The Great Gatsby Research: Gatsby Is Considered a Christ Figure

“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

Jay Gatsby, the title character of the novel is an incredibly wealthy young man, living in a medieval mansion in West Egg on an imaginary area of Long Island. Gatsby has many laudable traits. For example, he is filled with optimism and the ability to transform his dreams into reality. Jay is also extremely faithful to his true love, Daisy Buchanan, even to the point of death. When we first meet Gatsby, he is the aloof host of the fantastically opulent parties thrown every weekend at his mansion. It appears he is surrounded by wondrous luxury and is courted by beautiful women and the rich and powerful men of the time. Jay is also a very admirable character due to his status of wealth and being a hero of War World I, “In the Argonne Forest I took two machine gun detachments so far forward that there was half a mile gap on either side… I was promoted to be a major, and every Allied government gave me a decoration- even Montenegro”. However, Nick who narrates the book views Gatsby as a flawed man who is dishonest, deceitful, a liar, and a dreamer whom is searching for answers in the past, “he talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself, perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy… if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…”

Gatsby. Penguin, 2014. Print. This novel is an investigation of a double murder that happened quickly after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s return to New York. With evidence from newspapers, letters, and newly found archives, the author describes the new opinions of the readers of The Great Gatsby. The author then interweaved both stories with the hope to solve the mysteries of a murder and the success behind Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. As the author does this, she compares and contrasts the events of the book and the murder to one another.This is a credible source because the author found many direct sources from the time era,

In The Great Gatsby, a prominent underlying theme is self transformation, or the reinventing of oneself. Throughout the book Gatsby is not what he says he is. He made up his whole life story in order to impress a girl he falls in love with before he is sent off to war. Jay Gatsby sets out to completely reinvent himself in every way, starting with his name. Growing up in the midwest, he was James Gatz, son of poor a poor farmer. In the text, the characters that

“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.”

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 (99).

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a world lost to superficiality and greed. Falsehood and deception are the currency which fuels the characters in the novel. Dwelling in this fallen world, Fitzgerald has placed a fallen god. Gatsby is bathed in descriptions that identify him as the Son of God. Fitzgerald makes a conscious effort to clothe this character with imagery and actions to make him the patron deity of this fallen world, but Gatsby is too much enveloped by his surroundings to save them and is consumed in the attempt. Despite the biblical allusions, strong images and explicit statements identifying Gatsby with Christ, the prevailing tone of the novel prevents him from being a Christ-figure.

Jay Gatsby also know as James Gatz has always had a dream for his life and that dream is to be wealthy and well-known. As James Gatz lived a poor and unhappy life; he built a new name for himself, Jay Gatsby. Once Jay Gatsby was well known to the people he found it harder to maintain his image as Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald shows one of the struggles of deception through conversations between Gatsby and others, “I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered, ‘That’s my affair,’ before he realized that it wasn’t an appropriate reply”. Through Jay Gatsby’s poor response while talking to Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald is able show the complications while deceiving others. Jay Gatsby is now

The Christ Gatsby When you think of the wealthy and marvelous Jay Gatsby, one wouldn’t dare to think of him to symbolize Christ. However, throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald was successfully able to represent such a character to be a somewhat grotesque version of Christ himself. The novel takes a religious angle where quotes and evidence from bibles are evidential and parallel to the book and the character of Jay Gatsby. “Father’s Business” The first connection we came upon, relates to Gatsby’s corrupted dreams and choices he had made in the past to make his happiness worth while.

For example, before Gatsby is shot to death he carries an air mattress to his pool on his shoulder, the same way Jesus carried his cross to his crucifixion. Unfortunately, both movie adaptations cut this vital part out of this scene. Luhrmann simply exhibits Gatsby swimming in his pool. Perhaps Luhrmann and Clayton changed this scene in fear of evoking thoughts of religion from audiences. Dilworth reports, “On his way to his swimming pool, ‘he stopped and shifted it a little, and the chauffeur asked him if he needed help, but he shook his head.’ The chauffeur is a would-be Simon of Cyrene, who, for a while, carried Jesus’s cross for him” (119). This religious symbolism is littered throughout the novel. As Gatsby bleeds to death in his swimming pool, a ring of blood forms around him. Similar to the blood and water flowing from Jesus after he was pierced in the side by a spear. Dilworth writes, “The ironically cushy ‘pneumatic mattress’ symbolizes the inflated, airy, or spiritual romanticism which gets Gatsby killed. It is what motivates him to keep Daisy’s secret about her accidentally killing Myrtle Wilson” (119). Gatsby pays for Daisy’s sins by dying, the same way Jesus died for the sins of his people. Gatsby is a Jesus figure in various senses. This religious symbolism increases towards the end of the novel, and escalates further when Gatsby dies. Of course, Gatsby had to develop into his full character over

Jay Gatsby, the title character of The Great Gatsby, is really not all that the title might suggest. First of all, his real name is James Gatz. He changed it in an effort to leave behind his old life as a poor boy and create an entirely new identity. He is also a liar and a criminal, having accumulated his wealth and position by dishonest means. But he is still called ‘great,’ and in a sense he is. Gatsby is made great by his unfaltering hope, and his determination to live in a perfect world with Daisy and their perfect love. Gatsby has many visible flaws—his obvious lies, his mysterious way of avoiding straight answers. But they are shadowed over by his gentle smile and his visible hunger for an ideal future. The coarse and playful Jay

The phrase, “son of God”, is the tifle given to Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was, indeed, “about His Father’s business”. Also, Carraway describes Gatsby’s “Platonic conception of himself,” meaning his own creation of an ideal self or a perfect self, while Jesus was recorded to be a perfect creation. Another parallel recorded by Christensen is the description of the moments before Gatsby’s death. In this part of the novel, Gatsby struggles as he carries his float to the pool upon which he is killed. Similarly, Jesus is depicted in a struggle to carry his cross to the mount in Golgotha, upon which He was crucified.

“The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself”(Fitzgerald 104). Previously known as James Gatz, Gatsby was born to poor, unsuccessful farmers in North Dakota, growing up he knew that he was destined for greatness. He is a man who was able to rise above his humble beginnings, leaving his past behind to recreate himself in the image he has always desired. “At the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career- when he saw Dan Cody’s yacht drop anchor over the insidious flat on Lake Superior”(Fitzgerald 104). Gatsby saved Dan Cody’s life and became his personal assistant due to Cody finding him to be smart and ambitious, they traveled the world and Gatsby learned many lessons.

It would be difficult to imagine Gatsby as a Christ figure, considering that he is a gambler, cheater, and liar, among numerous other negative things. However, I would consider Gatsby a Christ figure because he ultimately sacrifices something very valuable: his own life. He sacrificed his life for someone that he loved. Also, Daisy betrayed him as Judas betrayed Jesus. Daisy betrayed him by letting him take the blame for something that she knew she did. Gatsby had many followers, although they were proved to be fake. When Gatsby died, there were only a few people at his funeral, including “Mr. Gatz, the minister, and [Nick]… and a little later four or five servants” (175). This quote proves that his “followers” were unfaithful, unlike Jesus’

“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