The Great Gatsby: Realism :: essays research papers

The Great Gatsby RealismF. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby has been labelled a masterpiece, andperhaps even one of the superlative reinvigorateds of all epoch. In order to be revered as aclassic, a novel must have one or more qualities that coiffe it above the rest.One of The Great Gatsbys best qualities is Fitzgeralds incredible use ofrealism. This realism is evident in the development of plot, setting, andcharacters throughout the novel.The Great Gatsby is well known for its profoundly entangled plots and sub-plots. Atfirst Fitzgerald used realism to develop these plots by choosing plots thatwould be beleivable to readers. For example, the main plot of "The AmericanDream" (Jay Gatsbys dream of enough blue and succesfull in order to impressDaisy) is easily believable and is still a quite common dream today. Smallerplots, such as Tom Buchanans passage of arms with Myrtle, are also very realistic and area common occurrence in every day life. From here Fitzerald dee pened the story by employ realism to entangle these plots. Fitzgerald then grew apon these plots bymaking them all have realistic outcomes (such as Gatsbys demise), rather thanyour typical story book endings. It is mostly give thanks to Fitzgeralds descriptive,poetic style of writing that allows him to realistically portray the many plotsof The Great Gatsby. Fitzgeralds realistic construction and development of plotis extremely dependant apon the setting of the novel in which it take place.F. Scott Fitzgerald uses realism to clearly depict the setting of the GreatGatsby. This incredible use of realism could be mostly due to the fact thatFitzgerald lived during the time of the novel, and by using great detail, he wasable to reproduce his interpretation of the 1920s. At this time the Great War(WW1) had just ended and the United States was becoming as dominant world power.The novel takes place during the summer in New York as Nick Carraway has justmoved to persue a career in the bond business. This is a very realistic settingbecause just after World War 1 the eastern United States were flourishing withpeople and business. As depicted in The Great Gatsby, during the 1920s jazzmusic was all the rage. Large, fancy homes and big parties (such as Gatsbys)were also quite popular. Fitzgerald realistically demonstrates the inexistenceof the middle class at that time. For example the contrast between Tom Buchananand Mr. Wilson shows vast difference between the upper and lower classes. Theexact geographical location of the novel does not exist, save Fitzgerald does a