Jealousy in The Great Gatsby:
F. Scott Fitzgerald tried to accent the point that money does not breed happiness. Money causes people to become envious, greedy, and jealous. It compels people to show a persona of arrogance and creates a haze of fog in the air of the world around them. They begin to become oblivious of the outside world and think of themselves as a higher being. This causes lack of acceptance for their responsibilities. I thing the author was also trying to show us that sometimes one can hold on to a dream for so long, and try so hard to achieve it that it can leave you in misery instead of happiness. Creating the reverse of it's intent.

F. Scott uses a color scheme to show many emotions of characters in this story. The ultimate factor for almost every action within the story is money, the color green. This color shows the envy, greed, and jealousy that make up this story. Green is not only the color of money and the color most notably associated with greed, but it is also the color of the light on Daisy's dock. The same dock light that Gatsby spent so many nights gazing at. This is no coincidence, F.S.F. wanted to express to his readers the symbolism behind the color. Gatsby envied Tom because he knew that Daisy needed a wealthy man to take care of her. And as he was building his wealth, Gatsby would look over the lake toward that green light with envy and await the day he would be good enough for Daisy.

The use of white, in reference to Daisy's wardrobe, symbolizes her laziness and uselessness within the story. She is completely devoid of any knowledge of the outside world, always lost in pointless thought. Something that I found quite apparent was her obviously shallow, money grubbing motives. For example, when she is taken into Gatsby's home for a tour, she is shown Gatsby's beautiful imported shirts. Daisy begins to cry, saying that these shirts are so beautiful. But what she is really expressing is her envy and jealousy of Gatsby's new riches and all of his elaborate material possessions.

One form of symbolism that I found very interesting was Scott's use of the billboard ad containing the huge eyes of one Dr. T.J. Eckleberg. He makes reference to them as if they were the eyes of God, overseeing the ash heap.

When Daisy runs over Myrtle, killing her, she does not get upset, nor does she make any effort to turn her self in for the crime. She seems as though she is oblivious to what is happening, just as Tom had been when Wilson mentioned that he knew Myrtle was having an affair. I enjoyed this reference because it seemed to give hope that the real persons guilty of killing Myrtle will one day be brought to justice by God. As God is the one thing that Tom and Daisy cannot buy or run away from.

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Gatsby's green light: Located at the end of the Buchanans' dock, this green light represents Gatsby's ultimate aspiration: to win Daisy's love. Nick's first vision of Gatsby is of his neighbor's trembling arms stretched out toward the green light . Later, after Daisy and Gatsby's successful reunion, a mist conceals the green light, visibly affecting Gatsby. Nick observes, "Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever....Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one" . This image suggests Gatsby realizes he must face the reality of Daisy, rather than the ideal he created for her.
The green light is a multi-faceted piece of symbolism in the book. It's most obvious interpretation is that the light is symbolic of Gatsby's longing for Daisy, but that is too simplistic. Daisy is part of it, but the green light means much more. Gatsby has spent his whole life longing for something better. Money, success, acceptance, and Daisy. And no matter how much he has he never feels complete. Even when he has his large house full of interesting people and all of their attention, he still longs for Daisy. He created in his dreams for the future a place for her, and he will not be content to have that gaping hole. So the green light stands for all of Gatsby's longings and wants. And when Nick talks about the green light at the end of the book he says "It eluded us then, but that's no matter- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch our arms out farther...." . He connects the green light to all people. Everyone has something that they long and search for that is just off in the distance.

The Great Gatsby: Old Money Versus New Money

Summary: Essay discusses the issue of old versus new money in "The Great Gatsby."

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F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his novel The Great Gatsby as a way to compare old and new money and to illustrate the lack of morals in those with old money. The main character, Jay Gatsby, representing Fitzgerald's personification of new money, makes his living selling alcohol illegally. He earns his money quickly and is now showing it off with fabulous parties in his oversized mansion in West Egg. Another character, Tom Buchanan, represents old money being the "scion of those ruthless generations who raised up the great American fortunes." Both act out their dreams. Gatsby's is to get Daisy while Tom's is to completely possess Daisy as well as to appear as a well-rounded intellectual. Tom and others in his class inherited their money and live elegantly in East Egg.

(http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2004/5/15/141559/670)

DAN CODY :

He is first introduced in Chapter 6 of "The Great Gatsby", where he meets Jake Gaz, or Jay Gatsby, the name Cody gives him. Dan Cody is Gatsby's first look into how the rich life could be and this is where he first realizes that his dream is to become a rich man. Mister Cody takes Gatsby as a personal assistant, which is basically Gatsby taking care of mister Cody while he is rip roaring drunk. After Dan Cody passes he leaves 25,000 dollars to Jay, however he is unable to touch this money due to Cody's mistress. Dan Cody represents a fatherly figure when the book flashes back to Mr. Gatsby's life and is his source of inspiration before he was a rich man.

Character Analysis : Jay Gatsby's legal name is James Gatz. The specific moment when he decided to change it, when he was 17, was also the moment that began his career. Dan Cody had a very big part in this moment of Gatsby's life. James Gatz had been walking along the beach in a "torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants," but it was in fact, Jay Gatsby that interacted with Cody on that momentous day. Dan Cody's yacht dropped anchor over the most "insidious flat" on Lake Superior. When Gatsby saw this, he borrowed a rowboat, and pulled out to where Cody was on the water and warned him that the "wind might catch him and break him up in half an hour." Cody a product of the Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, of every rush. The transactions in Montana copper made Cody a great millionaire. Cody was softminded, and naive, and many young women took advantage of this. One woman in particular, Ella Kaye, a newspaper woman, took advantage of his weakness. Over the next few years, Gatsby was steward, mate, skipper, secretary and even jailer for Dan Cody, and was very trusted by him. Through all of this, Dan Cody had an insatiable thirst for alcohol and drank continuously. Upon the return of Ella Kaye one night in Boston, Dan Cody "inhospitably died." Dan Cody did influence Gatsby in many ways; most importantly, watching Cody's excessive drinking, made Gatsby drink very little. A portrait of Cody hangs on Gatsby's wall.

info provided by: http://www.fcps.edu/westspringfieldhs/academic/english/1project/99gg/99gg2/charlis2.htm

East Egg vs. West Egg:In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerarld the division between the "newly" rich and the "old" rich can be described as East Eggers vs West Eggers. East Egg and West Egg are "identical in contour and separated only by a courtesy bay ... They are not perfect ovals ... but their physical resemblance must be a source of perpetual wonder to the gulls that fly overhead. To the wingless a more interesting phenomenon their dissimilarity in every particular except shape and size."East Egg is the fashionable group of social elite, also known as "old money" or people who have always had money. Tom and Daisy represent the 'old establishment', having lived in the wealthy upper class for most of their lives. Daisy is consumed by the materialistic values associated with her 'social class'. These people are shallow and lack values. They are careless and completely consumed with themselves, which is shown through Jordan Baker. She is a professional golfer who makes the comment that people should be careful of her when she drives. Also Daisy hits Myrtle, and does not even turn around to see if she is okay, all she is concerned with is the dealing with the consequences. "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together." The social elite of EastEgg are inhuman; they are spoiled to such an extent that their morality has been twisted. Although these are clearly "bad" people they are envied and copied constantly by the West eggers. Throughout the novel it seems to be the West are trying to fit in the East, but East eggers, like Tom and Daisy, feel that they are too sophisticated to take part in that.West Eggers are the newly rich; the people who have worked hard and earned their money in a short period of time. Their wealth is based on material possessions. Gatsby, like the West Eggers, lacks the traditions of the East Eggers. He is considered 'new money', in the sense that his wealth came to him more recently through his business dealings (which we are led to believe are corrupt). Although Gatsby is now a part of this class, his faith and belief in the success of his dreams has allowed him to preserve some morality. Despite the fact Gatsby made his fortune in a corrupt fashion one must recognize that he is someone to admire because of his hopes. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, lives in West Egg and exhibits honesty in this place of superficiality. Clearly the West represents the more moral of the two. Although West Egg is the more moral, it is still a place of superficiality, excessive spending, and gaudy living.Both of the eggs are people who love money, the difference is how they obtained that money and the way it has shaped their lives.

all information provided by :http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2006/5/23/94857/9061

The Mafia in America

At first the American Mafia ignored this new business opportunity. Steeped in the traditions of the Sicilian "honored society," which absolutely forbade involvement in either narcotics or prostitution, the Mafia left the heroin business to the powerful Jewish gangsters-such as "Legs" Diamond, "Dutch" Schultz, and Meyer Lansky-who dominated organized crime in the 1920s. The Mafia contented itself with the substantial profits to be gained from controlling the bootleg liquor industry.(8)However, in 1930-1931, only seven years after heroin was legally banned, a war erupted in the Mafia ranks. Out of the violence that left more than sixty gangsters dead came a new generation of leaders with little respect for the traditional code of honor."


Image: Salvatore Lucania, alias Lucky Luciano.

The leader of this mafioso youth movement was the legendary Salvatore C. Luciana, known to the world as Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Charming and strikingly handsome, Luciano must rank as one of the most brilliant criminal executives of the modern age. For, at a series of meetings shortly following the last of the bloodbaths that completely eliminated the old guard, Luciano outlined his plans for a modern, nationwide crime cartel. His modernization scheme quickly won total support from the leaders of America's twenty-four Mafia "families," and within a few months the National Commission was functioning smoothly. This was an event of historic proportions: almost singlehandedly, Luciano built the Mafia into the most powerful criminal syndicate in the United States and pioneered organizational techniques that are still the basis of organized crime today. Luciano also forged an alliance between the Mafia and Meyer Lansky's Jewish gangs that has survived for almost 40 years and even today is the dominant characteristic of organized crime in the United States.

With the end of Prohibition in sight, Luciano made the decision to take the Mafia into the lucrative prostitution and heroin rackets. This decision was determined more by financial considerations than anything else. The predominance of the Mafia over its Jewish and Irish rivals had been built on its success in illegal distilling and rumrunning. Its continued preeminence, which Luciano hoped to maintain through superior organization, could only be sustained by developing new sources of income.
(http://www.drugtext.org/library/books/McCoy/book/07.htm)

GANGSTERS OF THE 1920's :
Capone Was Chicago

In the public eye, the gangster represents urban life: the streetwise, self-made man.

In the 20's, New York and Chicago were the major capitalist urban hubs of American society and organized crime.

Both were cities of stark contrasts between extreme wealth and abject poverty.

For many in the early 1920's business was booming, and Al Capone and other famous gangsters and bootleggers ran their respective cities like puppet masters.

Capone was the poster-boy of the media and he loved the attention.

He was the true rags to riches story that has been the plotline in one too many gangster movies throughout the years. In his time, however, Capone’s fame was still a novelty.

As prohibition progressed Capone's fame, reputation, and influence grew, thanks in large part to his own public relations policy.

Al was the ultimate showman.
Dressed in classic gangster wear, sporting a diamond ring the size of a golf ball, and usually good for a quote or two, Capone conspired in his fame like few others could.

Raw, articulate, and aggressive, Capone molded the public's perception of famous gangsters as if from clay.

(http://www.1920s-fashion-and-music.com/famous-gangsters.html)

An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmaster of ever afterwards.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald


F(rancis) Scott (Key) Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
American short-story writer and novelist, known for his depictions of the Jazz Age (the 1920s). With the glamorous Zelda Sayre (1900-48), Fitzgerald lived a colorful life of parties and money-spending. At the beginning of one of his stories Fitzgerald wrote the rich "are different from you and me". This privileged world he depicted in such novels as THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED (1922) and THE GREAT GATSBY (1925), which is widely considered Fitzgerald's finest novel.

"It was my first inkling that he was a writer. And while I like writers - because if you ask a writer anything, you usually get an answer - still it belittled him in my eyes. Writers aren't people exactly. Or, if they're any good, they're a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person. It's like actors, who try so pathetically not to look in mirrors. Who lean backward trying - only to see their faces in the reflecting chandeliers." (from The Last Tycoon, 1941)
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.

Fitzgerald started to write at St. Paul Academy. His first published story, 'The Mystery of the Raymond Mortgage' appeared in 1909 in Now and Then. Fitzgerald entered in 1913 Princeton University, where he failed to become a football hero. He left his studies in 1917 because of his poor academic records, and took up a commission in the US Army. His experiences during World War I were more peaceful than Hemingway's - he never saw action and even did not go to France. The Romantic Egoist, a novel started in Princeton, was returned from Scribner's with an encouraging letter.

Demobilised in 1919, Fitzgerald worked briefly in New York for an advertising agency. His first story, 'Babes in the Wood,' was published in The Smart Set. Fitzgerald received from it thirty dollars and bought with the money a pair of white flannels. The turning point in his life was when he met in 1918 Zelda Sayre, herself as aspiring writer, and married her in 1920. In the same year appeared Fitzgerald's first novel, THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, in which he used material from The Romantic Egoist. Its hero, Amory Blaine, studies in Princeton, serves in WW I in France. At the end of the story he finds that his own egoism has been the cause of his unhappiness. The book gained success which the Fitzgeralds celebrated energetically in parties. Zelda danced on people's dinner tables. Doors opened for Fitzgerald into literary magazines, such as Scribner's and The Saturday Evening Post, which published his stories, among them 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.'

Fitzgerald's debts started to grow, and Zelda discovered that she was pregnant - the baby was born in 1921. Fitzgerald met in Paris Joyce who said: "That young man must be mad - I'm afraid he'll do himself some injury." The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald's second novel, depicted Anthony Patch, an intelligent, sensitive but weak man. He spends his grandfather's money in drinking. In the end of the novel he has lost with his wife, Gloria, illusions of beauty and truth. The work was less well received and in 1924 Fitzgerald moved to Europe. There he associated with such writers as Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. 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.

The setting of The Great Gatsby is New York City and Long Island during the 1920s. Nick Carraway, the narrator, works as a bond broker in Manhattan. He becomes involved in the life of his neighbor at Long Island , Jay Gatsby, shady and mysterious financier, who is entertaining hundreds of guests at lavish parties. Gatsby reveals to Nick, that he and Nick's cousin Daisy Fay Buchanan, had a brief affair before the war. However, Daisy married Tom Buchanan, a rich but boring man of social position. Gatsby lost Daisy because he had no money, but he is still in love with her. He persuades Nick to bring him and Daisy together again. "You can't repeat the past," Nick says to him. Gatsby tries to convince Daisy to leave Tom, who, in turn, reveals that Gatsby has made his money from bootlegging. "They're a rotten bunch," Nick shouts to Gatsby. "You're worth the whole damn bunch put together." Daisy, driving Gatsby's car, hits and kills Tom's mistress, Myrtle Wilson, unaware of her identity. Gatsby remains silent to protect Daisy. Tom tells Myrtle's husband it was Gatsby who killed his wife. Wilson murders Gatsby and then commits suicide. Nick is left to arrange Gatsby's funeral, attended only Gatsby's father and one former guest.
all information provivded by (http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fsfitzg.htm)

The Great Gatsby is a 1974 American romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on the novel of the same title 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 Waterston as the viewpoint character, and Lois Chiles with Howard Da Silva, Roberts Blossom, and Edward Herrmann.
(www.wikianswers.com)

Overview
User Rating:
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MOVIEmeter:
Down 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Jack Clayton
Writers:
Francis Ford Coppola (screenplay)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (novel)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Great Gatsby on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
29 March 1974 (USA) See more »
Genre:
Drama | Romance See more »
Tagline:
Gone is the romance that was so divine.
Plot:
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor... See more » | Add synopsis »
Plot Keywords:
See more »
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 3 nominations
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071577/)

What was it like to live in the 1920's? Learn about Flappers, Fashion, Music, Politics, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the following Depression years.

Discover what it was like to live under Prohibition or how to dance the Charleston.

View the rapid progress made in transportation by automobiles, trains, ocean liners, airships and aeroplanes. All this and more can be found on 1920-30.com.


The information, taken largely from books and periodicals of the period, captures how life was in the U.S.A and the World during the 1920's - a time that is often referred to as the "Roaring Twenties" - a boisterous period characterized by rapidly changing lifestyles, financial excesses, and the fast pace of technological progress.

It was a time of conservatism, it was a time of great social change. From the world of fashion to the world to politics, forces clashed to produce the most explosive decade of the century.
In music, the three sounds were jazz, jazz, and jazz. The Jazz Age came about with artist like Bessie Smith and Duke Ellington. Youth ruled everything. From the young styles of dress to the latest celebrities. If it was young, it was the thing.

It was the age of prohibition, it was the age of prosperity, and it was the age of downfall. It was the age of everything, and you'll find [almost] everything here. Thank you for visiting our site.
(http://www.angelfire.com/co/pscst/)

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The "Younger Generation":

The "Younger Generation" was breaking away from the old set of values. This led into the era of flappers.

The "Flapper"

The term "flapper" first appeared in Great Britain after World War I. It was there used to describe young girls, still somewhat awkward in movement who had not yet entered womanhood. In the June 1922 edition of the Atlantic Monthly, G. Stanley Hall described looking in a dictionary to discover what the evasive term "flapper" meant:

[T]he dictionary set me right by defining the word as a fledgling, yet in the nest, and vainly attempting to fly while its wings have only pinfeathers; and I recognized that the genius of 'slanguage' had made the squab the symbol of budding girlhood.

Flapper Image

The Flappers' image consisted of drastic - to some, shocking - changes in women's clothing and hair. Nearly every article of clothing was trimmed down and lightened in order to make movement easier.

It is said that girls "parked" their corsets when they were to go dancing.⁷ The new, energetic dances of the Jazz Age, required women to be able to move freely, something the "ironsides" didn't allow. Replacing the pantaloons and corsets were underwear called "step-ins."

The outer clothing of flappers is even still extremely identifiable. This look, called "garconne" ("little boy"), was instigated by Coco Chanel.⁸ To look more like a boy, women tightly wound their chest with strips of cloth in order to flatten it.⁹ The waists of flapper clothes were dropped to the hipline. She wore stockings - made of rayon ("artificial silk") starting in 1923 - which the flapper often wore rolled over a garter belt.( all info provided by: http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm)

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PROHIBITION DOCUMENTARY

all info provided by: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiYqFXmVAFg

Prohibition in the United States.

During Prohibition, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages were restricted or illegal. Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. Instead, Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; organized crime blossomed; courts and prisons systems became overloaded; and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred.
Some people ask , "why prohibition?", when all it did was increase alcohol consumption.Prohibition in the United States was a measure designed to reduce drinking by eliminating the businesses that manufactured, distributed, and sold alcoholic beverages. The Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took away license to do business from the brewers, distillers, vintners, and the wholesale and retail sellers of alcoholic beverages. The leaders of the prohibition movement were alarmed at the drinking behavior of Americans, and they were concerned that there was a culture of drink among some sectors of the population that, with continuing immigration from Europe, was spreading.The prohibition movement's strength grew, especially after the formation of the Anti-Saloon League in 1893. The League, and other organizations that supported prohibition such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, soon began to succeed in enacting local prohibition laws. Eventually the prohibition campaign was a national effort.

What started the movement prohibition?The temperance movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries was an organized effort to encourage moderation in the consumption of intoxicating liquors or press for complete abstinence. The movement's ranks were mostly filled by women who, with their children, had endured the effects of unbridled drinking by many of their menfolk. In fact, alcohol was blamed for many of society's demerits, among them severe health problems, destitution and crime. At first, they used moral suasion to address the problem.

Temperance efforts existed in antiquity, but the movement really came into its own as a reaction to the pervasive use of distilled beverages in modern times.

All information provided by:

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1054.html

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

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/prohibition-in-the-1920s.html