Thinking about Gatsby stretching his arms out to the green light across the water, we can't help thinking of the Sirens : the mythical island dwellers whose singing was so seductive that sailors would throw themselves into the sea and drown trying to reach them.
To Gatsby, Daisy's seductive voice speaks of wealth, social status, glamour, family, and of course Daisy herself—everything that Gatsby wants.
We're pretty sure it's not a coincidence that Gatsby dies in a pool. Daisy's voice makes her sound untouchable. Nick thinks of it as "full of money," and that it sounds like it belongs to someone who lives "high in a white palace, the king's daughter, the golden girl […]" 7.
You know, the prom queen, the sorority president, the pageant winner: exactly the kind of girl that neither Gatsby nor Nick would ever have a chance with. But Tom does.
And Daisy may marry him at first because she feels like she has to, but she does end up falling in love with him. Or at least lust. Jordan clues us in:. If he left the room for a minute she'd look around uneasily, and say: "Where's Tom gone?
She used to sit on the sand with his head in her lap by the hour, rubbing her fingers over his eyes and looking at him with unfathomable delight. This doesn't sound to us like a girl living "high in a white palace.
What we learn from this is that Daisy isn't just a frivolous rich girl—or, she wasn't always. She has a deep capacity for love, and she wants be loved.
Or maybe she didn't marry the wrong guy; maybe she just likes to think that she did. One of the things Gatsby and Daisy share is an idealized image of their relationship, a rose-colored view makes everything in the present seem dull and flat in comparison. Though the Daisy of the present has come to realize that more often than not, dreams don't come true, she still clings to the hope that they sometimes can.
And to Daisy, most of this trouble comes down to one fact: she's a girl. Nick and Jordan stumble upon Owl Eyes while looking for Gatsby during a party. Owl Eyes is a character who right away realizes that Gatsby is putting on a show. His spectacles lead him to ascertain that Gatsby has a purpose behind his extravagance. In Owl Eyes' drunken ramblings about the books in the library, we can see their implications on Gatsby. Owl Eyes thought the books would be fake but since, to his astonishment, they are real, he calls Gatsby a "regular Belasco," implying that Gatsby went all out like Belasco would in making his home or set as real as possible.
Nick describes Owl Eyes: "He snatched the book from me and replaced it hastily on its shelf muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.
This Owl Eyes, who was so observant at Gatsby's party, was the only patron of Gatsby's parties that showed up to the funeral. Perhaps this shows that Owl Eyes was the only person who shared a similar understanding of Gatsby with Nick.
Owl Eyes conveniently brings us to the ongoing theme related to appearance and change. Gatsby's existence in West Egg was completely for Daisy. Owl Eyes was right. Gatsby built a set to fit into the role he needed to have to get back Daisy.
He was "concealing his incorruptible dream. His shady occupation added substance to the fassade. He was continually accused of being a bootlegger a maker of false copies. Tom referred to Gatsby's car as a "circus wagon," his actions as "stunts" and his whole operation as a "menagerie.
This dream was torn down by the utter carelessness of the Buchanan's and that "rotten crowd. The eyes of Doctor T. Eckleburg overlook the Valley of Ashes and symbolize the eyes' of God looking upon the moral decomposition in American society. Fitzgerald uses the eyes as a Godlike reminder to all people that God is watching and judging us. Above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.
They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground" Fitzgerald Eckleburg, but Fitzgerald never actually make that connection.
As if people are compensate of their loss in the war, they began to pursuit wealth above all other matters and at all costs. All these ultimately leads to a corrupted and shattered American dream, which is faithfully captured by Fitzgerald in his….
Fitzgerald felt that capitalism and its offshoots— the excessive homes, cars, etcetera were the demise of the American Dream. The novel shows the possibilities that wealth can create and the irresponsibility that can ultimately ruin it. On page Fitzgerald showed how jealous Myrtle was of rich women. She wanted the handsome husband, to be outrageously rich, to have a high social class, and to live in a big, fancy house.
This proves that lies and riches are worse than a normal life. Daisy is also compared to a Siren because she has an enchanting voice, and good looks luring people to her especially Gastby. The novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a social commentary on money, marriage, and rank.
Austen juxtaposes multiple characters throughout the novel to comment on human behavior. Austen employs dialogue, diction, and irony to show that Mr. Collins is too prideful. Collins practically puts all of his self worth into his relationship with Lady Catherine De Bourgh, his wealthy benefactor. Essays Essays FlashCards. Browse Essays. Sign in.
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