Home > Free Essays > The Great Gatsby Essay

The Great Gatsby Essay, Research Paper Examples

The Great Gatsby, the masterpiece written by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s will help you to dive into the wealth atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties. This is a story of a millionaire Jay Gatsby and his passion for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan.

Your professor may ask you to analyze topics as decadence, money, American Dream, or symbolism in your The Great Gatsby Essay. But what if you have no idea on what to write? Well, below, you can find some tips and essay samples that you may use to compose your own papers.

Tip #1. Analyze symbolism in The Great Gatsby

First, let’s define what symbolism is. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, symbolism is “practice of using symbols, especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible using visible or sensuous representations.” The Great Gatsby story is full of symbols. And here are just two examples of them: 

  • The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg painted on a billboard in the Valley of Ashes. You can find a lot of The Great Gatsby essay samples that draw the conclusion that Eckleburg represents God. However, let’s ask a few more questions. Why do these eyes have no mouth or arms, or legs? Does this mean that Eckleburg can only watch people transgressions without any ability to punish them as a God-like entity? Does this billboard mean anything? 
  • Use of color in Fitzgerald’s story. If you carefully read the novel, you might notice the use of a few colors throughout the book. They are green, gray, gold, and yellow. Think, what do these colors can symbolize and represent these ideas in your paper. 

Tip #2. Think about point of view in The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is written in the first-person point of view. Nick Carraway, one of the main characters, tells us about the life and thoughts of Gatsby. In your writing, you can imagine how different the novel would be if it were told in the third-person point of view. 

You also can provide some examples if the story was told from Gatsby’s perspective.  

Tip #3. Assess how the book relates to the American Dream

If you look through the vast majority The Great Gatsby essay titles, you can find out plenty of samples that address the validity of high society or the social class divide. Gatsby had achieved the American Dream by building his wealth. However, he’s still not satisfied with the shallowness of the upper class and wants something more.

In your paper, you can argue why does one can never attain the American Dream, and why dreamers always want more.  

Tip #4. Analyze the characters and their relations

Fitzgerald put each character into the novel for a particular reason. And your job is to analyze what they represent and why they are in the story. For example, Tom represents evil, while Daisy represents innocence. Another aspect you should examine is relationships between Daisy and Gatsby, Tom and Daisy, Nick and Gatsby.

Tip #5. Examine the tone of the novel

When we talk about the tone of the story, we mean how the author describes the events and characters. In your paper, decide what the tone of the novel is and analyze how it affects the readers’ attitude to characters and events.

Now, check The Great Gatsby essay examples below and use the acquired ideas to write your own paper!

The Great Gatsby

Introduction The Great Gatsby is a novel of rich characters and paradox as one of the main themes of the book. Nick, the main character has contradictory feelings when it comes to Gatsby, his rich and show off neighbour. He dislikes certain things about him while at the same time he admires him. He represents […]

Characters of Gatsby and jean Valjean or Elponine. Comparison

In the book The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is the main character and the protagonist who acquires wealth illegally by trading in stolen securities, crime and illegal distribution of alcohol. According to Fitzgerald, Gatsby is “a mysterious and wealthy thirty year old man who holds extravagant parties every Saturday in his Gothic mansion situated in […]

The Ethicality of an Action Jay Gatsby

Ethics is a field of study that defines human actions and behaviors. Scholars have presented different ethical theories to explain when an action should be accepted or condoned. In our modern society, actions are ethical or unethical depending on their implications. While that is the case, very little research has been done to explore the […]

The Great Gatsby

Introduction In 1925, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby after many years of academic problems and indifference, which prevented him from graduating from college. The Story The Great Gatsby is about Nick Carraway, who comes to settle in New York from Minnesota with aim of learning bond business. These events are happening during […]

“Babylon Revisited” and The Great Gatsby

Usually, when two books are written by the same author, thematic similarities can often be observed. Scott F. Fitzgerald’s short stories are considered the ground for experimentation for themes and motifs that are dealt on a larger scale in his novels (Sutton 165). Many believe that the story, “Babylon Revisited” was continued in the novel […]

The Great Gatsby

Introduction The novel, The Great Gatsby, can be considered a form of novelized social commentary that delves into the life of Jay Gatsby, an eccentric millionaire with an unhealthy obsession with the character of Daisy Buchanon. There are three distinct characteristics of Gatsby which can be considered his defining traits yet are the source of […]

Daisy Buchanan: “I did love him once, but I loved you, too”

In his novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald has several characters play dramatic roles. Daisy Buchanan is one of the characters that drive the novel. Daisy is Tom’s spouse, Nick’s cousin, and Jay Gatsby’s beloved. In her adulthood, she promises to wait for her first love, Jay Gatsby, until his return from the war, […]

Comparing female characters

Introduction The novel, “The Great Gatsby” and the play “The Streetcar Named Desire”, contain two tragic female characters, namely Daisy and Stella, both of whom experience considerable levels of abuse and neglect due to their spouses. When examining both women in their respective stories. it can be seen that their lives are a reflection of […]

The Great Gatsby

In the book, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald pays attention to the relationships between both Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan and Daisy Buchanan. The expression of love for Daisy, as portrayed by Gatsby and Tom, are somewhat different. However, both of them are in dire need of owning the woman, which makes them quite similar. There […]

Francis Scott Fitzgerald

Introduction Francis Scott Fitzgerald is a renowned American writer of the Jazz age. He wrote about the disconcerting time, in which he lived, where people were either rich or dreamt of being rich. Just like majority of Americans, Fitzgerald could not resist the urge of wealth accumulation; unfortunately, this quest brought misery and devastation. Fitzgerald’s […]

The Idea of Love in The Great Gatsby and the Parallels or Contrasts that Can Be Drawn with the Presentation of Love in The Catcher in the Rye

Love is the feeling which may be expressed in many different ways. The understanding of love also differs and various people have different considerations about this feeling. The problems of love have been discussed by many authors and each of them tried to show something personal in that love, something unusual and different from what […]

The Great Gatsby

Introduction Authored by Nick Caraway, The Great Gatsby is a captivating must-read chef-d’oeuvre presented in the first person point of view. He is a native of Minnesota and advocate of Midwestern values. The novel setting is based in long island, which is dominated by prosperous wealthy and poor communities of East Egg and West Egg. […]

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is a classic work of F. Scott Fitzgerald, an American author of short stories and novels. The book was first published in 1925 during a period known as the Jazz age. The novel was purely creative work of the author. The story was set on North Shore in Long Island in New […]