Selfish people of 'The Great Gatsby'

Daisy Buchanan was one of the more selfish characters in "The Great Gatsby". She is and has been married to Tom for some time, and when Gatsby sees her for lunch one day, it's not long after that they begin an affair. She refuses to leave Tom in response to Gatsby's request because she still loves him, however, she continues her affair as she is 'confused'.

Myrtle Wilson is also one of the more selfish characters in the novel. She is not only having an affair with Tom, but she's only having it for the benefit of his wealth. She's pretty much what we would refer to today as a 'gold digger'. For this benefit, she becomes very resilient putting up with Tom's abuse until it comes to an abrupt end when Tom breaks her nose.

Gatsby is one of the most selfish characters in "The Great Gatsby". He persistently lies to people he meets in order to get what he really wants. This reflects the most on how he lies about his own background in order to convince the woman that he immediately fell in love with that he was good enough for her- Daisy Buchanan. He lies to most other people as well, as he is a criminal in how he really gets his money.

All information from the novel.

Dan Cody

Dan Cody, in Francis Scott Fitzgerald's novel 'The Great Gatsby', was a wealthy copper mogul. What most people probably knew him by was his yacht, which obviously already illustrated his wealth and power. Dan Cody was the man that introduced Jay Gatsby to what I like to call the good life- luxury. Once introduced, Gatsby wanted nothing else but what Dan had, and so his life began.

Jay Gatsby one day noticed Dan Cody's yacht out in the distance while on his boat, and knowing of an impending storm, he rowed out to Dan to warn him. Upon initial contact, Cody grateful enough to take the young Gatsby aboard his yacht as his personal assistant. Gatsby had traveled with Cody to the Barbary Coast and the West Indies, and it was then that he had fallen in love with wealth and luxury.

Dan Cody was a heavy drinker, and it was Gatsby's given job by Cody himself to look after him during his drunken actions among his boat. This is what inspired Gatsby to not become a drinker himself, as he saw the dangers of such a life. Dan Cody left Gatsby a sum of $25,000 when he died, and the rest of his inheritance went to his mistress. This was the time Gatsby set off to become such a wealthy man himself.

Jealousy

Lust can play a big role in the arrival of jealousy, and back in the 1920's, lust was becoming more and more popular. This type of love isn't really considered love, as it's just a feeling you have toward someone that probably wouldn't take much to satisfy. Jealousy can relate to this because lust can be had by many people toward the same person.

People like to say that all is fair in love and war. Others tent to think differently as they feel the cold stab of jealousy. In the 20's, what what happening more and more frequently had been couples cheating on each other. One of the members in a couple would begin an affair with someone else, and usually the other would find out. This kind of jealousy would most likely end violently.


No works cited.

Mafia + Gangsters

Al Capone was one of the most famous gangsters of the 1920's. He was the leader in the mafia during prohibition that illegally sold alcohol. Not only was he this leader, but he was also seen as the single greatest symbol of the collapse of law and order in the United States during the 1920s Prohibition era itself.. for several reasons, one of which being that he bribed the police to keep his crimes safe from exposure. Al Capone quit school when he was young, started work early and his life of this crime was soon to follow.

The crimes that went on were all for simple reasons- money and power.

Mobsters in this time period were very dangerous. Gang violence would provoke from certain gangs doing their business in other gangs' territories. These mobsters always had brutal ways of showing disapproval, including murderous methods. The prohibition during the 1920's is what sparked all this up, so crime rates and mobsters went through the roof.


Information found from ( http://prohibition.osu.edu/content/why_prohibition.cfm ) and ( http://www.chicagohs.org/history/capone.html )

Unrequited Love

We all know this feeling. An unrequited love is one that we feel deepest inside of us, that of which we don't ever speak of. It can be anything like a crush, a liking or even intense fondness at a first meet. These usually turn into fantasies.. which can also lead to obsessions. If the case is that it's only a crush or obsession with someone else, then it's not spoken of and chances are the other person doesn't feel the same about you, and these feeling can prove hard to overcome.

A good example of an unrequited love was that of Frank Sinatra. His being famous as an American singer caused a lot of women to acquire a feeling of lust, or 'unrequited love'. They had these feelings for him, and sometimes kept them to themselves. This is a more public example as it being common, people were usually comfortable with everyone else knowing how they felt.

Back in the 20's, races and ethnicities mattered a lot more than they did now. People that shared feelings of intimacy toward each other that were of different skin color were strongly disapproved of. This is a good example as when these kinds of relationships were held, they were always kept silent and hid from the rest of the world. It was either this, or, one ot the other didn't feel the same way.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. He failed as a manufacturer of wicker furniture in St. Paul and became a salesman for Procter & Gamble in upstate New York. He was dismissed, still at the young age of 12, and began his life in education. Fitzgerald joined the army in 1917 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry. He'd been convinced that he would die in the war, so he rapidly wrote his novel, "The Romantic Egotist". The war ended just before he was to be sent overseas, and he was discharged in 1919.

He quit his job in the July of 1919 and returned to St. Paul to rewrite his novel as 'This Side of Paradise' - However, it wasn't until the fall-winter of 1919 when he commenced his career as a writer of stories for the mass-circulation magazines. The publication of This Side of Paradise on March 26, 1920, made the twenty-four-year-old Fitzgerald famous almost overnight, and a week later he married Zelda Sayre in New York. They embarked on an extravagant life as young celebrities.

Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in France, where he and his wife and daughter were to spend most of the last half of the 1920s. The novel bears almost no resemblance in form to those that had come before. In Jay Gatsby, nee James Gatz, Fitzgerald created far more than just another Amory Blaine seeking his fortune in the world, for in his misguided romantic way Gatsby stands for a deeper malaise in the culture - a sickness that drives young men to think that riches can obliterate the past and capture the hearts of the girls of their dreams.



Information found at ( http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/fitzgeraldbio.html#_thegreatgatsby ) and ( http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html )

The Roaring 20's

Fashion in the 20's was essential to the changes that took place during the time period. It included the change of Flappers, parties and the amount that people were familiar with their sexualities. The 20's were definitely a time of celebration, and there were a lot of fads. Dancing was very popular.

People loved to dance. Some of the most famous clubs were the 'Charleston', the 'Fox Trot', and the 'Shimmy'. Some dance marathons were held, and the longest record of dancing to this day was a full 3 weeks. Dancing was essential to the 20's.

The radio during the 1920's was very popular as well. It allowed public access to much information, and was the first huge breakthrough toward American Entertainment. Although radios were quite expensive and they were only owned by certain people of greater wealth, they became more obtainable and popular over time.

Flap sizzle

Taking a look back, the nature of women today can relate to those 80+ years ago. Flappers took their name from the tendency that came from young women in the early 1920's and late 1910's to 'leave their galoshes unfastened'. They were considered the "new woman" that emerged in the decade to be politically active, working for wages, and the fact that has made the well known.. the frankness of their sexuality. These 'Flappers' were highly unpredictable and had a rebellious attitude. Even F. Scott Fitzgerald once asserted that “it is rather futile to analyze flappers. They are just girls, all sorts of girls, their one common trait being that they are young things with a tremendous talent for living.”


These women were considered very dangerous, as they would sedice usually the wealthiest of men for their money. Of course, today, this would be called 'Gold digging', but back then it was pretty common. These Flappers showed an appealing nature that was never seen before at the time. Striving for actual rights during this time was also an issue, and it began with women achieving the right to vote in the United States in 1920. They worked for years on this right before they achieved it. Woman's labor also started conflict with sexist perspective, and it wasn't until later (mostly in WWII) when it was promoted.


Clara Bow was one of the most famous, and inspired the era of the 'Flapper'. She was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1905. Clara was first recognized modeling for a magazine, and her being famous took off from her acting in the movie Beyond the Rainbow. Clara is the woman that started the rebellious theme to the female in the 1920's, and it's caught on ever since.

Prohibition didn't work

January 16th, 1920 was the date. Alcohol was made illegal and crime skyrocketed. Bars, saloons and some liquor stores were forced to close down their business. Money was too much if not everything at this time, and the demand for alcohol itself made this change non-adaptable by most Americans. It wasn't until 1933 when prohibition was repealed from most states.


Even before full prohibition was passed, about 65 percent of the country had already banned alcohol. In 1916, seven states adopted anti-liquor laws, bringing the number of states to 19 that prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. Some even saw prohibition as being patriotic since most alcohol companies and breweries were from Germany, and it was during WWI.


Overall, Prohibition didn't ever seem to work. It was ultimately unenforceable, and by 1925, a dozen states including New York passed laws banning the investigations of these violations. Furthermore, prohibition quickly produced bootleggers, speakeasies, moonshine, 'bathtub gin' and rum runners smuggling supplies of alcohol across state lines. The debate on prohibition still rages even today.

Additional information from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=441