ipl-logo

Amory's Ignorance

825 Words4 Pages

Fitzgerald, through four of his major novels, argues that excessive wealth makes members of the upper echelons of American society ignorant to the real world, thus resulting in the absence of true romance, which Fitzgerald results in more happiness than the wealth and status associated with the upper class.

In the novel This Side of Paradise, Amory’s ignorance causes his relationship with Rosalind to fall apart because of how quick it started. When Amory first met Rosalind they instantly fell in love, “Within two weeks Amory and Rosalind were deeply and passionately in love” (Fitzgerald, 161). As Amory falls for Rosalind almost immediately after he met her, his ignorance is personified. Rushing a relationship is a very ignorant thing to …show more content…

Within a few days, despite her love for Amory, Rosalind decides not to marry him because he does not have enough money or status to be her husband. Armory reacts negatively to her decision, and it causes him to fall into a deep depression that he remedies with alcohol. Directly after Rosalind dumps him, Amory goes to the Knickerbocker Bar where he sees Jim Wilson. Despite attending college with Wilson, Amory does not remember him as a result of his alcohol addiction/depression due to Roseland dumping him. As the night goes on, Amory imbibes many more beers than Wilson. “Wilson had another; Amory had several more.” (This Side of Paradise 184). The next morning Amory forgets everything that happens until he begins to drink even more, with the narrator claiming, “As the new alcohol tumbled into his stomach and warmed him, the isolated pictures began slowly to form a cinema reel of the day before” (This Side of Paradise 185). Given that Amory only remembers the actions of the previous night when he starts drinking yet again, Fitzgerald warns of the dangers alcohol addiction causes, as Amory can not remember the events of the prior night without alcohol. After many years, Amory reads in a newspaper that Rosalind got engaged to another …show more content…

At the start, Rosemary is traveling with her mother, Elise and one day and at the beach, she fell in love with a man named Dick, "I fell in love on the beach," said Rosemary. "Who with?" (Elise, Rosemary's mother) "First with a whole lot of people who looked nice. Then with one man” (Tender is the Night 11) Rosemary’s ignorance on love is exemplified in this scene due to the fact that she fell in love with many men in one day at the beach. Rosemary is unable to realize love is much more deep than seeing someone on a beach, rather, it is triggered when you get to know their personality. Therefore, Rosemary reveals how she doesn't tend to think things over, rather just get it done without thinking at

Show More
Related

  • The Great Gatsby Love Essay

    362 Words  | 2 Pages

    In our world today, money and love seem to be two important pieces to life. These are seen every where in everyday life. Within the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald we see the subject of love and money a lot. Throughout the book, we as readers continue to observe relationships involving either love or money. One example of love that I found is the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Thematic Essay

    919 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gatsby Thematic Essay In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, lots of connections are drawn through various thematic subjects presented in this novel. One of these connections is between love, wealth, and social status, which are all very prominent subjects within The Great Gatsby. The relationships between various characters within the pages of this written work make one message very apparent: Love can be regarded as flimsy and deceitful when it is dictated by one’s wealth and social status.

    Read More

  • What Is True Love In The Great Gatsby

    970 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the novel, we are able to see how the lives of all these characters revolve around wealth, power, and social acceptance. Fitzgerald struggles to prove that even though love seems to be there,

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Winter Dreams Essay

    1264 Words  | 6 Pages

    It was known that she has discouraged a suitor because he was poor, although her main reason to do that was because he did not interested her enough to ‘survive this shock. According to Malcolm Cowley, Fitzgerald’s female characters are sometimes candid, even brutal about class relations. “Let's start right," she interrupted herself suddenly. "Who are you,

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Essay On The Great Gatsby

    1208 Words  | 5 Pages

    The characters put wealth, power, and desires over moral values and respect for themselves and others. Fitzgerald’s makes it obvious that he believes people should not substitute their values for a materialistic life. The characters’ desire to achieve the American dream outweighs moral convictions, resulting in scandalous and fatal actions. A critical perspective that is approached throughout the entire novel and is most helpful in understanding the theme is the Marxist criticism.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Relationship Analysis

    870 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fitzgerald’s writing has underlying messages in each and every single relationship mentioned in the novel and will be analyzed in this essay. In this novel, love is misrepresented and fails in each and every single relationship in “The Great Gatsby”, and ca The relationships in this novel cannot be talked about without talking about the first relationship we are introduced

    Read More

  • Fitzgerald's Desire For Love In The Great Gatsby

    1266 Words  | 6 Pages

    Although this figure, Gatsby, experiences an intensely intimate relationship with Daisy, his emotions reside on the side of extreme obsession rather than genuine affection. Desire plays a pivotal role in the development of the characters in the novel, showing Fitzgerald’s seminal message

    Read More

  • Relationship Between Tom And Daisy In The Great Gatsby

    1530 Words  | 7 Pages

    In Tom and Daisy’s relationship, it shows that money can ruin relationships but if you see past that barrier of money there are little pieces of love that stand out more than money. However, at the end of the day Tom and Daisy have money, are united, but they are not happy with each other. Gatsby’s relationship with Daisy includes both money and love. By this Fitzgerald is suggesting that it is possible to have love, however, it leads to difficulties because you can either have the dedication of Gatsby trying to get what he wants and never give up, or you can accept reality and realize how you will not be able to achieve your

    Read More

  • Daisy's Greed In The Great Gatsby

    1156 Words  | 5 Pages

    Cash, with its characteristic capacity to captivate, boggle, and control, has for quite some time been a question of man 's fixations. It inspires sentiments of outrage, desire, voracity, and envy, sentiments of energy, predominance, and satisfaction. The conviction that all is good that riches offers gives the start to Daisy Buchanan 's associations with Tom and Gatsby in F. Scott Fitz-gerald 's novel, The Great Gatsby. Daisy 's requirement for this sentiment assurance forces her to marry the princely Tom Buchanan, as opposed to the impecunious Gatsby. At in the first place, Gatsby abuses her want for a protected social position so as to win her love, and through it, her cash.

    Read More

  • Maggie And The Great Gatsby

    2484 Words  | 10 Pages

    Daisy is a perfect example to illustrate this attitude. When Gatsby leaves Daisy, she promises to wait for him, but she breaks her own promise and marries Tom Buchanan whose “family were enormously wealthy—even in college his freedom with money was a matter for reproach” so as to stabilize her status in the upper class society (Fitzgerald 8). She is a superficial, sardonic and beautiful woman with “an absurd, charming little laugh” who knows how to make full use of her advantages to improve her own life (Fitzgerald 11). She is “warm, feverish, thrilling, intoxicating—a siren, an enchantress, a blossoming flower” who draws the attention of everyone (Baker). With the support from her family, she betrays Gatsby and marries Tom Buchannan not out of love but out of realistic concern.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Hollowness Of The Upper Class In The Great Gatsby

    995 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald characterizes the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values. One of the major themes explored in this novel is the Hollowness of the Upper Class. The entire book revolves around money including power and little love. Coincidentally the three main characters of the novel belong to the upper class and throughout the novel Fitzgerald shows how this characters have become corrupted and have lost their morality due to excess money and success and this has led them to change their perspective towards other people and they have been portrayed as short-sighted to what is important in life. First of all, we have the main character of this novel, Gatsby who won’t stop at nothing to become rich overnight in illegal dealings with mobsters such as Wolfsheim in order to conquer Daisy’s heart.”

    Read More

  • Materialism In The Great Gatsby Analysis

    1332 Words  | 6 Pages

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, as Jay Gatsby delves into his pursuit of wealth and need for materialism, his hopes and aspirations become shattered in a world of unobtainable and unreachable possibilities. While Jay Gatsby confidently believes that material excess will ultimately bring about love, admiration, and prosperity, the audience understands that the possession of material objects does not always lead to the possession of these intangible virtues. The richest and happiest man is the one who sets the joy and happiness of others in the center of his wealth. As Jay Gatsby dedicates himself to winning over Daisy Buchanan and falls in love with her aura of luxury, Gatsby becomes overwhelmed with an unremitting desire for money and pleasure that eventually triggers his downfall. He has one purpose in life: to attract Daisy with his ornate house on West Egg and with his overflowing sum of money.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Theme Essay

    700 Words  | 3 Pages

    Relationships are meant to be long lasting and plentiful, however, Fitzgerald shows the reader that love is the exact opposite. One example is on pages 25 and 26. “She smiled slowly, and, walking through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye.” Another example is on page 132. Daisy says to Gatsby, “Oh you want too much!

    Read More

  • Self-Made Man In The Great Gatsby

    1373 Words  | 6 Pages

    But what gave it an air of breathless intensity was that Daisy lived there—it was as casual a thing to her as his tent out at his camp was to him” (158). The phrase “breathless intensity” characterizes Gatsby’s reaction to seeing such wealth, and the word “air” expresses a sort of intangibility of her wealth. The juxtaposition between Gatsby and Daisy’s perspectives, “breathless” versus “casual,” allude to an insurmountable gap between the idea of the self-made man and the difficulty of actually achieving upward class mobility in America. Here, Fitzgerald suggests that true wealth and class also require a comfortability and casualness toward luxury as evidenced by his comparison of Daisy’s house to Gatsby’s tent. Even when Daisy is ready to leave Tom and Gatsby has the extravagant lifestyle, he is not satisfied.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Rich Boy

    2717 Words  | 11 Pages

    Fitzgerald brings attention to the extravagant lives of the wealthy, the privilege they claim and the false sense of superiority they project. We are moved to assess the true nature of these characters. We acknowledge the duality of their characters; the part of themselves that are revealed to those around them and their true nature. The attempt

    Read More

More about Amory's Ignorance

Open Document