‘Gatsby paid too high a price. What after all, was his crime? Living for five years with a magnificent dream.’ Do you agree with this?
In the film ‘The Great Gatsby’ directed by F Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby was a kind-hearted man with a magnificent dream with his true love daisy. He had met her back when the war was declared, failing to stay with her due to his presence in war. After five years, he had returned and found daisy married to another man named Tom. Gatsby bought a house directly across from the married couple, hosting gigantic parties, hoping one day she will wander in. Towards the end of the movie, Gatsby ended in a tragic death, murdered by another man.
In my opinion, I think the price Gatsby paid too high a price for his crime.
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Although he hosted drug stores around the country, he was also a warm hearted and loyal man. After five years, he was finally relieved from duty and given the chance to win back his one true love but due to an unfortunate accident of another woman, led to his tragic murder. The accident began when Gatsby was invited over to Tom’s mansion for dinner. Once Tom discovered Gatsby’s love for daisy, he was furious and decided to take them all out for tea. They began arguing about each other’s past lives and history, which ended badly for both parties. On the way home, daisy decided to drive as she stated that ‘driving calms her down’. Along the way, the accident happened when Myrtle Wilson, the beloved wife of George Wilson, ran out onto the road carelessly and was killed by Daisy Buchannan, leaving George in pain and anger. Thinking that his wife’s killer was Gatsby, George murdered him and ended his own life at the crime scene. The main reason why I think the consequences were too harsh on Gatsby was because he didn’t deserve to die, as he wasn’t the killer of Myrtle Wilson.
However, there are aspects of Jay Gatsby, which questions the goodness of his true self. Gatsby’s money did not come from inheritance, as he would like people to believe, but from organized crime. The story takes place during the time of prohibition and Gatsby has profited greatly from selling liquor illegally. In addition of Gatsby’s parties, he knew very little about the people, he only wanted to know whether they know about Daisy. All his crime committed in the past all came down to one singular goal when he fell in love, a fateful incident that changed his life forever. After meeting daisy, everything he did was for the purpose of winning her. Essentially, money and war was the issue that prevented them being together. With drive and perseverance in achieving his goal in obtaining money, he began his own business, which led to selling illegal liquor.
After five years, Gatsby returned as a millionaire, with a blind pursuit of Daisy. Everything he did, every purchase he made, every party he threw, was all part of his grand scheme to bring daisy back into his life for good. By being so focused on his dream of Daisy, Gatsby moves further into his own fantasy world. He thought what he was doing was noble, honorable and purposeful regardless of all the crime committed in the process. His inability to deal with reality sets him out
of shape, and eventually led to his death. Over the years, although he had committed many crimes accounted for, he was blinded by one singular goal, which was to win Daisy’s love. In my own opinion, I don’t think death and losing his true love was a suitable consequence because Daisy was the sole purpose of Gatsby’s desires. He reinvented himself for her, he built a house next to her, he amassed wealth for her and in the end he risked his life for her: taking blame for Myrtle’s death. In another perspective, he was a guardian angel for her, dying for her crime. Ben Liu
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.
In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby functions under the illusion that Daisy is perfect and is living in such distress because she was forced to marry Tom due to Gatsby being away at war and being poor. This illusion leads Gatsby to spend his entire adult life pining after Daisy and cheating his way up the social and economic ladder in order to win her over. Gatsby believes that Daisy will someday come back to him because she loves him so much and they will live happily ever after together.
...illingly for a murder Daisy committed and not him. Gatsby had a period of happiness when he was with Daisy and thought it was the best time of his life, and Daisy seemed to think the same. Gatsby was still not good enough for Daisy though because he was part of West Egg, the lesser wealthy. But everything seemed to be an illusion; the story took place in the time of the Gilded Age. Nothing was how it seemed to be, while everything seems to be good on the outside, deep down there are always problems and abandoned memories, which eventually come up again and often causes problems. We all make mistakes in our life, love can influence our decisions greatly, but what’s important in life is setting your priorities straight, becoming a better person from our mistakes, and lastly, loving a person for whom they are on the inside rather than any material possessions or looks.
Gatsby is unrealistic. He believes he can relive the past and rekindle the flame he and Daisy once had. He is lost in his dream and accepts that anything can be repeated, "Can't repeat the past…Why of course you can!" (116, Fitzgerald). For Gatsby, failure to realize this resurrection of love is utterly appalling. His whole career, his conception of himself and his life is totally shattered. Gatsby's death when it comes is almost insignificant, for with the collapse of his dream, he is spiritually dead.
At seventeen, James Gatz already hated the life he was leading. When he saw the riches of the east, he despised that he had to live in rags while others went to parties each night. And so he changed his identity, to break the bond he had with his past life, and created a new life for himself, with a new name and a new sense of hope. The boy that he was before was gone replaced by the confident and charismatic Jay Gatsby. This man was the one who won over the beautiful Daisy. When she ran away to Tom for he did not have the money she desired to live a lavish and comfortable lifestyle, he made it his aim to win Daisy back. With this determination, Gatsby made it his only goal to climb up the social ladder. He even stooped down to the level of organized crime, but it was so that he could achieve his dream of climbing his way to the top of the social ladder. For people with inherited money, they have no true dedication to any work he or she did. For a man like Gatsby, unhappy with his situation, and who started out at the bottom, it took full determination for him to achieve his goal. " 'He bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.' (Fitzgerald 78)" To Gatsby, the money would buy back the love that Daisy once had for him. Although his pursuit of Daisy is blind, everything he does, from all the books he buys to every party he throws shows his resolve to win Daisy back
As a young man, Jay Gatsby was poor with nothing but his love for Daisy. He had attempted to woe her, but a stronger attraction to money led her to marry another man. This did not stop Gatsby’s goal of winning this woman for himself though, and he decided to improve his life anyway he could until he could measure up to Daisy’s standards. He eventually gained connections in what would seem to be the wrong places, but these gave him the opportunity he needed to "get rich quick." Gatsby’s enormous desire for Daisy controlled his life to the point that he did not even question the immorality of the dealings that he involved himself in to acquire wealth. Eventually though, he was able to afford a "castle" in a location where he could pursue Daisy effectively. His life ambition had successfully moved him to the top of the "new money" class of society, but he lacked the education of how to promote his wealth properly. Despite the way that Gatsby flaunted his money, he did catch Daisy’s attention. A chaotic affair followed for a while until Daisy was overcome by pressures from Gatsby to leave her husband and by the realization that she belonged to "old money" and a more proper society.
Gatsby is a man of extreme capabilities but he fails to see the inevitability of his vision's failure, and in his inability to see this, he keeps trying to attain it. He does everything in his power to accomplish this vision, until his death. Daisy indirectly causes Gatsby's death, making her more than ever, unworthy of Gatsby's affections. Ironically, Gatsby lived for Daisy and up to his death, believed and had faith in her and his vision.
His desire for Daisy made Gatsby willing to do whatever was necessary to earn the money that would in turn lead to Daisy’s love, even if it meant participating in actions that were not completely legal.... ... middle of paper ... ... When reflecting on his memories of the man he knew as Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway recalls the unique individual’s finest quality: “It was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again” (Fitzgerald 2). Although Gatsby occasionally stepped off the straight and narrow, he never lost sight of his ultimate goal: Daisy’s love.
One question readers often find themselves wondering while reading The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is whether the characters in the novel have good morals and beliefs. Many people have different opinions on the important character, Jay Gatsby. Is he a character with good beliefs, or is he unworthy of the extravagant life he seems to live? There is no answer that can be found in the book, however the reader can make their own judgement. But one question that everyone has to ask themselves by the end of the novel is whether Jay Gatsby deserves the early end to his life or if he deserves to live much longer than he does. Jay Gatsby does not deserve the murder that he receives at the hands of George Wilson based on the short and
As Matthew J. Bruccoli noted: “An essential aspect of the American-ness and the historicity of The Great Gatsby is that it is about money. The Land of Opportunity promised the chance for financial success.” (p. xi) The Great Gatsby is indeed about money, but it also explores its aftermath of greed. Fitzgerald detailed the corruption, deceit and illegality of life that soon pursued “the dream”. However, Fitzgerald entitles the reader to the freedom to decide whether or not the dream was ever free of corruption.
Gatsby is a dreamer, he dreams that one day he and Daisy will be able to be together once again. To achieve this dream Gatsby has made himself a rich man. He knows that in order to win Daisy back he must be wealthy and of high social stature. Gatsby becomes rich, has a beautiful mansion, nice things, things like shirts “They’re such beautiful shirts. . . it makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful clothes” (pg.98).Gatsby believes his dream will come true because of all the money and nice things he has. The way that Gatsby becomes rich is in a way the demise of his dream. Gatsby becomes wealthy by participating in organized crime, including distributing illegal alcohol and trading in stolen securities. Daisy eventually learns about this and it is one of the reasons she will never again be with Gatsby. The other reason is Daisy a...
Gatsby spends thousands of dollars in the hopes of getting Daisy, an old friend whom he was deeply in love and obsessed with, to c...
Money, Love, and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby." P. 51
Growing up, he works numerous jobs, anything to make a living. Many of which were illegal and through those, he meets Meyer Wolfshiem. Wolfshiem is part of the mob and Gatsby works for him, that is where Gatsby really starts to become successful. Now he has all that he has ever wanted, a great house, cars, money, servants. One thing he has always wanted was Daisy Buchanan. They were a couple before Gatsby left for war, but when he comes back, Daisy has married another man all because of money, Tom Buchanan. He reconnects with Daisy now that he is rich and invites her over,”They walk through period bedrooms swathed in rose and lavender silk and vivid with flowers” (Fitzgerald 96). Daisy sees all these luxurious things that Gatsby now has and wants him back. They get back together even though she is still married to Tom and they feel that everything is complete, but not for long. Gatsby and Daisy talk, “We haven’t met for many years..”(Fitzgerald 92). Through the
Keith Newlin, in his book The American Dream, however, argues a different viewpoint. Newlin claims that the Gatsby’s failed attempts to attain the American Dream was not due to Gatsby’s criminal activities, but to the following of the misguided ideas of the American Dream: “The central problem in this plot is not that the quest for the American Dream is in some way fundamentally destructive, but rather that the version of it sought by Gatsby and Nick is a degraded corruption of the idea, a formulation that reduces the objective to money and to social status based on surface riches, not on the more fulfilling aspects of the original conception” (Newlin 113). Newlin observes that the methods by which Gatsby attempts to fulfill the American Dream were merely superficial. He claims that the idea of attaining wealth and social status through “surface riches” and corruption instead of honesty was destructive. In addition to the “degraded corruption of the idea” that Gatsby built for himself, his destruction was further magnified through the facade of wealth Gatsby increased through organized crime. Although Gatsby’s downfall was a result of the prioritization of wealth, his failure to follow the honest system of the American Dream contributed to his death. Had Gatsby followed the “more fulfilling aspects” of the American Dream, Tom potentially would not have