ipl-logo

Examples Of Hollowness In The Great Gatsby

1365 Words6 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel "The Great Gatsby", the author paints a vivid picture of the roaring twenties, a time of wealth and extravagance for many Americans. However the wealthy of this time period would often commit corrupt and hollow acts during this time period, simply for personal gain. Fitzgerald's novel mainly centers around the newly wealthy Jay Gatsby, and his love for the beautiful but married Daisy Buchanan and the things he would do to try and win her over. Through his portrayal of the characters and their actions, Fitzgerald explores the theme of the hollowness or selfishness, among the rich and wealthy of this time period.
To start off, Fitzgerald portrays the hollowness of the rich and wealthy of his novel as being consumed by their own personal desires. A great example of this is seen in the character of Jay …show more content…

Gatsby is a newly rich man who has moved into West Egg, a place where all the “new money” people live, and is trying to win the love of his past love, who is now also married, Daisy Buchanan. However the way that Gatsby tries to accomplish this desire of his is in a really hollow method, through flaunting his wealth. In the novel, Gatsby is known for throwing extravagant parties every weekend but the reason he throws these said parties is because he was attempting to lure Daisy into going to one of them as seen when Jordan said “I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night, … but she never did.” (Fitzgerald 79). The reason that these parties can be considered hollow is due to the fact that Gatsby is not only willing to spend money to fund these parties but also is willing to allow random strangers into his home in the hopes that Daisy might wander in, instead of inviting

Show More
Related

Examples Of Deception In The Great Gatsby

596 Words | 3 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby deceives everyone around him concerning the legitimacy behind his wealth, claiming that he had become affluent through respectable means. Gatsby’s deception is intended to regain Daisy Buchanan’s love, which he had long-missed ever since before he went to war. However, with this deception, Fitzgerald makes clear the hypocrisy and deceit present in the 1920’s – deceit not only within relationships and interactions but also in the very mantra of the United States, the American dream. Fitzgerald reveals his views with Gatsby’s superfluous luxury, which he prominently displays, whether in the form of lavish parties or a grandiose house. He takes every opportunity to make his wealth known; for example, he often offers a multitude (and often excessive) of favors to Nick, implicitly desperate to make his wealthy reputation spread across the city.

Read More

Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

1155 Words | 5 Pages

Through the empty lives of three characters from this novel Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Tom Buchanan Fitzgerald shows that chasing shallow dreams leads only to misery. When World War I ended, America seemed to promise unlimited financial and social opportunities for anyone willing to work hard for an American Dream. The prosperous acquired wealth only to pursue pleasure. For some, striving for wealth only made them realize that the dream crudely corrupted them. Though the characters in The Great Gatsby seem to like the freedom of the 1920s, their lives exhibit the emptiness that results when wealth and pleasure become a terror they could never imagine.

Read More

How Is Women Portrayed In The Great Gatsby

1476 Words | 6 Pages

The novel’s narrator, Nick Carraway, is drawn into the world of wealthy folks, including the protagonist Jay Gatsby, who is a mysterious and perplexing man with a mysterious past. Gatsby is a symbol of excess and extravagance in the Roaring Twenties. His lavish lifestyle and lavish parties are a reflection of who he is in the era. However, while Gatsby’s wealth and power allow him to live a life of luxury and indulgence, they also come with a price. The women in his life, including Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker, are the expectations and desires of the men around them.

Read More

Examples Of Flaws In The Great Gatsby

392 Words | 2 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, The Great Gatsby, all the characters are depicted as flawed individuals. The story, set against the backdrop of the Roaring Twenties in America, explores the themes of wealth, social class, and love, and illustrates how all of the characters' flaws contribute to their eventual downfall. Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of the story, is a wealthy and successful man who is deeply flawed. He is motivated by his obsessive love for Daisy Buchanan, a love that is based more on his idealized image of her than on the reality of who she really is. Gatsby's obsession with his past and his desire to recapture the past ultimately leads to his downfall.

Read More

Examples Of Hollowness In The Great Gatsby

601 Words | 3 Pages

One of the major themes that was present throughout the novel, the Great Gatsby, by F.Scott Fitzgerald, is the shallow and hollowness of the upper class people. Throughout the novel a series of events occur that support the idea of the upper class having a shallow life. Firstly, the relationship between the two characters Daisy and Tom, whom have been married for 5 years, seems to proceed towards a broken marriage. The two individuals lack loyalty and faithfulness to one another, even after being bonded in a marriage, for up to 5 years they have no attachment or feelings to one another. Tom is portrayed as a womanizer and has never been fully committed to his wife, and on the other hand his wife continuously has a new love interest, depicting both of the individuals as shallow and feeling-less.

Read More

Examples Of Wealth In The Great Gatsby

800 Words | 4 Pages

“They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together…” (179). F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the overwhelming of wealth and the sense of higher social status through many character relationships in The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby represents the wealthiest man in Long Island, who fell in love with the more affluent, Daisy Buchanan. Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband, also depicts a wealthy man, but less classy as he has an affair with the unprosperous Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson’s wife. “Money is the root of all evil.”

Read More

Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

439 Words | 2 Pages

The 1920s was characterized by overwhelming greed from the upper class in the United States which fostered a decade of luxury and desire for the elite. Following World War 1, the availability of leisure activities and growing wealth disparity introduced a new American society that craved luxury and status despite their already excessive power and the working class’ continued struggles with poverty. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, "The Great Gatsby, " Tom Buchanan's character encompasses the 1920s elites' greedy and selfish attitudes toward wealth and relationships. Although Tom has an abundance of privileges including money and family, the character struggles with his desires when he becomes entangled in a marital affair. The narrator describes that Tom's "sturdy physical egotism no longer nourished his

Read More

Examples Of Loneliness In The Great Gatsby

1255 Words | 6 Pages

In life, others see many examples of people with all the riches of the world, but don’t end up with merriment and satisfaction. Throughout the story of The Great Gatsby, the reader is given perspective on the rich and poor conflicts of the roaring 20’s, where people either live in luxury or live in dirt. A character by the name of Jay Gatsby has all this wealth but isn’t happy because of a missing desire for the love of Daisy Buchanan. The author explores this idea through items and events that exploit the character of Jay Gatsby’s loneliness. In The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals how material wealth does not bring happiness through symbols of the Green Light, the extravagant parties, and the pool.

Read More

Obsession In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

415 Words | 2 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, the characters are consumed by their pursuit of material wealth and social status. This parallel to Wordsworth's message in "The World is Too Much with Us" is evident throughout the novel, as Fitzgerald critiques the superficiality of the Jazz Age and the detrimental effects it has on society's perception of time and the value of nature. One of the key examples of Fitzgerald's portrayal of the obsession with material possessions can be seen through the character of Jay Gatsby. Gatsby's entire existence revolves around the accumulation of wealth and the pursuit of his unattainable love interest, Daisy Buchanan.

Read More

The Great Gatsby Really Great Essay

753 Words | 4 Pages

The Not So Great Gatsby The 1920’s otherwise known as the Roaring Twenties allowed for many people to prosper and gain wealth through illegal methods. Although many people were able to gain a status they otherwise would not have been able to, questions about morals of such individuals arose. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway, the narrator is intrigued by Jay Gatsby, one of the richest individuals around who has what others can only dream about. His life long “American Dream” is to reunite with his past love, Daisy Buchannan, who is already married to Tom Buchannan.

Read More

Theme Of Emptiness In The Great Gatsby

447 Words | 2 Pages

Those who solely focus on wealth may have completely empty lives. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the fact that wealthy people have meaningless lives. He does this by using rhetoric that shows the carelessness, materialism, and ironies in their lives. In order to show this, Fitzgerald implements rhetoric and stylistic devices that show the emptiness of the characters throughout his novel that reinforces his theme that if materialism, not God, drives one, one’s dreams and hopes will eventually implode. To support his theme of emptiness, Fitzgerald facilitates ironic rhetoric to show the characters’ emptiness, weakness, and eventual destruction.

Read More

The Great Gatsby Moral Corruption Analysis

1909 Words | 8 Pages

An important theme in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is the corruption of morals because of wealth. It doesn’t matter if one comes from old or new money, wealth will corrupt the morality of even the humblest. The first example of wealth corrupting morals is in the indifference to infidelity between the married Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. The next example of wealth corrupting morals is seen in Jordan Baker’s actions to keep her luxurious lifestyle. Third, Jim Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth lead to the corruption of his morals.

Read More

How Does Jay Fitzgerald Present Greed In The Great Gatsby

773 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby Greed can ruin a person’s life. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows this in his classic novel, The Great Gatsby, a sad love story about the rich title character, Jay Gatsby, and his obsession to win back the love of the now married Daisy Buchanan, his former girlfriend. The extravagant lifestyles of Gatsby and the wealthy socialites who attend his parties lead to lost dreams and wasted lives. These men and women are absorbed by material pursuits. In Jay Gatsby’s case, all the money in the world could not replace what he truly desires, Daisy.

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

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 Examples Of Hollowness In The Great Gatsby

Related Topics

Open Document