I need to edit my Great Gatsby essay and turn into a research paper but i am completely lost. The prompt is Novel and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. My idea is that Fitzgerald uses party scenes to reveal that a clean background, a good reputation and lavish life is what is most important to the main characters. I have my quotes and articles already chosen but i don't know how to incorporate them to my essay.
First off, a research paper is just like an essay. So just pretend that you're writing another essay. To help you, you can try to make an outline to separate your quotes and articles to fit the categories into "background", "Good reputation" and "lavish life" After that just start writing freehandly. Whatever comes to your mind, write it out. Describe a scene that relates to the background then use your quotes and articles to back up the scene you described and support it with your own explanation. After your so called "rough draft", your mind would be flowing and then just your paper.
Try to research what was going on during the time the novel was written. I needed to read that story in High School and then watch the movie. The parts that are most memorable are the eyes watching from above. You say "select a novel or play that includes such a scene...," so do you have to write about the Great Gatsby and another novel?
This is my essay:
Many dream to have extravagant life style and to keep their past lock up and away from the eyes of the public. In Fitzgerald's avant-garde work, The Great Gatsby reveals the Roaring Twenties a time were the world was coming back to normalcy after World War I. Time period were woman redefined themselves, jazz blossomed, and mob illegal operations increased. James Gatz is driven by love to transcend and become Jay Gatsby in order to win the affection of Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby's over the top parties attracted great amount of rich and pompous people that came without invitation and rarely talk or thank the host. Fitzgerald use of party scenes helps reveal that a clean background, a good reputation and a lavish life is most valuable to people in order for them to retain their social status in society .
Gatsby's extravagant parties went on during "summer nights" and people were rarely invited, but "they went there" to celebrate in a sumptuous atmosphere. As Nick gets to know better Jordan Baker; his curiosity about Gatsby's wins and he asks her about his past, but she adamantly avoided the question and start talking about how she "like large parties" due to their "[intimacy]." On the night of his acquaintance with Gatsby, Nick turns quickly to Jordan and interrogates her about his "dim background." Nick's actions seem child-like and very chagrined due to his choice of action; it seems that the only way Nick could get information about Gatsby is by gossiping like small school girls. It's pitiful to watch Nick's jejune attempts to get information about the host of "large parties" is by chattering with uninvited guest that only seek the "privacy" that small parties doesn't provide. Gatsby's "dim background" is surely secure by the intimacy of the large party in which no one will find out about his impecunious life style due to everyone engrossment in their own affairs. Gatsby's past is well hidden from the eyes of everyone who attends his parties or stays at his house in order to keep feigning coming from a good family and to attract his lover Daisy with pompous parties.
As Jordan takes over and narrates for Nick, she remembers that Daisy was "popular" and used to party with the "young, rich, and wild" but never actually came out with a bad reputation. It's absurd for Daisy to be married and have a baby girl but still spend most of her time partying with the social elite of Chicago. This action clearly expresses Fitzgerald's disdain towards Daisy's fractious attitude towards her responsibilities. Daisy attending elite parties in Chicago and not in West Egg( Gatsby and Nick's part of town) shows that she only wants to keep her "perfect reputation" intact and doesn't want to attend a "Trimalchio['s]" (Vulgar free man that gives parties for noble guest.) party. She is very cautious of how she acts and says in public because "she doesn't drink" and has total control of her mind without any alcoholic substance intoxicating her. Daisy goes out in public to fulfill her role in society of great rich women with a good life. She chooses purposely to party with "wild" friends to keep her façade of being an innocent, well behave wife compare to her friends' unruly behavior.
Gatsby's luxurious parties are just to enjoy for the moment and not get involved with, just like Gatsby. Every Friday "5 crates" of fruit (oranges and lemons) came from "New York City" to make the alcohol beverages lavish for the guest and the very next Monday there was a "pyramid of pulp-less halves" at his backdoor. The use of fruit to enhance the flavor of moonshine, suggests that Gatsby is being use by society due to his wealth and his immoderate spending budget. It is pathetic to see that the only way Gatsby can get friends and Daisy's company is by becoming a "Trimalchio" and investing most of his money and time on pleasing, impressing his ungrateful guest. It seems that Gatsby throws over the top get together in other to show off his inheritance and the life he acquire thanks to Dan Corey.
Thru the use of party scenes the author portrays that the main concerns of the book characters are having a luxurious life, a good last name, and an intact reputation during the Roaring Twenties. The parties at Gatsby's house propose that he is insecure about his social standing even though he has obtain a large sum of money that "brought him [large amounts of] food" to share with his guest during these lavish parties. In allowing his guest to take advantage of his resources makes Gatsby seems like fool. The opinion of society makes the main characters seem materialistic and pompous about what they have and could offer to others.
quotes that need to be incorporated:
"He [Nick] comes to admire a man, Gatsby, who brakes all of the rules." Fitzgerald makes Nick be fond of Gatsby due to his similar situation he experience by falling for a girl in a a higher social status than him. (McAdams, p. 113)
As Gatsby, Fitzgerald "...was troubled by... the unfairness of a culture marked by great divisions of wealth," (McAdams, p.115)
"the whole idea of Gatsby is the unfairness of a poor young man not being able to marry a girl with money. this theme comes up again and again because i lived it" (Stern, 1970, p. 164)
If it is a research paper you should try and tie in events from that era. Combine things that happen in the book with important events you have researched. Since you are talking about parties and weddings I think prohibition would be something to really talk about.
