Old Money vs New Money

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are issues between West Egg and East Egg. West Egg represents represents the newly rich such as Mr. Gatsby. East Egg represents the people who inherited their money from there family.

Fitzgerald represents the newly rich as being vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, and lacking in social graces and taste. Most of the people who are newly rich get there money because they sell alcohol illegally. Gatsby shows off his new money by throwing lots of parties and inviting a lot of people to them.

He portrays the old money as being graceful, tasteful, subtle, and elegant. They are more reserved then the new money and don't throw giant parties. Some people who are considered old money is Tom and Daisy. Tom likes to control things with his money such as Daisy and Myrtle.

sources- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Dan Cody

Although Dan Cody is only mentioned briefly in chapter six, he has played a large role in Mr. Gatsby's life. He is the reason Gatsby was able to travel after the war and have a decent job. Dan Cody is also who inspired him to become sucessful in life and live a life of luxury not necessity. Cody is very fond of Gatsby upon first meeting and is very generous with him.

Gatsby was working as a janitor for a college to pay for his school tuition, however he hated the embarrassment of this job so he left to work on Lake Superior. His job included fishing for salmon and digging for clams in the area. One day while working, Gatsby saw Dan Cody's yacht out on the water when there was a storm headed for Superior. Gatsby got on a boat and rowed out to Mr. Cody's to warn him about the storm when he invited Gatsby onto the boat. He became his personal assistant and traveled with him wherever he went. He bought Gatsby some new nice clothes and gave him a taste of a life of luxury which Gatsby quickly fell in love with. Gatsby's name prior to meetine Cody was James Gatz which Cody gave him the name of Jay Gatsby. Mr. Cody was a millionaire and when he died he left Gatsby $25,000.

Once Gatsby discovered the lifestyle Dan Cody lives, he is determined to do the same. After losing Daisy to the fact that he was a poor man at the time has a great deal to do with his determination to being rich. He does whatever it takes to become wealthy even if that means doing it illegally. Gatsby comes into money by selling alcohol illegally in 1920s which was the time period of prohibition.

sources: sparknotes.com

The Women of Gatsby

Some of the women in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald are Daisy, Jordan, and Myrtle. Daisy is married to Tom who she married mainly for his money but does actually love him. Daisy is Nick's cousin and seems to mess around with Nick a lot. She likes to joke around and have a good time. When she was younger she fell for Gatsby but as soon as he left she married Tom.

Jordan is one of Daisy and Tom's friends who is always in the middle of their marriage. She tells Nick about the affairs Tom and Daisy have. Jordan is a professional golf player who is very popular and well known by lots of people. Daisy and Tom want Jordan to marry Nick and Jordan eventually starts to like Nick after awhile. Jordan seems to know Gatsby pretty well and introdues Nick to him.

Myrtle is an average women who is having an affair with Tom. She is married to a someone who owns a car garage. Her husband has no clue what is going on between them. Myrtle likes to shop and buy lots of clothes since she's spoiled by Tom. Myrtle thinks that over time Tom will leave Daisy for her but, although Tom has a thing for her he doesnt plan on leaving Daisy for Myrtle.

sources- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Men of Gatsby

There are three main male characters in the story The Great Gatsby. Nick Carraway, Tom Buchanan, and Jay Gatsby. These three characters all have different characteristics and play main roles in the story to make it all of what it is.

Nick Carraway is the narrator and first character introduced in the story. He is a single, intelligent, and well rounded man living in a very small home in the wealthy area known as the West Egg. Nick has come to the east coast to get into the bond business like other men in his family that have made a good living off of it. Nick's cousin Daisy lives close by in a neighborhood opposite of his known as the East Egg. Nick and Daisy become close once Nick starts to pay her and her husband Tom visits, and they become very fond of eachother. Nick is also the neighbor of the very wealthy and well known Jay Gatsby and comes to find out Mr. Gatsby is a very interesting man.

Another main character in the story is Mr. Jay Gatsby. Gatsby comes off as a very mysterious man but soon Nick is able to see his true personality. Gatsby was related to wealthy people from the west coast who died so he inherited a fortune. He throws extravagant parties and and is very well known among the area of the West Egg. He soon becomes friends with his neighbor Nick and makes it known that he dated Nick's cousin Daisy Buchanan at a young age when he was in the armed forces. He is still very much in love with Daisy and reconnects with her with the help of Nick.

The final significant male character is Tom Buchanan. Tom is from old money and has more of it than one could ever imagine. He is very proud, selfish, and is not a good husband to his wife Daisy. He has an affair with a woman names Myrtle and does not care that Daisy or her cousin Nick is aware of it. Tom is very pushy and manipulative and puts Nick into awkward situations when he takes him to meet his mistress. He is also what kept and continues to keep Daisy and Gatsby apart but has no idea about their previous romance.

The Green Light

In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Gatsby is in love with Daisy. They met when they were young and he was in the war. However, Gatsby went away for a few years but promised Daisy he would come back for her. When Gatsby returns he finds out that Daisy married Tom instead of waiting for him and he's crushed. He collected anything that had Daisy's name over the time he was away and kept it to remind him of her.

The green light is at the end of Daisy's dock and it symbolizes Gatsby's hope and dreams for the future. In chapter 1 he reaches toward it in the darkness as a guiding light to lead him to his goal. His goal is to get Daisy for himself because he still loves her.

He uses Nick to meet Daisy agian and he gets his hopes and dreams up. What do you think will happen now that Daisy and Gatsby have met again?

sources-http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/themes.html

The Roaring 20s!

The 20s was an era filled with excitement in the US. So many different types of music, style, and cars arose at this time. The story The Great Gatsby reflects so many of the different changes because it in fact takes place in the early 1920s. The different fashions, music, and dancing styles can all be seen at Gatsby's over the top extravagent parties he throws at his home in the wealthy "west egg". Jay Gatsby and other characters in the story drive cars that look much different than the ones we are used to seeing today which was just another signature item of this era.

The 1920s brought out a whole differnt style of music and dancing. Young people danced to fast paced jazz music in short sparkly dresses that were in vogue at this time. One of the new dancing styles was called the charleston which was introduced by a cast from a broadway show called "Running Wild". This dance was so popular that not just people in the US were doing it but people all over the world were learning and doing this hot new dance craze and parties and social events. Most people already know that the very first automobile was mad by Henry Ford and his sucessful motor company but in this era newer, better, and more expensive cars came into the picture. Many major improvement were made to cars at this time such as four wheel drive. Some of the car companies that existed in the 1920s and still exist today are Cadillac, Buick, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and Lincoln.

There were also many signature styles in the 1920s. The "flapper" which was previously mentioned in our blog was the style for young women who cut their hair into bobs, wore a lot of make up, shortened their dress hemlines, smoked cigarettes, and drank alcohol. They were considered rebellious at this time and many people looked down upon them in society. A popular style amog the men at this time was a style referred to as "sheiks". Sheiks wore ukeleles, racoon jackets, and bell bottom pants. The 1920s is an era home to fashion, flair, and fun times and people will always remember it as it is referred to as The Roaring 20s!

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

Battle of the Eggs

In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are two little islands known as East Egg and West Egg. East Egg is considered to be a wealthy and more fabulous looking island over West Egg. People who live on East Egg have a lot of money and act sophisticated when they're around each other. Tom and Daisy live in a majestic house, mansion in East Egg among other fabulous mansions. The people on East Egg have social connections which separate them from West Egg.

West Egg is more of an island for people who just came into money recently and don't have the social connection nor the refinement to move to East Egg. This island doesn't seem as glamorous as East Egg but it has its fair share of mansions. One example of this case would be Mr. Gatsby who has a cathedral looking mansion on West Egg next to Nick's little house. Mr. Gatsby seems to have connections with other people but many people don't know anything about him. West Egg seems to suit Mr. Gatsby more then East Egg does.

sources-http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gatsby/section1.rhtml

Flappers

The roaring 20s was an era for many different things including style. For young women, the new vogue trend was a look that was referred to as a flapper. This look was considered unacceptable by many citizens because they wore short glamorous dresses that were more revealing then what was appropriate in those days. They also had short choppy hair cuts which was out of the ordinary for young women in the 20s and wore a lot of make up. Make up was acceptable, but these flappers wore a lot of it and had very dramatic looks for the night life.

In the story The Great Gatsby there are several examples of the flappers. More characteristics of the falpper was the fact that they smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, and went to parties which was not considered very lady-like of them. In the story, Mr. Gatsby himself throws very extravagant parties where smoking and drinking took place among the flappers and other guests. The flappers also did not wear corsets which was considered almost a necessity among older sophisticated women when they were out socializing or at any formal event. The flappers however, were free spirited girls who loved to dance to upbeat jazz music and wearing these constricting corsets made it difficult so they did not wear them. Flappers were attractive, young, rebellious women in the roaring 20s.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. When Fitzgerald was twelve years old he attended the St. Paul Academy. When he was thirteen he wrote his first story which was a detective story in the school newspaper. After a few years Fitzgerald then went to the Newman School which is a Catholic prep school in New Jersey during 1911-1913. Since he was unlikely to graduate he joined the army in 1917 where he became a second lieutenant in the infantry. He wrote the novel, "The Romantic Egoist" because he thought he was going to die in the war. Fitzgerald fell in love with someone but because he was obsessed with succeeding his lover broke their engangement. After that he moved back home to St. Paul.

He wrote the book This Side of Paridise which practically made him famous over night. He wrote stories in The Saturday Evening Post to make some money. Fitzgerald earned the nickname Post Writer when he wrote in the magizines.

The Fitzgerald family moved to France where he started to write The Great Gatsby. It took him the summer and the fall to write it but the progress was stopped when his wife got involved with a French naval aviator. He then went to Rome in the winter of 1924-1925 where he revised The Great Gatsby. The book was published in April when Fitzgerald was en route to Paris. This booked recieved lots of praise but the book didn't sell as much as he thought it would.


sources- http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html

Selfish People

The definition of selfish is: devoted to or caring for oneself; concerned primarily one's own interest, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others feelings. The story of the Great Gatsby has many examples of selfish people. Almost every character in the story has selfish traits and commits selfish acts for their own benefit. There is a lot of lying, cheating, and manipulation going on even from the very start of the story.
Tom Buchanan is one of the first characters to show his selfish traits. He is unfaithful to his wife Daisy for a less fortunate small town woman named Myrtle Wilson. Tom has a beautiful wife and a great life he has built for himself, but insists on finding happiness outside of his own home for selfish reasons. However, it is later discovered that Daisy (Tom's wife) only married him for his money. This in my opinion is one of the most selfish acts that can be committed because marriage is supposed to be a commitment for people in love who want to be spend their lives together and not for materialistic reasons such as Daisy's. Another early introduced selfish character is Myrtle Wilson. She too is having an affair with Tom Buchanan when she in fact has a loving husband. Her acts of selfishness are worst than Tom's in my opinion because her husband loves her and tries his best to provide for her and despite his efforts Myrtle has a secret relationship with another man. These characters openly diplayed their selfish traits regardless of other people's feelings.

Unrequited love

In the book the Great Gatsby Tom and Daisy are married however they have an interesting relationship. Daisy and Tom don't actually share feelings for each other because Daisy married Tom for money. Tom doesn't share feelings for Daisy because he has a mistress in New York while they are married. Tom goes and visits here about once a week because he has nothing better to do on Sundays. When they see each other they go to there own place and not to Tom's house.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are another example of unrequited love because Mrs. Wilson doesn't love Mr. Wilson at all. In fact Mrs. Wilson is Tom's mistress and has real feelings for Tom. When Tom comes to get Mrs. Wilson from the garage they live in they get really close when Mr. Wilson goes and does something but when hes there they are seperated a little bit so he doesn't suspect anything going on. They whisper to each other the place where they're going to meet and then once they meet up they head to the train and then the place they're going to stay at. Mr. Wilson has no clue that they're having an affair and Tom thinks he's to stupid to find out.

This subject can be talked about in a lot of peoples lives because certain circumstances make you have to be with someone you don't want to be with. Some people are just greedy and marry someone for they're money so they're set for life and don't have to work. People like this don't share feelings for the person they're with.

Sources- "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Prohibition

Many women in the 1920s felt that alcohol made society currupt, led to crimes, and bad bahavior among many men. They felt that banning alcohol from being distributed and consumed would better the lives of the American people and lower the crime rate. Women worked very hard to get the message out that a new law prohibiting alcohol would benefit everyone and eventually the Volstead Act was passed in 1919 (also known as the Eighteenth Amendment) officially giving the women what they worked so hard to achieve. However, many people were not happy about this law and found ways around it.

It wasn't just gangsters and flappers who broke the laws of prohibition but even the average American found ways around the law. Members of the mafia and other organizations supplied speakeasies with illegal alcohol. Speakeasies were secret bars, clubs, and other locations that supplied alcohol to the public illegally. Police did the best that they could to regulate on these secret locations but many of them went undiscovered. They were not to be talked about outside of the locations.

Disrespect for the law and the growth of organized crime led to the repeal of the Volstead Act in 1933. Congress decided that this was the best move to the nation due to the lack of support the new law recieved. It became very unpopular during The Great Depression in large cities. The Twenty-First Amendment declared prohibition unconstitutional and it officially repealed the laws of prohibition.