Sia Ellis
Mrs. Cook
Honors English 11
6 March 2023
Dreaming The Impossible Dream
The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic American Novel, taking place in 1920 New York. It follows Nick Carraway on a journey with his new neighbor Jay Gatsby. Together with themes of love, riches, and the American Dream, the book also examines the debauchery and corruption of the Jazz Period. Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby was praised and applauded by many, but Kathryn Schulz disagreed with this statement. Kathryn Schulz's article "Why I Despise The Great Gatsby’’makes valid points about the “heavy plot, heavy symbolism, [and] zero psychological motivation” in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, but her assertion that the “female characters”
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The plot has complex aspects to it, with many subplots, that are also driven by its characters' relationships. From the beginning, we learn of the obsessive love that Gatsby has for Daisy, which becomes the leading plot of the novel. The pursuit of Daisy from Gatsby, his extravagant parties, and his mysterious past all heighten the suspense of the novel. Yet, readers only get a superficial knowledge of the characters' motivations and behaviors since they are not fully explored.
The plot of The Great Gatsby is also led by its symbols, including “the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock” which is a recurring symbol of Gatsby's longing for his lost love (Schulz). But, although this symbol is powerful in the sense of the plot, it does not have a significant impact on the characters' psychological motivations, “the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever”(98). For instance, Gatsby's yearning for Daisy is symbolized by the green light, but is left untold why he loves her so much and why he cares so much about her; the green light holds no deeper