How Does Fitzgerald Use Cars as Symbolism in the Novel So Far?How does Fitzgerald use cars as symbolism in the novel so far?One reason Fitzgerald uses cars as symbolism it to show wealth. Gatsby is a very wealthy man who owns very expensive things. Nick describes Gatsby’s house as a “factual imitation of some Hotel De Ville in Normandy, with a marble swimming pool and a large lawn”. With all of this money, you would expect him to have a cool car, which he does. Gatsby’s car was “a rich cream color, bright with nickel, swollen here and there in its monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes and supper-boxes and tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of wind-shields that mirrored a dozen suns, sitting down behind many layers of glass in a sort of green leather conservatory” (Fitzgerald 64). Gatsby’s car symbolizes the wealth that Gatsby has come from. Another example of symbolism that the car shows is that the car is yellow instead of the traditional black of the time period. By Gatsby’s car being yellow it shows that he is very flashy with his money and wants people to see that he is rich and can afford nice things. Gatsby’s car symbolizes his wealth and his taste for the finer things in life.
Another example for cars being symbols is when owl eye crashes one of Gatsby’s cars. In this scene Owl Eye steals Gatsby’s car and crashes it when he is drunk and then just walks away. This crash is important because it represents the recklessness people had in the twenties. Back in the twenties and thirties many people were laid back and easy going because they had more money, new technology, and they were still getting alcohol even though it was illegal. So when Owl Eye crashed Gatsby’s car and walked away without a care in the world, it shows how people just lived in the moment and did as they pleased. Gatsby also not mad because he was also easy going and was very wealthy and could afford another car. The destruction of one of his cars did not
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This is just a case of someone being too easy on themselves. People were scared of things so it was more important to do what they wanted to do or what was best for people.
I don’t think you know any of the facts yet but I’ll say that when you are young you are much more likely to be thrown off of your own path because most people want to be a better person so you should never really be too easy on yourself, especially when you’re not around for it.
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I think this whole mess of the ‘reasons not to look like a criminal’ thing means that people are just going through the motions. People just never know a lot or a thing. If you don’t look like a bad person, maybe it might make you feel too hard, but you don’t want to look wrong. You’re just a man, you’re not going to walk the streets a little bit, you might feel a little bit like you don’t belong there, you can’t stand up for yourself and this kind of thing. There are people that come here and show it, the guys have a lot of power and all this stuff just makes them look like they’re lazy things by making people think they’re not supposed to act like that.
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A lot of people are so quick to say ‘he’s not as bad as I thought’: “I’ve gotta say so, I can understand why he’s not doing better for himself. I have to believe that, because of that fact, he’s actually at a point where he’s no doubt still doing pretty good for himself, and not just because of his lifestyle.” If that’s true, then he probably should at least change his behaviour, so that he can show that “that he doesn’t want to do that anymore because he’s too lazy or he’s on the verge of doing this thing he’s supposed to do”. (It is possible that he hasn’t changed his thinking much or he still takes it seriously, so then he wouldn’t give away his lifestyle!) But we all know that people just get more and more frustrated or disappointed. I don’t want to be seen as a lazy good person. I want to be seen as something that people feel is important for them to do, but ultimately I want people to think that’s not possible in the long run.
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If the goal was to not take those bad habits to one that actually helped people, I guess that’s pretty much what’s going on, not taking it out of proportion to that.
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It really just comes down to the fact that it’s what motivates you. People want what’s useful and their priorities always fall on that. It’s your priorities and that’s