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The Great Gatsby

Submitted by smass489 on January 16, 2006

Category: English
Words: 1214 | Pages: 5
Views: 303
Popularity Rank: 45,313
Average Member Grade: N/A (Add a Comment / Grade this Paper)

One of the great ironies of life is that when one is young, he can't wait to grow up, but as soon as he is old, he just wants to be young again. The same immature and vain values that one has as a youth can hold true all through an individual's life. The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of a love suck Jay Gatsby in pursuit of his beau from youth, Daisy, who is now married to the rich and arrogant Tom Buchanan. Gatsby and Tom are two men who cannot get the happiness life can provide because they are both so obsessed with social standing and wealth. The desires, wishes, and hopes one feels on a daily basis should change as one grows older. Gatsby and Tom, although sharing similar immature and shallow values, live their lives according to what their immaturity is directed toward, which is a focus on the women and possessions that they once desired. This leads to both Tom and Gatsby to focus on a past ideal instead of trying to better their future lives.
Gatsby and Tom both use their money to obtain material possessions that boost their social standing and show off their wealth. Just like the 16 year old kids in school in 2005 showing off their new Nikes, Gatsby throws lavish parties showing off his wealth and naively thinking that this will make people like him and more importantly win him Daisy. Gatsby has this notion that simply being wealthy it will get him everything he wants. Of course, Daisy is a woman who has an extreme affinity for money. Gatsby's realization of this is what drives him to show off his wealth. The values of Tom and Gatsby can be seen clearly in the houses that they own. Gatsby's house, "a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden" (Fitzgerald 9) clearly shows how grandeur and wealth were important to Gatsby. Tom's house on the other hand is the classic...

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