Happiness In The Great Gatsby

Pursuing Happiness
Happiness means different things to different people. Some people find happiness in a sense of joy or excitement, and others find it in warmth, and goodness. This is why people pursue happiness; to feel a sense of completion. In The novel The Great Gatsby and in the film The Life of Pi, the characters Jay Gatsby and Pi Patel both pursue and compromise their happiness through love, determination, and adversity or hope. To some people, the most important of these is love.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, his main character Jay Gatsby, loves a married woman named Daisy Buchanan. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us […]” (192). To Gatsby, the green light

was a sign of hope, it was something that he could see and imagine, but could not grasp. He imagined the green light as being Daisy, and Daisy as being the key to his happiness. Because of his desire for Daisy, Gatsby did many things to convince Daisy that he is who Daisy should be with, one of the things he did was become rich. The fact that Nick refers to Gatsby’s house as “Gatsby’s mansion” (6) says that it is not just a big house, but that Gatsby has an enormous house, and it’s got all the extras to go with it, so he must have a lot of money. Gatsby has worked so hard to attain this wealth for only one reason: to impress Daisy and make her want to be with him. With his wealth, Gatsby is able to throw not only big, but such massive parties that people are “drunk for about a week” (49). Gatsby has a lot of money, so people tend to enjoy his parties a little too much, and very few go home sober. Even through all of this madness, Gatsby doesn't drink a drop, he is just watching, waiting, and determined to find the person of his dreams, Daisy.
Yann Martel’s, The Life of Pi takes us on an adventure with a man named Pi Patel, who is lost at sea with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker for 227 days, and how he survives to tell his story. Pi shows determination an endless number ways “You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it” is one of the things Pi keeps in his head, and something that keeps him determined to survive. He takes one of the worst thing that has ever happened to him, and finds a way through, ending up with an amazing family, and an appreciation for everything in life. Even when Pi is safe on land and Richard Parker is gone, Pi says he has “never forgotten him” and constantly thinks back to what he learned while training the tiger, in this case, the challenges Pi faces are the one and only thing keeping him alive, since he has figured out a way to pursue happiness and keep himself alive by having no fear and being able to live on the boat in peace with Richard Parker. One of the most important things to Pi is purpose, he feels that “life on a life boat isn’t worth living” and that this is the reason he needs Richard Parker. Richard Parker is purpose and purpose is a way Pi pursues happiness and why he is determined to keep Richard Parker alive. This shows how Pi wants happiness and is very determined to have it.