In the first six chapters of the book, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we learn about the characters. For instance, Jay Gatsby is known as a wealthy man who throws whopping parties to attract a person named Daisy. Gatsby and Daisy were close 5 years prior before she married Tom Buchanan. She married Tom because he had money. So Gatsby wants to prove to Daisy that he has money too.

Gatsby's next door neighbor, Nick Carraway, who is the narrator of this story, becomes included in the lives of these characters. As the story continues in chapter seven, there are serious conflicts that reveal turning points in the story. For example, Nick glimpses through Gatsby for who he really is. Also, as Daisy and Gatsby continue to cover their relationship, Tom has his suspicions and eventually figures it out.

Finally, there's an unfortunate event that will change everyone's life. As chapter seven begins, Nick starts to perceive Gatsby as who he really is, rather than the one he's portraying to everyone else. He fires all of his servants so they won't gossip: I wanted somebody who wouldn't gossip. Daisy comes over quite often in the afternoons." So the whole caravansary had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes. (Fitzgerald, pg. 114).

Gatsby also doesn't throw parties anymore. that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night (Fitzgerald, pg. 113). Gatsby got what he wanted with those parties, which was Daisy's attention and love. Although many parties took place and many people came, none of the people were as important to him as Daisy, who lived across the lake. Knowing this, Nick sees through Gatsby's back story. As conflict goes on, many relationships are floating in the air; some known and some unrevealed. Daisy and Gatsby are a couple in the shadows until Daisy's husband, Tom, shines a light on their relationship. Tom was beyond himself when he learned about this: She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. (Fitzgerald, pg. 119).

Now that Tom knows about their relationship, he starts digging out Gatsby's past, finding rocks of information to break apart and make Gatsby crack. Tom says I've made a small investigation of this fellow. (Fitzgerald, pg. 122). The Great Gatsby Nick Mullen Tom forces Gatsby to admit he wasn't an Oxford man by saying that he only went there for five months. Tom eventually gets to his breaking point and confronts Gatsby about his relationship with Daisy. At this point, Daisy defends Gatsby by turning on Tom and tells him to have some self-control (Fitzgerald, pg. 129).

As relationships are finally being discovered, everyone is dealing with who did what to whom. This is a turning point where their lives will never be the same. In everyone's life there's always an unfortunate event or turning point. For the characters in the story, tragedy hit them as they didn't see it coming. In Nick's eyes, he gazes to the future when he says So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight. (Fitzgerald, pg. 136).

In fact, there was a car accident and someone died. Myrtle assumes Tom is driving Gatsby's car as it's coming back from New York. Not realizing who's behind the wheel, she runs into the street to get what she thinks is his attention. Unknowing that it's Daisy behind the wheel, Myrtle gets hit by Gatsby's car and she dies. Daisy fails to realize not only has she killed someone, but her husband's girlfriend. Don't always take things for granted because you'll never know what could happen in the future. For Myrtle, it was letting her feet take action before her brain causing every character's life to never be the same.

Through the book, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald creates chaos and sorrow. Gatsby is revealed as who he really is, a liar making false claims to get someone he wants. Daisy is revealed as a murderer, even if it's unintentional. Tom is demanding and rude, and may have just lost both women in his life. And finally, there's Nick, a man thrown into everyone's lives, basically as a bystander, who isn't too thrilled for his future outcome when he says I was thirty. Before me stretched the portentous menacing road of a new decade. (Fitzgerald, pg. 135). Uhh, let's not forget Myrtle, who dies and thus has no story to tell. Through all the great times and sad times in life, one's story can never be perfect.

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Money being unable to buy happiness

The Great Gatsby is a tragic story about love and how money affects the lives of the characters in the novel. Fitzgerald emphasizes what exactly the American Dream is through the use of symbolism and the egotistic nature of the characters. The idea of the American Dream isn't necessarily material items. In actuality working hard and accomplishing goals in life to become successful in society is really what the American Dream is. The author also uses good diction and language to show the character development of Gatsby and Daisy, by showing the complicated romance between them. Although money may provide short term satisfaction, whether it be through material items or in vain, there is no amount of money that can provide long term happiness.

In the novel, Gatsby's ultimate goal wasn't necessarily to become wealthy because of greed, but more for the sake of winning Daisy back. Gatsby grew up poor however, he was very determined to become successful. Money being able to buy happiness doesn't apply to Gatsby. Daisy is the only thing that will bring happiness to Gatsby, nothing else. Gatsby loves Daisy, but he cannot be with her because she is with Tom and it is difficult for him to express his love to her at first. Gatsby is a very secretive and closed off man, so he shows his love for her in the only way he knows how which is buying her love with excessive parties, flowers, and clothes .

Materials are no match to real authentic love. You can satisfy or please a person with materials but money cannot buy someone's love or trust. There is more to life than wealth and the book emphasizes that claim greatly because throughout the story the characters have their own set of problems that climax towards the end of the plot. Everything about Gatsby's new wealth was all for a certain motive. He hosted parties and everyone was invited. Daisy herself is explicitly connected with money here, which allows the reader to see Gatsby's desire for her as desire for wealth, money, and status more generally. So while Daisy is materialistic and is drawn to Gatsby again due to his newly-acquired wealth, we see Gatsby is drawn to her as well due to the money and status she represents. In the text it states, I couldn't forgive him or like him but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made ( Fitzgerald page,146).

Money here is more than just status, it's a shield against responsibility, which allows Tom and Daisy to behave recklessly while other characters suffer and die in pursuit of their dreams. In the end Tom and Daisy simply go back to their boring and careless lives, but all the money Gatsby tried so hard to make didn't end up doing much for him because Daisy still had love for her husband. Money does have value but it may not necessary make people happy in the book. Gatsby spends a huge amount of money to host parties that he doesn't really enjoy. He has a desire to grab Daisy's attention and make her fall in love again because of Gatsby's new life with more money. Gatsby could not use money to buy Daisy's love. Also, Gatsby knows of many important people that surrounded his life, who come to his party before, after he dies only a few people come to his funeral. Wealth and power are gone away with Gatsby.

Gatsby's dream could not be achieved by only using his money. This shows that money does not actually give true happiness. The characters in the book who are higher class people may be able to buy all the things they want with money to make them happy, but actually it is only temporary. I believe that love and trust from family is what really makes people truly happy as it is eternal, and these are the things that they lack as most people tend to have problems with their partner. For example, Tom and Daisy. However, for Gatsby he was even willing to participate in illegal activities to become rich but ultimately to win daisy back.

Materialism and wealth is a huge factor that has always been apart of Daisy's life. She married Tom Buchanan for his wealth. Daisy being used to having everything makes her character seem very careless. Chapter 1 introduces us to daisy with, i've been everywhere and done everything. Although the audience is aware of the abundance of money Daisy has, she has also been through alot. Daisy married Tom knowing how much money he possess. Tom has been unfaithful and Daisy is very aware of his affairs but she continues to stays with him because, of the money.

As the reader learns more about Daisy it is very easy to establish a claim that Daisy is ann unhappy women. I know this because, when Daisy had went to visit Gatsby for the first time after five years she begins to let out all of her emotion to Gatsby. In the text it says, it makes me sad because i've never seen such beautiful shirts before(chapter 5). This tells me Daisy became very emotionally because she finally saw what her life could have been with a man she truly loved. Daisy didn't marry the man she truly loved and it is easy to tell she is hiding from her reality and allowing her life to fall around her.

I believe that in some ways money can negatively consume your life. Money was the fatal flaw of the entirety of the cast in this novel. The majority of the characters were incredibly wealthy yet their lives were empty. They continuously tried to fill the voids in their lives with expensive and meaningless materials that failed in giving their lives any substance. Gatsby himself had all the money one could ask for, but he did not have the one thing he wanted, Daisy. This is the perfect example of how money truly cannot buy love, or happiness.

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Could you imagine living in a time where racism and wealth affects people's opinion on you? In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the reader begins to pick up on flaws in that society that relate to today's society. There are many flaws that can be touched on, but I am only going to talk about two of them. One flaw is that only the rich have a say in what goes on. The second flaw is the racism going on. Both The Great Gatsby and today society are flawed in racism and that the rich are the only people that matter.

In The Great Gatsby one of the biggest flaw is that Gatsby portrays from the beginning of the book is that he craves acceptance from the wealthy. He creates a false image of old wealth to gain acceptance from those in West and East egg. Which is when accepted you have to have money. In Gatsby's younger and more vulnerable years his father gave him some advice that he has been turning over in his mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "Just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had" (Fitzgerald 1-3).

It is a lot easier to be morally upright when you're not pinching and barely getting by, which makes the immorality of the wealthy even more unforgivable. They have every advantage in the world, and they cannot even be nice people? When you have money you not only get acceptance you also think that you cannot get in trouble or think that people will just take the blame for you. During the book when Daisy and Gatsby were driving, Daisy had hit Myrtle (Tom's mistress) and just drove off without stopping. Once they had gotten back to the house Gatsby had said that he would take the blame for it if they had questioned them. Grantatted he was in love with her even if he was not he probably still would have taken the blame. This does not only happen in the book this also has happened in the real world. A teenager had killed multiple people and was let off without anything and his family was very wealthy. Is this just a coincidence probably not. Last week a Texas judge decided not to send a teenager from a well-off family to prison after he killed four people while driving drunk (New York Times). If anyone else would have killed that many people due to drunk driving they would have been they would a minimum of 93 days in jail.

A large flaw from this book that is even happening in our world today is racism. During this time they didn't think anything less than this and didn't think anything was wrong with this. Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white( Fitzgerald 130). During this moment in time this could have possibly have been the worst thing that could have happened. It is different to be two white people to get married or two black people to get married, but if you want to be disowned by your family or be an outcast to society than you might as well marry someone of a different race. Not only is this a problem for the parents but the kids are going to have a very hard time being accepted because they are mixed. They do not have one prominent race. White people are very arrogant as you can tell through their actions, but this is a whole new level.It's up to us, who are the dominate races will have control of things ( Fitzgerald 13).

As many white people think that they are the dominant race they are wrong and here is why. They is no such thing as a dominant race because everyone is different. If every race was the same there still would be a dominant race because everyone has their strengths and weakness. Young white men smashing windows, overturning cars, and battling police after a big athletic event are revelers, out of control fans. But a group of mostly African American youth who do similar things out of sorrow and rage that a young black man has died in police custody are dangerous thugs.

The Great Gatsby and today's society have many flaws, but the big ones are racism and that the rich are the only people that matter and are not punished for their actions. The wealthy are getting away with their actions and nothing is being done to stop them. Racism is still a big part in today's society and the African American community is being targeted and attacked, maybe not as bad as it used to be but still enough to make an impact.

These topics are still affecting many people today and it needs to be stopped. People are getting away with these actions for too long and nothing is being done to end this. If their actions were to be brought up maybe just maybe something could finally be done. Finally racism could be put to an end and the wealthy would have to deal with the same consequences as everyone else.

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The Great Gatsby (2013) film directed by Baz Luhrmann is adapted from the classic 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald that explores the tales of the American Dream the idea that anyone (regardless of race, class, gender or nationality) in America can achieve success and prosperity with hard work and determination. In order to illustrate this fairytale of the American Dream, Baz Luhrmann successfully and beautifully uses a formalistic approach with his entertaining and captivating eye-popping visuals and big-production sets that are grandiose and over-the-top. Set in the roaring 20s, Midwest native Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) moves East to New York in search of the American Dream. Nick moves into a modest home in West Egg compared to his next-door neighbor. Home to the mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), Gatsby purposely lives directly across the bay from the Buchanan's Nick's cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) and her aristocrat husband, Tom (Joel Edgerton) located in East Egg with high hopes of Daisy returning to him. The Great Gatsby reflects themes and ideologies based on the American Dream, social classes and past and future, as Nick witnesses within and without the corruptness of the once mesmerizing world of the wealthy which captures a tale of impossible love, dreams and tragedy.

The Great Gatsby is narrated by Nick Carraway and told in a non-linear fashion that is disrupted with his flashbacks reminiscing of the past, exemplifying themes of the American Dream, social classes, and past and future. Over time, the American Dream has evolved and divided into two versions the old and the new. The old American Dream holds a vision of building a prosperous life with a family and grand love, while the new American Dream solely pertains to getting rich. With this, Gatsby symbolizes both the old and new American Dream because his story arc resembles a complicated and immoral rags-to-riches tale. Coming from a background of poor farmers from North Dakota, an ambitious Gatsby left home at age 16 in search of something greater than himself.

Along the way, he comes across millionaire Dan Cody, to which he diligently serves to, and travels alongside at sea. Unfortunately, when Dan passes, Gatsby is cheated and inherits none of his wealth, but the memories. The memories did not suffice Gatsby, and so he turned to crime in the bootlegging business in order to attain the wealth he's always dreamt of as a little boy wishing upon the stars. But even with wealth, Gatsby's vision of the American Dream is incomplete without Daisy, and so he risks everything in hopes to win her back. It's why he has a green light at the end of his dock, hoping that she'll notice and come back to him. The haunting green light that is seen throughout the film symbolizes the American Dream, as it represents Gatsby's hope for a future with Daisy and his endless devotion to his dream.

In the beginning and in the end of the film, there is a green light pulsating in the abstract dark. To further signify the importance of this green light, there are numerous shots of where we see Gatsby's back as he attempts to reach out for this mysteriously haunting green light. In one of the ending scenes, we see Gatsby's silhouette with an outstretched hand reaching for the green light across the bay as Nick narrates, 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 one fine morning So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly, into the past. Although Gatsby's dream was impossible to attain, Nick finds him admirable for his optimism and perseverance for a better life.

Additionally, throughout the film, there's a glamorization of the excessive parties that is a reminder of the shallowness and vanity of the characters. All the extravagant weekly parties that Gatsby had thrown during the summer were all in hopes of Daisy coming. Baz Luhrmann's extravagant cinematic stylization, music and use of settings & decor helped bring this Age of Decadence to life. The music in The Great Gatsby is influenced in Rap/R&B music as it represents the genre of music that in our own time performs the political and argumentative work on probing race and class based identity. Baz Luhrmann's variety of music from Young and Beautiful, (overall love theme song) A Little Party Never Killed Nobody, (representing euphoria of the 20s) and Love is Blindness (Myrtle's Death) further enhances the story telling, adding commentary on each scene. Going back to the first Gatsby party scene, the shots and angles along with the music gives us an accurate depiction of what the 20s would be like given the accompaniment of blaring jazz and a birds-eye view of New York City that introduces us to how colossal the size of Gatsby's parties were.

Afterwards, the camera quickly pans down to the loads of uninvited people driving into the Gatsby Estate in their cars. Subsequently tailing the back of an automobile, to show the extent of Gatsby's entrance, the view then pulls out to a long shot of Gatsby's enormous Gothic mansion, to which the lush greenery and extravagant water fountain accompany it. Everyone's dressed in their best attire and sequined/shiny flapper gowns and accessories with decadent pearls and headbands. It's the same faces and zero meaning that further illustrates that everything and everyone is a fasade whom holds superficial materialistic importance. Like how at the end of the night when everyone's gone, the mansion is left empty again, leaving Jay, the common man, alienated and isolated.

The endless summer parties and the spent confetti on the ground is a commentary on the cycle that Jay keeps repeating, and visits the ideology of future versus past. Jay is struggling to hold on to his past where 5 years ago, him and Daisy were together. Upon first meeting Daisy, Gatsby intended on having a short fling as he was infatuated with Daisy's social class and wealth, but inevitably, accidentally ended up falling in love. Since day one, Gatsby was not who he claimed to be. Dressed in an officer uniform, Gatsby deceived Daisy to be someone from the same social status, but he was instead poor with no family and at the government's disposal. In attempts to restart his relationship with Daisy, along with the status he's created for himself. Jay is disillusioned believing that he can turn back time. In addition, the Outside versus Insiders ideology is shown through Jay's neglect for his past, as he made up stories and put on a fasade that has essentially led him to be empty.

It did not matter how hard Jay tried to fit in with the wealthy. Based off of the ideology of Democratic versus Hierarchical, the Buchanan's along with the rest of the aristocrats failed to accept him. Within the hierarchy, there is emphasis on the individual and elite class entitled to a larger share of power compared to other common-dwellers. To simply put it, Daisy and Jay could never work because of Daisy's aristocratic perspective of everything being handed to her, born with money and privilege, there are no consequences whatsoever. That's why after she ends up killing Myrtle, she chooses Tom despite all her feelings towards Jay, she cannot afford to lower her standards to what she was raised in. It is also why those classified in the Hierarchy no longer have aspirations of having the American Dream, but instead attempt to maintain their social class.

The four geographical locations in the film West Egg, East Egg, The Valley of Ashes and New York City further denote the Democratic versus Hierarchical. In West Egg, there's Gatsby with emergence of new money, along with the established aristocracy of the 1920s. Right across the bay from Gatsby is East Egg, where the Buchanan's reside possessing social status and power, further symbolizing the old upper class that continues to dominate the rest of America. Then, there is the Valley of the Ashes, home to George and Myrtle Wilson, Tom's mistress, where symbolize the moral decay of American society hidden by the glittering surface of upper-class extravagance. And finally there is New York City simply chaotic, as it's associated with the depraved lies that Nick perceives in the East.

In the end, Gatsby's choice to lead down an immoral path of shortcuts for wealth and materialism over the original vision of the American Dream hard work and integrity ultimately leads him to his death. Similarly to real life, Gatsby's story can easily be seen in today's society as the old American Dream succumbs and the new American Dream prevails. Like in the film, there are corrupted political people and people who make immoral choices based of their despairing desires to achieve the American Dream.

If there is any moral to The Great Gatsby's version of the American Dream, it's that anything short-term will never last, in comparison to the diligent hard-bearing work and integrity of long-lasting riches. And that is why there are so many people who seek out this American Dream and end up either 1) never achieving it initially or 2) fraudulently making their way up to have it all being ripped out from under.

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