Great Gatsby Essays (559 words) - The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby

Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its illusionary goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is central to many novels. This dream is different for different people, but in The Great Gatsby, for Jay, the dream is that through wealth and power, one can acquire happiness. To get this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream and in order to do this he must have wealth and power. Jay Gatsby, the central figure of the story, is one character who longs for the past. Surprisingly he devotes most of his adult life trying to recapture it and, finally, dies in its pursuit. In the past, Jay had a love affair with the affluent Daisy. Knowing he could not marry her because of the difference in their social status, he leaves her to amass wealth to reach her economic standards. Once he acquires this wealth, he moves near to Daisy, "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay," and throws extravagant parties, hoping by chance she might show up at one of them. He, himself, does not attend his parties but watches them from a distance. When this dream doesn't happen, he asks around casually if anyone knows her. Soon he meets Nick Carraway, a cousin of Daisy, who agrees to set up a meeting, "He wants to know...if you'll invite Daisy to your house some afternoon and then let him come over." Gatsby's personal dream symbolizes the larger American Dream where all have the opportunity to get what they want. Later, as we see in the Plaza Hotel, Jay still believes that Daisy loves him. He is convinced of this as is shown when he takes the blame for Myrtle's death. "Was Daisy driving?" "Yes...but of course I'll say I was." He also watches and protects Daisy as she returns home. "How long are you going to wait?" "All night if necessary." Jay cannot accept that the past is gone and done with. Jay is sure that he can capture his dream with wealth and influence. He believes that he acted for a good beyond his personal interest and that should guarantee success. Nick attempts to show Jay the folly of his dream, but Jay innocently replies to Nick's assertion that the past cannot be relived by saying, "Yes you can, old sport." This shows the confidence that Jay has in fulfilling his American Dream. For Jay, his dream is not material possessions, although it may seem that way. He only comes into riches so that he can fulfill his true dream, Daisy. Gatsby doesn't rest until his American Dream is finally fulfilled. However, it never comes about and he ends up paying the ultimate price for it. The idea of the American Dream still holds true in today's time, be it wealth, love, or fame. But one thing never changes about the American Dream; everyone desires something in life, and everyone, somehow, strives to get it. Gatsby is a prime example of pursuing the American Dream. It is a marvelously written story with multiple themes. It has been described as one of the best books to come out of the United States, and I cannot dispute this. It deals with the utter shallowness of society, and the morally corrupt underbelly of the rich and the powerful. This is an excellent story that is recommended who have the time to read it.

Ranching and Agriculture on the Frontier essays

Ranching and Agriculture on the Frontier essays Ranching and Agriculture on the Great Plains During the frontier days on the Great Plains there wee two dominant ways of life. Those ways of life were ranching and farming. Most people tend to believe that farming was a much better way of life, mostly due to ties of family and community life. These ways of life were in ways similar but also different in many aspects. Cattle ranching was a way of life that took a lot of land to sustain a number of cattle. This land was used fairly lightly and used creek beds as they were, which is a process called extensive farming. It took about ten to fifteen acres for every cow/calf unit that a rancher owned, which meant the more land that a person controlled the more cattle they could raise. The vast amounts of land controlled by ranchers led to the isolation of the families that ran them. Some ranches were hundreds of miles from the next place of settlement. Upper class ranchers were able to leave the ranch in the winter, but lower and middle class ranchers had to live there year round. This meant that kids had to be home-schooled. This led to a lot of the families not being able to get out and see anything other than their families and anyone else that happened to live on the ranch. Agriculture on the Great Plains was a very intense form of farming, this meant that farmers used smaller amounts of land heavily. Farmers also had to reroute the paths of creeks to irrigate their crops because of the semi-arid conditions. Farming was more of a family based operation in that as soon as children were old enough to help they did. Everyone that was able to help on the farm did. Farming also led to the development of towns because farmers needed a place to go and sell their crops that they had grown. Farming on the Great Plains was tough, considering the semi-arid climate, wind, and the light soil composition. These conditions led the Great Plains to get the nickname Next Ye...