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"F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby (1925) is the quintessential tale of the American dream: the heights a man may reach, the past he can discard, the joy he may (or may not) find, and the tragedy that living the dream may bring him. "

"Fitzgerald writes about the traditional white American dream which is born out of capitalistic ideals, and, thus, reliant on material acquisitions and attaining high social status."

This article's main focus is on "The Great Gatsby" and the elements it encompasses. The article discusses the literary techniques, basic plot, and authorial purpose. "The Great Gatsby" is a novel about the American Dream and one man's pursuit of his own part of that dream. Gatsby strives to achieve wealth and success yet once he's there he is not happy without Daisy. Daisy is the ultimate object. She is a person that embodies wealth and status.

For Jay Gatsby, the American Dream was one of great success and material things, and one with his love, Daisy. However, he went through an artificial process in order to obtain the social status necessary in being accepted by Daisy, which he did not really fulfill in the end. This source describes the American dream. While for some, it is a wholesome and simple life, for others it is great wealth and material prosperity.

This source goes over the jungle and discusses the historical facts it presents on the treatment of the workers and the horrors of the meatpacking industry that Sinclair goes into.

"is destroyed by his devotion to a worthless woman and by his confusion of money with love"

This quote shows again how the rich characters in Fitzgerald's novel have clouded vision, and cannot see that money is not the answer to all a persons problems. This is mainly due to the reality that they can get out of any situation with their money.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896, the namesake and second cousin three times removed of the author of the National Anthem. Fitzgerald's given names indicate his parents' pride in his father's ancestry. His father, Edward, was from Maryland, with an allegiance to the Old South and its values.

An intresting summery of Fitzgeralds life, while reading I could not help but notice all the similarties between his person life and the characters in The Great Gatsby, for example his dropping out of a prestigious school such as princeton and joining the army, where seems very similiar to what Gatsby did or his family living off of inharitance such as he family did, much like Tom and Daisy.

This site discusses The Great Gatsby as a image of the culture of the 1920s, including the significance of the automobiles and the american dream. Gatsby's objectification of people and need for material gain to reach his goals is connected to the growth of the leisure class during this time period, which is dubbed "a culture of consumption."

This shows the symbolism of the color green in which Ftizgerald uses colors to express his themes and the setting which symbolizes the social classes on a larger scale

This article discusses the acknowledgement of the social gap in fiction and the use of fiction to influence people's position on the gap. The Great Gatsby can be seen as an influence to bridge the social gap, as some feel bad for the class struggles preventing Gatsby from being with Daisy.

Nice quote

Wealth changes people to become reckless snobs looking to have a little fun with what they have... but the minute you set heart to something and forget the rest, you are incompatible with the wealthy peers.

This song, without directly mentioning the book, is greatly similar. Like Gatsby Dave Matthews is completely enthralled by another woman for he says "You are my obsession" . In addition the inflection in Matthews voice when singing "I Love you, Love you, love you, love you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you" is scary, it sounds as if he has a creepy obsession with some woman just as Gatsby feels about Daisy.

you clown

"Money, as he had learned from his flamboyantly spoiled wife Zelda, is only the starting point for a different functional relationship with the world"

"Wealth is certainly the stuff of envy. When the dispirited have-nots, despairing of their ability to create a better life for themselves, rebel, they are likely to massacre the haves, as they did during the French and Russian revolutions. "

This article discusses the differences between wealthy people and the rest of the population. The article tells of the upbringings of wealthy offspring and the different priorities they are taught. The importance the rich place on image and status is one such priority Daisy and others place above all else. The source is great for a paper focusing on social disparity and social consciousness.

"Fitzgerald resented that Zelda mined their marriage for material, as he himself had done in "Tender is the Night."

This source describes F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda, and the relationship between them. Zelda was troubled woman who suffered from mental illness. No matter her mental state, she knew she was Fitzgerald's muse, finally giving in and marrying him after he became successful enough. While the marraige was not long lasting and Zelda eventually wasted away in a mental hospital, she was a large influence in the themes of the Great Gatsby. Her reluctance to marry a working-class man parallels Daisy, who decided to marry Tom in order to pursue a better appearance.

shows the moral decay of the rich in the great gatsby (appearance vs reality)