F. Scott Fitzgerald 's ' The Rational Love Driven Decisions Lead ' Gatsby '

And I thought that if you don’t make very much—You’re selling bonds, aren’t you, old sport?’ ‘Well, this would interest you. It wouldn’t take up much of your time and you might pick up a nice bit of money. It happens to be rather confidential sort of thing,’” (82-83). Here, Gatsby is trying to make it seem like he is doing Nick a friendly favor, when in fact he knows that Nick is Daisy’s cousin all along. Essentially, he assumes that if he can get closer to Nick, it will bring him even closer to Daisy. Gatsby’s absurd reasoning behind his illegal activity is solely due to his belief that it is all for Daisy. He truly is not a bad person at heart, nor are his intentions to harm anyone. He simply wants to be with Daisy and he is willing to do anything to make this dream a reality. He needs this money so that Daisy can be just as in love with him as he is with her. He thinks that if he is more wealthy and flamboyant, she will be amazed and come running back to him. He is clearly determined to change himself, as he goes as far as risking his life, and being put behind bars in order to reinvent himself. By the time he manages to become extremely wealthy, he returns back to the real world to find that Daisy has already moved on. He does not accept the fact that Daisy is no longer interested in him, which further infuriates him. His anger and frustration fuel his passion to get back with her. Furthermore, Gatsby is so at the mercy of

Gatsby's strategies of winning back Daisy's heart are to show off his wealth and social status such as connecting himself with "Oxford"; living in a luxurious "mansion"(Pg 5), throwing lavish parties, dressed in nice expensive clothing; he even has "men in England who buy him clothes and sends him a selection"(Pg 92). Gatsby believes that with his money and material success he could buy anything in life including true love and happiness. Because of his obsession to obtain Daisy's love, he betrays his honesty and morality. With no other purposes in life, Gatsby ends up engaging in illegal activities. Therefore, it is very ironical that sometimes in life, good idealistic goal, somehow, is achieved by immoral and illegal means. This is the reason for the failure of the American Dream, and the tragedy of Gatsby.

which allows him to fit into the society he wishes to be a part of. He

In Gatsby’s mission to attain wealth, power, and status he loses sight of his morals through his “dealings” with various shady people that are rumored to be lucrative and illegal. The extent of Gatsby’s criminal activities is confirmed by Tom Buchanan one hot summer night when Tom shares that Gatsby and “Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores…and sold grain alcohol over the counter,” (133) an illegal venture during prohibition. In addition to Gatsby’s business investments, his obsession with winning Daisy clouds his mind with thoughts of inspiring her to leave her husband and abandoned her child. Nick believes Gatsby would “want nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you,’” (109) and prove her marriage was a sham.

The narrator Nick goes into detail about the history and the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby. Gatsby and Daisy meet while Gatsby is in the army, Daisy growing up wealthy and Gatsby a poor young man has no right being with her, Gatsby gives Daisy a sense of security and they have a short relationship. One night when they are together they kiss and Fitzgerald writes, “She had caught a cold, and it made her voice huskier and more charming than ever, and Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor” (Fitzgerald 150). While poor people are struggling in life, Fitzgerald refers Daisy to money. Throughout Daisy’s life she doesn't experience, struggles and instead lives a life with money that gives her anything she wants. Gatsby on the other hand is poor and sees what money gives you, Gatsby sees that money puts someone above people like him. In reality Daisy isn't living a life she appears to be, she is using men in the army to fill her void of loneliness, if she doesn't have money the men wouldn't all be in love with her. She puts herself as a prized possession for them to have because she has money. Daisy at a young age, and when she gets older uses her money to assert herself over others.

After the war, Gatsby’s only goal was to posses enough wealth to bring Daisy back. He acquired millions of dollars from businesses he did. “Gatsby bough this house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (78). His love for Daisy was the only thing that made him the man he was. He was intelligent, rich and even famous, all because of her. He threw big parties were many celebrities went and were thousands of dollars were spent in liquor and food just to call Daisy’s attention. “I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night…” (79), recalled Jordan, Gatsby’s friend, one night. All that Gatsby possessed was only and exclusively to show Daisy he could give her the life she wanted.

She was a girl with wealth, connections and means—everything a seventeen-year-old boy could aspire to one day attain. It is this illusion that Gatsby falls in love with, not Daisy, and he dedicates his life to become a man that could parallel Daisy in both social status and wealth. “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.” (98) Though Gatsby appears to be blinded by material possession and unethical in his means to acquire it, Fitzgerald sets him up to be the hero of the novel by contrasting his virtue to the sea of corruptness and material greed that made up the ambitions of most young folks in the 1920s. True, he made his money through illegal means, but his incredible sense of loyalty is striking against the dishonest, scheming American society. In the novel, it is clear that Gatsby is unfailingly loyal to everyone he loves, from his father to Dan Cody to Daisy, who he dedicated “five years of unwavering devotion” (109) to, even if they were not loyal to him in return.

He made money his goal, but only sees what he wants to see. He only sees the large house he lives in, the expensive clothes he wears, and the happy people at his parties. In chapter 9, a man Nick called to visit Gatsby’s funeral had “implied that [Gatsby] had got what he deserved.”(pg#), showing how little everyone truly cared for him apart from his money. Gatsby saw the money as a chance at happiness, as a chance at Daisy. The rose tinted glasses he wears prevented him from foreseeing the fake friendships, and his sad, empty funeral that the money would play a large part in causing

Fitzgerald displays Gatsby as man who came from nothing, with an unrelenting passion to obtain material success, or the 1920’s American Dream. Radical transformation was one of Mr. Gatsby’s most outstanding characteristics, taking his desire to change from the once impoverished man to the point of changing his name. Certainly Gatsby possesses admirable traits, as his will power is once again displayed through the longing for his lost love, Daisy. The misconceptions of the time period are illustrated as Fitzgerald displays that Gatsby’s underlying desire for money is to win over Daisy through impressing her with his wealth. Within Adam Cohen’s piece “Jay Gatsby Is a Man for Our Times”, Cohen discusses the worthiness of Gatsby’s goal: “The callow Daisy, whose voice is ‘full of money,’ may not be a worthy goal. But Gatsby’s longing for her, and his willingness to sell his soul to pursue her, are the purest thing in this sordid tale.” Essentially, Fitzgerald demonstrates that Gatsby, nor his relentless will to succeed, are not the issue. It is the time period, along with the misconceptions of a dream, which corrupt the character. Gatsby’s wealth is obtained through unethical ways, like many others who followed the path of easy money. The corruption of bonds does bring Gatsby the wealth he had always longed for, along with extravagant and lavish parties at his mansion. Consequently, we learn that reaching the goal of obtaining wealth ultimately does not lead to

Gatsby meets Daisy when he was a young military officer. He is just a poor guy. Daisy, also a brilliant and pretty girl just as a fairy, has the most romantic days with Gatsby. Obviously, Daisy impressed herself into Gatsby’s heart during that time. It seems that they deeply love each other, but actually, she is in love less with Gatsby the man, than with the Gatsby’s successful image. To some extent, she falls in love with the wealth of Gatsby. Clearly remember that Gatsby makes the famous remark to Nick before they moved to the New York,” her voice is full of money”.

The desire for social pleasure was rampant in the roaring twenties and in The Great Gatsby. On the surface, Gatsby’s dream appears very materialistic. We’ve just talked about his fancy parties and his flash car. But if Gatsby’s dream was truly material, would he chase after Daisy? If his aim was purely material, he wouldn’t have been such a desperate romantic figure. We’re selling him a bit short here by accusing him of just wanting money. He is unsatisfied with his wealth, and pursues something greater – ‘true love’. Gatsby’s idea of ‘success’ was Daisy. Granted, you and I will agree that Gatsby could have done so much better. In fact, what does Daisy represent? Daisy has a symbolic name, and the way she gleams “in the sunlight” (pg 160) is merely a white façade covering her superficiality. The truth is, she and Tom are “careless people”, they “smash up things…and retreat into their money and carelessness…let other people clean up the mess they’d made” (pg 191). You may think Gatsby’s corrupt. However, clearly Daisy and Tom are the corrupt ones; they think they can do anything and everything, with the social influence and wealth they gained at birth. Daisy exploited Gatsby, his naive desire of “the golden girl” (pg 128), the ‘girl of his dreams’ – or so he believed. Fitzgerald also wanted a girl out of his league; Ginevra (Erbentraut, 2013). Very much like Daisy, Ginevra couldn’t be with Fitzgerald because of she was rich and cool and he

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Gatsby, a younger man around thirty years old lives in the West Egg of New York City, the side that represents new money. Throughout the story Gatsby pursuits to win over Daisy to attain happiness by showing off his social status and wealth by throwing large parties and showing off his material items because Daisy can not be without them. Gatsby is willing to do anything to be with Daisy and keeps pushing to be with her even though she is out of reach and unattainable. Gatsby ends ups dying and Daisy continues to live with her husband Tom while they are kept together by their same desire for money. Gatsby’s American Dream is out of his reach and unattainable but he continues to pursue his own dream with his wealth

In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby lost the love of his life. To get her back he ''bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores . . . and sold grain alcohol over the counter'' (Fitzgerald 108). This passage shows the readers that Gatsby's character has no limits to the actions he will take to regain his past relationship with Daisy. Thus, Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s illegal activity to demonstrate Gatsby’s obsession with obtaining his American Dream, which is, in all, the love and affection of Daisy. Therefore, it develops Gatsby's obsessive personality and behavior. Second of all, Gatsby covers the parts of his past which he is ashamed of with his money and wealth. For example, when Daisy is over at Gatsby's mansion he takes out all of his fancy shirts that come from his stylist in England (75). Gatsby flaunting his wealth characterizes him as being materialistic because he is not trying to make an emotional connection with Daisy to get her back; instead Gatsby uses lust and infatuation. Thus, the author uses Gatsby’s actions to develop Gatsby’s materialistic personality. Finally, Gatsby's will to recreate the past is so strong that it pushes him to make unclear decisions. Decisions like waiting ''five years [to buy] a mansion . . . so that he could

In his mind, wealth was the only measure of status and as such he would strive for wealth and wealth alone. With this single-minded approach, the charming Gatsby met Daisy, he was attracted to the status she possessed and the money she wielded. He, with his experiences with Dan Cody, had already had a taste of what could be achieved with wealth, and like a bloodhound after a scent he would follow it to whatever end. To obtain a fortune, he realized he would have to invoke a relationship with the Buchanan girl. After attempting to manipulate her into loving him, he surprised himself by falling in love with her. Quickly, his goals changed, from money to love. Now he knew he would have to achieve his first goal in order to have any hopes of the second. Though it is possible to argue that love outshone money in Gatsby’s mind, when he stated, “Her voice is full of money,”(Fitzgerald, 120), it becomes apparent that the two thoughts are intercorrelated in his mind. In truth his flaw was passion, he could not be without a goal, and he would go to the deepest depths to achieve success. Though, in itself this is not a quality to be frowned upon, when mixed with the desire to achieve a goal by any means possible, it creates a dangerous man. Gatsby is a clear example of this. To suffice his needs he was willing to become a criminal to secure his capital and in the long run marry Daisy. People

The transformation between James Gatz and Jay Gatsby is an example of how people can transform themselves according to their ambition for wealth and prosperity. The use of illegal activities to gain Gatsby's wealth is alluded to in the book, this shows the extent of how the American Dream circumvented the moral revulsion and pushed people who were crazy about money into crime - driving the moral standing of wealthier citizens into the ground. To Gatsby, his dream was symbolised by Daisy, Gatsby even says that her voice sounds like money, a direct correlation between Daisy and the wealth and happiness that Gatsby would supposedly enjoy if only he could have married Daisy but could still enjoy if he had married her five years later. His pursuit of happiness with Daisy was the ultimate cause of the degradation of Gatsby's morals and realistic dreams. This is because he held an unrealistic view of life and how he could recreate the past. His dreams had distorted reality to the point where when his rationality realised that the image of life and of Daisy did not coincide with the real life version his mind did not grasp that perhaps the dream had receded to the point of no return, consequently his dreams helped to