The Women of Gatsby

The women of Gatsby are (or the recurring ones, at least) Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. Daisy is a character that acts innocent, sheltered. She usually wears white, which reflects her character as innocent and carefree, she is quite aware of Tom's relationship with Myrtle and perhaps her relationship with Gatsby is a naive retaliation against Tom. At the end of the book, she kills Myrtle and appears to be unfazed by that fact. Nick on Tom and Daisy:

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (188).


Her innocence and naivity are also reflected when she cries into Gatsby's many colored shirts.

Jordan, Tom and Daisy's friend, forms a "relationship" with Nick. She is a golfer, who had cheated at her tournament. She is the one that tells Nick of Tom's mistress in New York. She seems to be slightly nosy, (though its not something that is in-your-face) and she gossips. She was the one who had first seen Daisy and Gatsby together before she had even known either one. Towards the end of the book Jordan makes it clear that she might have been in love, but she had lost interest in Nick. She thought they were the same, but later found out that they weren't.


Myrtle is Tom's mistress from New York. She treats her husband as 'dead' and 'undesirable'. She thinks that Tom is in love with her, but unfortunately fails to realize Tom's revelation of making a mistake after his relationship with Daisy is almost derailed by Gatsby. She is killed towards the end of the book and makes very little impact in the main story line behind Gatsby (aside from being Tom's little fling).

Sources:
The Great Gatsby
http://www.shmoop.com/great-gatsby/gender-theme.html

The Men Of Gatsby

The Great Gatsby seems to have a slight undertone of gender roles. The men of Gatsby-Tom, Nick, Gatsby, and so on- seem to fit into certain roles. There's a big contrast between certain characters, Tom is masculine, strong, rich, a part of upper class society whereas one could say the Nick is upper-middle class (though his region is seen as the less fashionable counter-part of Tom's region one could assume he is still somewhat wealthy), perceiving, and then the lower class, weak Wilson who does not stand up for himself. Lastly, Gatsby who does not seem to turn out to be an honest man but a bootlegger attempting to became wealthy enough to capture Daisy's attention.


Both Tom and Gatsby have little understanding of women. Tom, overly macho, is possessive and possibly abusive (more so when he breaks myrtle's nose). Where Gatsby seems to pamper Daisy, and is blinded by his dreamer state of mind, Daisy is more like a prize to him. Nick is simply uncertain, he's not rich so he knows he can't capture Jordan's love in that sense. Nick is naive in this sense.


Wilson is depicted as wimpy, useless. His wife and Tom have little respect for him, calling him "useless", "dead" and so on. Nick seems to be the only one that feels any remorse towards him. Indeed he does give off the sense of being "dead", he does nothing to keep Myrtle and Tom apart, at least until towards the end of the story, and his easily convinced and driven into things. He also has a habit of comparing the Dr. Eckleburg sign to the eyes of God.


sources:
The Great Gatsby
http://www.shmoop.com/great-gatsby/gender-theme.html
http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=14600

The Green Light

In The Great Gatsby they talk about a green light. The green light is first mentioned in the first chapter of the book. This green light is symbolic in more ways then just one in this nove. One way, is because thoughout the book when it is mentioned it seems as if Gatsby worships it. Another example of the symbolicness of the green light is that in the book green is a color of hope, renual and a promise. It shows a dream that he wants to happen. something that he lives has been living his life for. He wants to have a chance to get all that he wants out of life. Gatsby wants to prove to himself that if he achives his goal then it would seem as if everything in he has in his life is worth living for.

The greeen light is found out to be at the end of Daisy dock to her house. For Gatsby it symbolizes a dream. The dream that Gatsby has is wanting to be with Daisy. He show that he would do anything for this woman no matter what the cost to not only himself but to anyone who he is involved with. In the end though we find out that what Gatsby hoped for never happens. You are also able to see that all of the promises that were made between Gatsby and his beloved Daisy were unfulfill. this dream in which Gatsby lives his life by, in fact is the main cause of his demise.

information from:

https://www.msu.edu/~milettf/gatsby.html

Unrequited Love

F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby is no stranger to unrequited love. Perhaps it is because the author himself drew it out of his own experiences. But he also pulls on a seemingly knowing nostalgic love, which is evident between Gatsby and Daisy.


It is noted in the Novel that Gatsby throws his parties in hopes of attracting Daisy's attention. Like Fitzgerald and Zelda, Daisy seemingly refused Gatsby for his lack of money, prior to the start of the book. Gatsby's almost criminal job was partly to make enough to win Daisy's heart. When Gatsby left for the war, Daisy made a promise to wait for him, however her need to be loved overcame her and she married a wealthy Tom Buchanan.

On the other hand, towards the end Tom has seemingly sworn off seeing Myrtle Wilson, leaving behind a haggard woman who still harbors feelings for him. Sadly for her, she was merely an object to Tom. Myrtle's husband, George, is devastated by the affair and wants to leave the Valley of Ashes and move far away from the object of Myrtle's affection. "George is comparable to Gatsby in that both are dreamers and both are ruined by their unrequited love for women who love Tom." (http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/characters.html)

Sources:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/characters.html

East Egg Vs. West Egg

The difference between East Egg and West Egg comes down to social standing. These two places are separated by a large bay. The bay in the book The Great Gatsby symbolizes a barrier between these two towns. The barrier symbolises the separation in the social status and people. Even though the people from both West and East Egg are all for the most part apart of a higher social class. The difference between them are that they are apart of either new or old money.
The people who are from East Egg generally are apart of the higher social class that became rich from their money being passed down generation to generation. This is know as being from an old money family. The people who lived on East Egg that had a larger parts in the Great Gatsby were Tom and Daisy. For the most part the people who lived on the east side of the bay would look down to those who lived on the west side of the bay. This would be because the people on these two sides achieved there money in different ways. The people who lived in the east weren't supportive of the way the west achieved there money.

People who lived in West Egg mostly were apart of the higher social class as well, but the way they achieved there money was different. They were apart of a new bread of money making people who were known as new money families or nouveau richies. These people didn't have any real social standing. There money if they had any, they made on their own. they didn't have any help but tried their hardest to try and make a better life for themselves. In the book the Great Gatsby, the characters who had a large role and that lives in West Egg were Gatsby and Nick. They showed that you could make it on your own and achieved all they could without being apart of an old money family.

information from:

http://www.homework-online.com/tgg/symbolEggs.html

Dan Cody

Dan Cody is a character in the book The Great Gatsby. In the book he is known to have had a large impact on Jay Gatsby's life. When Dan Cody met Gatsby, it was a day that changed the course of Gatsby's life for as it seems the better. These two men first met on Lake Superior when Gatsby decided he was going to borrow a rowboat and warn Cody about the weather he did this so that Cody would know and find a different place to station his yacht. One way Dan Cody largely impacted Gatsby's life was that he was around when James Gatz decided to change his name to Jay Gatsby. When Gatz decided to change his name to Gatsby, at the age 17, it was the start of a new career for him. Gatsby became to be a mate, a steward, a secretary and a jailer for his boss Dan Cody. over the years that they were with one another, Gatsby, became know to be very trusted by Dan Cody.

Cody came from the silver feilds in Nevada and was part of the Yukon. Cody became a millionare from the transactions in the Montana coper. Cody was taken advantage of by many young women, because he naive and softminded. One women in paticular took advantage of Cody's weakness. This woman name was Ella Kaye she was known to be a newspaper women. Through out all the time that Gatsby knew Dan Cody he was an instable alcoholic that decided to drink continuously. Seeing this over the years made Gatsby drink very little in the years to come. Dan Cody dies one night in Boston after Ella Kaye comes once again back into his life.

information from:

http://www.fcpa.edu/westspringfeildhs/academic/english/1project/99gg/99gg2/charlis2.htm

The Great Gatsby (adaptions)

There are many different adaptions of The Great Gatsby, ranging from Broadway to movie screen. There was an opera adaption premiered in 1999, and a rumored Bollywood version to be released in 2012. There was a silent movie filmed in 1926 (said to be a "lost" film), with 1949, and 1974 remakes of it.


The different versions and adaptions of this classic novel brings great imagination and original characteristics. Surely the Gatsby enthusiast could grow to appreciate the alternate versions, and other novels influenced by the write.


The 1974 film adaption is believed to be the most elegantly faithful of them all. The film won Oscars in 1975 for best costume design and best original musical score. It also had a noteworthy cast. However, critics of that year canned the movie. Many reviewers felt the movie lacked emotional depth and substance.






http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016938/
http://www.shvoong.com/books/novel-novella/348-great-gatsby/