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Great Gatsby Paradox

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The Great Gatsby highlights the main problematic peaks of the 1920s, emphasising how combatants from the war try relive the years they have lost and the silent feud between those of new money and those of old money.

Fitzgerald creates a paradox view of the story by capturing the essence of two completely different personalities and building characters upon them. The result of this paradox was the creation of conflict between the main character Jay Gatsby and the antagonist, Tom Buchanan.

Jay Gats or as we know him, Jay Gatsby is a perfect example of an idealist, optimist and a fantasist. He can be perceived as the embodiment of an over the top romance or a creepy, stalker who devotes his life dwelling on the past. My view on Jay was …show more content…

His hypocritical personality heavily impacts our view of him. We learn early on in the story that Tom is cheating on his wife with Myrtle. In an attempt to discredit Jay, Tom tries to persuade Daisy into loving him but has a hidden agenda and does not want Daisy to leave as the society will view him negatively.

“I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified”. Nick claims that Tom had justified his reason for telling George the assumed culprit behind Myrtle's death. I believe that Tom’s actions were aimed to discredit and humiliate Gatsby and not to ensure his wife’s protection as Nick believes. Tom had lost his lover and believed that the only way to ensure his happiness and reputation was to eliminate his rival, Gatsby.

Nick had not distinguished the difference between justice and revenge. “They’re a rotten crowd’, I shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together,” tells us that Nick believed that Jay was a good man but he did not defend nor preserve Gatsby’s legacy. He did not tell Tom the truth showing us that his concern for Gatsby was very low. Nick claims he was raised in a good home and was taught morels but by not telling the truth he exposed himself as a hypocrite. Nick should've defended his friend not just for loyalty but for

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