What kind of person is described as “great”? What personality a “great” person usually has? A person who has high fame and social status? A person who is rich? Or a person who is good looking like the celebrities? In the novel The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald Scott, the protagonist Jay Gatsby is being described as great. He is considered being great in different aspects - his determination and hope of pursuing his American Dream, his ability of creating a new identity for himself and his heroic figure for his love. In the novel, Jay Gatsby is great because is so determined and hopeful to make his dream come true. His dream is not a typical American dream during the 1920s of pursuing happiness, materialism, or individualism, but the …show more content…
love of his dream girl, Daisy Buchanan, whom Gatsby has idealized as being extremely perfect.
In opposed of the sophisticated people with extravagant and lazy lifestyle in the east egg who could have whatever they want because of their family background and high social status, Gatsby has a dream to chase, which sustained his hope and his life. With a dream, his life is more colorful than the others. Although Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy are all rich people, they are quite difference toward life. Holding grand parties during that time period depicted the corruption of luxury. For example, Daisy’s husband Tom holds an affair with his mistress Myrtle in an apartment, their lavish use of money in the party shows their self-indulgence of their wealth. However, Gatsby is totally different; he welcomes everyone to attend his party. His one and the only purpose of holding parties in his house is to attract his golden girl, Daisy, to make his dream come true. Gatsby himself is just alone in the mists of his party. “When the Jazz History of the World was over, girls were putting their heads on men’s shoulders in a puppyish, convivial way, girls were swooning backward playfully into men’s arms even into the groups knowing that someone would arrest their falls - but no one swooned backward on Gatsby, and
no French bob touched Gatsby’s shoulder, and no singing quartets were formed with Gatsby’s head for one link (Fitzgerald 55).” He is not indulging himself at his party because he knows clearly about what he really wants. For his dream, Gatsby is full of hope. Nick says that “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us (Fitzgerald 189).” Daisy is not as perfect as he expects, otherwise she would have waited for him. However, Gatsby still believe in his the inapproachable green light. Nick describes Gatsby as having god-like greatness because of his ambition and ability to reinvent himself as a new person with a different status. Five years ago, Gatsby was told that “poor boys don’t marry rich girls. He reluctantly let go of Daisy, but he never give up on this dream. He tried to make his dream comes true by changing his identity in the world. “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end (Fitzgerald 104).” Gatsby has reinvented himself when he was seventeen years old. He does not belong to the world of the wealthy, but he is willing to sacrifice everything to show that he is in the upper class, and he is in Daisy’s world. He is willing to give up on his past story just to obtain his dream, Daisy. Moreover, Gatsby knew that he need wealth to keep Daisy and so he joined a criminal business that would give him financial wealth. He is no longer referred to as a poor boy anymore. He learned manners and attitide that a social elite would be dealing with. He acts out a role that he made for himself when he was seventeen years old. Nick is astonished of Gatsby’s ability to make himself a new identity that’s why he described Gatsby as god. Gatsby is described as great because of his loyal and unworldly love of Daisy in the society with corrupted social values. In Nick’s eyes, Gatsby is a romantic hero. When accidently killed Myrtle by running over Myrtle in Gatsby's car, Gatsby takes the blame for Daisy. There is very few people in the world who is willing to sacrifice for their lover. However, Gatsby took the blame for Daisy without any hesitation. Gatsby’s noble sacrifice for Daisy finally lead to his death. Daisy, however, never respond to Gatsby's death, not even going to Gatsby’s funeral. She is just like an apathetic woman who doesn’t know Gatsby at all. Her silence showed her disloyalty, cowardice, and selfishness. Gatsby is great because he is sincere and he holds authentic love for Daisy. That’s what Tom, Daisy’s husband couldn’t even do for her despite his wealth and high social background cause he is apocryphal. How is a great person like? Just like Gatsby. Gatsby is great because of his perseverance of chasing his dream, his ability to reinvent himself as a whole new person for his dream, and his bravery and loyalty to protect his love. He is great because he believes and loyal to his green light. Is there a green light in your life too?
Jay Gatsby was a dreamer. His character personified the American Dream of rising from rags to riches.
Jay Gatsby was a man who lived a luxurious life. Jay Gatsby was truly great-remarkable would be a better description-, he was a generous, hopeful and successful man but like any other human being, he did possess some negative qualities that may lead others to think otherwise.
In the Novel The Great Gatsby, not many people really knew the man known as Jay Gatsby. When he was rich and powerful, he was the man you "want to know." But when he was dead, life went on without him. It seemed as if nobody cared that he was the man behind the parties and all the good times. He was dead and nobody mourned. This shows that the opinion of the great Jay Gatsby changed by the end of the story. He was an icon of not only every man's image of the American Dream, but he was also apart of Americanism and the American Experience. He was seen as the richest and luckiest man during his time.
Jay Gatsby, who is one of the main characters of the Great Gatsby, is a man with a mysterious background and an unknown personality. He doesn't mention too much about his past except certain fabricated highlights of his life which were designed to impress others. The strange and humorous thing is that he carries articles of evidence that back up most of his lies to prove that he isn't lying. Gatsby is also the kind of man that is used to getting what he wants no matter what the consequences are, causing him to be a very determined man that once has an idea in his mind won't let it go until he accomplishes it. The things that Jay Gatsby values the most is money, to impress others and gain acceptance and most of all, having things his own way. In a manner, these are some of the characteristics of the American Dream and what people strive for when they come to America.
Gatsby throws lavish parties to create a image of wealth for those attending. However, the people who show up do not care about Gatsby, rather they care about the “show” he puts on through these celebrations. The party-goers are only seeking an escape, they are lured to the bright lights and excessive alcohol, like moths to a flame. Not ever paying attention to a wondering Gatsby (if in fact they even know
...rom the elite rich, who possess old money. Tom also claims that Gatsby “threw dust into your eyes just like he did in Daisy’s”, (142) and can be said to be using his false wealth to mislead and confuse Daisy and Nick into thinking he is someone of their standards, which shows that Gatsby is not recognised as one of their class. This undercuts the glamorous wealth associated with Gatsby, and the ideal of equality in the American Dream.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, The Great Gatsby, the central character, Jay Gatsby, is a paradox. In one sense, his rise to material success is a remarkable accomplishment. Viewed through another lense, however, he is not great at all, but a massive failure. His goal of winning Daisy is never attained and he has amassed his fortune through very questionable means. Yet the term “great” is open for interpretation. Gatsby is certainly great in his ability to conjure up stories and an image of himself. His masterful ability to present himself to the world in a new light is similar to that of the one and only Great Houdini, and other performers of the past and present. But Gatsby’s greatness, like a stage performance, is only surface deep, and hides a deeper sense of failure.
Nick describes Gatsby as “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life(Ch.3).” Such description unifies the appearance of Gatsby with people’s expectation of a man who accomplished the American dream. The obsession with wealth often blinds people from the potential crisis. The crisis of having everything they worked and struggled for redefined if the reality fails them. Just like strivers who chase the American dream, Gatsby also spent his whole life in pursuit of his American dream, which Daisy was a major component of.
The Great Gatsby, a novel by Scott Fitzgerald, is about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its impossible goals. The attempt to capture the American Dream is used in many novels. This dream is different for different people; but, in The Great Gatsby, for Jay, the dream is that through wealth and power, one can acquire happiness. To get this happiness Jay must reach into the past and relive an old dream; and, in order to do this, he must have wealth and power.
Gatsby has all the money yet he is not happy when he throws gigantic parties at his house. Daisy, the one he tried to lure in with his parties, never cared to show up. The love shown by Gatsby towards Daisy, “’I want to wait here till Daisy goes to bed. Good night, old sport.’ He put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight – watching over nothing” (Fitzgerald 145).
Jay Gatsby, otherwise known as James Gatz, was originally born into poverty and raised in North Dakota. According to the novel itself, Jay Gatsby was considered “great” due to his extravagant parties, elite social status, and lavish wealth. However, when truly analyzing his character, Gatsby is nothing more than a man of no substance and a self-made con artist. Similar to a magician, he is an illusion to an act performed. Rather than serving as a metaphor for the lucre Gatsby has gained in the past years, the title of the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald displays irony in the sense of how dishonestly Gatsby himself acquired his rich lifestyle, shattering the quintessential American dream.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" might be one of the most debated novels in American literature when it comes to it's importance and greatness. Most critics seem to either hate it or think it's the most magnificent piece of literature ever written; very few are somewhere in the middle. In my opinion "The Great Gatsby" is beautifully written, but its not a perfect as most critics say, it's filled with many symbols; with the American Dream being a common theme associated with it. In "Why Gatsby is so great" by Jay McInerney, he talks about the dialogue. While Kathryn Schulz in "Why I despise The Great Gatsby" believes the novel has many easy to read symbols. Yet the novel never actually reaches the American Dream, a theme that the novel is known for.
Dictionary.com defines ‘Great’ as notable; remarkable; exceptionally outstanding. In the Novel The Great Gatsby the reader is shown the wealthy side of New York City during the Roaring 20s. Nick Carraway, the narrator, illustrates this side to the reader through his own eyes. Through Nick, we meet the exquisite Jay Gatsby, who is nothing short of great for different reasons. Jay Gatsby is “great” because of his friendship with Nick, his social status, and his love for Daisy Buchanan.
Readers often find aspects of "The Great Gatsby" attractive but ultimately the world of the novel is not admirable. Discuss.
After Daisy and Tom show up to the party, Daisy is amazed and enjoys the presence of famous people at Gatsby’s party, but she is “appalled by West Egg...she saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand” (Fitzgerald 107). Daisy has never been to a party and a town in which everything was so wild and uncontrolled. Daisy lives a life that is more sophisticated and mature, but the life of West Egg was quite different. She realized that West Egg is not a place for her and she didn't have much of an interest for the place. She preferred her sophisticated life in East Egg. She was dissatisfied with the life lived in West Egg so to make the situation better Gatsby terminated his wild parties. Nick knew this was official when “the lights in his house failed to go on one saturday night” (Fitzgerald 113). Gatsby didn't want to be viewed as unsophisticated and not like Daisy’s class. He wants to be seen as equivalent to Daisy and he wants her to know that they are the same type of people. If she believes this he can get her to truly love him. Gatsby shows that he will do anything to attain Daisy’s love. It is imperative that Daisy represents herself based on the ideals of her social class and not ruin her reputation. Gatsby has to fix his motives and match them to Daisy so she won’t risk ruining the reputation that she stands for. Daisy social class comes between who Gatsby is and what he has to do to get her to want