thesis statements great gatsby

How to Write a Thesis Statement for "The Great Gatsby"

Shelia odak.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” is a classic of American fiction and a staple in the literature classroom. The tragic story of Jay Gatsby plays out against the opulence of the 1920s. The text offers a range of subjects from which to create a thesis statement, including the book’s symbolism, the pursuit of the American dream, the clash of social classes and even the novel’s title. By learning why these ideas are important components of the book and understanding the purpose of a thesis statement, you can create the foundation for a successful essay.

Know that a thesis statement announces the topic and viewpoint of your paper in a succinct, direct manner. Place it at the end of the introduction in a single sentence.

Understand the meaning and purpose behind the book's symbolism. Concentrate on the purpose of the symbolism, not just one or two examples. If, for instance, several of the novel’s symbols deal with problems of materialism, determine why Fitzgerald would want to highlight materialism in his novel.

Know how the book deals with the American dream, through the character of Gatsby or the other characters in the novel. As above, determine how Fitzgerald feels the American dream through the imagery he employs.

Understand Fitzgerald's point of view about the various social classes that the characters in the novel represent. To narrow the topic, choose to write about how Fitzgerald deals with one class.

Decide what is meant by the novel’s title, "The Great Gatsby," and tailor your thesis statement around the adjective “great.” Be sure to consider if the title is ironic.

The thesis can alert you when you go off track during the writing process: If anything in the body of your paper does not support the thesis, it should be deleted.

About the Author

Shelia Odak has over 10 years writing and editing experience for consumer and trade publications including "Radio/TV Interview Report." She has worked for over nine years in education and holds a Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Odak writes on a range of topics including education, literature and frugal living.

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20 The Great Gatsby Essay Topics

Hailed as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, The Great Gatsby is a story that explores love, betrayal, and the pursuit of the American dream in the 1920s.

If you have been asked to write an essay on this classic novel, you might be a little nervous trying to figure out what you should include. However, don’t worry! This guide will walk you through the process of writing an excellent Gatsby essay and provide 20 The Great Gatsby essay topic ideas.

Essay Writing Essentials

Before you can write an essay on The Great Gatsby, you need to understand the basics of essay writing. This includes developing a clear thesis, supporting your claims with evidence from the book, and crafting a solid conclusion.

Writing a Thesis

A thesis statement details the overall point or argument you intend to make in the essay. Therefore, a thesis statement must be clear, specific, and arguable. A thesis statement will be best placed at the end of your first paragraph or as a way to wrap up your introduction if it is multiple paragraphs.

Some examples of well-written thesis statements for a The Great Gatsby include:

“While The Great Gatsby appears to be a novel about love, in reality, it is a scathing critique of the American dream.”

“Though Jay Gatsby is wealthy and well-liked, he is ultimately a tragic figure because he cannot escape his past.”

“The relationships in The Great Gatsby are all ultimately doomed because the characters are not honest with each other or themselves.”

Developing Supporting Claims for the Body

To support your thesis statement, you will need to include evidence from the novel in the form of quotes and analysis. It is vital that you choose passages that directly relate to your thesis and that you explain how these quotes support your argument.

One way to find quotes that support your thesis is to look for passages that seem particularly significant or interesting to you. Then, once you have a few potential quotes in mind, try to come up with a sentence or two explaining how the quote supports your argument. This will help you determine if the quote is actually relevant to your essay or if you need to keep looking.

It can also be helpful to go back to your list of potential thesis statements and look for quotes that could support each one. This way, you can get a sense of which quotes will be most beneficial for your essay before writing.

Crafting a Strong Conclusion

Your conclusion should briefly summarize the main points of your essay and reiterate your thesis statement. You might also want to leave the reader with something to think about or a call to action if you feel strongly about the issue you have been discussing.

A strong conclusion might look something like this:

“Though Gatsby’s pursuit of the American dream is ultimately fruitless, his efforts are nonetheless admirable. His willingness to fight for what he wants, even in the face of overwhelming odds, is something that we can all learn from.”

Citing and Formatting Essays About Books

In addition to using evidence from the novel to support your claims, you will also need to cite any sources you use in your essay. This includes any quotes or paraphrases from The Great Gatsby and any outside sources you might have used.

Citing Sources

When citing a quote from The Great Gatsby, you will need to include the page number in parentheses after the quote. For example:

“Daisy’s voice was sad ‘I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'” (10).

If you are paraphrasing or summarizing a passage from The Great Gatsby, you will just need to include the page number in parentheses after the paraphrase. For example:

Gatsby’s wealth is often seen as a symbol of his success, but it is also clear that money cannot buy happiness. (21)

If you cite an outside source, you will need to include both the author’s name and the page number (or, for sources that don’t use page numbers, the section or chapter number) in parentheses after the quote. For example:

“The Great Gatsby is widely regarded as a masterpiece of American fiction” (Baldwin 3).

Formatting an Essay About a Book

When formatting your essay, there are a few key things you need to keep in mind. First, all mentions of the book’s title need to be italicized or underlined. Second, your essay should have one-inch margins on all sides.

Your essay should also have a title page that includes the title of your essay, your name, and the name of your class. If you are writing a longer essay (5 or more pages), you may need to also include a header on each page. It’s best to speak with your instructor to clarify any specific formatting requirements for the assignment.

Now that you know how to write an essay on The Great Gatsby, you can start brainstorming potential topics for your paper. If you are having trouble, consider using or adapting one of the following topics.

How does Gatsby’s wealth (or lack thereof) impact his relationships?
How does Gatsby’s pursuit of the American dream ultimately fail?
What role do women play in The Great Gatsby?
How are the parties that Gatsby throws symbolic of his own emptiness?
How does Fitzgerald use symbolism to comment on the state of the American dream?
What role does fate play in The Great Gatsby?
Is Gatsby a tragic hero? If so, why?
How is The Great Gatsby an example of the “Lost Generation”?
What role does the past play in The Great Gatsby?
How do the relationships between men and women change throughout the novel?
How is The Great Gatsby a commentary on the class divisions in American society?
What role does morality play in The Great Gatsby?
How do the characters in The Great Gatsby represent different aspects of the American dream?
What role does money play in The Great Gatsby?
Is Gatsby a sympathetic character? Why or why not?
How is Nick Carraway’s role as narrator important to the novel?
How does Fitzgerald use setting to comment on the characters and events in The Great Gatsby?
What role do secrets play in The Great Gatsby?
How is The Great Gatsby a commentary on the corruption of the American dream?
What theme(s) are explored in The Great Gatsby?

These topics should provide any student assigned an essay on The Great Gatsby with plenty to write about. If you need further help, consider using or adapting one of these topics for your own paper.

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The Great Gatsby

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to write a compare/contrast essay for the great gatsby.

Book Guides

These compare/contrast essays are an opportunity for you to tie the character similarities and differences to larger observations about society and class, the American Dream , or identity in the novel. They also allow you to practice standard English class skills: close reading, using lines from the text as evidence, and taking a stance and presenting a supporting argument in an essay.

We’ll go over some basic dos and don’ts for writing compare/contrast essays before diving into some analysis of the most asked-about character pairings. Keep reading if you have a Compare/Contrast assignment on the horizon!

Article Roadmap

The do's of a compare and contrast essay
The don'ts of a compare contrast essay
Why some characters are paired for comparison more often than others
Nick and Gatsby
Tom and George
Tom and Gatsby
Daisy and Jordan
Daisy and Myrtle

What to Do in a Compare/Contrast Essay

Like anything you write for English class, your essay should be clearly organized, with a thesis statement (a one-sentence summary of your argument), and topic sentences for each body paragraph.

And you should definitely have an overall argument! The point of the compare/contrast essay isn’t for you to just list the differences and similarities between two characters, you need to take those observations and make a larger argument about the novel as a whole . That larger argument allows you to practice writing an essay that contains an argument, which is a skill that nearly all English teachers are focused on building.

To take a quick example, don’t just list the differences between Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby. Instead, make an argument like, “Fitzgerald’s portrayal of wealthy New York society through Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan allows him to critique both old money and the newly rich, while reserving his most pointed critiques for the old money crowd.” (Obviously, that’s just one example, and there are dozens of potential arguments you could make while comparing and contrasting characters in Gatsby!)

Make sure to address your larger argument in each body paragraph as you draw out the similarities and differences between the two characters. Don’t get caught in the weeds as you tease out the many differences and similarities in each character pair. Always link back to the bigger picture.

Finally, analyze each quote you use – in other words, don’t stick a quote in your essay and do nothing with it. Make sure to explain how and why the quote demonstrates a key similarity or difference, and what that means for your bigger argument.

What to Avoid in a Compare/Contrast Essay

Don’t just list differences and similarities without an overarching argument . Although you can definitely start brainstorming by making a list of similarities and differences, just presenting that list in essay form won’t get you a good grade, since you need to go deeper and explain what the similarities/differences suggest about the novel as a whole.

And, on the other side, don’t make big claims without some evidence from the text to back them up . For example, don’t say “Tom is selfish while Gatsby cares about others.” Prove those two separate claims (Tom is selfish” and “Gatsby cares about others”) with relevant lines from the book. (And if you’re having a hard time locating good quotes, find a digital version of Gatsby you can search using the CTRL-F function. It’s a lifesaver when gathering relevant quotes for an essay!)

Why Are These Characters Paired Most Often?

We will tackle these major pairings in the next sections of this article:

Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby

Tom buchanan and jay gatsby, tom buchanan and george wilson, daisy buchanan and jordan baker, daisy buchanan and myrtle wilson.

Before we dig into the analysis, you might be wondering: “why are we only comparing characters of the same gender?” or maybe “why not other pairings? Why not Jordan and Myrtle, or Nick and Tom?” We are focusing on these specific pairings because they are by far the most commonly asked about pairs in essay prompts and discussion topics for The Great Gatsby . And we want this guide, first and foremost, to be helpful to students as you work on assignments involving Gatsby!

Furthermore, these pairings help teachers get you to explore some of the novel’s larger themes . For example, comparing Daisy/ Myrtle or Tom/George can help you explore the differences between the wealthy and the working class . Comparing Daisy/Myrtle or Daisy/Jordan can help you explore the changing status of women during the 1920s. Comparing Tom and Gatsby can get at the old money/new money divide. Finally, differences between Nick and Gatsby raise some of the novel’s larger questions about the American Dream , repeating the past, and identity. In short, these pairings have become common because they each allow fairly easy access to one of the novel’s larger issues.

That’s not to say you couldn’t also explore some of those themes by comparing, say, Jordan and George, or Daisy and Gatsby, but cross-gender compare/contrast essays can be challenging because the status of women and men is so different in the novel. If you are interested in seeing how a particular male and female character are paired, you may be better off studying them through the lens of love, desire, and relationships in the novel, or through the way they relate to one of the novel's symbols or motifs.

With those thoughts in mind, let's jump into the top 5 pairings! For each pairing, we will suggest a few possible larger arguments you can either build from or disagree with, but these are far from comprehensive! You should add to our analysis of the characters and come up with an argument you’re excited about.

Quick Note on Our Citations

Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text.

Although Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway vary both in outlook and temperament, they are also alike in interesting ways. Despite somewhat similar desires, attitudes, and social positions, Nick and Gatsby make very different choices during the novel.

Love and Romance . Nick and Gatsby both want women that are out of their reach, although in different degrees. Daisy is miles above Gatsby in terms of social class. Jordan and Nick are of the same social status, but Jordan doesn't seem free to make her own decisions since an aunt controls her financial life. There is a significant passion gap between Gatsby and Nick as well. Gatsby obsesses over Daisy - he has thought of nothing else for five years, going as far as to buy a house across the bay from her just in case she notices. Nick, meanwhile, is attracted to Jordan's cool and self-sufficient demeanor, but he is clearly not in love with her, as he himself notes ("I wasn't actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity" (3.159)).

Approach to Women. Both men are not particularly interested in the inner lives of the women they want to be with. Gatsby is devastated when Daisy doesn't want to renounce her relationship with Tom completely. Similarly, Nick cavalierly discounts Jordan's penchant to lie, cheat, and generally be cynically uninterested in other people, and then is deeply disappointed when she acts this way after Myrtle's death.

Class and Social Standing. Although both Gatsby and Nick are outsiders to the wealthy communities of East and West Egg, Nick is a much more in-between character socially than Gatsby. Nick is familiar with the ways of the old money crowd because of his own family's privilege and the fact that he is related to Daisy. Gatsby is not only self-made, but is a criminal who is desperate to pass as part of the old money elite without knowing its customs or rules of behavior. What isolates Nick from East Egg life is his Midwestern values and the importance he places on morality and decency. Gatsby is isolated from everyone by the fact that he can never actually be himself - he is always playing a role and putting on his "Oxford man" persona. It may be this sense of feeling out of place that connects them.

Outlook and Temperament. Gatsby is an optimist (almost to a delusional degree) while Nick is a realist who finds Gatsby's idealism inspiring and admirable. Gatsby believes in his ability to shape his own life and future, which makes sense since he has managed to transform himself from a farmer to a successful gangster, to impersonate an "Oxford man," and to accumulate a fantastic amount of wealth in a very short time. This belief in his power translates to Gatsby being sure that he and Daisy can go back to their month of idyllic love ("'Can't repeat the past?', he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'" (6.129). Nick tries his best to be an objective realist and to reign in his tendency to judge others. He is deeply in awe of self-directed men like Gatsby, and even Wolfshiem (Nick is amazed to think that one man could be behind a huge event like the rigged World Series).

Ambition. Gatsby dreams of greatness. As a young man his mind “romped like the mind of God,” and so as an adult, he seems to have made good on this promise by buying the most ridiculous mansion and throwing the most extravagant parties (6.134). Nick is much less ambitious in comparison. While he comes to New York seeking excitement, he doesn't want to be the wealthiest bond salesman on Wall Street or to have the biggest house. He is happy to be an observer at the edge of the drama rather than being in its midst.

Nick and Gatsby Essay Ideas

Here are potential arguments to build on or disagree with based our observations. These are certainly not the only possible arguments, so be creative! Make sure your essay considers what the similarities and differences between Nick and Gatsby reveal about the novel as a whole.

Nick is a passive person and Gatsby is active, which is why Gatsby is the hero and Nick simply the observer.
Nick has much more in common with Gatsby than he thinks he does, which explains why he becomes so enamored of him.
Nick serves as a foil (someone who serves as a contrast) to Gatsby, which makes Nick the best possible observer of Gatsby.
At the end of the novel, Tom says that Gatsby “threw dirt in [Nick’s] eyes, just like Daisy’s,” meaning that both Nick and Daisy were taken in and could never see the true Gatsby: a narcissist and a criminal. Tom is right - the whole novel is Nick trying to spin a negative character into a positive one.

As they battle over Daisy’s love, Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby sometimes seem surprisingly similar - particular in their self-centeredness, wealth, and concern with appearances. At the same time, these surface parallels point to major conflicts in their social class, and say a lot about the world of the novel.

Appearance. Gatsby is driven by his materialism to be very invested having fashionable clothes, a beautiful mansion, and visually overwhelming parties - for him, the outfit is the thing that makes the Oxford man . Meanwhile because Tom doesn't have to dress the part of the moneyed elite to be one, he is instead very attuned to the behavior of others. This is why he immediately sees how fake Gatsby's persona is, both because of Gatsby's overly ostentatious clothes, and because of how much Gatsby misreads the fake invitation from the Sloanes. Tom is never fooled into thinking that Gatsby is anything other than an upstart, and mostly likely a criminal one.

Self-Centeredness. Tom and Gatsby are both completely selfish, and fully convinced that their desires have to be acquiesced to by those around them. Tom, for example, starts his affair with Myrtle by pressing himself against her on a train platform - basically, his version of flirting is bodily assault. Gatsby, meanwhile, also thinks nothing of starting an affair with a married woman, assuming that his obsessive feelings are enough to justify any behavior.

Wealth. Despite the fact that both are unimaginably rich, these men come from totally different sides of the big money divide. Tom comes from old money and is forever worried about the encroachment of the nouveau riche, minorities, and others onto what he thinks is his. At the same time, Gatsby is the most successful of the novel's many ambitious social climbers, using his lack of ethical scruples to parlay his criminal activity into a higher social status.

Power. Tom loves being powerful and wields his power directly. He is physically aggressive and uses his body to threaten and intimidate (Nick, for one, is clearly very cowed by Tom's bulk). He is also quick to violence, whether it's socially sanctioned - like his football accomplishments - or not - like when he breaks Myrtle's nose without a second thought. Gatsby also holds significant power, but his methods are much more indirect. Still, whether he is offering Nick some illegal bond trading action, or showing off his get-out-of-a-ticket-free card to a cop on the highway, Gatsby is clearly happy to be in control of a situation.

Love. Tom and Gatsby both seem to be in love with Daisy. But what does that really mean to each of them? For Tom, Daisy is clearly partly appealing because she completes his horse-riding, East Egg, 350-thousand-dollar pearl necklace lifestyle. He cheats on her because he clearly has never denied himself anything, but he also understands Daisy as a person. He knows that she is too weak to leave him, but he also loves her enough to tolerate her affair with Gatsby and to stay with her after Myrtle's murder. Gatsby's love, on the other hand, is in some ways purer because he so idealizes Daisy and connects her to all of his other hopes and dreams. But this love is overly pure - he doesn't really seem to know Daisy as anything other than an idealized object, and is incapable of accepting that she has led a life apart from him for five years.

Tom and Gatsby Essay Ideas

In a compare/contrast essay, you can’t just present a list of similarities and differences. You also need to have an underlying argument you’re supporting. Feel free to take these at face value or as jumping-off points for your own thoughts.

Tom loves Daisy as a person, Gatsby loves her as an idea.
Both Tom and Gatsby’s tendency to control women and see them as prizes reveals the misogyny of the 1920s.
Although Tom sees Gatsby as someone from an entirely different class than him, what they have in common (selfishness, affairs, obsession with appearances) makes a larger argument for an overall moral hollowness of the rich of any class.
We see both Gatsby and Tom through the eyes of Nick, who worships one of them and hates the other. In reality, they are both much more similar than different, and their different treatment reveals Nick's insecurities and biases.

At first, most readers see Tom Buchanan and George Wilson as opposites. But, these markedly different characters face very similar circumstances and offer two takes on masculinity and power in the novel.

Appearance and Presence. Where Tom is strong and cowering, George is meek and shrinking. Tom exudes power and confidence while George tends to just fade into the background. These differences are borne out in the way these two men interact with the world. Tom is violent towards others, while George’s instinct is to be passive or to try and escape situations, the notable exceptions being his locking up of Myrtle and murder of Gatsby. Tom is confident, privileged, and assured while George is timid; George is “ruled by his wife” where Tom is selfish and acts on his own desires.

Reaction to Adversity. There is a dramatic difference in the way the two men react to the fact that their wives are cheating on them. Tom notices Daisy’s love for Gatsby and immediately starts making power plays. On the other hand, George discovers Myrtle’s affair and is undone by it. Nick compares the two men in a memorable description:

“the shock had made him physically sick. I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before--and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well. Wilson was so sick that he looked guilty, unforgivably guilty--as if he had just got some poor girl with child" (7.160).

In this description, Tom is “well” and George is “sick.” These are certainly arresting ways to describe Tom's more traditional masculinity and George's less overtly masculine character. Tom is self-assured in the face of adversity and immediately takes action to win Daisy back, insisting on driving Gatsby's car, bullying those around him into driving to Manhattan, and using his romance skills to remind Daisy of the pluses of their relationship. Meanwhile, George's weakness makes him look sick and guilty as he contemplates Myrtle's betrayal and is driven to violence to reassert his power over her.

Approach to Women. Both Tom and George assume they know what’s best for their wives: Tom dismisses Daisy’s professed love for Gatsby despite their obvious closeness, while George is determined to take Myrtle out west once he learns about the affair. But, while it seems that Tom does fundamentally understand Daisy and is right about her unwillingness to leave their marriage, George is unable to hold on to Myrtle either emotionally or physically. She is killed trying to run away from him.

Tom and George Essay Ideas

Differences in attitude and outcome, despite a relatively similar situation, reveal some unexpected truths about the world of the novel. Argue the reverse of any of these topics for a really provocative essay!

The fact that Tom manipulates George into killing Gatsby and then himself (which allows Tom and Daisy to walk away from the entire affair without consequence) shows the huge privileges of having money in the novel.
Nick's approach to Tom and George shows his admiration of a physical, brutish, domineering kind of masculinity.
The fact that the relatively good guy turns into a murderer while the bad guy lives to cheat another day is a very cynical take on what happens in a world without a moral compass.

Despite Daisy Buchanan and Jordan Baker 's similar “white girlhoods” (1.140) in Louisville, their attitude and motivations are quite distinct, making them really interesting to compare and contrast.

Attitude and Outlook. Both Daisy and Jordan display an entitled, bored attitude that’s typical of Fitzgerald’s depiction of the old money segment of wealthy New York society. The fact that they are introduced in tandem, both lying on the couches in their white dresses, speaks to their initially similar attitudes. But soon we see how different their takes on this kind of life are. Daisy is increasingly despondent, even nihilistic, asking in Chapter 7 , “what shall we do today, and tomorrow, and for the next thirty years?” (7.74). Jordan meanwhile is a pragmatic opportunist, who sees possibilities everywhere, arguing that “life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall” (7.75). In other words, Daisy’s pessimistic attitude from Chapter 1 comes through again, while Jordan, despite coming across as cynical and sharp, actually still seems excited about the possibilities life has to offer.

Appearance and Personality. Both Daisy and Jordan very alluring in their own way, though Daisy’s allure comes through her enchanting voice and feminine charms, while Jordan is masculine, “jaunty,” witty, sharp, and physical. Daisy maintains a squeaky-clean reputation despite moving with a fast crowd, while there are plenty of rumors about Jordan’s cheating in golf, and Nick comments on her dishonest attitude. More significantly, Daisy is incredibly self-absorbed while Jordan is very observant.

Role in Society. Daisy seems caught between what society expects of her and some deeper, more powerful desires she can’t name, resulting in restlessness, depression, and her affair. Daisy is sticking to her prescribed societal role by marrying and having a child, while Jordan plays golf, “runs around town” and doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to marry, at least in the beginning of the novel. Perhaps Jordan is still somewhat optimistic about the possibilities of life since she hasn’t settled down yet, while Daisy realizes that nothing major in her life will change at this point. Jordan, meanwhile, is content to chase after fun and intrigue via other people’s bad behavior. And she doesn’t get dragged down by the tragedy in the book – on the contrary, she is callous in how little Myrtle’s death seems to shake her, coolly calling Nick the next day and asking him to meet like nothing has happened (8.50-61). Perhaps her motivations are a bit less accessible to the reader since her role was significantly downsized between some of Fitzgerald’s earlier drafts. But in any case, as we watch Daisy struggle in her marriage, what we see of Jordan is cool, calm, collected, and rather uncaring.

Daisy and Jordan Essay Ideas

So what are some possible conclusions we can draw from Daisy and Jordan’s characters? One of the most common strategies is to tie the differences between these women onto one of the book’s larger themes, like the role of society and class or the American Dream . Another is to think about an important feature of the novel, like Nick’s narration, and see what these two characters can reveal about it. With those strategies in mind, here are some potential arguments you could argue for or against!

Jordan and Daisy, because they are generally disempowered, both use their sexuality in different ways to gain power, with different results.
Despite Jordan’s overt cheating and lying, Daisy is, in fact, the more morally compromised person.
The way Nick treats Jordan versus the way he describes Daisy reveals the novel’s preoccupation with Gatsby above all, to the detriment of the female characters.

While Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson obviously come from very different backgrounds and have conflicting motivations, they also have some surprising similarities.

Physical Appearance. Daisy and Myrtle both derive power from their looks. Myrtle's comfort with her voluptuous body is clearly appealing to Tom, while Daisy's magnetic voice and ethereal presence obsess Gatsby. Throughout the novel, Myrtle is frequently reduced to being just a body - one to be used or violated by those around her. Tom sees little in Myrtle besides someone to either rub up against, have sex with, or punch at will; George resorts to imprisoning Myrtle while she eggs him on to "beat" her (7.314) the way Tom does; and finally, Daisy gruesomely rips Myrtle's body apart with a car. Meanwhile, Daisy's voice also serves to make her less of a person in her own right and more of an idealized, mythic figure from fairy tales. For Gatsby, Daisy's voice is appealing because it is "full of money" (7.105) - he is attracted to her not because of who she is, but because he sees her as a prize.

Social Standing. Myrtle puts on the airs that Daisy has been born and raised with. This allows Myrtle to wield considerable social power within her group, as seen by how her guests fawn on her at the Manhattan party she throws. Daisy, in contrast, never exerts such overt power over a group – rather, she seems to move with crowds, doing what it expected of her (for instance marrying Tom despite still loving Gatsby).

Love and Relationships. Daisy and Myrtle’s marriages are strikingly quite different. Daisy and Tom are able to stay together even through serial affairs and murder. They end up loyal co-conspirators, protected by their wealth. Meanwhile, Myrtle has nothing but disdain for George despite his evident love for her. Still, both women use affairs with other men as a way to escape. Daisy wants to get away from an increasingly unhappy marriage and try to recapture the spontaneity and possibility of her youth, while Myrtle loves the status that her affair with Tom grants her. However, both learn that they can’t escape forever through their affairs. Obviously, their biggest difference is that Daisy gets to walk away from the novel unscathed, while Myrtle gets killed.

Daisy and Myrtle Essay Ideas

Here are ways to write about these different women who face similar choices with dramatically opposite conclusions.

Despite their similarities in action and motivation, Daisy is protected from any lasting harm by her wealth and old money status, while Myrtle is punished for the same behavior, revealing how the class system in America protects the wealthy.
The novel refuses to give any inner life to women, and instead reduces them to their physical qualities no matter what social class they come from. Daisy and Myrtle's similar treatment by the narrator and by the men around them shows that gender trumps class when determining status.
Daisy and Myrtle’s similarities reveal how hollow the progress of the women’s movement really was at that point in time. Despite the big gains the movement made in the early twentieth century, including winning the right to vote and pushing for more freedom in how they could dress and act, both of these women’s lives aren’t vastly improved. They’re both trapped in unhappy marriages, they both rely on their looks/charms/sexuality to get what they want, and neither of them has even a chance of pursuing a fulfilling life through a career.

What’s Next?

Now that you’ve gone over the novel’s most popular compare/contrast pairings, check out our analysis of the novel’s romantic pairings in our guide to love, desire, and relationships in The Great Gatsby .

Have an essay about a symbol or motif? Get started with our symbols overview and motifs overview.

Still a little hazy on some of the plot elements in Gatsby? Not to worry, we have you covered with our complete book summary !

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Great Gatsby — Great Gatsby Conclusion

Great Gatsby Conclusion

Categories: American Dream The Great Gatsby

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Words: 664 |

Published: Mar 19, 2024

Words: 664 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

I. introduction.

A. As we delve into the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, The Great Gatsby, we are transported back to the roaring twenties, a time of excess and extravagance. Set against the backdrop of the Jazz Age, the story follows the lives of the enigmatic Jay Gatsby and the elusive Daisy Buchanan, exploring themes of love, wealth, and the elusive American Dream.

B. At the heart of The Great Gatsby lies the theme of the conclusion, which serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of the characters' actions and the illusory nature of the American Dream. Through the tragic fate of its characters, Fitzgerald masterfully portrays the emptiness that lies beneath the facade of wealth and status.

C. thesis statement: the conclusion of the great gatsby highlights the consequences of the characters' actions and the illusion of the american dream, ultimately revealing the emptiness that pervades their lives despite their pursuit of wealth and success., ii. the downfall of jay gatsby, a. gatsby's infatuation with daisy buchanan serves as the driving force behind his actions throughout the novel. his obsessive desire to win back daisy, the love of his life, leads him down a path of deception and manipulation, ultimately culminating in tragedy..

B. Gatsby's tragic end, marked by his untimely death, serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of his actions. Despite his wealth and lavish parties, Gatsby is ultimately unable to attain the happiness and fulfillment he seeks, highlighting the emptiness that lies at the core of his existence.

C. The impact of Gatsby's downfall reverberates throughout the novel, underscoring the theme of the illusory nature of the American Dream. Gatsby's pursuit of wealth and status ultimately leads to his demise, serving as a cautionary tale for those who believe that material success equates to happiness.

Iii. the emptiness of the american dream, a. the 1920s were a time of unprecedented economic prosperity, with many americans striving to achieve the trappings of success, such as wealth and status. the pursuit of the american dream, characterized by the desire for upward mobility and material wealth, was central to the ethos of the era., b. however, as the characters in the great gatsby soon discover, the pursuit of the american dream often leads to disillusionment and emptiness. despite their wealth and social status, characters like tom and daisy buchanan find themselves trapped in a cycle of unhappiness and unfulfillment, highlighting the hollowness that lies at the heart of their lives., c. the symbolism of gatsby's opulent mansion serves as a poignant metaphor for the emptiness of the american dream. despite its grandeur and extravagance, the mansion is ultimately devoid of meaning, serving as a lonely monument to gatsby's unattainable desires. through this powerful imagery, fitzgerald effectively conveys the futility of chasing after an illusion, urging readers to reexamine their own aspirations and values. the role of social class in the conclusion further emphasizes the themes of the great gatsby, as it highlights the stark divide between the old money characters like tom and daisy buchanan and the new money characters like jay gatsby. this division serves as a catalyst for the characters' actions and relationships, ultimately leading to their downfall., a. as we delve into the world of f. scott fitzgerald's classic novel, the great gatsby, we are transported back to the roaring twenties , a time of excess and extravagance. set against the backdrop of the jazz age, the story follows the lives of the enigmatic jay gatsby and the elusive daisy buchanan, exploring themes of love, wealth, and the elusive american dream., b. gatsby's tragic end , marked by his untimely death, serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of his actions. despite his wealth and lavish parties, gatsby is ultimately unable to attain the happiness and fulfillment he seeks, highlighting the emptiness that lies at the core of his existence..

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The Great Gatsby thesis statement

Abstract The Great Gatsby is written by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in “the roaring twenties”. The characters in the novel have dreams and goals and not one dream ends well. That is why my thesis statement is: The Great Gatsby is really about unattainable dreams. The dreams I am discussing is Gatsby´s American dream, Daisy’s dream and Nick’s dream. The dreams are based on the love story between Daisy and Gatsby. The final piece in Gatsby’s American dream would be if he got Daisy to wed him. Daisy dreams of Gatsby but chooses between him and her current husband Tom. Nick wants Gatsby’s life to be a happy life and he cares a lot about him. His dream is for the story to end well. When Daisy does not choose …show more content…

He wishes that Gatsby’s life should contain a happy ever after. There are a lot of dreams in the book but I want to distinguish these three main dreams and how none of them gets fulfilled. Gatsby’s American dream The first dream that does not get fulfilled is the one of Gatsby. He starts off as an underprivileged boy and struggles his way to the top. We make his acquaintance when he is on the top of his life. He is enjoying his big house and his vast wealth. The one thing he cannot have is his lovely Daisy. Gatsby’s story reflects the “classical” American dream: Anyone can make anything of himself/herself with just elbow grease, spirit and a whole lot of confidence. Jay loves Daisy and, sadly, she is the one thing which he cannot procure to his “perfect life”. His wealth is shown clearly, for instance when he throws huge parties just to have the chance of meeting or seeing Daisy. This behavior is not feasible if you do not have that kind of money which leads us to the conclusion that he is wealthy. The symbol that portrays the American dream is the green light. The light symbolizes wealth but also Daisy, the latter because there is a green light at the end of Daisy´s dock. He reaches out for it just like he reaches out for his dream. His material world reflects Daisy. Daisy is sometimes a symbol of the American dream. “Her voice is full of money... That was it. I'd never understood before. It was full of money - that was the inexhaustible

Similarities Between Tom And Daisy In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is known to generalize “The American Dream”. This dream is a complex thought because there are different points of views of it. In the Great Gatsby novel, Tom and Daisy are living the American dream which leads to Tom taking advantage of his opportunity and he derails which makes him the most despicable character while Nick appears the be the most admirable because of his different life perspective from other characters.

Daisy Buchanan Corruption

The American Dream is one of the most prominent themes present in the novel, The Great Gatsby. Each unique character envisions their own version of the american dream. One of the main characters of the novel is Daisy Buchanan. She is the wife of Tom Buchanan and lives in an extravagant mansion in the East Egg. She possessed many aspects of the stereotypical American Dream: wealth, dignity, and popularity. However, similar to many characters, she desired more and more. The American Dream reflects the corruption Gatsby conveys about the American Dream, since all of the wealth and prosperity Daisy desired didn’t come through hard work but was inherited through the marriage of Tom Buchanan. Daisy didn't marry Jay Gatsby because Tom Buchanan could provide Daisy her deepest desires: living a comfortable life, having a perfect child in a happy home, and being the epitome of beauty and perfection.

The Great Gatsby Displaying the Corruption of the American Dream

To start off, Daisy illustrated disillusionment of the American dream throughout the story. For example, Daisy was born into a rich family, married a rich man, was reunited with her lost

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Gatsby’s experience resembled those of the American strivers who always reach towards something greater than themselves that is just out reach in America believing that they would be able to procure that. Dreamers like Gatsby failed because they are not like Daisy or Tom who were born with money and do not need to strive for anything so far off. Even though American Dreams are “equalized” on the surface it is not so in the actual reality, the class distinguish still was extremely strong among people. The life of Gatsby is totally contradictory to the slogan of America: “everyone’s dream is going to be achieved through hard work and everyone has the chance to success.” From the start to the end, he pines for Daisy and give up everything in his attempt to achieve his American Dream. Even with the noisy and extravagant parties that Gatsby hosted with his own money to catch Daisy’s attention, he did not gain back the love of Daisy. As if not worse, Gatsby ended his life because of his American Dreams. His experiences showed a completely careless and heartless America where dreams abandoned their strivers and where people’s tied relationship were mainly based on money rather than connection. Gatsby’s huge dreams, all precariously wedded to Daisy are as flimsy and flight as Daisy herself. However, Daisy cannot hold up under

The Great Gatsby is one among many of the highly acclaimed novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the novel, the reader learns about the difficulties and trials of achieving the American dream. The protagonist, Jay Gatsby is an example of modern America. His family was dirt poor but he dedicated his time to achieving his dreams and now he has all the money he could want. Gatsby is self made; he lives in West Egg and has what is called “new money.” Five years prior, Gatsby met Daisy, a beautiful and wealthy girl whom he fell in love with but had to leave when he was called to the war. Daisy lives in East Egg and has what is called “old money.” While Gatsby was away at war, Daisy married Tom, who is an ex- polo player.. Daisy and him both have inherited the majority of their money. They have not worked hard, they have not had struggles, they do not know what it is to be poor. Because Daisy and Gatsby have had such different upbringings, they both have a different perception of what the American dream is. Daisy defines the American dream as being able to live happily and freely, while Gatsby believes that the American Dream means that if you work hard you can become anything you want.

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates how the pursuit of the American Dream ultimately leads to the downfall of those who pursue it. Nick Carraway leaves the mid-west to pursue a career in New York and as a result of interactions with corrupt characters, he sees the darker side of the American Dream which leads him to avoid relationships in the future. Daisy Buchanan’s dream is to be affluent and have a high status which leads her to reject the love of her life and settle with Tom to maintain the facade of the American Dream.

The Great Gatsby Essay

The "Twenties" was an exciting time in American history, when being a "flapper" and rebelling against the common say of society was all the rage. As in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is a popular yet mysterious "flapper," whose image is created through the life of Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald portrayed his life, problems, and triumphs, through his image of Jay Gatsby. The correlations between the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the life of his character Jay Gatsby, is that Gatsby and Fitzgerald were both brought up the same way, both used their popularity the same way, as well as signifying the life he wanted through Gatsby.

Essay on The Great Gatsby

The contrast to the theme of dreams is also seen in the characters of Tom, Daisy, Nick, Jordan and the people attending Gatsby’s parties, as they show that the ‘American Dream’ is a myth. This is seen through Gatsby’s attempts to repeat the past, and other evidence that proves the incapability of the American Dream such as George Wilson, the social classes of East and West Egg and Tom’s racist comments.

The Importance Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

How does The Great Gatsby demonstrate the life or death of the American Dream?The American Dream is an implicit assurance given to all American people, which asserts that any person can aim to new heights by their meritocracy ideologies, regardless of their social class. The Great Gatsby presents the American Dream as a delusion which can never be attained. Several aspects represent the American Dream invalidity such as Daisy's personification as the American Dream, Myrtle's demise, the meritocracy issue, the manner in which Gatsby is refused entry into the elite class and the green light image. This American Dream illusion is the fundamental Great Gatsby theme. It is also the principal message that the author tries to convey in his

Materialism In The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” is about the many ups and downs faced by people when trying to attain the American dream. The novel's main character, Jay Gatsby, is a rich man who gets too caught up in chasing and impressing his dream girl that he loses himself in the process. Fitzgerald’s characterization of Gatsby reveals him to be a deeply flawed and mysterious man who believes that the materialistic items in life will help him fulfill his dreams of winning over the heart of Daisy Buchanan.

The Theme Of American Dream In The Great Gatsby

What daisy desired, could not be brought with tom’s money because what she wanted was something that you could just buy. She married Tom because she wanted the money. Tom is a wealthy man, at first she knew it is for the riches and that is where she went all wrong, she just wanted love since the beginning but got so caught up with have a expensive life. However she is living the dream that at first she wanted, but she is wanting more, and she is doing everything to get it, even having a fling with Gatsby, challenging the man she married which she knows was a mistake. Daisy is looking for love, she wants love and happiness. Daisy is living the american dream, the dream everyone wants, but she was not happy. She wanted love and so that desire will affect what she had and she will end up losing it.

The Failure Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is written by an American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925. The novel concerns a mysterious young man Jay Gatsby and his conquest and obsession for Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald talks about the post war celebration of a modern world where there is no concept of normalcy, there is deterioration of morals he further talks about the moral and spiritual wasteland. In Great Gatsby the autobiographical streaks are also very common. Fitzgerald has also mention the great American Dream in this novel that means all are equal and have certain rights among which are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. In great Gatsby the American dream plays an important role Fitzgerald has mentioned the failure of the American Dream where values

Examples Of Modernism In The Great Gatsby

Seemingly, he explores this dream through two characters: Nick Carraway, the narrator, and Jay Gatsby, the protagonist. Both young men were born in the heartland of the Midwest at the dawn of the twentieth century. Like Fitzgerald, they arrive in New York with some of the innocence characteristic of Middle America, lured to the great wicked city by its promise of glamour and success, vulnerable to its dangers and its corruptions. They bring with them some of the classic virtues like simplicity, determination, loyalty, and perhaps most of all an innate sense of honesty and decency. For Gatsby, beguiled and practically enslaved by the love of Daisy Buchanan, these virtues have been driven into the deeper recesses of his character. For Nick, the temptations of city life are also quite strong, but he is able to turn back before he is consumed. A sense of the American dream’s possibilities animates both men, but Gatsby has allowed the realities of the then-contemporary American life to distort the parameters of his romantic

Great Essay: The Great Gatsby

Daisy lives a wealthy life which makes others enviable. However, as a matter of fact, Daisy has nothing except money. At that time Daisy is just in the unimportant social position and doesn’t have profound existence value. She is only an attachment of men and enjoys the affluent life. In the fact, she does enjoy the life for the money rather than love.

The American Dream In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

The message of an American dream is illusory. It makes men do extraordinary and unprincipled things (Gatsby's reinvention and obscene wealth), and no matter how far they go to chase the green light, it is forever out of reach. Gatsby finds Daisy, but their reunion is short-lived. He has to maintain his delusions about her to make sense of his own life and self-image. The readers know that Daisy is flawed and perhaps not worth the upright idealistic Gatsby. Moreover, she has wrested away from him in large part because of the same social structures that kept them apart in the first place.

The Great Gatsby Thesis

Great gatsby thesis statements: the great gatsby character.

Ninety years have passed since the publication of one of the most famous novels in American literature: ‘The Great Gatsby’, by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. And resuscitates an eccentric theory about its protagonist

Ninety years after its publication, it revives the most eccentric theory about Fitzgerald’s novel: that its protagonist was in fact an African-American posing as a white man. Neither Robert Redford nor Leonardo DiCaprio. Carlyle van Thompson would like to see Denzel Washington or Jamie Foxx starring in the next film version of The Great Gatsby. Now that the book, which laid the model for the great American novel, has just turned ninety, it has returned to the ring the most eccentric academic theory that exists on the matter: that Gatsby is really a black man posing as a white man and that the novel actually tells the story of a racial skirmish.

According to the great Gatsby thesis statement, the main and almost sole champion of that theory is the aforementioned Carlyle van Thompson, an adjunct professor at Medgar Evers College, a small community center in New York, which has been broadcasting it to his students for years, and irritating most of the students along the way, biographers and scholars of Scott Fitzgerald.

Everything started at the end of the nineties. “Studying the novel, I began to ask my student about which ethnic group is the protagonist and the answer was always white, but they did not have any evidence to support their theory. That made me starts a two-year investigation that even led me to consult the original facsimile, “says the professor by e-mail. That is to say, Thompson challenges the theory of race by default, which leads anyone to assume that, if their ethnicity is not mentioned, they are white. Toni Morrison played with that deliberately in her novel Paradiso, which starts with the phrase “they killed the white girl first”, without ever mentioning who is white and who is black.

In that process and in line with the great Gatsby thesis statement, Thompson discovered all the evidence that he ended up collecting in the book The Tragic Black ‘Buck’: Jay Gatsby’s ‘Passing’ in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. For example, that Gatsby owns forty acres, just like freed slaves, who were given forty acres of land and a mule; or that gives the impression that he cuts his hair every day, something he would do to keep at bay any curl that betrayed his blackness.

The great Gatsby thesis

The professor counted the times (apparently many) that the yellow color is mentioned in the novel, symbolic of the light-skinned African-Americans who were known as high yellow, and he noticed the character’s association with jazz and New Orleans. In addition, on one occasion they refer to their body “brown” and in another to their tan. The suggestion of Negritude on the part of Scott Fitzgerald would also work by association. Every time an African-American character appears, like the “three modern blacks, two boys and a girl” or a “pale, well-dressed black”, Gatsby is there or has just left the scene.

At one point in the novel, Tom Buchanan says that the millionaire is a “dark” individual and Jordan replies that “we are all white here,” but Jordan is a known liar. We must not forget, either, that the protagonist of the novel has changed its name, from “Gatz” to “Gatsby”, as those who left their lives behind did, and tells Nick Carraway, the narrator, that his family is “dead”. According to Thompson, that is also indicative of those who decided to make the passing, the crossing of the racial frontier, which happened to be symbolically dead for their entire environment. “Beyond all that, what proves it is the structure of the novel,” says the professor.

And if Gatsby is black, why did Fitzgerald never say anything about it? According to Thompson thesis statement for the great Gatsby, Fitzgerald was especially anxious about the so-called miscegenation (miscegenation), a hot topic in North America in 1925. A few years earlier, a racist pamphlet entitled The Rise of the Colored Empire had been published as a best-seller warning against the contamination of the white race. The book appears in fact mentioned in The Great Gatsby in the mouth of Tom Buchanan, who is ridiculed by his wife Daisy, the heroine, for defending white supremacy.

Most Fitzgerald scholars are not exactly fans of this attempt to problematize the text. His principal biographer, now deceased, Matthew J. Bruccoli, said it was “madness”; accused Thompson of wanting to attract attention and promote his academic career and declared that “if Fitzgerald had wanted to write about a black character, he would have said it in April 1925”, noting that “this type of games are bad for literature, Bad for Fitzgerald, bad for The Great Gatsby and bad for the students who are exposed “.

The author of the thesis statement for the great Gatsby answers that most academics “have a very narrow vision and have not even read the entire study.” In his opinion, we should not look so much at the class dimension but at the race, since the 1920s were key years for this issue. “The problem is not so much in the book but in the films that have been made, that have fixed their image, in the heroic nature of the character and its impact in the literary world. All this makes it difficult for it to be understood as a passing story “.

Thesis for the great Gatsby by John Horn

Recently, another author, the Canadian John Horn, who writes the interesting blog Rambrary Rambrary, gave credibility to the theory of black Gatsby – as well as the much more widespread and supported that believes that Nick Carraway is gay – and remembered that Fitzgerald could have your reasons for not explaining it. Same as D.H. Lawrence faced justice for obscenity in Elamante from Lady Chatterley and E.M. Forster had to publish (very) posthumously his homosexual romance Maurice, the author could have wanted to avoid being accused of promoting interracial relationships, illegal at that time in the United States.

Jay Gatsby may not be one of them, but the biographies of the tens of thousands of people, from the liberation of slaves until barely thirty years ago, embarked on this path of imposture would surely give for a handful of large (or small) ) American novels. According to the thesis statements for the great Gatsby, in a book published just a few months ago, a chosen exile a history of passing in American life, Allyson Hobbs collects some of these lives and tries to reframe them as stories of loss. Despite the difficulty in the investigation, since if the passing was successful, there was no evidence of who practiced it, unearth stories such as Elsie Roxborough, a poet and lover of social life that was renamed Mona Manet and that, after dating the black writer Langston Hughes, decided to pass as white and wrote to him his intention to “leave the race of color.” When she committed suicide, years later, only her white relatives attended the funeral. Or that o Dr. Albert Johnson, who, unable to practice medicine after graduating in 1924, decided to live as a target. He and his wife became the pillars (targets) of his conservative community until one day his son let go a racist comment. “Well, you are black,” the father replied, starting a trip back to his origin.

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When discussing Gatsby’s home, the topic of money arises; ‘‘it took me three years to earn the money that brought it’’. This is the first divide in Gatsby’s previously immaculate persona, and Nick notices instantly - ‘‘I thought you inherited your money’’. Jay Gatsby, since the day he created himself, has been working towards becoming the idealistic man of the 1920s – effortlessly wealthy, intelligent, and full of leisure. Yet, with this newfound information, Gatsby has begun to dissolve. John W. Bicknell said that ‘the American Dream was, after all, little more than a thinly veiled nightmare’. This description of the American dream is similar to Gatsby’s thinly veiled persona – both are covering the true phantasm…

Similarities Between The American Dream And The Great Gatsby

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James Gatsby was man who had completed the first step in achieving the American Dream. He had money, lots of it. He also had an enormous house with a huge property. Unfortunately, he didn 't achieve his money the good old "American way". He didn 't work honestly for his money. He was a bootlegger who used Drug Stores as a front to sell liquor. His motivation in making all this money was his only love Daisy. On the outside, Gatsby was living the life and there was nothing more a man could want in life. On the inside he was lonely, and the only thing he wanted, money couldn 't buy.…

The Great Gatsby Theme Essay

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Bootlegging And The Great Gatsby

In today’s culture we are told of the american dream. An ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity thru hard work, determination, and initiative. The author made the decision of stopping Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy as a life lesson. Setting an example that making bad choices in order to achieve your goals in life will not make them come true, but in fact make them less obtainable.The evidence needed to support this is based on the novel’s details..…

1) How Does Gatsby Represent the American Dream? and What Does the Novel Have to Say About the Condition of the Amrican Dream in 1920s?

Although "The Great Gatsby" is filled with multiple themes such as love, money, order, reality, illusion and immorality, no one would probably deny that the predominate one focuses on the American Dream and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its illusionary goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is the central of this novel. This can be explained by how Gatsby came to get his fortune. By studying the process of how Gatsby tried to achieve his own so-called American Dream, we could have a better understanding of what American dream is all about, in those down-to-earth Americans' point of view. The characterization of Gatsby is a representative figure among Americans as he devoted his whole life to achieve his dream. However, pathetically he failed to make it came true at the end, just like most of the Americans, who misunderstood what the real meaning of American Dream is, did.…

The Great Gatsby Greed

“Gatsby transforms to get to the top. Instead of working hard and going to school, Gatsby drops out and takes the criminal highway to wealth.” (Galley) For Gatsby, Daisy is his American Dream, and he hopes his money could impress and satisfy her needs. Gatsby is madly in love with Daisy which explains why he fails to realize that she’s everything that’s wrong with the American Dream. Gatsby’s dream is destroyed when Daisy chooses to be with Tom. “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald 101). Gatsby’s obsession with his American Dream of becoming wealthy and winning over Daisy by his status and wealth leads to his downfall. Now that Gatsby is without his dream, his life is without purpose, and will never be the same. Not only is Gatsby’s American dream corrupt, but so is the…

The Great Gatsby Essay

Critic Philip Weinstein proposed that during the 18th through early 20th century, the west loved stories about flawed characters overcoming their problems and understanding the world. Even the worst villain could mature. Weinstein said next came the modernist movement which had authors snubbing this narrative. Characters, like real people, could never fully understand the world, themselves, or others. In The Great Gatsby, the characters are all very troubled. They cheat on their spouses, commit murder, do dirty business, yet the characters never see these issues in themselves and only partially recognise the issues with others. Gatsby never comes to understand himself and though Nick understand Gatsby, he is blind to himself. Nick and Gatsby's…

The Great Gatsby Thesis

The 1920’s was filled with new ideas and concepts, much of which was disenchanted. Wealth and prosperity were two words that came to mind when one thought of the 1920’s. Anyone would love to have wealth and prosperity because it would provide them with better lives and would complete their American Dream. This era has many names such as, the Roaring Twenties, the Golden Twenties, the Jazz Age, and the Lost Generation. The Jazz Age, another name for the 1920’s, was the age when music became more popular through African American singers and instrument players. The Lost Generation was actually a group of writers who wrote about the disillusionment of the 1920’s these writers were the start of the new era. They wrote about the American Dream, but…

The Great Gatsby thesis statement

The Great Gatsby is written by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in “the roaring twenties”. The characters in the novel have dreams and goals and not one dream ends well. That is why my thesis statement is: The Great Gatsby is really about unattainable dreams. The dreams I am discussing is Gatsby´s American dream, Daisy’s dream and Nick’s dream.…

In American society, the way people act is quite an interesting, yet confusing subject to look at. If you were to look closely at the behavior and the thinking of the average American man in the modern day, you would see that he is not too different from a man that lived one hundred years ago in America. Obviously many things have changed in society that make a man different nowadays compared to one hundred years ago, but the point is that, in general, the mind of an American person has kept the same characteristics. A great way to understand how an American man 's mind has remained the same is by comparing The Great Gatsby with modern society in the United States. In this novel, which takes place in the 1920 's, we see that the major themes incorporated into it are hope in the American Dream, the idea that rich are always entitled and never responsible for their behavior, and that the common man will keep trying to achieve the American Dream to the fullest even though he is vaguely aware that he has higher morals than the person he is seeking to become.…

Is 'The Great Gatsby' a Realist Novel?

In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby lives a life of pure decadence and luxury. He enjoys his life primarily according to the hedonistic view that life should be lived purely for pleasure. The utter materialism of his property and belongings, and his incredulous outlook on life all polymerise to fabricate a far-fetched, exaggerated and Impressionistic novel. The Great Gatsby is written in the 1920’s, an era of optimism and new-found hope following World War I, intensifying the idea that the novel is based on Fitzgerald’s unrealistic expectations. In this essay I will be exploring the aspects of The Great Gatsby that make it difficult to label the tale as a Realist novel.…

Great Gatsby Essay

While thrown into this materialistic, money-oriented time period and setting in The Great Gatsby, one would expect to find equally egotistical and selfish characters, and for the most part, there are. Tom Buchanan is practically the definition of narcissistic when he is introduced with his arrogant riding clothes and supercilious manner. His wife Daisy is not that different, desiring nothing more than beauty and possessions and understanding only self-centered desires. One would then expect Jay Gatsby, the wealthiest of them all, to be equally unlikable. “Gatsby…represented everything in which I have an unaffected scorn” the narrator, Nick states in the opening on the novel. However, despite the dishonesty, materialism, and disillusionment, it is easy to find oneself liking Gatsby. “There was something gorgeous about him,” Nick also states, contracting his previous statement, “some heightened sensitivity” (6). Readers become fond of Gatsby despite the wrong he’s done and his involvement in the materialistic world because of his romantic and unselfish intentions.…

Great Gatsby: Decline of American Dream

Fitzgerald’s dominant theme in The Great Gatsby is the corruption and decline of the American Dream. By analyzing the upper class during the 1920s through the eyes of Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald shows that the American Dream has transformed from noble thoughts to more materialistic and money based ideas. In support of this message, Fitzgerald highlights the original aspects as well as the new aspects of the American Dream in his tragic story to illustrate that a once impervious dream is now lost forever to the American people.…

Modernism In The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a novel that is treasured as a renewable book in American literature collections. Read among a variety of age groups, it holds testament to its honorary title. The missive of the how the pursue of American dream can lead to consequences and decoration are not only evident in the star characters, but in the relevance of modernity, drama, and composition in F. Scott- Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.…

The Great Gatsby thesis Statement

The Great Gatsby is written by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald . The story takes place in “the roaring twenties”. The characters in the novel have dreams and goals and not one dream ends well. That is why my thesis statement is: The Great Gatsby is really about unattainable dreams. The dreams I am discussing is Gatsby’s American dream, Daisy’s dream and Nick’s dream. The dreams are based on the love story between Daisy and Gatsby. The final piece in Gatsby’s American dream would be if he got Daisy to wed him.

Daisy dreams of Gatsby but chooses between him and her current husband Tom. Nick wants Gatsby’s life to be a happy life and he cares a lot about him. His dream is for the story to end well. When Daisy does not choose Gatsby in the end, all three dreams end badly in different ways. Through the story F. Scott Fitzgerald wants to portray a different view of “the roaring twenties”. Keywords: unattainable dreams, American dream, Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, green light, money, 1920, The Great Gatsby-literary analysis The Great Gatsby is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The story takes place in the town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in 1922 and reflects on the financially good times that pervades in the world during the twenties. These times were called “the roaring twenties” due to the positive financial situation that people were in. The novel sets during the roaring twenties but it is also about how things not always have a happy ending. A lot of people discuss “The Great Gatsby”. Some say that the book is about a tragic love story between Jay and Daisy, whereas others say that it is really about Nick.

The book contains a lot of characters and a lot of different stories about them which is why it is hard to get a grasp of what and who it is really about. The characters are constantly struggling with the difference between their reality and their dreams. They have dreams and goals that they want to achieve. Not one of their dreams end well and that is why in my opinion “The Great Gatsby” really is about unattainable dreams. Dream is something that everyone does as do many of the characters in this novel. I chose to brighten the three main characters’ dreams and show how hey are unattainable. First I am going to discuss the dream of Jay Gatsby.

He came from a less fortunate family and ever since he was a young boy he wanted a different life for himself. He painted up a life that he wanted to have, he painted up “the perfect life”. He imagined the person that he wanted to be and he did whatever it took to become the said person. He started using a different vocabulary than he originally used and became vastly wealthy. Gatsby’s story reflects the “classical” American dream. There was just one very important thing to his perfect life that was missing, the girl.

The girl he loved more than anything else. He was so

fond of Daisy and she was the last piece to his “American dream”. He wanted her more than anything else and he believed that, if he got her everything would be perfect. The second dream is Daisy’s. She is a material girl living in a world where men are ruling. She falls in love with a man named Jay Gatsby. He goes to war and she meets another man named Tom. When Gatsby returns Daisy cannot just change her life. Some of her feelings come back but she wants to forget and she does not go to his famous parties.

When she finally meets him she is reminded of her feelings for him. She is safe in the relationship with Tom but somehow she is not able to let go of Gatsby. She is constantly “dreaming” of Gatsby and the life she could have with him instead of the life she has with Tom. The third dream is Nick’s. His dream is also about Gatsby. However it is not the same dream as Daisy’s. He is Daisy’s cousin and Gatsby’s neighbor. Nick is fascinated with Gatsby and his obsessions. Nick follows Gatsby throughout his story. He likes Gatsby and wants him to end up happy. He assists him in his quest to meet Daisy.

When Gatsby is miserable Nick is the only one feeling sorry for him. He is in fact Gatsby’s only real friend. He wishes that Gatsby’s life should contain a happy ever after. There are a lot of dreams in the book but I want to distinguish these three main dreams and how none of them gets fulfilled. Gatsby’s American dream The first dream that does not get fulfilled is the one of Gatsby. He starts off as an underprivileged boy and struggles his way to the top. We make his acquaintance when he is on the top of his life. He is enjoying his big house and his vast wealth.

The one thing he cannot have is his lovely Daisy. Gatsby’s story reflects the “classical” American dream: Anyone can make anything of himself/herself with just elbow grease, spirit and a whole lot of confidence. Jay loves Daisy and, sadly, she is the one thing which he cannot procure to his “perfect life”. His wealth is shown clearly, for instance when he throws huge parties just to have the chance of meeting or seeing Daisy. This behavior is not feasible if you do not have that kind of money which leads us to the conclusion that he is wealthy. The symbol that portrays the American dream is the green light.

The light symbolizes wealth but also Daisy, the latter because there is a green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He reaches out for it just like he reaches out for his dream. His material world reflects Daisy. Daisy is sometimes a symbol of the American dream. “Her voice is full of money… That was it. I’d never understood before. It was full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in

it, the jingle of it, the cymbal’s song of it… ” (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, c. 7, page 96). Quotes in the story about how Daisy is, conveys why Gatsby is so fond of her.

She is the last piece of his dream, the American dream. The quote is a symbol of just that, the eternal material world. The world Gatsby has fought to get to all his life. That is why Daisy is so important. She is the last piece of his dream. The American dream is shown distinctly in the book. It is hidden sometimes through Gatsby’s perspective because it is something he is ashamed of. However the story is still conveying the transformation and reflecting the American dream. We first understand that Gatsby started off as less fortunate when Nick realizes it.

Nick is the one that finds out that his life started in a different way than may be perceived and that his wealth was reached illegally. “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that — and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, c., page 78-79)

In this quote we find out that Gatsby has created who he is today. Nick compares Jesus Christ with Gatsby to brighten the creation of him. This is the first time we find out that Gatsby has a different past. Nick brings up Gatsby’s past several times and that is how we know that this is the American dream I mentioned before. He had a rough past and ended up as a wealthy man. He is embarrassed of his past and wants to convey his abundance. Even though Gatsby becomes wealthy and does everything to get Daisy, she does not choose him and he ends up murdered for something she does.

The dream never gets fulfilled and that is why it is unattainable. Daisy’s dream Daisy’s dream is about Gatsby. It is ironic because Gatsby wants Daisy and she wants him. Throughout the book she says and does things that show us that Gatsby is something she wants. She is struggling with the choice of two different roads. She already has a family and a wealthy life, but should she just leave everything for Gatsby When she starts seeing Gatsby, she shows us that there is a possibility that she could choose him.

At one point in the book she no longer wants the expensive pearls that she has gotten from Tom because she does not want to be “chained” by him. “Here, deares’. ” She groped around in a waste-basket she had with her on the bed and pulled out the string of pearls. “Take ’em down-stairs and give ’em back to whoever

they belong to. Tell ’em all Daisy’s change’ her mine. Say: ‘Daisy’s change’ her mine The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, c. 4, page 61) This quote shows also that she has cold feet and wants to be with the man she truly loves, Gatsby. The pearls are just a symbol.

She is really talking about that she has changed her mind about things, about who she wants to be with. This unsureness is conveyed in different ways. Tom realizes the love between Daisy and Gatsby before they all were going to town one day. “Who wants to go to town? ” demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby’s eyes floated toward her. “Ah,” she cried, “you look so cool. ” Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table. “You always look so cool,” she repeated. She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw.

He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as someone he knew a long time ago. ”(The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald c. 7, page 94-95) This quote shows us her love for Gatsby. It shows the love between them. When Tom finds out more about them, Daisy starts to act different but she still loves Gatsby. Why does not Daisy choose Gatsby? Even though it may seem like she loves Gatsby more, it is shown that she loved or loves Tom as well. When Gatsby asks Daisy to say to Tom that she never loved him, she fails.

She feels the pressure and burst: “Oh, you want too much! ” she cried to Gatsby. “I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past. ” She began to sob helplessly. “I did love him once – but I loved you too. ” (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, c. 7 page 105) She tries to explain to Gatsby but he does not understand. Gatsby really loves her and wants her to just love him. Gatsby loves Daisy so much that he even takes a bullet for her, literally speaking. Daisy accidentally runs over a woman whilst driving back from town.

The woman was Tom’s mistress and Tom gets mad and suspects that it was Gatsby who drove; it was Gatsby’s car after all. Even if the contrary was true, Gatsby takes the blame and asks Daisy to run away with him. This is when Daisy takes the easy road, the road that is secure and safe. As a result it gets too complicated for Daisy to follow her dream, her unattainable dream. Nick’s Dream Daisy has a cousin, Nick Carraway. He is the one telling the story about The Great Gatsby. This is the story of what happened that summer in 1922. This year changed his life.

It was summer when he met Jay Gatsby, the strangest and most fascinating person he had ever met. Nick moves to a new place and his neighbor is Gatsby. He does not meet him in the start

but he sees him sometimes. Nick gets invited to one of Gatsby’s famous parties. He is intrigued by this Gatsby even before he has met him. When he finally meets him he starts to like him even more. He finds out about how Gatsby loves his cousin Daisy and Nick helps him to meet her. Nick follows Gatsby through his story and gets emotionally involved. He wants Gatsby’s life to end up well.

He sees how Gatsby reaches for his dream and helping Gatsby achieve his dream becomes Nick? s dream. He supports him and sees him as a friend. One moment that touches the reader in the same way as it grasps Nick, is when Nick describes the green light. The green light is portrayed in the start and it is a symbol. The green light represents wealth but also Daisy because it was at the end of her dock. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And then one fine morning— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. ” (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, c. 9, page 144)

Nick describes it in a way that shows that he believes it too. He is fascinated in how Gatsby reaches out against all odds. It is the struggle between the future and the past but also the struggle between dreams and the reality. As mentioned the story does not end happily and Gatsby is murdered. Nobody comes to his funeral except for photographers, investigators, Owl Eyes, a few servants, Gatsby’s father, Henry C. Gatz and Nick. He really wants more people to care. He cannot understand how fast people change their perception of a person.

One moment they salute him and the next they ignore him. Nick was so sad and he thought to himself: I wanted to get somebody for him. I wanted to go into the room where he lay and reassure him: “I’ll get somebody for you, Gatsby. Don’t worry. Just trust me and I’ll get somebody for you —” (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, c9, page 131). He tried to call Daisy and waited for her to say something. Nick was frustrated at Daisy and felt so sorry for Gatsby.

Nick really cared about Gatsby and his wellbeing. He wanted him to end up happy and when he did not Nick was the one that was the most frustrated and sad. His dream of a happy ending to the story becomes unattainable as well. He still calls it The Great Gatsby because Nick still thinks that Gatsby was great even though nobody else did it in the end. On the other hand it is still ironic in a way because his real name is not Gatsby and is he really great when nobody even goes to his funeral? Nick seems to be his only real friend. Summary The Great Gatsby is about unattainable dreams.

The three main characters’

dreams stand unattained. The American dream ends badly when Daisy does not choose Gatsby in the end. Gatsby has tried to get her for so long and she shows that she loves him but still does not end up with him. His wealth is attained illegally but he is still trying to be the creation he painted up as a young man. The constant comparison to God shows how much he thinks of himself and I think it is one of the reasons why it is called “The Great Gatsby”. He never fulfills his American dream but I still think that he came a long way and he showed a lot of fighting spirit.

Gatsby spends a lot of time reaching out for the green light. It represents the dream he is reaching for, but never gets to. Daisy’s dream ends when she chooses the easy road and sticks with Tom. She has the chance to stay with Gatsby and I think that is what her heart really wants. When she runs over the woman she gets scared and it is so much easier to choose the road with Tom who feels safe than to run away with Gatsby. The caring Nick has his dream unattained as well. F. Scott Fitzgerald really shows how Nick’s dream was about Gatsby when he lets him be the storyteller.

He is the one telling the story and describes his fascination about Gatsby. How great Gatsby is with all of his parties and contacts but also how amazing he is when he fights to fulfill his goals and dreams. Nick has lots of hope for Gatsby and I think that he is the one that cares the most about him. The tragic end becomes a symbol of how all dreams are affected by the end. Simultaneously I think it is a way for F. Scott Fitzgerald to portray an ironic version of “the roaring twenties”, especially at that time. Even though history tells us that the twenties were great times with a thriving economy, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows us a different perspective.

There are also some negative things happening in the society at that time which is shown in the novel. For example Gatsby comes to his wealth through criminality. Sad things happen in good times and good things happen in bad times. In conclusion there is no doubt that The Great Gatsby is about unattainable dreams. It is no coincidence that none of the three main dreams are achieved.

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What is a good thesis statement for an essay on the Great Gatsby
Share Cite. Some possible thesis statements below: 1. Although Jay Gatsby lived his life loving Daisy, she did not even attend his funeral. 2. Although the night life was all glitter and glamor at ...
Thesis Statement for The Great Gatsby
Published: Mar 5, 2024. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic novel that explores themes of wealth, love, and the American Dream. In this essay, we will examine the thesis statement that the pursuit of wealth and status ultimately leads to emptiness and disillusionment.
How to Write a Thesis Statement for "The Great Gatsby"
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby" is a classic of American fiction and a staple in the literature classroom. The tragic story of Jay Gatsby plays out against the opulence of the 1920s. The text offers a range of subjects from which to create a thesis statement, including the book's ...
The Great Gatsby Critical Essays
I. Thesis Statement: Nick's assertion that Gatsby is worth more than "the whole damn bunch put together" is supported by Gatsby's purer motives and actions. II. Gatsby retains the American ...
The Great Gatsby Essay Examples
The Great Gatsby is a classic book from American LiteratureThe essay should start with a clear thesis statement that outlines the main points of the essay., written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is said to be...
20 The Great Gatsby Essay Topics
A thesis statement will be best placed at the end of your first paragraph or as a way to wrap up your introduction if it is multiple paragraphs. Some examples of well-written thesis statements for a The Great Gatsby include: "While The Great Gatsby appears to be a novel about love, in reality, it is a scathing critique of the American dream."
How to Write a Thesis Statement for "The Great Gatsby"
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby" remains a classic of Yankee non-fiction press one staples within the literature classroom. The tragic story of Jay Gatsby plays out against the opulence of the 1920s. And text offers adenine range of subjects from which to create adenine thesis statement, including one book's ...
The Great Gatsby: Suggested Essay Topics
2. How does Gatsby represent the American dream? What does the novel have to say about the condition of the American dream in the 1920s? In what ways do the themes of dreams, wealth, and time relate to each other in the novel's exploration of the idea of America? 3. Compare and contrast Gatsby and Tom. How are they alike? How are they different?
What is a good thesis statement on wealth's impact in The Great Gatsby
Here is a thesis statement based upon that idea: The impact of inherited wealth in The Great Gatsby suggests that characters who inherit their wealth, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, are more likely to ...
Most Important Themes in Great Gatsby, Analyzed
The 7 Major Great Gatsby Themes. Money and Materialism: Everyone in the novel is money-obsessed, whether they were born with money (Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and Nick to a lesser extent), whether they made a fortune (Gatsby), or whether they're eager for more (Myrtle and George). So why are the characters so materialistic?
How to Write a Compare/Contrast Essay for The Great Gatsby
In a compare/contrast essay, you can't just present a list of similarities and differences. You also need to have an underlying argument you're supporting. Feel free to take these at face value or as jumping-off points for your own thoughts. Tom loves Daisy as a person, Gatsby loves her as an idea.
The Great Gatsby and the Struggle for Wealth, Purity
The Great Gatsby and the Struggle for Wealth, Purity, ... A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English California State University Bakersfield In partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Masters of English . Winter 2013 . ... This statement occurs after Tom suggests that Gatsby's affair with Daisy is no different than "intermarriage between ...
Great Gatsby Conclusion: [Essay Example], 664 words
C. Thesis statement: The conclusion of The Great Gatsby highlights the consequences of the characters' actions and the illusion of the American Dream, ultimately revealing the emptiness that pervades their lives despite their pursuit of wealth and success. II. The downfall of Jay Gatsby
The Great Gatsby thesis statement
The Great Gatsby thesis statement. Abstract The Great Gatsby is written by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in "the roaring twenties". The characters in the novel have dreams and goals and not one dream ends well. That is why my thesis statement is: The Great Gatsby is really about unattainable dreams.
The Great Gatsby (thesis) Questions and Answers related to thesis
In The Great Gatsby, why does Fitzgerald prevent Gatsby from achieving his dream of winning Daisy's love after all his efforts? Ask a question. The Great Gatsby (thesis) Questions and Answers.
Thesis Statement for 'The Great Gatsby'
The 1925 novel, Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald follows an upstanding young man,… For full essay go to Edubirdie.Com.
Identifying Thesis Statements
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald employs several symbols to support this theme: building a future upon what one wants to relive is detrimental. True. Identifies topic, claims with specificity, introduces evidence and possible essay structure. The Great Gatsby reveals the dark side of the "Roaring 20s." False.
Thesis Statement Analytical Essay
The Great Gatsby thesis statement. Abstract The Great Gatsby is written by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in "the roaring twenties". The characters in the novel have dreams and goals and not one dream ends well. That is why my thesis statement is: The Great Gatsby is really about unattainable dreams.
The Great Gatsby Thesis
The author of the thesis statement for the great Gatsby answers that most academics "have a very narrow vision and have not even read the entire study.". In his opinion, we should not look so much at the class dimension but at the race, since the 1920s were key years for this issue. "The problem is not so much in the book but in the films ...
The Great Gatsby
Get an answer for 'What is a good thesis statement about symbolism and motifs relating to the American Dream in The Great Gatsby?' and find homework help for other The Great Gatsby questions at eNotes
The Great Gatsby Thesis Statement
The Great Gatsby is written by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in "the roaring twenties". The characters in the novel have dreams and goals and not one dream ends well. That is why my thesis statement is: The Great Gatsby is really about unattainable dreams.
The Great Gatsby
Get an answer for 'What are some thesis statements on the theme "money cannot buy happiness" in The Great Gatsby?' and find homework help for other The Great Gatsby questions at eNotes.
The Great Gatsby thesis Statement
The Great Gatsby is written by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in "the roaring twenties". The characters in the novel have dreams and goals and not one dream ends well. That is why my thesis statement is: The Great Gatsby is really about unattainable dreams. The dreams I am discussing is Gatsby's American ...

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