The Great Gatsby Personal Narrative

Jeaniene Frost once said, “People can perfect whatever facade they want, but everyone holds their sins close to their skin”. This quote relates to The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. They both talk about the action of putting out to the world that you are someone else different than who you actually are, but your secrets always stay lurking in the background. The Great Gatsby is trying to show that putting out a facade of someone who you aren’t can have dire consequences. One character who puts up a facade is Jay Gatsby.

Nick Carraway is a monomyth hero according to the ideologies of Joseph Campbell. Campbell describes a hero as someone who must, “put aside his pride, his virtue, beauty and life and bow or submit to the absolutely intolerable.” In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nick Carraway must depart from a life he knows, and journey into the unknown, where he succumbs to a call of adventure. The challenges and ordeals he faces construct his character and lead him to challenge his integrity and morals. Over the course of his quest, he is transformed and later returns back to the land he knows.

The 1920s was a time of flamboyance and wealth in the upper class. Jay Gatsby, a man of old money, threw over the top parties, in which he would spend his money very nonchalantly. The ambiance of his parties greatly illustrated the upper class of the time. The author uses symbolism and characterization to support the central idea that the upper class was very careless, wealthy, and extravagant. Gatsby’s parties are luxurious, glamorous, and over the top.

The other point of this paper is how society changes you. If you are rich and you don’t look like it you wear off brand clothes then society will change you when you get with the right group. If you stay with the group of friends that you have been with then you will be fine. If you want to let society change you then go ahead but always remember if you judge someone without getting to know them then you are dead to

Wanting to gain status, Gatsby shows his wealth by throwing extravagant parties and purchasing expensive items to display. To announce himself as a man of wealth to the New York upper class, he purchases a “factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (5), his mansion in West Egg. It is here that he chooses to throw parties every weekend, where everyone shows up, though rarely people are actually invited. It is here that he is able to show off the true extent of his wealth to other rich folk. For example, in his library, he has a collection of “absolutely real” books, rather than “durable cardboard” (45), expected by Owl Eye, and attendant of one of Gatsby’s parties.

In 1922, a young, educated man by the name of Nick Carraway moves to the village of new money, West Egg in Long Island, New York. Nick is not as rich as the rest of West Egg and lives in a small apartment next to a giant, lavish mansion owned by a mysterious man, known for his parties, Jay Gatsby. Unlike others in West Egg, Nick has connections in East Egg, the village of old money, through his cousin, Daisy, and her unfaithful husband, Tom. One evening, Nick is invited to dinner by Daisy and meets to a woman called Jordan Baker, who he becomes romantically involved with. Time passes, and Nick still knows nothing about his neighbor, until one day he receives an invitation to a party at Gatsby’s house.

Eleanor was reading in the living room, curled up with her favorite book in the armchair by the window. The grandfather clock ticked loudly, but it was easy to ignore. After a few hours, the sound of the pendulum swinging from side to side was a comforting sound. The gentle sound was interrupted by a deafening knock, sending her copy of the Great Gatsby tumbling out of her hands.

They don’t realize that there is a life outside of materials, and that there is a person trying to help them understand. (STEWE-2) Clarisse tries to explain to Montag that people barely talk to each other. But when they do, “‘They name a lot of cars or clothes or swimming pools and say how swell” (28). The society is so addicted to their material objects that they only talk about them and nothing else.

The 1920’s expressed great wealth and luxuriousness through excessive and lavish parties with dazzling effects and no apparent purpose other than to simply entertain. In Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s displays of affluence demonstrate that in the 1920’s, opulence was represented in forms of materialistic objects. Hieronymus Bosch's painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” suggests that sensuous temptations and the need for grandeur can lead to the corruption of purity. In Philippa Hawker’s article “The subtle art of staging Gatsby's lavish parties,” she describes the effective use of overindulgence and chaos in Gatsby’s parties to represent the shift in societal norms of conservative and refined parties to a more vulgarized form. In John F. Carter, Jr.’s article “‘These Wild Young People,’ by One of Them,” he exposes the changing perspective of his generation from the stringent realistic outlook of the older generation to his looser and more

The positives and negatives of the grandiosity in the 1920s is seen in Gatsby’s parties, and helps create a window to the

Gatsby hosts extravagant parties in an effort not only to boost his social status, but also to look for Daisy. Many wealthy, and often wild people attend these large social events held by Mr. Gatsby. Some of the guests even come lacking an invitation, “Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.” (41)

No matter who you are or where you have come from, you have undoubtedly heard of the American Dream. The idea that no matter who you are or where you have come from, you can do whatever it is you desire in America. What was once one the main driving forces for immigrants to flock to the new world, has slowly changed over the years, but still holds its value in the eyes of those who are looking for a promising new place to live. The American dream might not hold the same awe inspiring sound that it once did, but for many generations before ours it was a beacon of hope that helped build the foundation that the United States was built on. And, still, today the American dream might not be as achievable as it once was, but it is still an important

Walzzor makes a compelling point on this question, pointing out the performative nature of Gatsby 's character. Gatsby is not only hiding his past from society (for the most part), he has also created a role for himself. The "monied man with manners and grace" might be one way to term the part he plays for society, covering his humble background. Gatsby is not Gatsby but Jimmy Gatz, a poor boy from the Midwest--like Nick Carraway--who happened upon a chance that took him away from his life and gave him the opportunity to move into a different world.

All of the people at his parties did not care much about Gatsby, as none of them attended his funeral; they were only there to eat, drink, and be merry. These attendees represent the majority of the wealthy society during the 1920’s. There was a surplus of leisure and wealth, and those who didn’t obtain a high status envied those who were able to. Those who were wealthy were greedy to become wealthier, and showed gluttony through their materialistic

The Great Gatsby Literary Analysis “They were careless people…” says Nick Carraway, the narrator of The Great Gatsby. In a story depicting the 1920s during a time of prosperity, growth, and the emergence of the America as a major global power, this statement may seem to be contrary. But in reality, Nick Carraway’s description of his friends and the people he knew, was not only true, but is an indication of those who were striving for the American dream. F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests that the American Dream is foolish, the people who pursue it are immoral and reckless, and this pursuit is futile. First, F. Scott Fitzgerald proposes that the American dream is foolish.