The central conflict in "The Great Gatsby," (announced by Nick in the fourth paragraph of the book), is the conflict between Gatsby's dream and the reality that "the foul dust which floats in the wake of his dreams." Gatsby, Nick tells us, "turned out all right in the end"; the dreamer remains as pure, as inviolable, at bottom, as his dream of a greatness, an attainment "commensurate to man's capacity for wonder." ... The light-dark symbolism is employed with great care. ... White traditionally symbolizes purity, and there is no doubt that Fitzgerald wants to underscore the iron...

• Word Count: 664
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is a novel that elegantly and truthfully details the period of American history known as the Roaring Twenties. Taking place on the West and East Eggs of Long Island, The Great Gatsby tells the tale of Jay Gatsby (an incredibly wealthy but yet a complete mystery of a man) and of his undying love for Daisy Buchanan. ... The Great Gatsby is a novel of lavish parties filled with drunken orgies of sheer debauchery, love affairs, and murder, but yet it still manages to show the innocence and naivety of the very people that sinfully tarnish the world in which ...

• Word Count: 841
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate