Senouci 1

Yasmin Senouci
Ms. Hou
English 11
6 November 2013

In the novel The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald writes about an

intriguing, naive man named Jay Gatsby, no one seems to know who this guy
is or where he came from but everybody seems to know about him. Gatsby
fell in love with a woman from an extremely wealthy background, her name
was Daisy, they were together for a brief period of time before Gatsby fled to
fight in the war. While Gatsby is gone materialistic Daisy marries a wealthy
man named Tom Buchanan. Gatsby returns from the war to find out Daisy is
married and spends his time throwing luxurious parties in his mansion
hoping that one day she will walk through his doors and they will be able to
rekindle their romance. Gatsby longs to be with Daisy and spends his entire
adult life risking anything to win her back. Gatsbys tendency's to stretch
the truth and childish expectations of life lead the reader to believe Gatsby
might not be as great as people make him out to be.
The story of Gatsby is very mysterious and Gatsby himself [is] aware
of the bizarre accusations that [flavor] conversation in his halls (Fitzgerald,
69). Gatsby is new money, he claims that he is the son of a wealthy family
who all died, so he inherited their money. He tells Nick all about how he
went to Oxford as it was a family tradition, traveled through Europe and the
war. However later on in the story we find out Gatsby is not entirely telling

Senouci 2

the truth, we learn that his parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm
people (Fitzgerald, 104) and he did not inherit his money after all, his real
name0 was also Jimmy Gatz, not Jay Gatsby. From a young age Gatsby had
an idea of who he wanted to be and who he wanted his parents to be, so he
never really accepted his real parents as his own. He was ashamed of his
background and who he really was, so he decided he was not going to be
that person and created a new image from himself, mysterious Mr. Gatsby.
His money was made from bootlegging, during the time of the prohibition
people began drinking a lot more, and so bootlegging was a way to make a
large amount of money. Gatsby is seen to have stretched the truth multiple
times throughout the book, this is because of his desire to make himself
seem great.
Although Gatsbys ideas of winning back Daisy are sweet they are not
realistic at all, he believes that by showing off how much money he has it is
inevitable that Daisy will fall back in love with him in an instant. Towards the
end of the book you begin to see how nave Gatsby really is, he seems to
think it is alright to chase after a woman who is married; he is certain it is as
simple as her telling Tom that she doesnt love him and their past five years
together and child will be erased, he does not think of barriers that might
occur along the way. It is clear he is still clinging on to the past when he says
to his friend, Nick cant repeat the past? [] Why of course you can!
(Fitzgerald, 111) He doesnt think for a second that Daisy might actually have
fallen in love with someone 0else whilst he was away. Throughout the book

Senouci 3

you can see Gatsby believes the end justifies the means, and how he acts
proves that, he does everything he can good or bad to get his end result,
Daisy.
Some people may say Mr. Gatsby is great because he has a goal, and
he is willing to do anything to reach it. This sets him apart a great deal from
the rest of the new money people who spend their time drinking, partying
and living life recklessly. When Gatsby is first seen, he is seen [stretching]
out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and, far as [Nick is]
from him [he swears] he was trembling. Involuntarily [he] glances seaward
and distinguishes nothing except a single green light, minute and faraway,
that might be the end of the dock (Fitzgerald, 25) from this moment on he
is seen trying to reunite with Daisy until the day he dies. Another reason is
because of his optimistic outlook on life, his extraordinary gift for hope
(Fitzgerald, 2), he never gave up no matter what life threw at him and he got
where he wanted to be because he had that hope. He had his heartbroken by
Daisy who told him she did love Tom but she loved him too(Fitzgerald,
107), she pretty much abandoned him and made her choice to stay with
Tom, yet he still waited outside of Tom and Daisys house for hours to make
sure that she was alright. However although he was optimistic and willing to
do anything for Daisy, choices he made were childlike and ultimately
deleterious to his life, he threw ostentatious parties and owned lavish
clothing all to impress avaricious Daisy, and even after all of that she still
didnt want him. He spent his whole life trying to make something of himself

Senouci 4

and threw it all away because he fell in love with a girl. His optimism was
admirable however sometimes he seemed blinded by it, and did not want to
accept reality. His whole dreamlike life turned out to be a not so dreamy
after all and after everything he sacrificed for Daisy and all that he fought for
he ended up with nothing, as she did not even show up to his funeral and
careless fled back to Chicago with Tom, as though nothing even happened.
In conclusion there is no doubt Mr. Gatsby was a passionate, admirable
person who was very different from both new money and old money people
of the time, he was driven not solely by wealth but by love. However after all
he sacrificed for Daisy, he didnt succeed in rekindling their romance as she
selfishly chose Tom over him and everything he worked so hard for was for
nothing. Great people become legends they leave behind legacies,
everybody knows them and remembers them for who they were and all that
they did. After Gatsby died, out of the thousands of people that showed up to
his parties, to drink his alcohol and enjoy his house not one showed up to his
funeral. And a year later I doubt anyone but Nick will remember his name.