The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Analysis Example

Water flows throughout the world and gives life to everything. When we are thirsty, we immediately look for water to drink. When we’re in the middle of the desert, dying of thirst, we become desperate for water. Oceans were then discovered, fabricating an impulsive greed. We all have our own attitudes and emotional drivers lingering under the surface, where money is concerned. Some people consume money as quickly as they receive it. Some think they are not worthy of it. Some believe it flows freely. Some think it is the root of all evil. Most of us want more of it. When we lack money, it dominates our thoughts. In the modernist novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author depicts the collision of New Money and Old Money through the West Egg and the East Egg, which is evident through Gatsby’s and Myrtle’s demise in a world that empowers the Old Money over New Money. F. Scott Fitzgerald critiques egotistical and uncharitable nature in the novel in virtue of no matter how exert oneself is, no matter how driven they are, people at the top prosper and stay superior, absorbing power over people at the bottom. 

Those who attain oceans, sink from the weight of success, leaving those dying of thirst with nothing, leading to their corrupted fate. Those with New Money commonly abide in the West Egg – Gatsby - and have recently earned their opulence, while those with Old Money persist in the East Egg – Daisy & Tom Buchanan - and ingrains their lap of luxury from earlier generations. Jay Gatsby grew up in an impoverished family in rural North Dakota. Despite his path to success, it was neither clean nor legal. He participated in organized crime, specifically the illegal distribution of alcohol from current prohibition in the Roaring 20’s, trading stolen securities, and gambling. Upon his return from serving in World War I, Gatsby was obstinate to acquire wealth and fortune in order to win over Daisy, who’s now lamentably married to Tom Buchanan five years after their departure. Gatsby’s old lang syne carried him to an irremediable state which developed into an obsession with the past so greatly, convincing himself that his life will be complete with Daisy, that he loses out on truly living his own life and living for himself. He never marked a line between being ambitious, but became incapable of seeing the difference, having him end up in a continuous cycle of frustration. Through his efforts to fit in from his extravagant celebrations to put up a façade, Gatsby masks his old identity through speculation and contemplation in hope to reinvent his status and rebuild his dignity, all for Daisy. As Gatsby reunites with Daisy, he exteriorly elevates from the twilight zone, but became too lost in the light and burns himself.  “He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.” (180) Nick Carraway, the narrator, has already been socially accepted since he’s middle class, unlike Gatsby, which allows him to make judgment upon everyone else, influencing us to portray Gatsby the way he does. After Gatsby’s negligent murder and attending his funeral, Nick finally acknowledges how alone Gatsby was, dejected by his superficiality. Fitzgerald exposes Gatsby’s empty sea, where there was nothing to prospect for thousands of miles other than treasures and a broken shell. It meant nothing to Gatsby, only the shattered shell that drained him to fix for Daisy. No one really knew Gatsby; he was only utilized for his parties and amusement. His pool that he never used, and where he dies in, represents the life he never got to purely relish until the last minute. The green light represents Gatsby’s dream, Daisy, which he never stepped foot to. Gatsby as a whole symbolizes all of the drudgery, we force ourselves into, just to become forsaken by those who we love the most. The impact from Daisy ultimately causes Gatsby to step ahead of himself and question his existence. 

Many of us remain in the shallow end of the shore, afraid to drown, of being consumed, to dive too deep. Generally speaking, many of us are already drowning in these hollow waters. We don’t know what this colossal body of water brings us, so we become blind from knowing about more movement, more exploration, more curiosity, more discovery, more freedom to exist. All we know is the scratched surface of our oceans. Our soul slowly suffocates when we regularly operate at the surface of life because we are leaving so much potential, below the surface; it is in the deep dive where the soul actually becomes free. Some of those bilk through boats, to get a glimpse of the unknown risk that they were too cowardly to take on their own. Myrtle Wilson, tries to take the easy way out by having an affair with Tom, and she still can’t get 

The social world is not like the natural world. Nature is composed of things, forces, and geometries that have strong determining regularities whose interactions can be formulated with mathematical precision. The social world is different. It is not a system, but rather a patchwork, a mixture, an ensemble, a Rube Goldberg machine, a collage, or a jumble. Its properties arise from the activities, thoughts, motivations, emotions, and interactions of socially situated persons. Outcomes are influenced by a hodgepodge of obstacles and slopes that crop up more or less randomly -- leading to substantial deviations in the way we might have expected things to work out. But oceans are also social spaces, communication spaces, and cultural spaces—and they play an important role in how we as humans understand.