“You can’t repeat the past?... Why of course you can.” (110 This enduring quote from the famous novel The Great Gatsby by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald stirs the mind and imagination in wonder of the very character who had uttered these words. Infamous Gatsby is the mysterious man behind the lavish and enthralling parties; a man who made his money and his image in that of a king. But, who is this mysterious man? How did he receive the great fortune of developing all of which he had possessed? He had it all, but we are on the outside looking in; did this man with everything really have nothing at all? If Jay Gatsby is the real person we see him to be, then James Gatz is nonexistent. The day that the world had gained Gatsby, it had also lost James Gatz. There is a mysterious motive behind every move Jay Gatsby makes; these meticulously planned out moves will ultimately lead to an unfortunate and untimely demise. Jay Gatsby is a cryptoquote within himself. Who is this man? Gatsby is not only one man, but two. James Gatz, the son of dirt poor ranch farmers from North Dakota, had always dreamed of something more. Likewise, Jay Gatsby, the exuberant man behind the posh parties had also dreamed of more. But just how exactly did James turn into Jay; how did one man go from one financial extreme to another? Gatsby is an interesting character, yet many fail to notice. Within the novel no one knows how Gatsby had gotten the money and no one specific individual knew exactly what he looked like. Many knew the person, but not the man. If anyone were to recognize this mysterious man at any of his parties, he would be lurking around and not joining in on the festivities. Why would a man of such an extravagant lifestyle willingly hold partie... ... middle of paper ... ...ain. He had her and he would rather die than see her get away again. Eventually Gatsby is waiting. Waiting for that fate changing phone call from Daisy. He wants to go in the pool to pass the time while waiting for said phone call. George, Myrtle’s husband had found out that it was Gatsby’s car that hit his wife so he goes out for revenge. In that fateful evening three souls were lost that day, George’s, Jay Gatsby’s, and James Gatz’s. The lost of those two lives were completely unnecessary. Gatsby always seemed to be right and knowledgeable, yet the one thing he was the most incorrect about was he could not repeat the past. No matter how hard he tried to rewind the hands of time and change his fate he could not. He learned the very hard lesson of life. That nothing in life will work out perfectly for anyone. Learn this lesson and live life to the fullest potential.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby provides the reader with a unique outlook on the life of the newly rich. Gatsby is an enigma and a subject of great curiosity, furthermore, he is content with a lot in life until he strives too hard. His obsession with wealth, his lonely life and his delusion allow the reader to sympathize with him.
“Money can’t buy happiness” is a saying that is often used to make one understand that there is more to life than wealth and money. Jay Gatsby was a man of many qualities some of which are good and bad. Throughout the book of “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we learn of his past and discover the true qualities of Jay Gatsby. Starting from the bottom, with little money, we learn of why Gatsby struggled so hard all his life to become wealthy and what his true goal in life was. When reading this story, the true reasons behind Gatsby’s illegal actions reveal themselves and readers can learn a great life lesson from this story and the actions the characters take. Readers can see through Gatsby’s contradictions of actions and thoughts that illustrate the theme of the story, along with his static characteristics, that all humans are complex beings and that humans cannot be defined as good or bad.
The first impression that the reader gets of Gatsby is Jay’s initial explanation of him. Nick describes Gatsby as having an “extraordinary gift for hope” (2) or the ability to always be hopeful for the best outcome. This “ability” directly correlates to Gatsby 's platonic conception of himself and the world. Gatsby’s gift was not that he was able to see the best out of the worst situation but rather assume that the best situation would always occur for him. This “ability” lead Gatsby to take many risks especially the risk of believing that Daisy had only loved him. Gatsby also hopes that Daisy would call him back, leaving the phone lines open for Daisy when swimming in his pool. These acts only further lead to Gatsby becoming enemies with Tom, who gave Gatsby’s life up to Myrtle’s husband whose final act was shooting
a woman could want out of a marriage. She is very wealthy, she has a
There is a fine line between love and lust. If love is only a will to possess, it is not love. To love someone is to hold them dear to one's heart. In The Great Gatsby, the characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are said to be in love, but in reality, this seems to be a misconception. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the themes of love, lust and obsession, through the character of Jay Gatsby, who confuses lust and obsession with love.
Even after Gatsby does achieve his dream of prosperity, he is left unsatisfied always wanting something more. “He talked about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy” (110). Gatsby remains dissatisfied with what his life has become; instead of attempting to change it, he tries to relive the past through Daisy. In addition, earning his money untruthfully leaves Gatsby with a feeling of discontent since he cannot pride himself in hard work by means of earning it. The material possessions in Gatsby’s life bring him temporary happiness and satisfaction unaware that Daisy will fulfill the void of eternal longing for love. Humanity views material possessions as a symbol of wealth despite the many other ways an individual can be wealthy. This corrupted view reveals why Gatsby could not be content and accept his past as a part of him. In the passage of time, Gatsby continuously strives for his dream unaware that it has already passed, symbolic for the realization that one can’t relive the past. “‘You can’t relive the past.’ ‘Can’t relive the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’” (110). Despite the fact that he was poor in Louisville, Gatsby was rich in love and experienced genuine contentment. For the duration of his life, Gatsby
According to Aristotle, there are a number of characteristics that identify a tragic hero: he must cause his own downfall; his fate is not deserved, and his punishment exceeds the crime; he also must be of noble stature and have greatness. These are all characteristics of Jay Gatsby, the main character of Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is a tragic hero according to Aristotle's definition.
Many individuals believe that history repeats itself and is on a never ending loop doomed to be repeated once again. However, the past cannot be recreated. The past is the past and while some characters in the novel The Great Gatsby realize this others simply do not. Gatsby has spent the better part of five years trying to recreate the time when him and Daisy were together. Furthermore, Gatsby fails to realize that things have changed and are no long the same as five years ago. The uncertainties of times before are not grounds to repair a current situation in an individual’s life. Reality now is not the same as once before. The old days should be left in former times and when an individual attempts to reconcile these events then corruption
The 1920’s was a time of prosperity, woman’s rights, and bootleggers. F. Scott Fitzgerald truly depicts the reality of this era with The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby, an enormously wealthy man, is famous for his extravagant parties and striking residence. However, this is all that is known about Gatsby. Even his closest friends continue to wonder what kind of man Gatsby actually is. The mysteriousness of Gatsby is demonstrated by conceivable gossip, his random departures, and the missing parts of his past.
Jay Gatsby’s mansion is the quintessence of the idealized American Dream; it shows all that true about the fact that from nothing, something great may come, but sometimes, this greatness can come at a price. “‘I suppose he'd had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people – his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all’” (104). James Gatz, Gatsby’s real name, was born into humble roots, he was not wealthy, and sometimes did not even have food on the table; but the one thing he did have was his imagination and determination. Those are the characteristic which took him so far, and eventually even led to his downfall. His humble origins are the place from which his story starts, and will eventually catch up to him, as he had nothing when he was young, he dies truly with nothing. “Then he drifted back to Lake Superior, and he was still searching for something to do on the day that Dan Cody's yacht dropped anchor in the shallows along shore… And it was from Cody that he inherited money-a legacy of twenty-five thousand dollars” (107). This is where James Gatz ...
When looking at Jay Gatsby, one sees many different personalities and ideals. There is the gracious host, the ruthless bootlegger, the hopeless romantic, and beneath it all, there is James Gatz of North Dakota. The many faces of Gatsby make a reader question whether they truly know Gatsby as a person. Many people question what exactly made Jay Gatsby so “great.” These different personas, when viewed separately, are quite unremarkable in their own ways.
“I thought you knew, old sport. I’m afraid I’m not a very good host.” says a gentleman, a host of legendary parties, a typical example of fulfilled American dream (48). In F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the author well shows man’s desire for power. It is a common thing for mankind to dream of gaining more wealth, power, and control. But what if chasing that dream ends up destroying your life? Jay Gatsby, one of the main character of the story, has ambitious ideals and illusions created by his past. He seeks for power and wealth—to reach his old dream and to be worthy of Daisy’s love—not knowing that it blinds him and eventually leads to the path of his destruction.
Like a clock or a Rube Goldberg device, the plot of The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a specimen of fine machinery. If at any moment a piece fails, the structure of the entire story will cease to function as intended. If Gatsby had not stumbled upon the excursions of Dan Cody, if Gatsby had sent his letter to Daisy a few months sooner, if Gatsby had passed the house of Myrtle Wilson a moment earlier: all of these scenarios constitute a much different telling of the life of James Gatz. Every event falls perfectly into place to give the reader a coincidental but telling story of wealth and its corruptions. Nonetheless, as a broken clock can still be used as decoration, these alternate realities can still hold a powerful message as well. For example, had he not enlisted in the military, Gatsby’s life would be a drastically different tale involving rejection, defeat and acceptance.
Dwelling on the past will make the future fall short. When longing for the past one often fails to realize that what one remembers is not in actuality how it happened. These flashbulb memories create a seemingly perfect point in time. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s modernist novel the Great Gatsby, the ill-fated Jay Gatsby wastes the present attempting to return back to that “perfect” time in past. Acknowledging the power of the imagination, Nick states that, “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald 101). Nick realizes that because the past is irretrievable, Gatsby’s struggle, though heroic, is foolish. Gatsby’s great expectations of Daisy leads to great disappointments. Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald tries to instill his
According to Aristotle, a tragic hero character can be defined to be of noble status, but not necessarily virtuous. There is some aspect of his personality that he has in great abundance but it is this that becomes his tragic flaw and leads to his ultimate demise. However, his tragic ending should not simply sadden the reader, but teach him or her a life lesson. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is the tragic hero who portrays the corruption of the American dream through his tragic flaw. His devastating death at the end of the novel portrays the dangers of centering one’s life on money and other materialistic things and warns the reader not to follow his foolish steps. Jay Gatsby is the epitome of a tragic hero; his greatest attribute of enterprise and ambition contributes to his ultimate demise but his tragic story inspires fear amongst the audience and showcases the dangers of allowing money to consume one’s life.