F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - Corruption of the...

Jay Gatsby is a man with a dream and will stop at nothing to attain it. When he loses the love of his life to a wealthy, sophisticated and bigoted socialite, his mind is set. Born a poor farm boy, he centers his life around achieving extraordinarily vast amounts of wealth and great social status. The poor man never gets the girl; in fact, he never gets anything in Gatsbys eyes. Gatsby is determined not only to be rich, but become the richest man who ever lived. When he does become the richest man who ever lived, he wants to become the ultimate ruler of the universe. Gatsby wants to be God. Nick Carraway, his laid-back and observant neighbor, despises Gatsbys flamboyant and exaggerated ways. However, he comes to admire Gatsby†¦show more content†¦He proclaims himself to be Gods-son. Yet this title is not a description of his newfound greatness but merely the fabricated image he attempts to impose upon others. Gatsby is not the suave and sophisticated man he wants to be. He mannerisms are awkward and unnatural. When he speaks of his Oxford education, his words become hurried phrases, or he swallowed it, or choked on it as though it had bothered him... with this doubt his whole statement fell to pieces as if his education wasnt even meant to be. Gatsby is hardly what one would call urbane. Furthermore, Carraway notices that Gatsbys movements seem practiced and calculated. Gatsby is forcing himself to be someone hes not and will pay the consequences. When he is waiting for his first chance encounter with Daisy, he becomes nervous and fidgety. When she finally arrives, he is once upon at his awkward and clumsy best: Luckily the clock took this moment to tilt dangerously at the pressure of his head, whereupon he turned and caught it with trembling fingers and set it back in place. Years of practice did little to help Gatsby be truly liked by people. In one of the more uncomfortable scenes in the novel, Gatsby is waiting to be invited along to supper with the Sloanes. Mr. Sloane and Tom, however, dont want Gatsby to go. Gatsby stands there awkwardly, waiting for his invitation. When finally, he feels sure that hes been invited, he goes inside to get his things. Tell him weShow MoreRelated Destruction and Failure of a Generation in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby1413 Words   |  6 PagesThe Great Gatsby and the Destruction of a Generation      Ã‚   The beauty and splendor of Gatsbys parties masks the decay and corruption that lay at the heart of the Roaring Twenties. The society of the Jazz Age, as observed by Fitzgerald, is morally bankrupt, and thus continually plagued by a crisis of character. Jay Gatsby, though he struggles to be a part of this world, remains unalterably an outsider. His life is a grand irony, in that it is a caricature of Twenties-style ostentation: his closetRead MoreSymbolisms in The Great Gatsby by F. 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