American Literature is defined as the literature written or produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. Death is a common concept portrayed in American Literature. Titles such as Of Mice and Men, Inherit the Wind, and The Great Gatsby all have character deaths as a major part of their plotlines. Even though these deaths are a major event to the readers of the novel, it minimally affects the other characters of the story. Theses novels show that death doesn’t affect the masses – life goes on. This is proven in the titles listed above by the death of Lenny Small in Of Mice and Men, the death of Matthew Brady in Inherit the Wind, and the death of Jay Gatz in The Great Gatsby. Lenny Small is a main character with a mental disability in the novel Of Mice and Men. Lenny is accompanied by a man named George who takes care of him throughout the novel. George is forced to shoot Lenny at the end of the novel and it seems as though he’s the only one who is greatly affected by this death. “Now what the hell ya suppose is eatin’ them?” (Steinbeck, 107) is one comment made by a ranch hand named …show more content…
Jay Gatz, our main character, is virtually all that our narrator can talk about. The entire novel is about the dazzling life and the mysteriousness of this man. Even though the entire novel is about this man, his death at the end hardly affects anyone. Gatz threw giant parties every weekend and not a single guest showed up at his funeral. Before the funeral, our narrator talks about how he hopes guests will show up, saying, “The minister glanced several times at his watch, so I took him aside and asked him to wait for half an hour. But it wasn’t any use. Nobody came.” (Fitzgerald, 174). Even though this man had all kinds of people showing up to his parties, not a single person could be bothered to show up to his funeral. Their lives continued as if nothing ever
After the devastation of World War I, the American people had a revolution in the social standards from traditional views to more modern. The moral compass of people was no longer based on basic religious rules but instead regarded ethics as a relative concept. This venturing out from traditional ways gave the people a door to start the extreme materialism and partying as a way of life. Along with the “roarin” side of the 20s, there also came a group of writers known as the Lost Generation. One of these writers that arose with the Lost Generation was F. Scott Fitzgerald.
F Scott. Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby portraits how the American Dream in the 1920's is twisted. People started to focus more on gaining money, high social statuses and , material goods. Even if it wasn't with good morals and working hard to achieve this fictional American Dream.
Gatsby is the most responsible for the tragic ending of the novel, his own death. He ignored warnings from close friends about potential danger, refused to let the gardener drain the pool, and took blame for something he did not do, which all led to his murder. After Myrtle gets run over by a car and passes away, Nick believes he must warn Gatsby that her death will be traced back to him. Nick tells him to “go to Atlantic City for a week, or up to Montreal” (Fitzgerald 91) because he knows that the car used to kill Myrtle belongs to Gatsby and people will find out about it. Nick tries to look out for his best friend Gatsby, but unfortunately, Gatsby does not even take this warning into consideration and refuses to leave West Egg.
Sometimes it 's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever. In "The Scarlet Ibis" James Hurst expresses the theme of death in his short. When he wrote "summer was dead and Autumn has not been born" it shows that there is a deep meaning to the story. Another example of death in his story is when Aunt Nicey said "red dead birds are bad luck" when the family sees the Scarlet Ibis fall out of a tree and die. It foreshadows the events that will happen in the storm because of brother leaving him behind.
In the book the author uses character dialogue to display the views and overall optimistic view of Gatsby, which is important to the understanding of the book to describe what makes Gatsby himself and what others view of him is as a person. In the book when Nick first meets Gatsby he states “He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you, as you would like to believe in yourself.” This description of Gatsby is what makes him so alluring and interesting
His house was always full of partygoers, and yet after he’s gone only one friend cares to attend his funeral. Everyone knew of him, no one knew him. They were all using him for his money and his generosity and hospitality. They were all selfish. “’I couldn’t get to the house,’ he remarked.
At the end of the book, one of the main characters die from the disease. The books mentioned above are just a few examples of many that shows proof of how commonly authors write about death as the main idea. Fahrenheit 451 talks about death quite often as well. Bradbury wrote, ‘“You took all the pills in your bottle last night...”’ ‘“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” she [Mildred] said, surprised.”’
In the book The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby loses his life to Wilson. Mr. Gatsby is killed because Tom Buchanan told Wilson that Gatsby was the one driving the car when Myrtle his wife was struck by the car. It was Gatsby’s, but he wasn’t the one driving, the one driving was Daisy. Wilson believes that Gatsby is the one who hit his wife with the car. George may have killed Gatsby, but the other characters had their part in his death.
Authors often integrate symbols and motifs to their writing to foreshadow later events. In one of the most famous pieces of American literature, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald drops hints to forecast terrible outcomes. The novel occurs during the roaring twenties and accentuates the wild and extravagant lifestyle of Long Island’s enclaves. In between East and West Egg’s opulence, there is the Valley of Ashes, a dark, grey wasteland. Even though their opulent lifestyle seems magnificent, one couple, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, faces marriage troubles because of their loss of love.
Gatsby’s downfall suggests that equal opportunities to achieve success in our lives don’t exist, people take advantage of far too many things that it is ruined for others. For example, Daisy took advantage of Gatsby and Tom. Daisy seemed to only want the person with the most money, but that wasn’t exactly true. “Your wife doesn’t love you. She’s never loved you.
The Great Gatsby GEOGRAPHY Throughout the novel, places and settings symbolize the various aspects of the 1920s American society that Fitzgerald depicts. East Egg represents the old aristocracy, West Egg the newly rich, the valley of ashes the moral and social decay of America, and New York City the dissolute, amoral quest for money and pleasure. Additionally, the East is connected to the moral decay and social cynicism of New York, while the West is connected to more traditional social values and ideals. Themes: The American Dream "Whereas the American Dream was once equated with certain principles of freedom, it is now equated with things.
Literary deaths always have a meaning, and the abrupt demise of various characters in The Great Gatsby is no exception. As tensions build and secret loves are proclaimed, characters begin to meet untimely deaths. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Gatsby and Wilson's deaths, along with Gatsby's funeral, to symbolize the death of the American dream. Both men simply want to be successful and happy, and neither of them achieve their ultimate dreams.
In my opinion, Tom is most responsible for Gatsby’s death. I believe that Tom is most responsible because Tom forgot to tell George that Daisy was the driver of Gatsby’s car the night Myrtle was hit by it. Tom forgot to tell George that because him and Daisy were plotting this out. I could tell something was up when Nick refers that “Tom and Daisy talking in the house(146). I also think that Daisy is a little bit responsible because she took on some bad morals when she hit Myrtle because she could have stopped the car after she hit Myrtle.
Gatsby’s Tragedy: Falling for a Minx The Great Gatsby, like the Great Houdini, is an illusionist. Similar to the Great Houdini, the Great Gatsby has a tremendous rise to fame and an outrageous reputation. Jay Gatsby's tragic flaw does not seem horrendous at first when compared to Willy Loman, Macbeth, and other tragic characters in literature, but his love for Daisy shows that the power of love outranks all other flaws. During Gatsby's youth, he met a girl named Daisy, who he immediately fell for.
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Jay Gatsby was murdered by George Wilson Husband of Myrtle. In the court of law there’s only one person who was responsible and guilty for the murder of Jay Gatsby. Although in the eyes of god there was more than one person responsible for the murder or had the ability to stop the outcome of the murder. Weather it was Tom being honest about his affair, Daisy doing the right thing and stopping during the accident or Jay Gatsby himself by taking control of the situation and doing what was good for both Daisy and himself instead of just what 's best for Daisy. Tom, Myrtle, Daisy, and Gatsby were selfish and self centered leading them to become Morally responsible for the death of Jay Gatsby.