The Great Gatsby Essay: The Great Gatsby is Not So Great :: Great Gatsby Essays

The Great Gatsby is Not The tonic has no plot to mention. ... The countersign is highly sensational, loud, blatant, ugly, pointless. There seems to be no reason for its existence Harvey Eagleton (Dallas Morning News, May 10, 1925). F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby is an monstrous story, whether considered as romance, melodrama, or plain record of New York high life. The occasional(prenominal) insights into compositors case stand out as very green oases on an arid desert of waste paper. Throughout the first half of the book the author shadows his leading character in mystery, but when in the latter(prenominal) part he unfolds his life story it is difficult to find the brains, the cleverness, and the ravish that one might expect of a main character. The Great Gatsby is a parody of itself. While Fitzgerald tries hard not to make Gatsby and especially Daisy silly personalities, this is where he ultimately fails. Theres not enough ironic distance to his characters. As Gatsby, at least in the eyes of many critics, should represent the judgment of the American Dream, the presentation of his character puts the whole concept in read/write head again, without being intended as criticism. This is mainly the fault of another weakened character in the novel, cut Carraway. At first, the only function of Nick in the novel seems to be to act as a reporter, apprisal us the truth by telling us his shrewd, objective perceptions. Then, as the novel progresses, it turns out that the opposite is the case, and he is siding with Gatsby to make this character stand above all others and shine. Nick Carraway could be one of the finest examples of lector manipulation in literature. But his sympathy towards Gatsby is exaggerated, not so a lot in actions, but in the much praised language of the novel. Fitzgeralds book at first overwhelms the reader with poetic descriptions of human feelings, of landscapes, buildings and colors. Everything seems to have a exemplary mea ning, but it seems to be so strong that no one real tries to look whats happening behind those beautiful words. If you dig deeper you will listen that hidden beneath those near-lyrics are blatancies, at best. In Nicks perceptions of the events in the destination four chapters, this symbolism is overdone, especially in the delineation where Gatsby kisses Daisy and in the scene where Gatsby dies.