The Great Gatsby And The Critique Of Modernism

Conflicts (list and describe the kinds [man vs. man, man vs. circumstance, man vs. society, man vs. himself/herself] of conflict that exist in the work): Gatsby Vs. Himself- Gatsby’s mind was dangerously trapped in the past, as he sought a love that he would never experience. Over five years before the story takes place, Gatsby met Daisy and instantly fell in love with her. There was only one problem, Gatsby was incredibly poor and Daisy sought a man of greater wealth. While Gatsby was away fighting in the war, Daisy, desperate to settled, slowly fell out of love. She found love in Tom Buchanan, a burly rich man, and eventually married him.

Gatsby tries to erase the past five years because he wants to be in the time where Daisy loved him and only him. Throughout the novel, readers find out that Daisy has been consuming Gatsby’s thoughts for five years. Throughout these years, Gatsby tries to convince himself that he can go back to the time where things are simple and Daisy had no husband and no child. He does this with a clouded way of thinking. Gatsby has his mind so remarkably revolved around Daisy that he has started to think illogically.

While Tom and Daisy at least try to appear happy and loving, Myrtle and George are hardly identifiable as married. Myrtle has lost complete interest in George and any life that she has with him, and runs off with Tom to live the extravagant life that she’s always wanted. Even before George and Myrtle were married, Myrtle’s understanding was that George was wealthy and powerful. Upon finding out that he didn’t have everything that she dreamed of, she stopped being in love with the idea of being with George, leading to an affair with Tom years later. “She smiled slowly and walking through her husband as if he were a ghost and shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye.” We can see the disinterest she has for George by comparing her attraction towards Tom.

This semester we have looked at many pieces of writing, including “Okay”, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Antigone Now, “Civil Disobedience”, and “The Ones Who Walk Away”. We analysed all of these pieces looking for themes addressing responsibility and found that even though each is quite different the authors use very similar writing techniques. Multiple writings shared the writing techniques pathos, the individual versus a community, and family to convey responsibility in the texts. The most impactful literature is the ones that pull at our heartstrings. Provoking emotion in a reader sucks them into the story.

Many poets write poems to express themselves or convey a message. This is because writing things down has been a way of tracking or relaying information to others or oneself at a later time. The themes of these poems change not only with whom the poet is but, what they are writing about. Undoubtedly poetry such as Epics, Romances, and Ballads are used to express themes due to each type having a plethora of ways to convey the author’s message. Epic is narratively long poems that tell about a heroic feat or event that are important to the poet’s culture(Fogie).

Furthermore, Gatsby does all the things for Daisy in order to compete against Tom and his “old world” wealth. When Gatsby revealed to Tom,” She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart, she never loved anyone except me” (Fitzgerald 130). The truth to Tom about Gatsby and Daisy's intentions revealed what she thought in her heart. Tom now knew that she longed to be with Gatsby in the

Gatsby was a good person at heart but in flesh all you saw were lies, Daisy saw that in him too. In the end Gatsby’s hope on winning Daisy back was so high that ever time the phone rang or every corner he turned he looked and waited for her but she was nowhere to be seen. During his last day, last hours of breath he spent the time waiting for Daisy to call him and tell him that she was ready to run away with him and live happily ever after, “ I have an idea that Gatsby himself didn’t believe it would come and perhaps he no longer cared (Fitzgerald 169).” but she never did call. In his last few hours at the chance to run away and save himself for the death that was awaiting him he spent the time at home, in his pool waiting for her to call. When he took his final breath he was shot by mistake.

Although Gatsby and Daisy had a history, he cannot come in five years later and think he can win her back from another man. Fitzgerald puts in this quote "She never loved you, do you hear? She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart, she never loved anyone except me" (130). This is the quote that gets Gatsby killed because once Daisy admits to Tom that she never loved him, he thinks that means that she still loves him, this why Gatsby takes the

This new kind of literature shifted personal pronouns, destroyed syntax, fragmented space and attention to formal structure, and was often written from multiple perspectives, just as Cubist art was meant to do. Examples of this shift can all be seen in the works of many modernist writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and Gertrude

Some might say that Gatsby is a “massive dreamer” or that he was delusional, living in denial I believe that Gatsby is a delusional dreamer. He expected far too much from Daisy, after not seeing her for 5 years. He was a man of hope he thought he can repeat the past and get Daisy back in his life, to the point where he would reach out for the green light which embodied Daisy. Gatsby was aware that Daisy had a daughter, yet when he looked at her, he was surprised. The daughter was never part of Gatsby’s dream, he only wanted Daisy and only Daisy.