n the novel The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway describes his best friend Gatsby as “great”. As confusing and oxymoronic as it may sound, he is indeed great. The pursuit of his long-lost love is his primary goal, he overcame adversity, and he is one of the only rich people who hasn’t been corrupted by his wealth.
Many describe the twenties as the time of liberty and wealth; where the idea of the American Dream is steadily and seemingly becoming a reality for many, such as Jay Gatsby. However, Gatsby’s motivating factor towards wealth is to win Daisy back into his life. Gatsby specifically bought his mansion so “Daisy would be just across the bay” (78). The green light that burns at the end of Daisy’s dock signifies his longing for her love: his true American dream. Gatsby feels he will finally be up to Daisy’s standards through his newly acquired wealth, since “rich girls don’t marry poor boys” and she is only accustomed to wealth. Nick is the only person who recognizes Gatsby’s love as a reflection of his virtue, not of a reflection of what Daisy deserves. Gatsby’s unconditional love for Daisy is as admirable as it is gullible, and therefore makes him great.
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From a young age, Gatsby decided that he was going to get ahead in life. He created a strict daily schedule to lead him to success. His means of acquiring wealth are rather unconventional and immoral, but bootlegging allowed him to get rich quick instead of being trapped known as a poor farmer’s boy. Gatsby experienced failure, and his past allowed him to build character to facilitate the acquisition of his American Dream. His determination and potential is admired by Nick, who likes to feel inspired and hopeful. Gatsby is great because he was able to create a new identity for himself and overcome poverty to achieve his
The Great Gatsby is Jay Gatsby, the main character, had a dream to improve, at that point he was still called James Gatz. However, after meeting Daisy Buchanan his dream is eclipsed because he now needs money in order to win her over. Daisy cannot see herself without material items. Gatsby has to make up a lie in order to seem like he has old money rather than new money so that he can be up to standards for Daisy.
In the Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy parallels to his pursuit of the American Dream. We learn that, in Chapter 6, Gatsby did not come from that “Old Money’’ family. He is the son of poor farmers from North Dakota and rises to be notoriously wealthy by becoming a bootlegger. With all this money, it reminded him of the past relations he had with a rich girl: Daisy. Gatsby, in actuality, earned his money to impress, reunite, and rekindle his relationship with Daisy.
Jay Gatsby also wanted Daisy to break up with Tom and to tell him that she never loved him which illustrates his determination. Jay Gatsby has not seen Daisy in five years and during that time he has become very rich and has tried to get Daisy to notice him. During the five years, "Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay." (Fitzgerald 93). Gatsby got his house to get close to Daisy and had many parties hoping that one day Daisy would come to one of his parties so that they can see each other again.
All Gatsby turns out to be in the end is fallacious. He lied; he manipulated people and was naive. This is not the kind of person you would want to refer to as ‘great’. Gatsby was never one for honesty. His whole identity of ‘Jay Gatsby’ is a lie itself as Nick tells us the story
In a sense, the word “great” can be attributed to large and grand things such as Gatsby’s, house, his lavish parties, his wealth, and even his personality. All of these can be viewed as trophies of success or in a particular person’s eyes, greatness. Throughout the novel Nick is enamored by Gatsby's outstanding personality and ability to hold onto hope. He describes Gatsby as having, “..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. ”(2).
In the beginning of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick perceives Jay Gatsby as a mysterious yet typical rich man. Nick’s limited knowledge of Gatsby leads him to view Gatsby by his belongings, as he refers to Gatsby’s mansion as “a mansion… inhabited by a gentleman of that name” (5). However, building a relationship with Gatsby, Nick quickly distinguishes Gatsby’s personality from that of the typical rich man in 1920’s New York. Therefore, despite the dubious source of his wealth, the reader discerns Gatsby as “great” because of his extreme generosity, remarkable attitude and motivation, and everlasting love for Daisy. Unlike other rich West- and East-Egg citizens, Gatsby uses his wealth to benefit others and offer them opportunities.
Gatsby’s “Greatness” Greatness is showed by the choices we make in life. From how we see the circumstances and how we react to them. Gatsby is not as great of a man as Nick claims that he is. Gatsby makes foolish, childish and delusional decisions and not at all great.
Nikki Vollrath 3/1/15 The Great Gatsby Response Journal Chapter 1 The narrator and book’s author in the story, “The Great Gatsby,” is Nick Carraway a man from the Midwest with a wealthy family. Nick starts by telling us about some thing he learned from his father. He learned not to judge people because they haven’t had the same advantages that he has in life.
On one hand, Gatsby gains enormous wealth through his own effort from the bottom of the society, which could be regarded as “the great” from a practical perspective in his guests’ eyes. However, in the end, his success becomes just an illusion. His ultimate dream—Daisy’s love –cannot be gained even if he is that wealthy, and his tragic death indicates that “the greatness” of his striving is easy to be destroyed. On the other hand, “the great” also reveals that Gatsby used to be a great figure in his numerous guests’ eyes, when he is able to hold glamorous parties every week. However, ironically, eventually he is just a nobody that none of his friends except Nick care after his death.
The characters in the novel pretend that they have their lives all figured out, but through their successes their downfalls and emptiness can be seen, to prove that money cannot buy happiness. Jay Gatsby is the newest and upcoming star in New York during the 1920’s. Through his business and inheritance he is one of the richest men of his time. One may think that his abundance of wealth would lead him to be eternally happy, but he is the opposite. Gatsby longs for his love of Daisy, which is his personal American Dream.
Gatsby is a charming, dedicated, trustworthy man, but best of all, he is great. There are many definitions as to what great means, yet Gatsby still fits them all. No one actually ever saw the great in Gatsby except his neighbor, Nick Carraway. Gatsby is a very great man because he is successful, hopeful, and self-made. Starting from young, Gatsby always had a goal of being successful.
"The Great Gatsby" is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. F. Scott Fitzgerald discusses the issues on-post-war society, the American dream, love, and wealth. This draws attention to the readers that question if Jay Gatsby is "Great". Despite the uselessness of his beginnings, Gatsby is great due to the intensity of his will. Although, Gatsby is a person whose false love, materialism, and egotism led him to the tragic end.
In the story "The Great Gatsby" Nick has a favorable opinion of Jay Gatsby. In the first chapter of the book Nick states "When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction- Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. " The book gives many examples of Nick thinking of Gatsby as the "Great" such as Gatsby 's smile, what Gatsby was willing to do for Daisy, and what Gatsby did for himself.
The Great Gatsby: Analysis The Great Gatsby is a novel about a man named Nick Carraway. Nick is the narrator and is the neighbor of a very wealthy man who goes by the name, Gatsby. Throughout the novel, it is made clear that all of the men are womanizers, including Nick.
The Corruption of The American Dream in The Great Gatsby In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald illustrates society in the 1920’s and the desire for the people with in it to achieve the American Dream, which embodies the hope that one can achieve power, love and a higher economic/social status through one’s commitment and effort. The novel develops the story of a man named Jay Gatsby and his dream of marrying what he describes as his “golden girl”, also known as, Daisy Buchanan, his former lover. Fitzgerald explores the corruption of the American dream through the Characters; Myrtle, Gatsby and Daisy.