Selfishness

Selfish people always seem to want everything for themselves. They never care about anybody else’s feelings or problems, they are in it to benefit them self. Like in basketball, when a player hogs the ball he tries to do all the work himself without using his other teammates. He is being selfish by hogging the ball. When people tend to be selfish, others tend to not be as attracted to the person, thinking they are stuck up. In the great Gatsby daisy and tom seem to be selfish people. Tom is selfish in the way he only wants daisy to himself, yet he can go mess around with other women thinking its ok. Daisy is also selfish though in the way she talks about the things she has or the things she wants. Whatever either of them wanted they always got. Gatsby on the other hand was far from selfish. He would always have parties, having people over he never invited. Even though they were uninvited Gatsby would still treat them as if they were invited personally by him. When daisy came over to nick’s house for tea, Gatsby ordered flowers to be placed in nicks home to make it look more furnished and house warming. Most of the things Gatsby did were to benefit other and to make others happy. When daisy was driving the car and hit myrtle Gatsby took the blame for her and ended up getting shot by Mr. Wilson. When people seem to have money and have a higher prestige then others, they seem to be more selfish with things, then if a person were to make his money from hard work and come up from a lower class.

sources:

http://www.enotes.com/great-gatsby/q-and-a/what-theme-selfishness-great-gatsby-how-similar-22863

The “green light” is not only a light at the end of daisy's dock at her house in east egg. To most people the green light would mean a warning sign to watch out for the dock, making sure nobody would crash into it. To Gatsby though, it was a sign of hope. Gatsby lived in west egg across the river from daisy's house. From Gatsby's lawn at night you could see the green light brightening up it surroundings. Gatsby planned to move into a house across the river from daisy. Every step he could take that would get him closer to being with daisy he would take. The green light was Gatsby's inspiration to keep pursuing daisy. It gave him hope that one day daisy and he would be reunited and everything would go back to how it was before Gatsby had left for the war. The light would lead him to his goal. The closer he was to the light the closer he was to daisy. Towards the end of the book nick also uses the green light as an example of early settlers seeking America seeing a light on Americas coast and perusing towards it keeping there hopes and dreams alive.

The women of gatsby

Women in The Great Gatsby are very materialistic, such as Daisy and Jordan baker. They were raised in very prestige families and have never once worried about money. Growing up around all the money gave them cockiness when they would talk about buying certain things and talking about things they already own. They were very judgmental on stuck up around many of the people they hung out with but didn’t really know, for example at Gatsby’s party. Daisy and Jordan were also very scandalous, daisy played Tom with Gatsby, and Jordan tried to play nick. But luckily for nick he learned from Gatsby's mistakes and stopped her right in her tracks. Myrtle on the other hand was not raised in a wealthy family nor married a rich man. She married Wilson who owned a repair shop in the valley of ashes. Myrtle always dreamed about being rich and living a wealthy life and when she met tom her dream came true. She started becoming materialistic and tom was getting her anything she wanted. She always wanted to have a good reputation and know all the wealthy and successful friends of tom. Myrtle would become extremely jealous of daisy thought because daisy was tom’s wife. She wanted to live the great life daisy was living unfortunately, by tradition, the rich never married the poor because instead of staying wealthy they would begin to lose money and become poor. Out of jealousy, ironically, when myrtle thought she saw daisy in the car with tom she ran out and tried to stop them, but instead gets ran over by a car driven by daisy but with Gatsby in the car. Myrtle was also scandalous though because she played Wilson, her husband, with tom. Wilson soon found out about it, but had no idea it was with one of his close friend, tom. The women in the great Gatsby were all scandalous and only wanted a man who had money, and if they had the money they were cocky and thought they were better then everyone else.

Sources:

Fitzgerald Scott F. "The Great Gatsby" New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1925

The Men of Gatsby

There are two types of men in Gatsby, you have the Mr. Tough guy tom, and you also have the ladies man Gatsby. Tom is a muscular man, who doesn’t care what others think of him. He is very intimating and if he asks for something to be done he expects it. He doesn’t treat women, or in this case daisy and myrtle, as they should be treated. He treats them as if they were his dog and he was the owner. Tom cheats on daisy numerous amounts of times knowing that he can get away with it because daisy lets him do such. While myrtle and tom are out in New York in a party myrtle screams out daisy’s name. He slaps her, as if he has anger issues, making he shut up and chill out. Slapping her across the face was like locking your dog up in a cage for digging a whole where it was not suppose to, so that next time they will know the consequences of their actions. Gatsby represents the nice guy that every girl dreams about. He treats a woman how she should be treated and would never in his life cheat on her if they were in a relationship. Gatsby and nick both have very similar personalities but the only difference is, nick knew when something was over he “got the clue.” Gatsby throughout the book is trying to bring back his past relationships with daisy after she had already moved on and married another man tom. Jordan and nick end up breaking things off and when they meet up again in the future nick realizes what they had is over and leaves there relationship status as “just friends.” Gatsby was also the romantic type. He always made sure everything was perfect for daisy. And he always knew if something was wrong. He was a great listener and only spoke when something needed to be said. Unlike tom Gatsby was very respectful and had great morals. They both were wealthy and successful, but Gatsby was more humble about it.

Dan Cody

If it was not for Dan Cody, James Gatsby would have never strived to become wealthy and successful. While Gatsby was fishing for salmon and searching for clams on his job at Lake Superior, he came across a yacht out on the water and felt the need to warn him about an incoming storm that was headed there way. Gatsby hopped on a row boat to give him the message. Dan Cody was a wealthy copper business man. Dan Cody was very thankful of Gatsby and gave him the nickname “jay” Gatsby. Dan hired Gatsby to be his personal assistant. They would travel the sea from the Barbary Coast to the West Indies. Throughout all the adventures they had, Gatsby fell in love with the wealth and luxurious life. Even though Gatsby was a bootlegger, Gatsby knew the health dangers of being drunk all the time and never became a heavy drinker. Gatsby watched Dan Cody drink constantly and it was as if Gatsby became Dan Cody’s care giver when he was too wasted to take care of himself. When Dan Cody died, he left Gatsby with 25,000 dollars, but due to Dan Cody’s mistress she was able to prevent Gatsby from having one cent of it. Because of Dan Cody, Gatsby dedicated to himself he would become a wealthy and successful man.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He had mixed southern and Irish descent in him, which possibly could have been the reason for his radical drinking habits in the 1920’s. His fathers name was Edward Fitzgerald who worked as a salesman down south. This southern gentleman unfortunately lost his furniture business leaving Mary McQuillan, his mother, is charge of all the family expenses. She worked as a whole sale grocer, which while F. Scott Fitzgerald was growing up, moved several times until finally settling down in St Paul in 1918. Just turning 18, F. Scott Fitzgerald fell in love with Ginevra King who was only 16 years-old. In “The Great Gatsby” the character daisy represents ginevra as the young rich girl with no intensions of marrying a man who is less of importance in society then herself. In 1917 F. Scott Fitzgerald drops out of his academic studies and leaves for the military because of his poor grades. While serving for the army F. Scott Fitzgerald never was involved in the actions over seas in France. When the war was over, he ended up meeting a lady by the name of Zelda Sayre, who was an aspiring writer. This was the turning point in his life. The book that F. Scott Fitzgerald is most famous for Is the “The Great Gatsby” published in 1925. F. Scott Fitzgerald received excellent reviews on his book but did not make the money he was expecting to make off of it. Throughout his life, F. Scott Fitzgerald became dependent on alcohol and while his wife Zelda was in the hospital each break down Fitzgerald would have of drinking, would lessen her recovery. F. Scott Fitzgerald died in Hollywood on December 21, 1940. Zelda died 8 years later in 1948

Unrequited Love

Unrequited love is when a man or woman is still in love with another person, but the person they have feelings for doesn’t feel the same way. In most cases, the relationship was ended, not because they wanted to but, because it was impossible to keep seeing each other. Unrequited love is awkward no matter what. An example of unrequited love can be when you and a girl are really good friends, but you want it to be more then just that. Even though you want it to be more then what it already is, she may feel different about the whole situation and only want to be “just friends.” Even thought the girl might have been flirty and giving off the vibe that she wanted more then just a friendship, you have to be for sure that it is something you both want. And if you began to make steps into making it a more then “just friends” relationship, she may think you’re crossing the boundaries ruining anything you ever had with her. In The Great Gatsby unrequited love is one of the many themes. Jay Gatsby, ever since he and daisy were separated, devoted to himself that he would make things between him and her as they use to be. He bought a house across the river from daisy mansion, dreaming that one day they could be together like before he went to the war. While Gatsby was fighting in the war, daisy had no choice but to give up hope on what they had and move on with her life. She met Tom and they soon married. When Gatsby got back from the war, he did whatever he had to do to get daisy back. He used Nick, Daisy cousin, to get in touch with Daisy. While Gatsby and Daisy were becoming close again, Gatsby was getting the feeling that Daisy felt the same way towards him and wanted things like they use to be. Little did he know, daisy just wanted to be friends and nothing more, because even though she did love Gatsby, she didn’t love him like the love they had before the war. Gatsby went to the extremes telling Tom that Daisy never loved him and daisy only wanted him, putting Daisy in an awkward position with her husband. In the end Gatsby didn’t end up getting what he long dreamed for, Daisy, and everyone moved on with their lives. Fortunately for Nick, after he met up with Jordan after their argument and breaking up, Nick learns from Gatsby’s mistakes and doesn’t go back to her even though he loved her.

Sources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-unrequited-love.htm

Mafia/Gangsters

In the 1920’s the mafia and its gangsters were known by their fashion, fame, money, and girls. Unlike today the gangster is known for their trashy sense of fashion, their disrespect for women, and lack of funds, doing whatever they need to do to make life a little bit more comfortable. In 1920 a gangster in the streets could be recognized by their tailored suits and expensive accessories. Gangsters in the 1920’s were so respected that they became America’s icons of a self-made-man. The most famous gangsters of the 1920’s were Capone, Luciano, Moran, and Schultz. Every gangster had a classy nickname that they would use when people referred to them. One of the most famous nicknames was “Scarface” which was Capone’s. Many regular day people became gangsters or joined mafia’s in order to achieve the American dream everyone always fantasizes about. When prohibition went into effect in 1919, many of the gangsters went from beating people and robbing them to being in an organized mob integrating themselves throughout popular cities such as Chicago and Detroit (also cities mentioned in The Great Gatsby by Jay Gatsby). Many of the mafia leaders made millions off of bootlegging and supplying alcohol to speakeasies. For the mafia’s bootlegging became one of the successful businesses in the prohibition era. When prohibition ended, many mafias turned to prostitution. The mafia began to see heroin being the next lucrative substance to smuggle and sell in the United States. With heroin growing popular, many of the mafias turned their hookers into heroin addicts. They would instill in their head that the only way to make money for the heroin was to sell there body on the street and give their pimp all the money, knowing that he would take care of the addiction.

SOURCES:
http://www.1920s-fashion-and-music.com/1920s-gangsters.html
http://www.drugtext.org/library/books/McCoy/book/07.htm

New money: is money worked hard for. Most people that make new money are hard devoted workers who know the value of a dollar. People who earn new money come from a family who always had to work for what they wanted in life. Nothing was ever given to them. In the great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby came from a poor family. He met a man named Dan Cody who showed him the importance of working hard. Unfortunately Dan Cody dies and Gatsby is left on his own. Gatsby joins the army and attends a upper class college, oxford, in England while in the service. Gatsby learned to be a business man and with his great people skills he becomes a bootlegger in the United States. He becomes very successful in this and makes a lot of money.

Old money: is money inherited from a family member. People that inherit old money usually never had to work to hard for anything. Everything was just handed to them on a silver platter. Usually the rich marry the rich so they can keep their wealth and not have to worry about working or doing anything for themselves. They are very greedy and selfish. They don’t care for anyone’s well doing except for themselves. They live in the world where money buys them happiness. In The Great Gatsby daisy and tom inherited old money and never worried about a thing. Gatsby describes daisy voice as “full of money” (Fitzgerald 120). This meaning that daisy’s attitude was somewhat stuck up in a way she had no care in the world for the price of any materialistic item.

SOURCES:

Fitzgerald Scott F. "The Great Gatsby" New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1925 chapter 7

Daft Charleston -- Perfectly Synced

1920's

The Great Gatsby takes place throughout the 1920’s. Many of the characters in the book express how the upcoming generation viewed things and how they handled different situations, such as getting around prohibition. The nickname “roaring twenties” became popular because after World War I, the United States Economy sky rocketed from consumers looking to spend their money. One of the greatest inventions, still used to this day, was the radio. In the 1920’s Televisions were none existing and the Radio was the must have. The radio played comedies, jazz music, live events, and even had news. During the 1920’s penicillin and the insulin for diabetes were discovered, which led to even greater scientific breakthroughs in the future. Movies with sound also became very popular with America. Many Americans were use to movies with no sound, but during the 1920’s movie sound was invented along with 3-D motion pictures. Many of the younger Americans became rebellious against old taboos. They expressed their independency through many different ways such as dancing and the style they dressed. The Charleston became one of the most popular dances at dance clubs and local parties. Other dances like the fox trot and shimmy were preformed by the younger Americans. Women, who cut their hair short and curly, wore short dresses and smoked cigarettes, became known as flappers. The United States also passed the 18th amendment allowing women to have equal voting rights as men. The 1920’s was a profound century until 1929 the stock market crashed and the United States fell into the Great Depression

Sources:

http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/decade/1920.htm

Jealousy

Jealousy is an emotional feeling of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, such as a relationship, friendship, or love. Jealousy works together with some emotions such as anger, sadness, and disgust. Jealousy is most common when a female likes a male but cannot have the male because the male likes or is with another girl. Another way could be maybe your girlfriend noticed you checking out another girl. She would become upset at you because she is angry that you are not checking her out. In the great Gatsby myrtle becomes jealous of daisy at a party in New York and screams daisy name until tom shuts her up. Jealousy can also be when you wish you had somebody else’s body. If you were fat, and you saw a guy with a 6 pack you would be jealous because you wish you looked like him. Girls always get jealous of other girls because the other girl gets a man that they want. Jealousy is mostly caused by emotions. The more you let your emotions show the more jealous you may get.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jealousy

Prohibition

Prohibition was started in the United States with hope that it would lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, and improve health and hygiene in America. Instead it backfired on the government causing crime rates to sky rocket, over populating prisons. It began on January 16th 1920 when the 18th amendment went into effect. Even though alcohol was banned, many people still consumed it in “speakeasies” or other underground private bars. Since alcohol could not be legally brought into America many people smuggled it in from Canada. The people who smuggled the alcohol to the United States became known as bootleggers. Even though it was illegal, doctors could prescribe alcohol to patients making it legal. Just like how in today’s world people can legally smoke marijuana if they have a medical prescription from a doctor. Over a million gallons of alcohol was consumed legally through freely given prescriptions. Even the national government had their own bootlegged liquor in their possession. Buying the alcohol illegally would mean buying it from the gangsters who ran the bootlegging business, putting money in the gangster’s pockets, instead of back into the economy. When Franklin D Roosevelt ran for president in 1932 he promised to abolish the 18th amendment with the 21st amendment. Making the consumption of alcohol legal again.

Sources:
http://www.1920-30.com/prohibition/

Flappers

The ideal flapper was “lovely, expensive, and about nineteen.” Flappers were young ladies in the 1920’s who were rebellious with the way they dressed and the way they acted. Flappers seemed to cling to youth as if it were to leave them at any moment. The flappers would marry at a later age. They would also smoke and consume alcohol in public places. Most commonly in speakeasies, because during the 1920’s prohibition was illegal. Flappers became known for their careless lifestyles. Instead of wearing long dresses the flappers would wear short shapeless knee high dresses, making it easier for the women to dance to the new aged music jazz. They wanted to be more independent and have similar rights as the men, so they would dress more man-like. The flappers took risks and with that soon became able to vote with the men. Flappers kept their hair short and curly, known as the “bob”. With a hair style like that the girls would wear a bell shaped hat called the “cloche.” Women got the name flappers because when they would walk with galoshes on, they would keep them unbuckled causing them to make a flapping noise.

Sources:
Jackie Hatton, "Flappers," St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, 2000.

East Egg vs West Egg

East Egg: East egg is like laguna hills, where most young adults revieve inheritance from there grandparents or parents. They never have to work hard for their money because their mothers and fathers were rich and spoiled their kids. When kids are raised not knowing the importance of the value of the dollar, it makes them careless on how they spend it and save it. With money people like to buy their way through things instead of working hard and handling the responsibility that most people have to endure. Like east egg, Many of the characters dont know the true value of the dollar and how to work for it because everything was just given to them through out their life.

West Egg: West egg is more in resemblance to hollywood. Most stars have worked their way to the top and have experienced the hardships to get to where they are at. Even though at times they probley just wanted to give up, or wished it was just handed to them on a sliver platter they worked hard to become what they are. Gatsby worked hard to move into West Egg, and what seperates him from the East Eggers is that he has morals on how to save his money and spend it wisely. West Eggers were all hard workers because they were the newly rich. most looked to East Egg as a leader because they wanted to fit in.

In my opinion i would rather live in West egg, because i would rather save my money and spend it when i needed to spend it. Being materialistic to me is like throwing money away, and many of the east eggers are materialistic. i would rather buy a shirt from a thrift store then from a name brand store. its not like people look at the price of the shirt and judge whether its cool or not. Most stores sell the same T-shirt designs but with a little difference to obey trademark policies. nobody would know the diffrence its not like your telling everyone where u bought it from. and if you wanted to sound cool maybe tell them its a secret shop you found out about

SOURCES:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://pimage6.homesandland.com/image/A01A/6/60/A01A661606.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.homesandland.com/Real_Estate/CA/City/Laguna_Hills/Page.html&usg=__L5-PZ6vcNKrcuDQiakF3gxxUEjM=&h=400&w=600&sz=33&hl=en&start=124&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=e_o9iMMwYeTlpM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlaguna%2Bhills%26start%3D108%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://coachesafrica.com/images/news/ist2_5461980-success-road-sign.jpg&imgrefurl=http://coachesafrica.com/newsdetails.php%3Fid%3D40&usg=__PZY9M2HxQaYNavuQL3iKt6EXNUc=&h=304&w=380&sz=32&hl=en&start=11&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=XE3c-hTRWdvMvM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwork%2Bhard%2Bfor%2Bthe%2Bthings%2Byou%2Bwant%2Bin%2Blife%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26tbs%3Disch:1

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.maggieandannie.com/Web/HollywoodSign2.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.maggieandannie.com/Web/Main.htm&usg=__lR-utoUmKwq-X22L25Sofe7TNnU=&h=300&w=476&sz=36&hl=en&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=V6uG6gySDiXS9M:&tbnh=81&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhollywood%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1

Fitzgerald Scott F. "The Great Gatsby" New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1925 chapters 1-3