past with Daisy has been causing him to repeat the past to be able to impress her. Within The Great Gatsby, Gatsby has been romanticizing his past to Nick, while also trying to replicate it within the present. His way of looking at the past is through what is known as a Rosy Retrospection, which is known to give a person expectations that are difficult to follow. There are two parts of his past that make him the way he is today, in which he longs for Daisy.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses various themes such as love, symbolism, materialism, and underlying tones to help develop the reader’s understanding of Gatsby’s fatal flaw. His fatal flaw lies in the pursuit of his dream and ideal of Daisy. He tried to win Daisy back with his newfound wealth; it got Daisy’s attention, yet it wasn’t enough. Gatsby was naive, he saw Daisy’s change in personality, he saw she only wanted to be with those who could satisfy her needs. Despite of all these detrimental signs Daisy exhibited, Gatsby wanted to still be with her, because at least he could still hold on to a glimpse of his past when things were simpler.
"You can't repeat the past", as Nick Carraway, the narrator of "The Great Gatsby" says. Nick told Jay Gatsby that he could not make Daisy Fay, his former paramour, go with him back to five years ago when they once loved each other. Gatsby is stuck in the past and wants Daisy to help him achieve his American dream. Gatsby feels he can only achieve this by marrying Daisy and moving back to their old home. Gatsby suffers from repetition compulsion, and Gatsby like Langston Hughes has "a dream deferred weighing heavy on his mind".
In the supreme achievement of his career, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic use of rhetorical, literary, and stylistic strategies, such as dashes, breaking the fourth wall, and using colorful symbolism have been ever present. Whether describing the green light across the lake from Gatsby’s home to brief explanations of characters' motives directed directly to the audience, Fitzgerald’s style is easily seen. These stylistic choices and more can all be found on pages seven to nine in the first chapter of the novel. Here, Nick had just walked into Daisy and Tom Buchanan’s house. The mood is an awkwardly tense feel due to the presence of Tom and the long length of time that has passed since Nick saw his cousin Daisy last.
As Nick and Gatsby are talking about Gatsby’s relationship, Gatsby convincingly states to nick, “ Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘ why of course you can! I 'm going to fix everything just the way it was before, she see” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby is hopeful towards re creating his and Daisy’s past that he is often blind to the reality of things.
Cathy Chen Mrs. Weber AP LIT 17 October 2022 Essay Revision The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, uses alliteration, rebirth, and metaphors, to display Gatsby as a complex character.
Gatby finds this ridiculous and can not believe that someone would think he “‘Can’t repeat the past?’” and responds to Nick ‘Why of course you can!’” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby’s memories of his past with Daisy are linked to his feelings of hope and optimism. He associates Daisy with a time in his life when he was full of potential and believed that he could
Fitzgerald uses a flashback to reward readers with Gatsby’s and Daisy’s long-anticipated history, finally explaining why Gatsby is so dead-set on winning Daisy back, and why he feels betrayed by time. Nick reveals that the name Jay Gatsby is really a pseudonym for James Gatz. Under the assumed name, Gatsby believes he can achieve success to a level worthy of attaining Daisy, rather than be the “penniless young man without a past” (Fitzgerald 149). However, in his pursuit of a past, Gatsby found himself resenting it because after making a name for himself in the war effort, he was sent to Oxford rather than back home. All-the-while, Daisy, back home, engulfs herself in an “artificial world” of parties, champagne, flowers, and orchestras that “summed up the sadness and suggestiveness of life” (Fitzgerald 151).
Imagine a time when there was no dehumanization occurring in the world. It is difficult to think of one because all throughout history there have been multiple cases of dehumanization. A few examples of texts that contain the topic of dehumanization as one of the main themes are The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Grapes of Wrath is the story about a poor farming family, the Joads, that got kicked off their land during the time of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. They move to California because their belief in the American Dream; they have high hopes that they will find work and have a better life.
The Nature of Man The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a detail filled trip back in time to the 1920’s. Fitzgerald tells the story of the inhabitants of West Egg, East Egg, New York City, and everyone in between. He is able to turn something as simple as a party into an entire plot to earn someone's affection and, what might seems like a harmless old billboard, into a symbol that is talked about on numerous occasions. As the novel progresses, more and more characters are introduced.
Nick sticks out in the sense that he cannot buy into the manipulation of time. He says to Gatsby, “You can't repeat the past” as Gatsby passionately replies, “Why of course you can!” (Fitzgerald 110). This begins to reveal Gatsby’s obsession with getting the past back. He lives in the past, where he had Daisy, and refuses to form any new connections because they will take him away from his ‘reality’ with her.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald addresses the themes of following dreams and human nature through the narrative of Jay Gatsby, a wealthy and enigmatic man who organizes expensive parties to win back his lost love, Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald explores the theme of chasing unrealized aspirations throughout the novel, the darker sides of human nature that can cause people to act in harmful ways. He also offers commentary on the American society and humanity by using symbolism and characterization to construct his argument. Fitzgerald illustrates the perils of obsession and the weaknesses in American culture and human nature by employing symbolism and characterization to show Gatsby's pursuit of irrational dreams. One of the most significant
In the book The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, he uses a literary device called a flashback. He used the flashback to tell Mr. Jay Gatsby’s past story to the narrator Nick Carraway while they were at lunch. The flashback was not told by Mr. Gatsby himself but, by one of his and Nick’s friend Jordan Baker. The use of the flashback in the story provided answers to some of the questions in the book. Questions such as to why Mr. Gatsby throws elaborate parties and why he was suddenly interested in Mr. Nick Carraway.
In a book about a tragic love story, one would not expect to find a deeper meaning behind the dangers of jealousy or peril of lust. However, in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there is a deeper meaning beyond jealousy and love. In The Great Gatsby, the author uses an empathetic storyline as a symbol to unwittingly give a complex depiction of the nuisance that people create that not only destroy our world but our society and gives warning to what will occur if we continue the path of destruction. With this intention, the brilliant opinionated writer, expressed his opinion through symbols such as the characters he uses, the setting the story takes place in, and the objects he uses in the book.