Great American Novel

I learned that The Great Gatsby is considered the Great American novel due to its effect of making you understand why you like to read, and ability to show how literature can somehow grab you across great expanses of time and cultural differences. Even though Joel Achenbach’s idea of why The Great Gatsby is considered the Great American Novel, I also think this title is due the the book’s ability to portray the American Dream and the fantasies generated by the book's portrayal of this idea. The enjoyment of the book and its ability to show a time from another age throughout the book, makes The Great Gatsby a notable contender for the Great American Novel. However, I believe it is the book's ability to portray the American Dream and make the…

Alexie provides the readers a succinct description of character for the great American Indian novel. In the first 22 lines, he discusses the characters, both hero and heroine. For the hero for example, there some qualities that must be possessed. In general, the great American Indian novel must have a character with the tragic features (line 1-2). They must have secrets (line 14-15), and see visions (line 25). Aside from the tragic features, having secret and seeing vision, first of all the hero…

In the poem How to Write the Great American Indian Novel, Sherman Alexie writes about the necessities when writing an “American Indian” novel. The poem specifically states everything the novel is supposed to have, and how the characters are supposed to look (with few exceptions). The irony with this poem is the more American than Indian vision of the novel. As well as worshipping white culture and caucasian skin or ‘white people’ instead of the Native side of the ‘Indian American.’ Alexie’s poem…

to go out and protest on the street” (McCormack). The issue of race in America has come back and it divides the country once more. However, there are timeless literary classics that can be applied to issues such as race. One of these is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain was described by F. Scott Fitzgerald as “the first great…

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is considered by literature critics to be the “Great American Novel” with the only other work considered to be of the same caliber being Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Yet what makes a “Great American Novel” one may ask? A Great American Novel has to show the reader the culture of America at a specific time period. And F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Novel The Great Gatsby shows us the negative effects of American Society’s Notions of Materialism and the…

chronological barriers. Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is an example of such that fascinates young and old to this day. Hailed as the Great American Novel, it captures the essence of the Roaring Twenties, an era of opulence and moral debauchery. However, the book’s most enthralling aspect is not the engaging plot or otherworldly setting, but its extraordinary characters. From secret ambitions to profound longings, they embody both the life that people live…

The so called “great american novel” portrays a life of grandeur and excitement which occupies the dreams of many who come to this country seeking a better life. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s the Great Gatsby, the idea of the American dream is frequently touched upon and embodied. When the story was written, the dream of a better life where anyone could earn success filled the minds of the many impoverished souls who had immigrated to America in search of fulfilling it. The American dream is a staple…

a flower” (174) for the man who died for her mistake. Although the Buchanans do not owe their wealth or influence to organized crime like Gatsby does, their carelessness for the consequences of their actions betrays them as far more immoral than Gatsby. Gatsby breaks the law to pursue his “incorruptible dream” of Daisy despite the great socioeconomic gaps that separate them, a product of his “extraordinary ability for hope” (2), whereas Tom Buchanan breaks the law by using his wealth to avoid…

Through the manipulation of language, great significance is given to hollow beings and shallow dreams. It may not always be a moral ending of content, but through the use of rhetoric devices, a message of value is liberated. The Great Gatsby, an American novel, presents Nick Carraway’s exquisite use of numerous rhetorical devices used to give meaning to Gatsby and the American Dream. Jay Gatsby is the hollow being with a shallow dream who represents the lower class in America taking advantage of…

The American Idea The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald is about a man, Nick Carraway, telling the story of Gatsby and his undying love for Daisy. Unfortunately Gatsby is not able to be with Daisy because she is married to Tom Buchanan and because eventually, Gatsby gets murdered because of horrible lies that Tom had spread. Many characters in this book show how the American dream is not a standard and not something that is attainable. can have. It represents how the American dream is only an…