Gatsby Essay.

4. Describe and analyze a lesson that Nick tells or teaches the reader in his retelling of the events in The Great Gatsby.

Analyze: to examine critically, so as to bring out the essential elements or give the essence of.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a a novel that has many lessons that are obvious, and many that are underlying in the text. The story is a surface love story, but has many ironic parts, and many hidden meanings. A couple of lessons that are slightly buried are what goes around comes around, which is a pretty common one, and the other is lessons about materialism.

F. Scott Fitzgerald heavily relies on the use of materialism for the Great Gatsby. Gatsby is a materialistic man, and it's not even for himself, it's for Nick Carraways cousin, Daisy Buchanan. Daisy wouldn't date Gatsby because he had no money, so he came up with an alternate identity and became that identity. All the lavish parties and the expensive cars and the trips to New York only show how much money was a necessity to even have fun, or so it is portrayed that way. The main characters in The Great Gatsby essentially all have money, except for Nick, who is along for the ride and to retell the story. Not including the Wilson's of course, who live in the Valley of Ashes. The main reoccurring themes in this book are alcohol, materialism and the upper class. Swankiness is key in The Great Gatsby, and would not be the same without it.

One of the biggest, and most differently interpreted part of the book is in the Valley of Ashes, right by Myrtle and George Wilson's house. The billboard poster of the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg. It can be interpreted in many different ways, however in the end of the book, George Wilson directly points at the faded blue eyes of the doctor and says, "'I told her she might fool me, but she couldn't fool God. I took her to the window-' with an effort he got up and walked to the rear window and leaned with his face pressed against it- 'and I said "God knows what you've been doing, everything you've been doing. You may fool me but you can't fool God!''" (159) The most common interpretation of the hidden meaning is God, or Big Brother in the common phrase, "Big Brother is always watching" from George Orwell's classic, 1984. It's a theory that even if you are in the most desolate area with only people who are completely foreign to you, God always knows, or someone higher than you always knows what you are doing, someone is always watching.

What goes around comes around is like Big Brother is always watching in a sense that it is a common phrase that people use in the modern day. Gatsby is a good example of what goes around comes around, if you pretend to be something that you are not, it will be found out. You can only remain mysterious for so long. "What's done in the dark will be brought to the light" is a lyric from Johnny Cash's song, 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' and is true and ties in with the theory that Big Brother is always watching. Jay Gatsby in the beginning of the novel is a mysterious man that people know little about, and as the novel continues, more and more of his past is revealed, which is not necessarily what he wants. As the text deepens, people begin to question where his riches accumulated, and where he came from, and if he really is related to the Kaiser, why is he in West Egg, where it's new money? All of these questions come rushing up to the surface faster than ever and Gatsby is faced with many questions of his past, only fitting what goes around comes around, and proving that if you lie about your past to enough people, the truth will shine through.

Nick Carraway is a classic storyteller, who is immensely descriptive and includes every detail, no matter how little about every person. He includes many lessons from chapter to chapter and remains unbiased although it is a recollection of the past. Although The Great Gatsby is a fiction story, it's lessons and scenarios could be completely true. The Great Gatsby is just a reminder that what you do behind the curtains will be found out, and in Gatsby's case, can result to be the death of you.