Death In The Great Gatsby

Jay Gatsby demonstrates the progression of 1920’s society, from the stagnant class structure of the past to the upwardly mobile class fluidity of the Roaring Twenties. Gatsby, a newly-rich socialite of “Long Island, sprang from a platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God” (Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby’s self-perceived identity as “a son of God” is the manifestation of the optimism for the emerging class mobility in the 1920’s. The idea that a poor man, such as Gatsby, could become wealthy and prominent in society was considered by many to be impossible before the 1920’s; this change was one of the many social norms that were shattered by society’s explosive adoption of the American Dream. The recent success and wealth of the Vanderbilt family was celebrated by 1920’s society as a prime example of the American Dream’s attainability. The article “The Instinct That Makes People Rich” described the Vanderbilt family’s rise to success and stated that “we can follow [the Vanderbilt’s] general methods [of achieving success]; we can seize these opportunities that are given to us, and give ourselves a very fair chance of obtaining riches” (Instinct). The Vanderbilt family’s sudden attainment of vast

The story The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald takes you through the life of the protagonist of the novel, Jay Gatsby, who is shot to death in the end. Who was really the reason for Gatsby’s death? There are many of reasons that lead up to Gatsby’s death and several people who are considered to have caused it. Although George Wilson physically killed him, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby himself all take part in the death. Tom’s anger, Daisy’s carelessness, and Gatsby’s idea of the American Dream all contribute to his death in the end.

Gatsby dreams an intangible world and constantly strives to sculpt his life in which his actions are manifestations of his desire to be wealthy. Gatsby’s identity is superficial, and Nick sees through this façade.

Perhaps one of the most iconic scenes in The Great Gatsby is where the titular character, Jay Gatsby, or James Gatz as he was first known as, meets his untimely end.

Jay Gatsby is a self-made man, he turned himself from a farm boy to one of the richest men in America at the time and bought himself a beautiful mansion on West Egg, Long Island with the other new millionaires. In contrast to the newly rich, there are those who have inherited their wealth from family before them such as Tom and Daisy Buchanan. These people were lucky to be born into their lives and reside on East Egg along with other family’s with “old money”. Readers come to easily

The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald gives the reader a look inside the drama driven world of the high class of New York. Told from the point of view of one of the novel’s protagonists Nick Carraway, the novel displays recurring themes of love and deceit. The narrator considers himself to be on the outside looking in, and he feels justified in judging the characters within the elite society due to his belief that his sense of morality is stronger than theirs. Despite his belief, however, he unintentionally reveals to the reader the true manner of his character, which is really just as unacceptable as the people he commentates on. Though Nick prides himself in his honesty, he falls in love with Jordan Baker, suggesting that he is not better than the high society he abhors.

Titular character Jay Gatsby proves that America’s lower class in the Roaring Twenties was able to attain only the appearance of wealth. James Gatz, Gatsby’s birth name, was born to poor and shiftless farmers in Nebraska, but “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his own platonic conception of himself” and amassed a large fortune for himself in an attempt to win over his long-time love interest (Fitzgerald 98). This would support the possibility of the American Dream and the ability to rise through class ranks, as Gatsby was able to

When Daisy tells hims she cannot claim she does not love her husband Tom, it deflates Gatsby. He can't believe it. But Daisy is also deceitful because she does still love Gatsby but won't confess it either. Tom sees something going on, but in an attempt to prove that Gatsby does not threaten him, he lets Gatsby and Daisy drive together from the city back to their homes in West Egg. This drives turns tragic as well when Gatsby's car hits and kills Myrtle, Tom's lover and Mr. Wilson girlfriend. There is more deception when Gatsby tells everyone it was himself driving the car when in fact it really was Daisy. Tom tells Mr. Wilson about the accident and Mr. Wilson goes mad, killing Gatsby and then himself.

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.

Gatsby’s aspirations reflect the time period. The “Roaring Twenties”, as it is called, was a period of prosperity, and the Americans were obsessed with acquiring wealth, and thought that “those who have wealth should be splendid, happy people”

“It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic and they don’t believe in divorce.” Daisy was not a Catholic and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lide. (chapter 3) Tom told this lie to Myrtle because he still loves his wife. At the same time he should not being seeing her because it is dishonest in a relationship. “He looked at me sideways and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying. He hurried the phrase “educated at Oxford,” or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him before.” (chapter 4) When Gatsby was explaining him life, it came across as if he had to clear “rumors” people were saying so we would not get the wrong idea. Later in the book we find out that Gatsby never accepted his parents for who they were, and that he changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby.

“I suppose he’d had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people – his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God – a phrase which if it means anything, means just that – and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of

We learn that, unlike members of the old moneyed society, such as Tom and Daisy, Gatsby came from a poor family and slowly found his way into the upper-class society. From an early age, his desire to get ahead in life is fuelled by his never-ending and pressing aspiration for self-improvement is completely due to his notion to become wealthy enough to convince the “golden girl”, Daisy Fay, to marry him. This is highlighted by his decision to change his name from the ugly-sounding “James Gatz” to the more pompous “Jay Gatsby”. Moreover, his aspiration for self-improvement is also emphasised by his father’s words: “Jimmy was bound to get ahead in life. He always had some resolves like this or something”.

For Nick, Gatsby's lies, his affectation and his fraud are no matter; nor is his failure to win back Daisy; what matters is the supporting belief in the value of striving for a marvelous object, not its predictable disappearance and meaninglessness. In a significant shift in of the novel's final sentences, Nick unites Gatsby's effort with a general, if unspecified, national collective.

Tom and Gatsby were two different people, but one thing they had in common is that they were both compulsive liars. As Fitzgerald writes “ ‘Why-’ she said, ‘Tom’s got some women in New York.’ ”(Fitzgerald 15). There we find out that he is cheating on Daisy, and being a cheater comes with being a liar. Tom would always would be somewhere he is not supposed to be. He also lied to both women in his life, because he did not want to lose either of them. Concluding all of that, Tom was a dishonest person overall that didn’t know how to control himself. Just like Tom, Gatsby was a liar also. We find out throught the whole book that he is a liar, but we received more detail about it in the part of the story when Tom states what Gatsby really does. He explains “ ‘I found out what your drug- stores were’. He turned to us and spoke rapidly. ‘He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side street drugs-stores here in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.’ ”(Fitzgerald 133). Comparing Tom and Gatsby we see that they are both compulsive liars. We see