The Lucky One and The Great Gatsby: How Staying Determined will Lead to Accomplishments

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work”(Powell). Throughout the movie, The Lucky One, directed by Scott Hicks, and the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main characters endure many obstacles to try to win the heart of the girl they love. Jay Gatsby is determined to reunite with the girl he fell in love with five years ago. Logan is resolute in finding the girl in the picture, who he calls his guardian angel. In both the movie, The Lucky One and The Great Gatsby, they reveal how staying determined will lead to accomplishments; Logan in The Lucky One, ends up getting the girl, however, Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, fails to keep the heart of Daisy.

Determination is “The act or an instance of making an important decision and not giving up” (“Determination”). In The Great Gatsby, the main character Jay Gatsby is a succesful business man who will go to extremes to win the heart of the woman of his dreams, Daisy, hoping she would leave her husband for him. Gatsby threw extravagant parties with an abundance of alcohol and a variety of people. People would drive hundreds of miles to attend one of Jay Gatsby’s parties. He would never participate in any of his parties, however, so no one knew him. One may ask: Why would he spend so much money on parties he did not even participate in? The answer is that he would stand on the balcony looking over his unknown party guests hoping Daisy would show up one evening. Gatsby was very determined to get the attention of Daisy, and he believed by throwing these parties he would do so. He was so anxious to see her; he had his neighbor Nick invite her over one afternoon. He had been very nervous and wanted eve...

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