F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby

Gatsby is not formally introduced until chapter three, and due to his initial description, readers hold him in much higher regard than other characters in the novel. Nick introduces Gatsby in an extremely intriguing and flattering manner, saying, “He smiled understandingly –

“The Great Gatsby” is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald set in the 1920’s and is a recollection of a man named Nick Carraway's memories of the summer he met Jay Gatsby the person he could not judge. Jay Gatsby changed the most throughout the novel because He started the novel as a rich and extravagant man with a mysterious background, but it was revealed that he didn't start his life this way, James Gatz was a seventeen-year-old fisherman on Lake Superior who had big dreams that he thought he never could make a reality. But he adopted a persona that modelled the ideal person through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old, and met his good companion and friend Mr. Dan Cody. But towards the end of the book the window that is Jay Gatsby is shattered

Since American literature’s emergence, the American dream has become a conceptual ideal for many people throughout history. Although the dream has its own distinct aspects throughout different time periods, it predominantly focuses on the foundations of wealth, success and a desire for something greater. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, is primarily known for the numerous lavish parties he throws each weekend at his ostentatious mansion in West Egg in an attempt to reunite with Daisy Buchanan, a woman he falls in love with prior to entering the war before the Roaring Twenties. However, he is seized with an impotent realization on the fact that his wealth cannot afford him the same privileges as others that are born into the upper echelon. Gatsby is completely blinded from his opulent possessions until he becomes oblivious of the fact that money cannot buy love or happiness. Throughout the story, the predilection for materialistic features causes many characters to lose sight of their aspirations, demonstrating how a dream can become easily corrupt by one’s focus on acquiring wealth and power.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers. Fitzgerald uses the Roaring Twenties as the setting of this novel. The twenties were a time of promiscuity, new money, and a significant amount of illegal alcohol. Fitzgerald was a master of his craft and there was often more to the story than just the basic plot. He could intertwine political messages and a gripping story flawlessly. In the case of The Great Gatsby, he not only chronicles a love story, but also uses the opportunity to express his opinion on topics such as moral decay, crass materialism, individual ethics, and the American dream.

Transforming his name and developing new life values are only parts of the lifecycle in which Jay Gatsby participates in order to follow his dreams. Although not always successful in creating new individualities, Gatsby’s attempts are fully genuine.

(105) The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God… he must be about His Father 's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end. As Nick recounts Gatsby’s backstory, he offers both factual information and this more abstract description. He notes how artificially Gatsby has created his personality and identity, but also seems to respect the commitment he shows to that artifice. To better articulate the fraudulence of Gatsby’s identity, Nick employs several sets of symbols. First he describes him as a “Platonic conception of himself,” implying that Gatsby projected an ideal (“Platonic”) way his life could

Jay Gatsby was viewed as a big dreamer and he has accomplished most of his dreams, but one. His idealistic vision of him and Daisy is an illogical concept that he has invested so much time into. He reinvented his whole life, changed his name, worked hard to earn the money, bought a house close to Daisy's, threw lavish parties just to achieve his dream to be with her. The only fault that ruined his plan was the fact that Gatsby lacked self knowledge and identity, which lead to deception throughout his life. In the novel, Nick Carraway illustrates his idea of Gatsby after he found out the truth about him.

James Gatz, a character in conflict with society due to the shortcomings he suffers throughout his life must, therefore, resort to illusions to cope. Jay Gatsby, was a poor youth from North Dakota who could never accept the fate that he was given in life. He never had enough money to marry the woman he loved and was forced to pay for his college by working as a janitor. As a result of all the defeats and drawbacks that Gatsby suffered through during his youth, he began to despise the life that he lived. Jay Gatsby was a man that “defie[d] oppressive society by trying to conform to it.” (Hemis, 2010). Gatsby desires nothing more than to oppose the life society has offered him by becoming a man that contradicts everything he was during his youth. Wealth, power, respect are what Gatsby pines for and one day he is given the chance to begin again. To escape from the lack of wealth that James Gatz was given in life, he creates the persona of Jay Gatsby. Recalling Gatsby’s transformation, Nick informs “he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to the conception he was faithful to the end” (98). It is important to understand that the colossal illusion that Gatsby creates in his youth never fades and the rest of his decisions in life all stem from the one illusion. The fantasy he conceives causes him to believe that he is beyond society’s laws and is able to bend them to his liking. Gaining a false sense of power from the

“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 a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.”

Money, commonly associated with happiness and success, is deceiving because it doesn 't necessarily breed enjoyment at all. Lorraine Hansberry 's A Raisin in the Sun and F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby examine the difference between wealth and appreciation of life. Lorraine Hansberry explains this with Walter, a negro father in a poor family who seeks more money than is realistic to bring happiness into the family. Fitzgerald uses the character Jay Gatsby to show that wealth doesn 't imply success or happiness. Both characters occupy strikingly different roles in their stories, yet decently portray money 's impact on life. In The Great Gatsby and Raisin in the Sun, wealth is made to seem as the key to happiness, but, in essence,

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby chronicles Jay Gatsby’s ill-fated attempt to recreate a lost love from his past. Through single-minded focus, he transforms himself from penniless James Gatz of Minnesota to the wealthy and mysterious Jay Gatsby of West Egg, New York. Despite the fact that Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby’s lost lover, has come to terms with their separation, Gatsby maintains his firm belief in the notion of rebirth, convinced he can recreate the past. Furthermore, the novel serves as Fitzgerald’s personal introspection, voicing his own desire for renewal in the search for his identity. Therefore, a central theme in the novel is rebirth, exemplified by the actions and motivations of Gatsby and Fitzgerald’s examination of his own life.

It only takes a spark to start a fire. That spark could be a dream or a passion that has the possibility of growing into something larger than life. To transform that dream into a reality, goals must be set and plans must be made. The goal that many people were pursuing during the Roaring Twenties was the American Dream. It enticed people with the promise of prosperity and success all with a little hard work and elbow grease. Yet somewhere along the way, the goal was lost in the midst of affluence and illegal alcohol. F. Scott Fitzgerald used The Great Gatsby to portray how fulfilling the American Dream became impossible due to the growing desire of wealth and pleasure and the disappearance of social and moral values.

Nick has found himself on “Gatsby’s side” (164). When only a few people attended Gatsby's

Jay Gatsby is scrutinized over and over for his role in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. His actions and character traits result in his character being deeply investigated by many literary scholars and critics worldwide. To the reader, Gatsby is a somewhat mysterious man for most of the novel. Other characters discuss Gatsby and speculate about how he became wealthy until Fitzgerald reveals towards the end of the novel that Gatsby is a crook and makes all of his money as a part of Meyer Wolfsheim’s illegal operations. This fact, however, does not explain all of Gatsby’s mysterious traits. Gatsby’s traits result from his idealistic hope. Gatsby is such a hopeful man and has such idealistic views for his future that it leads him