lack of spirituality in the Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is about a man named Gatsby, in love with a woman, Daisy, who is married to Tom Buchannan. He dreams that one day he and Daisy will get together. Gatsby has worked hard to become the man that he believes will impress Daisy. Even though he has an extravagant house, lots of money, and wild parties, he is without the one person he wants, Daisy. Even befriending Nick deals with Gatsby getting Daisy, because Daisy is Nick's cousin. In a meeting arranged by Nick and Gatsby, Daisy is invited over for tea and she sees Gatsby. It seems as if time is suspended for a moment, as they look at each other both thinking something. Then Gatsby tips over Nick's clock, symbolizing that he is running out of time to try to capture what he and Daisy once lost. Through the lonely and careless characters of: Jordan Baker Jay Gatsby, Myrtle, and G. Wilson, Fitzgerald is able to illustrate the lack of spirituality in this novel. The main place in The Great Gatsby that shows the lack of spirituality is the Valley of Ashes, where Myrtle and her husband, George Wilson live. It is a bleak, desolate valley including only one building, a car garage. One day while driving around Tom and Nick stop off at the valley
to see Myrtle, Tom's mistress. Nick describes this valley as being: "about half way between West Egg and New York... a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens" (27). The concern here is with the corruption of values and the decline of spiritual life. The traditional views of God and Religion are dead here and the readers can tell this because the only God-like image in this novel is a billboard with the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg advertising glasses. The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg represents the fact that God and religion have taken a less substantial role in comparison with the gods that have the powers of wealth, status, and greed. Dr. Eckleburg represents God, but by the way Nick describes the billboard tells the readers that even though God may watch over His people, he is being ignored in this novel, which is symbolized by the decaying billboard: "his eyes, dimmed a little by many paint less days under the sun and rain" (28). George Wilson is the owner of the car garage in the Valley of Ashes. When Nick first meets Wilson he describes him as a "blonde, spiritless, man" the description fits him well because Wilson works on machines, especially cars (29). Machines are the lifeless, inanimate objects from which Wilson makes his living. Machines have no spirit; according to Nick Wilson has no spirit either. By his own choice Gatsby tries to remain secluded and Nick observes that he does this even at his own parties: "my eyes
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1001
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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