Why Is Gatsby Great?

Many people go throughout their lives being afraid of grasping their

aspiration, and wonder what could have been. To be successful in life one must work hard
and show dedication to their goal so that they can achieve their goals. What makes
individuals great is that they keep working on these aspirations till on day they are
achieved or die trying. Jay Gatsby is great due to the fact that he believes so strongly in
the love that he shares with Daisy, and will go to any extent to protect, love, and care for
her that leads to his downfall.
Jay Gatsby is willing to do anything for Daisy and will always watch over, and
protect her from any harm that she faces. Jay Gatsby is madly in love with Daisy and
becomes a mogul in the underworld to become the man that she wants. Gatsby is so
intoxicated with Daisy that he makes excuses for her shortcomings she was nervous and
she thought it would steady her to drive and this woman rushed out at us just as we were
passing a car coming the other way (Fitzgerald 150). Jay takes the blame for Daisy when
she hits Myrtle and burdens himself with the incompetence of Daisy. The reader begins to
see the true characteristics of Daisy and how careless she can be. Gatsby is especially
concerned with the relationship between ideals and conduct, and its thesis on this subject
appears to be as follows: To have large romantic ideals is almost certainly to be mistaken,
because of the nature of ideals, but to attempt to do without them is to live emptily and to
thwart a permanent human craving; hence almost any large romantic ideals, however
mistaken, deserve to be viewed respectfully (Fraser 555). Fraser explains how Gatsby is
shrouded by Daisy and how the relationship that they have formed is nothing but an
illusion that Gatsby thinks is the truth. Gatsby is in love with the idea of Daisy due to this

he is not able to see the deception of their relationship. The reader. Nick was the only one
who truly cared for Gatsby, and called Daisy half an hour after we found himbut she
and Tom had gone away (Fitzgerald 171). Daisy really did not love Gatsby at all; she did
not even have the curtsey to come to his funeral. After everything Jay did for Daisy she
still did not acknowledge him as someone who she cared for. What makes Gatsby great is
that he works so hard to achieve an illusion, and in the process he dies but he always
keeps the faith that one day Daisy will be his.
Jay Gatsby is an example of the American Dream and how he works so hard to
become the man who he thinks Daisy wants. Gatsby, the "mythic" embodiment of the
American dream, is shown to us in all his immature romanticism. His insecure grasp of
social and human values, his lack of critical intelligence and self-knowledge, his
blindness to the pitfalls that surround him in American societyAnd yet the very
grounding of these deficiencies is Gatsby's goodness and faith in life, his compelling
desire to realize all the possibilities of existence (Eble 36). Gatsby exemplifies the
American dream because he has come so far from where he was to become the man that
he believed Daisy wants. Gatsby devoted his whole life to the notion of be a romantic
that indulged himself in corruption and exploitation of society to achieve his goal. The
American Dream is too much an ideal ever to be consummated except in the sense to
which "orgastic future" corresponds (Barbarese cxxiv). Even though the American
Dream is an ideal that each individual tries to achieve, Gatsby illuminates this idea of The
American Dream by striving for a better future for himself.Jay becomes something this
mobster and an underground bootlegger to provide the life Daisy wants so that she will be
happy. Gatsby has such a remarkable[that] we must pay heed to Fitzgerald's ambitions

for Gatsby, because it is in the breadth of these ambitions that a comparatively slight
novel with a melodramatic plot and a hazily distinguishable central character emerges
into a novel of such remarkable amplitude (Eble 38). The character of Gatsby that
Fitzgerald shows is such a dynamic character that makes an impact on Nick Caraway,
which shows him how, devoted a man Gatsby is and begins to see the true colors of
Gatsby. Gatsby is not a playboy or a shallow social climber, but a man in love who will
do anything to live his life with Daisy.Gatsby came from nothing that worked so hard to
be good enough for Daisy and even though she was in his grasp she still got away, but
even through everything Gatsby still believed that she would call him. These true
characteristics make Gatsby a symbol of the American dream.
Gatsby is a tragic hero who gives up his life and everything for Daisy. Jay Gatsby
is considered a tragic hero because "It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house
that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was
complete" (Fitzgerald 166). Gatsby died for the crimes of Daisy, when she hit Myrtle
while driving Jays car. Gatsby takes the blame for Daisys shortcomings and pays the
ultimate price of death. The audience begins to see how Jay is a tragic hero because it did
not matter to Jay if he was the richest person in the world or the poorest, all he wanted
was to be good enough for Daisy. The Great Gatsby story takes place during the roaring
20s. This is a time when World War 1 had just finished and bootlegging was very
prominent, but despite all the financial success Gatsby achieved he did not reach his on
goal for the woman of his dreams. Gatsby [the] of-view; he is very much in the story?
and who he is and where he stands and where he ends up is as important to the story's
import as Gatsby is. Like Marlow, Caraway provides a moral center (Eble 40). Gatsby

throws all these enormous parties and yet no one knows who he is. Gatsby has achieved
financial success and believes that this will bring him everything he wants in life. Gatsby
strives to become friends with Nick so that he can get closer to Daisy, but even through
everything this is impossible. Jay Gatsby becomes a tragic hero because he becomes a
bootlegger and is part of the underworld all in hope to live out the rest of his life with
Daisy, but because she is married and only cares about who can protect her Gatsby has no
chance with her. The whole time he works so hard just to lose his life to without reaching
his goal makes Jay Gatsby a tragic hero. Nick sees Gatsby as the incarnation of this
national impulse, this "extraordinary gift for hope," using the same term?"wonder"?to
describe Gatsby s desire for Daisy Buchanan and that of the first American colonists
gazing at "the fresh green breast of the new world. For Nick, Gatsby's lies, his pre
tensions, and his corruption are "no matter"; nor is his failure to win back Daisy; what
matters is the sustaining belief in the value of striving for a "wondrous" object, not its
inevitable disappearance and meaninglessness (Will 126). Gatsbys character shows the
audience the characteristics of a tragic hero who strives for a wondrous person that he
knows will make him whole, but she is too guarded and selfish in her own world to care
about anyone except what she wants. Gatsby is used as a tool and disposed of when he
becomes useless. Nick Caraway is the only person who sees Gatsby for who he is and
begins to understand the true character of Jay Gatsby. What makes Gatsby a tragic hero is
his notion of innocence and determination that he puts forward to claim Daisy for his
own, and in the process dies taking the blame and consequences for Daisy.
Jay Gatsby is so arrogant and thoughtless in his action, which lead to his demise.
Gatsby is very senseless he works so hard for a woman of his dreams, and creates this

persona of a rich honorable man, even though he is a crook and lies to flirt with a married
woman. The audience begins to be indulged into Gatsby's sphere in this passage, and it
is worth noting that the whole transition from hoax to belief has a distinct literary
coloration (Weinstein 31). Jay Gatsby is someone who believes he is doing the right
thing by becoming a bootlegger and crook to provide Daisy with the life that he believes
she wants, but in reality he corrupts himself to become part of the elitist society. Gatsby
wants a married woman and convinces Nick to help him be with Daisy. Gatsby says that
he is a man from Oxford, but in actuality he was only there for 6 months and is not from
a wealthy family. During the roaring twenties
Gatsby is aptly suited for the role of arch-high priest because he
is the persona and chief practitioner of the hedonism that
marked this period. He is also its unwitting prophet, for his failure
and destruction serve as a portent for the eclipse of the
American dream, and the passing away of an era. It is with this
prophet image that this paper will chiefly deal (Pearson 639).
Gatsby does not exemplify the American dream but in actuality
he stands for corruption and shows the readers how any
individual and achieves wealth by participating in illegal
activities. Gatsby shows society that if one wants to achieve ones
goals they must cheat and lie. In actuality Gatsby is a spiritual
wasteland-materialistic and mortal, and by its very nature
doomed to ashes (Pearson 641).

Jay does not have any moral obligations and acts as a playboy who
throws elaborate parties to attract the wrong attention in hopes that
Daisy will one day attend. Jay Gatsby is very thoughtless in his actions
because he put himself in a position between a married woman and
her husband. Jay Gatsby is not great because he represents all the
vices of the twenties and makes it seem that these actions are what
make an individual great and successful. Gatsby uses these vices to
obtain his dream of being with Daisy. By doing so Jay Gatsby has
become the representative of everything wrong with society. The
American Dream represents opportunity and having a better life, which
Gatsby exploits in a negative way.
Gatsby is great because he works so hard to achieve his one goal in life to be with
Daisy and works so hard to become what he believes she wants. Gatsby is selfless in
these actions and acts out of pure love for Daisy. Jay does not ever loose hope in Daisy
that one day they will be together. By being selfless and working hard Jay Gatsby also
represents the American dream by loving Daisy and working so hard to achieve become
the man that he believes Daisy wants him to be. These ideals are what help make Gatsby
great, he is a tragic hero due to the fact that he looses his life for the woman that he loves,
but this is what makes him great. Jay Gatsby is great due to the fact that he believes so
strongly in the love that he shares with Daisy, and will go to any extent to protect, love,
and care for her that leads to his downfall.

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Oct. 2013.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY:
Scribner, 1996. Print.
Fraser, Jhon. "Dust and Dream and The Great Gatsby." Dust and Dream and The Great

Gatsby 4th ser. 32 (1965): 554-64. Jstor. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.

Pearson, Roger L. "Gatsby: False Prophet of The American Dream." Gatsby: False

Prophet of The American Dream 59.5 (1970): 638-42. JSTOR. Web. 28 Oct.

2013.

Samuels, Charles T. "The Greatness of "Gatsby"" The Greatness of "Gatsby" 1st ser. 7.4
(1966): 783-94. JStor. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.

Weinstein, Arnold. "Fiction as Greatness : The Case of Gatsby." Fiction as Greatness :

The Case of Gatsby 19.1 (1985): 22-38. JSTOR. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.