Why is the Great Gatsby so popular?

As one of the most important books in American literature, it captures a fascinating and lively time in American history. The Roaring Twenties (a.k.a. the Jazz Age) was a time of great, mind-bending change. The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is set in New York City and Long Island during the Prohibition era (remember, the Prohibition era was a time in which alcohol was illegal, no matter how old you were – yowsa).
Author F. Scott Fitzgerald associated this moment in American history – the Jazz Age – with materialism ("I want things! Lots of things!") and immorality. Materialism and immortality were the name of the game for many of the newly wealthy of the post-World War I era. The novel's star is Jay Gatsby, a young, rich man in love with a society girl from his past. A girl who, as it happens, is married to someone else. Do we smell a Twilight-esque love triangle approaching? We do indeed.
And that's not the only reason why Gatsby still feels fresh today. The novel's very title has become a kind of buzzword for periods of excess and fake luxury. The economic collapse of 2008 brought back, to many, distant and unwelcome memories of the stock market crash of 1929, casting the boom times of the 1990s and early 2000s as the modern-day analogue of the Roaring Twenties. In the 1920s it had been a bubble in stocks that brought easy prosperity, while in our own time the bubble had been in the housing market.
In both cases, though, unsustainable boom times led to devastating crashes with profound cultural consequences. In the 1920s and the 2000s, easy money meant that many people could begin to dream of living out their days like Jay Gatsby, with life as just one grand party in a seersucker suit. But as that vision of easy luxury crashed and burned (in both 1929 and 2008), newfound hard times required a redefinition of the American Dream.Gatsby tackles the American Dream, as well as issues of wealth and class, materialism, and marital infidelity.
And while Gatsby is a work of fiction, the story has many similarities to Fitzgerald's real-life experiences. Gulp. Fitzgerald's personal history is mirrored in the characters of Jay Gatsby and narrator Nick Carraway. Nick is both mesmerized and disgusted by Gatsby's extravagant lifestyle, which is similar to how Fitzgerald claimed to feel about the "Jazz Age" excesses that he himself adopted. As an Ivy League educated, middle-class Midwesterner, Fitzgerald (like Nick) saw through the shallow materialism of the era. But (like Gatsby) Fitzgerald came back from World War I and fell in love with a wealthy southern socialite – Zelda Sayre.
The Great Gatsby is swaddled in Fitzgerald's simultaneous embrace of and disdain for 1920s luxury. Since Fitzgerald did indeed partake in the Jazz Age's high life of decadence, it's not surprising that the details of the setting and characters make The Great Gatsby a sort of time capsule preserving this particular time in American history. Gatsby is taught all over the world partly because it's a history lesson and novel all rolled into one delicious lettuce wrap of intrigue. Mmmmm…intrigue. You may find that when many people refer to the "Jazz Age" or the "Roaring Twenties," they automatically associate it with Gatsby, and vice versa.
 

Symbols :

The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg

The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg on the billboard overlooking the Valley of Ashes represent many things at once: to Nick they seem to symbolize the haunting waste of the past, which lingers on though it is irretrievably vanished, much like Dr. Eckleburg’s medical practice. The eyes can also be linked to Gatsby, whose own eyes, once described as “vacant,” often stare out, blankly keeping “vigil” (a word Fitzgerald applies to both Dr. Eckleburg’s eyes and Gatsby’s) over Long Island sound and the green light. To George Wilson, Dr. Eckleburg’s eyes are the eyes of God, which he says see everything.

East and West

Nick describes the novel as a book about Westerners, a “story of the West.” Tom, Daisy, Jordan, Gatsby, and Nick all hail from places other than the East. The romanticized American idea of going West to seek and make one’s fortune on the frontier turned on its ear in the 1920’s stock boom; now those seeking their fortune headed back East to cash in. But while Gatsby suggests there was a kind of honor in the hard work of making a fortune and building a life on the frontier, the quest for money in the East is nothing more than that: a hollow quest for money. The split between the eastern and western regions of the United States is mirrored in Gatsby by the divide between East Egg and West Egg: once again the West is the frontier of people making their fortunes, but these “Westerners” are as hollow and corrupt inside as the “Easterners.”

Gatsby’s Mansion

Gatsby’s mansion symbolizes two broader themes of the novel. First, it represents the grandness and emptiness of the 1920s boom: Gatsby justifies living in it all alone by filling the house weekly with “celebrated people.” Second, the house is the physical symbol of Gatsby’s love for Daisy. Gatsby used his “new money” to create a place that he thought rivaled the houses of the “old money” that had taken her away.

 Valley of Ashes
 One of the first symbols mentioned in the book is the Valley of Ashes, “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air” (22,4ff.).
The Valley of Ashes resembles something dark and lifeless. As a result of fire ashes stand for destruction and death. Furthermore the death of Myrtle Wilson in the Valley of Ashes stands for the pain associated with this valley. Also the fact that the Wilsons live in the valley shows that they are not of such high social standards as the other characters in the novel. By having to pass through the Valley of Ashes in order to get to New York, the other characters have to betake themselves to this lower status.

        Gatsby's library
Nick and Jordan stumble upon the library while searching for Gatsby, and in it they meet Owl Eyes, a spectacled, drunken guest who stares astonishingly at the number of real, unread books before him. “Absolutely real – have pages and everything,” he says. “I thought they’d be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact they’re absolutely real.” Owl Eyes, by saying this and acting in this manner, reveals the importance behind the books and the authenticity of Gatsby’s collection. Unlike what he was expecting to find (either cardboard replications or poor, worthless publications), he sees a collection of unread, unused, genuine books, worth a significant amount of money.
The library is essentially a symbolization of Gatsby’s wealth and his desire to show it off. He is fully aware of the value of the books in his library. The only reason he owns them is to add to his ritzy image in hopes of impressing Daisy. Daisy is accustomed to money, and Gatsby believes that the only way he will ever win her back is through a luxurious lifestyle. The truth, however, is that Gatsby could care less about money. It is clear that the books have never been read (the bindings are uncut), meaning they are merely there for show; Gatsby is not interested in reading them, but is rather interested in what he can obtain by owning them.
The irony in the books lies in the fact that they are only good for show.

 Wolfsheim's cufflinks
 The irresistible desire to show off that is typical of "rags to riches" people.The use of human teeth as cufflinks tends to emphasise the mixture of civilised sophistication (the cufflinks) and barbarism (teeth) that makes up the character of Wolfsheim. His name, Wolfsheim, suggests something primal. He is drawn in some ways as a stereotypical Jew of the period - undersized, flashy and involved in underhand dealings. This is not saying that Jews of the period were like that. Many writers drew them as that, though.

The title of the novel and "what makes Jay Gatsby great".

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was ambivalent about the title, making it hard for him to choose. He entertained many choices before settling on The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald shifted between Gatsby; Among Ash-Heaps and Millionaires; Trimalchio; Trimalchio in West Egg; On the Road to West Egg; Under the Red, White, and Blue; Gold-Hatted Gatsby and The High-Bouncing Lover. Initially, he preferred Trimalchio. On November 7, 1924, Fitzgerald wrote to Perkins. — "I have now decided to stick to the title I put on the book [...] Trimalchio in West Egg" but was eventually persuaded that the reference was too obscure and that people would not be able to pronounce it. His wife and Perkins both expressed their preference for The Great Gatsby and the next month Fitzgerald agreed. A month before publication, after a final review of the proofs, he asked if it would be possible to re-title it Trimalchio or Gold-Hatted Gatsby but Perkins advised against it. On March 19, Fitzgerald asked if the book could be renamed Under the Red, White and Blue but it was at that stage too late to change. The Great Gatsby was published on April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald remarked that "the title is only fair, rather bad than good"

And why is the Great Gatsby great?

Is it his charm or his charisma? Is it the fabulous, extravagant parties he throws? Is it because he has such a mysterious past, perfect for rumors and suspicion and gossip? Is it because he has enough shirts to make a grown snob cry?

Or is it deeper than all of that?

Is the Great Gatsby great because of his friendship to Nick? Is it because he is the only honest person Nick knows in New York? Is Gatsby great because Nick feels sympathetic to him, reaching for a dream he can never attain? Is he great because he reaches so far as to die for what he believes in? Is it because we, as the readers, “watch” Gatsby reach longingly for the green light, and we feel helpless and sympathetic toward him? Is he great because of all he stands for – pride, persistence, wisdom, honesty?

So what is it?

Perhaps Gatsby is no more than a simple man who lives, loves, and dies. But perhaps he is much more than that – a hero for all dreamers, one who stands for the survival of his dreams even in the face of unconquerable adversity, and one who dies tragically, an honorable yet empty man, with an army of faithful readers mourning his defeat in death but unceasingly admiring his disposition in life. Perhaps, just maybe, it is what he is fighting for that everyone can relate to. When it comes down to it, Gatsby is fighting to chase a love that is slipping too quickly into his past for him to catch. We, as the readers, know that Gatsby’s desire for Daisy’s love is a hopeless case, yet we want so badly for him to be happy; it is this paradox that brings us all together in support of Gatsby. It is what makes us hate Daisy when she cries over the shirts. It is what makes us love him when he puts his pride aside to hide in the bushes to make sure she is alright. It is what makes us sick when Gatsby’s body is floating dead in his pool. It is what makes us feel as though we are there at his funeral, mourning the loss of a close friend.

In Gatsby, F. Scot Fitzgerald has developed a character that can only be considered great, and develops it all the way to the end of the novel. He created Jay Gatsby to embody the American dream. That unique American ability to go from rags to riches. A dream that is the epitome of all dreams, and that all people have dreamt at one time or another: The poor boy or the broke soldier having the very very rich girl, and rising to the class of the rich and famous. James Gatz, the man who would become Jay Gatsby, had only $5 in his pocket when he arrived in New York and met Wolfshiem(from the end of the book after Gatsby's death) This little piece of info shows that in a mere 3 years, he went from nothing to owning one of the largest houses in New York speaking to the most powerful people around, and throwing parties that every important person in the Us attended. This is the American Dream.

F. Scot Fitzgerald places him as a mid-west good old boy, who went into the Army to fight "the great war". He is the all American boy. Then we find out that he had a list of things to guide his life and become great. Even though F. Scott Fitzgerald could have stopped there, he did not feel that James Gatz had truly become great. He points out that Gatsby, unlike everyone else, achieved this greatness for love. When one person selflessly gives themselves, sacrifices themselves, sacrifices everything they have, and even gives their life for someone else; they are greater than anyone. Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy, to win her love, is the dream he lives for, and hope sustains him. Daisy is Gatsby's version of the American Dream, the love of his life, the perfect housewife, the ultimate status, "the king's daughter, the golden girl" (however all of these qualities are just Gatsby's idealization of her after dreaming about her for five years) and he is willing to sacrificing everything to obtain her. James Gatz lived his entire life to love Daisy. When he shows her the stuff in his house, he's showing her the house he has created for her. He doesn't really care for any of this - it's all done specifically for her. Even the parties stopped when she didn't like them. Eventually, Gatsby wins Daisy's love but this is short lived due the confrontation with Tom, where Gatsby is defeated, as Tom establishes that Daisy will stop having an affair because she is part of the Establishment, and Gatsby is a law-breaker. This is the point of the novel, where the limitations of Gatsby's greatness are revealed, as all he lives for are dreams, idealizations of reality which will ultimately leave him unsatisfied as he will never reach that perfect world.

In the end, he says that he will tell the police that he was driving, he waits outside her house like a gallant knight, and finally takes a bullet for her so that she may live on. Jay Gatsby has lived and created all that he has in the name of love and the name of Daisy, not James Gatz or Jay Gatsby.

The last comment from Gatsby is about Daisy coming to him, and Nick responds by stating that Gatsby is better then all of them. So Gatsby dies for love and for the people. Moreover he is great in all desires and all his dids.

The American Dream

What is the "American Dream"? How does the characterization of Gatsby in the Great Gatsby represent and undermine it?

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, written by Scott Fittzgerald, is a portrayal of the withering of American Dream. The American Dream promises prosperity and self-fulfillment as rewards for hard work and self-reliance. A product of the frontier and the west, the American Dream challenges people to have dreams and strive to make them real. Historically, the dream represents the image of believing in the goodness nature. However, the American Dream can be interpreted in many different ways. While some may strive for spiritual goodness and excellence, other take the dream to represent purely materialistic values, which the majority perceive at that time. This is also the case of Jay Gatsby. We will later discover such a materialistic interpretation of the American Dream is the main cause of Gatsby's downfall. 

Gatsby himself indeed is a complex symbol of the corruption of the American Dream. He is a romantic dreamer who seeks to fulfill his life by earning his wealth as a gangster. Gatsby does not change much in the course of the novel because his whole life is devoted to the fulfillment of a romantic dream created that is inconsistent with the realities of society. At a very early age Gatsby vowed to love and to marry Daisy. His lack of wealth led Daisy into the arms of another more prosperous man, Tom. Gatsby believed that he could win Daisy back with money, and that he could get the life she wanted if he is willing to pay for it.. He wanted to do away with time in order to obliterate the years Tom and Daisy had together. Gatsby wanted to repeat the past, "I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before. She'll see . . ." Gatsby's romantic disregard for reality changes the American Dream with his dream that love can be recaptured if one can make enough money. The corruption of Gatsby's dream by adopting materialism as its means and love, beauty and youth as its goal is due to the corruption of the American Dream. 

Another example of the corrupt American Dream is the automobile, a classic symbol of material wealth in America at that time. Gatsby owns a remarkable automobile whose appearance is envied by many. "It was a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and super-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns" Gatsby's car in an overblown item created by wealth to fulfill the American Dream of personal material success. It is, however, Gatsby's car that kills Myrtle Wilson when Daisy runs her over. This indirectly leads to Gatsby's own death and portrays Fitzgerald's theme that basing the Dream on materialism alone is undoubtedly destructive.

Fitzgerald presents clearly that a life based on materialism alone is a corruption rather than a fulfillment of the American Dream. Gatsby's destruction shows that those who try to maintain a lifestyle based purely on materialistic values are doomed by their self-delusion. Thus, by analyzing Fitzgerald's presentation, Gatsby's dream, the novel suggests, is also that of America, with its emphasis on the inherent goodness within nature, on healthy living, youth, vitality, romance, a dream of the East which has been dreamed up in the West. In this sense the novel becomes various things, an exploration of the American Dream, or perhaps a savage criticism of that dream. Gatsby, lured on by Daisy, who is no more than a symbol for him, pursues the Green Light, the dream of progress and material possessions, and is eventually destroyed. 

Gatsby's personal dream symbolizes the larger American Dream where all have the opportunity to get what they want. For Gatsby, his American Deam is not material possessions in fact, although it may seem that way. He only comes into riches so that he can fulfill his true American Dream, Daisy. Gatsby does not rest until his American Dream is finally fulfilled. However, it never comes about and he ends up paying the ultimate price for it. 

In the Great Gatsby, the idea of the American Dream still holds true. One thing never changes about the American Dream which is everyone desires something in life and everyone somehow strives to get it. Gatsby is a prime example of pursuing the American Dream.

In the spring of 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald published his best novel The Great Gatsby. Since then it is the most famous American book about the 1920’s. Fitzgerald used many literary devices to embrace his believes about the people of this time period. I will focus on color symbolism, the most popular technique in this book.

White color is the most significant to the story. It symbolizes purity, innocence, and royalty, but Fitzgerald used this color to underline the inside of the wealthy people. This innocence is just a surface; they cover their dark side behind it, like Daisy. Her name symbolizes a flower: its penals are white, but its inside is yellow, not as pure as white. Daisy is fragile like a flower, but deep inside her, she is almost evil. She even kills an innocent person, who is her husband’s, Tom’s, mistress. The major theme in The Great Gatsby is immorality of the people in 1920’s, especially the upper class. Daisy, Tom, and Jordan are “old money” people. They wear white clothes, live in white houses, but they are immoral inside, they have no scruples.

Another color that is significant is yellow. It symbolizes a desire for wealth, and old money. Like I already mentioned, rich people are “rotten” inside, like daisies. But “noveau riche” people are also yellow inside, like Gatsby. He gained his fortune through dealings with crime. And this exemplifies a theme of death of the “American Dream”. The immoral people have all the money, and, according to the “American Dream”, money should be a reward for honesty and hard work.

Green color is also significant. It symbolizes new money, and hope. In The Great Gatsby green is associated with Gatsby. He is a “new money” person, so he lives in a green house, surrounded by green lawn. He has a hope of repeating the past, what is another theme in the novel. Every night he reaches toward the green light on Daisy’s dock. In the end of Chapter IX, Nick, the narrator of the story, compares the green light to how America, rising out of the ocean, must have looked to early settlers of the new nation.

It is obvious, from my analysis, that color symbolism helped to convey themes of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. By use of characterization it was possible to see the relationship between the colors and themes, what affected the meaning of the story. Without it The Great Gatsby would be a simple love story.

Blue is also used to describe Jay Gatsby’s gardens where people come and go to parties as they please. His “blue” gardens are representative of a fantasyland. Blue represents Gatsby’s dreamland which he thinks is reality.

“In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars”(45)

“He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it”(188)

When Dan Cody buys Gatsby a blue coat, among other things, he begins to become more prosperous and wealthy. Maybe in the dream, his success may have been caused by the blue coat, but in reality, it was probably just a coincidence.

                                       

Discussing the theme of telephones employed in The Great Gatsby

The Paradoxes of the Telephone

           The Great Gatsby is arguably the greatest piece of American Literature of all time. Its subtly intertwined motifs and symbols provide for a kaleidoscope of brilliant thoughts that can only be fully discovered by reading the novel multiple times. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the recurring motif of the telephone to show the irony of its use for two opposite reasons. Throughout all of The Great Gatsby, the telephone continually connects and disconnects people, builds and hides relationships, and is a way to be reached or be unreachable.

           The telephone is repeatedly shown as an item that connects the speaker and another person while disconnecting them from those physically there. Jay Gatsby is legendary for his prodigal parties complete with entire orchestras, celebrity guests, and lavish food spreads; but, while socializing, he is constantly called away from his guests by the "shrill metallic urgency" of the telephone (20). Upon meeting Nick Carraway, he is immediately called away by "a butler with the information that Chicago [is] calling him on the wire," (53). Fitzgerald is trying to show that technology will never be able to replace humans. Talking on a telephone will never be equal to speaking in the flesh. The emotions that pass over the face and sparkle in the eyes will usually reveal more than the facade of a voice. Perhaps Fitzgerald is suggesting that he opposes the advancements in technology and wishes to return to the time when people needed to be physically there in order to hear their voice. The idea that the action of using the telephone can connect you and disconnect you to people at the same time is almost parallel to the idea that the telephone allows you to be reached or unreachable.
            Telephones are used to reach people, to get a hold of them, but telephones also allow people the option of being unreachable. When one does not want to be found or reached, one can choose not pick up the phone or answer the door, rendering them unreachable to the outside world. Society has become so dependent on the telephone as a means of communication that people automatically assume that the person they are trying to call will always answer the phone. Nick "called up Daisy [Buchanan] instinctively and without hesitation. But she and Tom had gone away early that afternoon, and taken baggage with them," (172). Nick was disappointed that he wasn't able to speak to them. Daisy and Tom take advantage of the possibility of being unreachable by leaving no forwarding address or telephone number. One of Gatsby's business associates, Meyer Wolfshiem, also takes advantage of being unreachable by telephone. His "name wasn't in the phone book" therefore, in order to get in touch with him, Nick had to write him a letter and go see him (173). By being unreachable by phone, it goes back to the idea of life before the invention of the telephone, when one had to be face to face with someone in order to hear their voice and communicate. The possibility of being misinterpreted is much higher if you are talking on the phone, or to relate it to this century, on the Internet. The only way to be one-hundred percent sure that someone understands you is to talk to them face to face. Even so, communication, no matter what form it takes place in, will always help people form relationships and bonds.

           Throughout The Great Gatsby, the telephone is used as a device to simultaneously build, hide, and destroy relationships. Gatsby's absences due to the telephone calls during his parties result in him improving relations with the speaker on the phone but missing out on the chance to build relationships with his guests. These phone calls are usually about his mysterious job and he typically retreats to an empty room to take them; therefore, he continually keeps his relationship with his work a secret. Tom Buchanan also uses the telephone to develop a romantic relationship with Myrtle Wilson. He communicates with her via the telephone in order to keep their affair secret, although he's not very successful. Jordan Baker, a friend of his wife, Daisy, frequently suspects "that [its] Tom's girl on the telephone" every time he receives a phone call (122). Without the telephone, Tom and Myrtle would not be able to communicate, therefore ending their relationship. Fitzgerald wanted his readers to see that the telephone could be either a savior or a devil to a relationship and he proved this by having Nick destroy his relationship with Jordan Baker over the phone, a move which angered her: "You threw me over on the telephone. I don't give a damn about you now," (186). Some things in life are just meant to be done face to face, and an example would be ending a relationship.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wisely chooses to weave many different motifs and symbols throughout his novel The Great Gatsby. Colors, accidents, water, time, and, of course, telephones are repeatedly mentioned. Fitzgerald wants the reader to learn something from the novel, to gain a new opinion, or to just learn about the conflicts that were occurring in the early 20th century. His choice of motifs and symbols, especially the telephone, makes the reader contemplate the paradoxes of society. His multi-faceted characters provide the perfect ensemble to expose these faults while providing for a great novel.

by Jennifer Buckett 

Created on: February 04, 2008  

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