"The Great Gatsby"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how the novel "The Great Gatsby" depicts the quest for the American Dream during the Jazz Age. The paper traces the life of the main character of the book, Jay Gatsby, and shows how his attempt at transforming himself and crossing the line to another social status results in a frustration of his own identity and of his own purpose. The paper highlights how Gatsby's idealism meets its end with the materialism of the new consumerist society.

Outline:
The Novel Depicts the Quest for the American Dream During the Jazz Age
The Novel Concludes that the American Dream is Eventually Crushed by Sheer Materialism

From the Paper:

"Fitzgerald's novel is still considered to be one of the most important literary achievements of the twentieth century. This is due not only to its unquestionable literary qualities as a novel and the mystifying atmosphere it exhales. The haunting characteristic of the text comes especially from its extraordinarily vivid rendering of the epoch it depicts. The book is thus one of the most important and extraordinary pictures of the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age. But the interest in the novel springs specifically from this modernist subjective view of the age that the author expresses. While it is obvious that Nick Carraway is critical of the age and its material debauchery, it is also evident that he is nostalgic about the real significance of the American myth."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barrett, Laura. "Material without Being Real: Photography and the End of Reality in 'The Great Gatsby.'"Studies in the Novel. Vol. 30(4) 1998, p. 540-555.
• Bloom, Harold, ed. Gatsby. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991.
• Breitwieser, Mitchell. "Jazz Fractures: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Epochal Representation." American Literary History 12, no. 3 (fall 2000): 359-81.
• Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: The Modern Library, 1975
• Giltrow, Janet, and David Stouck. "Style as politics in 'The Great Gatsby.'." Studies in the Novel 29.n4 (Winter 1997): 476(15).

More papers on "The Great Gatsby":

• Book Review # 36769 : "The Great Gatsby" and 1920s Lifestyle"
• Analytical Essay # 117531 : "A Contemporary Review of "The Great Gatsby"
• Book Review # 33819 : "The Great Gatsby" and Materialism"
• Book Review # 126306 : "'The Great Gatsby' and the American Dream"

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