great gatsby

A detailed Summary of great gatsby


In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald is criticising American society of the 1920s. He uses the characters to demonstrate the power than men had over women during these times, as well as their mindless, self-indulgent actions, where consequence was only an afterthought. The attitude towards and the role of women is shown throughout the novel. Fitzgerald also shows how many people in America during this time were delusional and had meaningless existences.

Fitzgerald has used Tom in The Great Gatsby, to demonstrate the power that men had during the 1920s. In order to understand Tom's purpose in the book, it must be known that he has been purposely set up as a character the reader does not like. Fitzgerald has done this, as he does not like men whose lives mirror Tom's. Tom is a violent man, who is completely in control of the women in his life. He shows how disrespectful some men were to women. For example, he breaks his mistress Myrtle's nose.

Making a short, deft movement, Tom Buchanan

Another example showing the disrespect for women is the fact that Tom is cheating on Daisy quite openly. She knows that he is having an affair, but there is nothing that she can do about it. Fitzge


This demonstrates that during the 1920s, women were not regarded as equals, and had little chance of making something of their lives. The best they could hope for was to find a rich husband and settle down. It represents the purposeless existence that women had in society. Jordan shows the carelessness of people in the society of time. This is demonstrated in a conversation between her and Nick, when Nick questions her carelessness.

'I'm glad it's a girl. I hope she'll be a fool -that's the

'Suppose you meet someone just as careless as yourself?'

best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'

Fitzgerald has used Gatsby in the novel, to demonstrate that many people had a worthless existence in the 1920s. They had returned form the war, and now either had no beliefs or dreams, or ones which were so unrealistic they would never become true. Gatsby belonged to the latter group, and never did see that his dream couldn't become true. He was living in the past, and he wanted to repeat it.



Some common words found in the essay are:
Fitzgerald Gatsby, Daisy Jordan, Tom Buchanan, Gatsby Fitzgerald, Nick Nick, Jordan Fitzgerald, Tom's Tom, Tom Gatsby, daisy jordan, , characters daisy jordan, american society 1920s, disrespect women, self-indulgent actions, delusional meaningless, green light, characters daisy, people society, power women, consequences actions, people lived,

Approximate Word count = 850
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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