The Green Light

What is this green light??? What does it represent? Well in my opinion the green light that is talked of throughout the novel represents the future. Whatever the future may be grim or very optimistic.

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther … And one fine morning -
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." P. 115

This quote in the book shows us that Gatsby always looked toward the future and we as readers should never stop in trying to achieve our personal dreams and aspiratations. We may not all have such amazing futures but the hope that the green light symbolizes will always be there. When gatsby looks into the horizon at Daisy's home it describes a green light that lingered once Gatsbys heart was broken.

"I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone - he stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward - and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness." P. 16

Gatsby finally realizes he has lost Daisy and now all thats left is his unknown future. Nick seems to think Gatsby was trembling and this could represent the fear we all have regarding our unknown future.

East Egg vs. West Egg

In The Great Gatsby there are major class distinctions which show even more so with the division of the rich West Egg and the fashionable East Egg. Gatsby is on the West Egg while Tom and Daisy are on the East Egg with Nick Carraway. Throughout the novel West eggers are newly rich and either got rich quick such as Mr. Gatsby or are those of old money such as Tom and Daisy who inherited a large sum of money.

Class distinctions are very present; while the West Eggers are depicted in the novel everything is much more proper and characters such as Daisy put off an emphasis on a thought like "I am much better than you." Mr. Gatsby invites most all to his huge illegal parties but it seems to be the East Eggers that decline and want nothing to do with the new money West Eggers such as the Sloanes who accepted "without gratitude".

When Nick, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and Gatsby all are thinking of going into town Fitzgerald describes the women laying on the couches like trophies on display. In the movie it seemed to me as if Daisy's daughter was just a toy as she flaunted her beauty. Daisy herself is always acting a bit snobby while Tom is just a brute who is just self absorbed with himself and Daisys affairs. Tom and Gatsby really hate eachother now and East and West Egg differences just hightens the tension that is obviously present. There will always be a East and West Egg wherever you go. Whether its Chino Hills High vs. Ayala High it is always present in some way.

Prohibition

Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when the eighteenth ammendment was first issued. Many women believed it was a treacherous drink that corrupted good men and created violence. They believed their husbands turned into monsters when they drank alcohol. Men disregarded this and continued to drink illegally in speakeasies which were also ran illegally but corruption among police made it very difficult for uncorupted officials to crack down on the speakeasies. The following excerpt enables us to see first had the serious flaw of this law when even doctors hand whiskey out. https://rowellsapushistory.wikispaces.com/file/view/prohibition.jpg/62331404/prohibition.jpg

Whiskey could be obtained by prescription from medical doctors. The labels clearly warned that it was strictly for medicinal purposes and any other uses were illegal, but even so doctors freely wrote prescriptions and drug-stores filled them without question, so the number of "patients" increased dramatically. No attempt was made to stop this practice, so many people got their booze this way. Over a million gallons were consumed per year through freely given prescriptions.

With doctors writing perscriptions and police being in on the free flow of alcohol being continued it was impossible to enforce. Police did do their best to enforce it but it is a mystery whether or not prohibition gave rise to organized crime.

Mr. Jay Gatsby was himself a bootlegger or alcohol smuggler. This was an easy quick way to achieve riches as he did. He said he achieved his money in under three years and his mysterious dealings with Mr. Wolfshien alluded us to think of some type of corruption. Daisy and Tom are old money people who recieved money respectively but Gatsby didnt.

Flappers of the time hid alcohol in their dresses and men had flasks tucked in there coats. Gatsby being a bootlegger smuggled alcohol and also manufactured it to be smuggled. Fast police chases because of smuggled alcohol became a common sight which most often ended in CRASH. Gatsby managed to stay out of trouble while making a hefty profit. As of now it is unknown to wether Gatsby has allies in the police department because he shows a simple card and can escape all trouble on the roads.

Jealousy

In chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby jelousy toward Daisy is stongly desplayed by both Tom and Mr. Gatsby. The two men always seem to become silently hostile whenever they are together with Daisy. It is clear that Tom really doesnt like Mr. Gatsby all that much and jealousy is the exact reason why. Tom hates that at the parth Daisy runs of and has so much fun with Mr. Gatsby. Tom doesn't know she and Mr. Gatsby had a past relationship and if he did he would certainly become furious.

Miss Baker and Nick are always on the lookout for Tom to make sure that he doesn't see Mr. Gatsby and Daisy together. Tom is cheating on Daisy and the same is true in that situation. Daisy is jealous of Myrtle but once Mr. Gatsby enters back into her life she is no longer sad or feeling trapped in a relationship with Tom. The future of the novel is uncertain but i predict that Mr. Gatsby and Tom will hit a point where a physical fight will break out.

Daisy couldnt be any happier with Mr. Gatsby back into her life. Tom will eventually become more and more jealous as time elapses.

jeal·ous
adj.
1. Fearful or wary of being supplanted; apprehensive of losing affection or position.
2.
a. Resentful or bitter in rivalry; envious: jealous of the success of others.
b. Inclined to suspect rivalry.
3. Having to do with or arising from feelings of envy, apprehension, or bitterness: jealous thoughts.
4. Vigilant in guarding something: We are jealous of our good name.
5. Intolerant of disloyalty or infidelity; autocratic: a jealous God.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jealous

The Ladies Of Gatsby

Daisy Buchanan - Nick’s cousin, and the woman Gatsby loves. As a young woman in Louisville before the war, Daisy was persued by a number of officers, including Gatsby. She fell in love with Gatsby and promised to wait for him. However, Daisy has a deep need to be loved, and when a wealthy, powerful young man named Tom Buchanan asked her to marry him, Daisy decided not to wait for Gatsby after all. Now a beautiful women of high society, Daisy lives with Tom across from Gatsby in the fashionable East Egg district of Long Island. She is somewhat cynical, and behaves superficially to mask her pain at Tom's constant infidelity.

Jordan Baker - Daisy’s friend, a woman that Nick becomes romantically involved during the summer. A competitive golfer, Jordan represents one of the “new women” of the 1920s—cynical, boyish, and self-centered. Jordan is beautiful, but also dishonest: she cheated in order to win her first golf tournament and continually bends the truth.

Myrtle Wilson - Tom’s lover, whose husband George owns a run-down garage in the valley of ashes. Myrtle herself has a fierce vitality and desperately looks for a way to improve her situation. Unfortunately for her, she chooses Tom, who treats her as a mere object of his desire.

the men of gatsby

Jay Gatsby - The main character of The Great Gatsby is a young man, around thirty years old, who rose from a poor childhood in rural North Dakota to become really wealthy. However, he achieved this by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. From his early days, Gatsby despised poverty and longed for wealth and sophistication he dropped out of St. Olaf’s College after only two weeks because he could not bear the janitorial job with which he was paying his tuition. Though Gatsby has always wanted to be rich, his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for Daisy Buchanan, whom he met as a young military officer in Louisville before leaving to fight in World War I in 1917.

Nick Carraway - A young man from Minnesota, Nick travels to New York in 1922 to learn the bond business. He lives in the West Egg district of Long Island, next door to Gatsby. Nick is also Daisy’s cousin, which allows him to observe and assist the love affair between Daisy and Gatsby. As a result of his relationship to the two, Nick is the perfect choice to narrate the novel, which is a personal memoir of his experiences with Gatsby in the summer of 1922. Nick is also well suited to narrating The Great Gatsby because of his personality. As he tells us in Chapter 1, he is tolerant, open-minded, quiet, and a good listener, and, as a result, others tend to talk to him and tell him their secrets.

Tom Buchanan - Daisy’s wealthy husband, he was once a member of Nick’s social club at Yale. He is well built and comes from a socially solid old family, Tom is an arrogant, hypocritical bully. His social attitudes are laced with racism and sexism, and he never even considers trying to live up to the moral standard he demands from those around him. He feels no guilt whatsoever about his own affair with Myrtle, but when he begins to suspect Daisy and Gatsby of having an affair, he becomes outraged and forces a confrontation.

The Great Gatsby Film Versions

There was a Great Gatsby film made in 1926, it was a silent movie but it is considered to be a "lost film.

The second version was then made in 1949 by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Elliot Nugent and produced by Richard Maibaum, from a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume based on the novel.

The third big screen version was made in 1974 distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced byDavid Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The film stars Robert Redford in the title role of Jay Gatsby, Mia Farrow, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, Scott Wilson, Sam Waterson as the viewpoint character, and Lois Chiles with Howard Da Silva, Roberts Blossom, and Edward Herrman.

In 2000 a tv movie version was also made. It starred Mira Sorvino as Daisy, Toby Stephens as Gatsby, and Paul Rudd as Nick Carraway.

Flappers

In what instance can a woman break out of the given “mold” and turn the idea of femininity upside down? Back in the 1920s the image of the typical American woman was altered on a new extreme. Women in their early years of life were starting to find themselves changing within their society. They were seen as rebels in this time period. The long hair was chopped to a bob, the voluptuous body was now skinny and almost pole like, skirts were hiked up, arms, legs and chest were exposed to the public, and this new woman was not afraid to speak her mind on her wishes and desires. She smoked, drank, danced, wore make-up and wasn’t afraid to take risks. “Moreover, women had shortened their skirts, bobbed their hair, discarded their corsets, liberally used make-up, and had taken up smoking, drinking – and golf.” She was known as a flapper.
Before World War I, the typical woman was inspired by Charles Dana Gibson’s drawings. These women were known as the Gibson Girl. Her hair was loose on the top of her head, and she wore long straight skirts with a high collared shirt. Femininity was very apparent, but the Gibson Girl broke through many gender barriers because her outfits allowed her to partake in sports such as golf, roller skating, and bicycling. Although being included in the sports world, these women were very old fashioned, as we would call it today. They did not date and they also waited until a “proper” man paid her interest and was seen to have good intentions. Many men had died during the war and the woman began to think that they shouldn’t have to wait around for the perfect man. They wanted to live their lives on their own time and to see what could happen as time went on. Their skirts became short and their hair became shorter, the age of the flapper had arrived. http://students.umf.maine.edu/mccormka/public.www/history/index.htm

This article above tells us the start of the new fashion of a young woman and their daring new attempts to become something totally different and scandelous for the time. These young women were raised by a generation of conservative parents but with the rise of big cities and partys flappers arose and so did the fun! There hair was short and so were their dresses. They would be known to carry alchohol on them on there leggings to hide it from suspected police during prohibition.

Flappers were looked down upon by many of society with there radical new lifestyles. They allegedly acted this way to not let the beauty of youth slip through there grasp. They drank, smoked, and danced like there was no tommorow in the speakeasies of the 1920's. Prohibition most likely gave an even greater rise to the flapper.

Here is a short poem written by Vincent Youmens

Flappers are we

Flappers are we

Flappers and fly and free.

Never too slow

All on the go Petting parties with the smarties.

Dizzy with dangerous glee Puritans knock us

Because the way we're clad.

Preachers all mock us Because we're not bad.

Most flippant young flappers are we!

-- "Tea for Two" from "No, No, Nanette"

by Vincent Youmans

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St Paul, Minnesota of mixed Southern and Irish descent. He was given three names after the writer of The Star Spangled Banner, to whom he was distantly related. His father, Edward Fitzgerald, was a salesman, a Southern gentleman, whose furniture business had failed. Mary McQuillan, his mother, was the daughter of a successful wholesale grocer, and devoted to her only son. The family moved regularly, but settled finally in 1918 in St. Paul. At the age of 18 Fitzgerald fell in love with the 16-year-old Ginevra King, the prototype of Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fsfitzg.htm

He met Zelda Sayre in 1918, she herself was an excellent writer and the two fell in love and were married in 1920. In the next months to follow writing became very difficult and he didnt make much money and was slipping into debt. Zelda was pregnant and the baby was born in 1921. A man by the name of Paris Joyce thought Fitzgerald was mad and he may do himself harm. He still made no money with his release of the novel The Beautiful and Damned so he moved to Europe with his family and created the brilliant Great Gatsby. In the biography of Fitzgerald it states, "The Great Gatsby received excellent reviews but the book did not make the money Fitzgerald expected. He was drunk long periods. Dramatized version of the book opened at the Ambassador Theatre in New York on February 2, 1926. The play's success made possible the sale of Gatsby to the movies. The first film adaptation was made in the same year, directed by Herbert Brenon." http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fsfitzg.htm

It is believed The Great Gatsby was a way for him to express his feelings toward life. I assume this because he tells his daughter this ,""I decided to marry your mother after all, even though I knew she was spoiled and meant no good to me.'' Fitzgerald lived out the rest of his days in both Europe and the United States and developed a drinking problem. Before he could finish his novel The Last Tycoon in 1941 he passed away.

The 1920's

In the 1920's america was going through great prosperity. Everyone was basically happy thats why its now referred to as the roaring twenties. There was also a so-called "revolution in morals and manners" that represented a liberation from the restrictions of the country's extremely conservative past. It became a decade of dissipation, of jazz bands, raccoon coats, bathtub gin, flappers, flagpole sitters, bootleggers, and marathon dancers. World War I had shattered Americans' faith in reform and moral crusade, and the younger generation proceeded to rebel against traditional values.

In the 1920's prohibition had been passed but very few people actually folowed the law set by it. Women also started to rebel against the norm that had been set in previous years. They started to drink, they would cut thier hair shorter, and they would wear more revealing dresses.

The 1920's were basically a reaction to the end of the first world war. People started to take advantage of life because they realized it could end at any point. More lively and happy music came out of this feeling such as the music of louis armstrong .

Old money vs new money

The symolism of old vs new money represents our daily society. For example there are the people who are just born into a rich family and do not work a bit for any of there wealth such as the many sons or daughters of celebrities. Money is no use to them once they have all they can possibly want. The television show Two and a Half Men offered the character Charlie upwards of one million dollars per episode! That income many people would die for but for him it is of no use. So this relates directly to old vs new money in The Great Gatsby. The new money is the you people who have worked for their wealth and struggled and reciently came into fortune. These people may have been less "stuck up" because of their common appreciation of their experience of past difficult times.

Gatsby is part of the Old money on the East side but at the very edge of the dividing line. He lives next to Nick Carraway who knows Tom and Daisy who are also old money and Nick describes them as arrogant. This is ussually true those who have the most money are the most mean and unhappy people. Anyone can put on a smile but it doesn't mean it has to be genuine.