The Sensible Thing, By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald the concept of a reality is ever changing throughout the story. The ways that the characters treat and act towards each other is a cause of the inability to interpret the differences between reality and illusion. Through the lies, gossip, and empty speech of characters, F. Scott Fitzgerald highlights the way that people treat each other when they do not understand the difference between reality and illusion.

     In the text, The Great Gatsby, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald leads us to sympathize with the central character of the text, Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald evokes our sympathy using non-linear narrative and extended flashbacks as well as imagery, characterization and theme. Through these mediums, Fitzgerald is able to reveal Gatsby as a character who is in an unrelenting pursuit of an unattainable dream. While narrative and imagery reveal him to be a mysterious character, Gatsby's flaw is his ultimate dream which makes him a tragic figure and one with which we sympathize.

Gatsby’s infatuation with the green glowing light in the distance maintains the mystery surrounding his character. Fitzgerald uses this as a tool to enhance the readers understanding that Gatsby has a goal and ambition, although it is unknown at the time. Greenburg’s interpretation promotes the thought that Gatsby is almost worshiping the light, and is investing all of him into his quest. This symbol of hope is explained in the final chapter of Fitzgerald’s novel, comparing Gatsby's green light to the "green breast of the new world", with the suggestion that Gatsby's dream is tarnished by his material possessions. Gatsby dreams, yet does not realize that his dreams are unworthy of him. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations. This is represented by Greenberg in the detailed view of daisy’s past and the emphasis placed on her imperfection. Daisy’s past, in the hospital giving birth and before her wedding day show her real emotion, however the reader is pulled back into her facade after only a few small yet

Imagine living in a world where dreams that come to mind are highly reachable and come without a struggle, a place where fantasies come into play. Americans far and beyond believe the American Dream is something as simple as owning a home or starting a family, but for Jay Gatsby, that was simply not enough. As a man with implausible dreams, Gatsby thought differently when compared to others. His American Dream was not a job or a home, but rather a married woman who is known as Daisy Buchanan. As Gatsby placed the sole focus of his life on Daisy, he became obsessed. Through a passage in The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald employs personification and diction to convey the idea that Gatsby was lost in the unique distortion of his own reality with Daisy.

Have you ever wanted something so desperately that when it came true there was much of a disappointment? We’ve all been through a time when we envisioned something or someone as the perfect one we wanted it to be, despite the fact that it’s the opposite, and that’s the kind of love depicted by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his book, The Great Gatsby, in which the main character, Jay Gatsby’s love and obsession on Daisy was predicted on reciprocal illusions.

Therefore the green light gives him hope that someday he will be reunited with his love. In most societies today, green means go; Gatsby sees the light as a sign to go ahead and attain his dream. Consequently, Gatsby tries to pursue his love and thinks that he has convinced Daisy to leave her husband, but it is all an illusion; “‘If it wasn’t for the mist we could see you home across the bay...you always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.’...it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever. Compared to the great distance that had separated him from Daisy it had seemed very near to her, almost touching her. It had seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it was again a green light on a dock. His count of enchanted objects had diminished by one” (93). In this moment, Gatsby realizes that his dream will never be obtained because the light is not visible anymore. There is a distance between Gatsby and Daisy, and the only connection to his vision of a perfect life is the green light, and, once it disappears, the hope for an ideal life fades. By saying “It had seemed as close as a star to the moon,” it is almost as if Gatsby is very close, but in reality he is still far away and the hope has vanished with the green light. After Gatsby dies, Nick reflects on Gatsby’s decisions that were based on the green light; “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future

To Jay Gatsby, his corrupt American dream is symbolized by Daisy Buchanan, a woman he is so in love with he will do anything to get her back. Gatsby sees wealth as a solution to his problems. Raised from a poor childhood to being a millionaire with servants, a huge house, and dozens of friends, Gatsby exemplifies the idea of self-made success. All of these pieces of the American dream that Gatsby acquired were actually elements that eventually led to his downfall. In chapter one, the reader is first introduced to Gatsby in a very unusual way, “He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as i was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far way, that might have been the end of a dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unique darkness” (Fitzgerald 21). In this first glimpse of Gatsby, he is reaching towards something off in the distance, out of reach. This image of the green light ties in with the American dream that people are always reaching for

Everyday people create false realities to live in a world that they want. They lie to themselves and others only to find in the end that they are drowning in the reality of a situation. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book, “The Great Gatsby,” the concept of illusion versus reality is a leading cause of the failures and issues that most of the characters face. Their emotions and mentalities ran high in the book leading them into a whirlwind of illusion rather than reality. Their inability to grasp what was not real and what was is ultimately the reason for their downfalls.

In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby’s hold of the past and his pursuance of his own American Dream ends in certain death. Throughout the story, Gatsby believes that his passion can sway Daisy to leave Tom. These events lead him to relentlessly chase wealth in order to gain social status that is worthy of Daisy. However, the story does not end according to Gatsby’s ideals. Fitzgerald utilizes symbolism to demonstrate Gatsby’s tragic flaw, his chasing of a dream that is already dead.

Gatsby is not misleading, and cares and hopes for the best to every one of the characters he meets. Gatsby progressed in a multitude of ways, such as how he talked and thought of certain people such as Daisy. The way F. Scott Fitzgerald described Gatsby as a character and how he progressed Gatsby couldn't be more fitting as a caring and more respectful kind of guy. How Gatsby relates to society is that he threw parties and how a lot of rich people went to his parties. He may even be able to challenge societal norms because of how he brought himself up to be a kind of character who looks like a rich guy who is just like everyone else, normal, but really he had so much inside of him that Nick Carraway(friend and Narrator) can for some reason only see. Through this journey, some may feel that Fitzgerald wanted to that there is always some sort of light around, maybe you will have to look hard for it but there will always be light, in Gatsby’s case, there was a green light, and how he looked at the light made it seem as it was his hope, but not for loss. As Gatsby says "single green light" and how it was "unattainable dream," the "dream [that] must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it”. This is one of Gatsby’s quotes that he used with a reference to the green light.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, portrays the life of a man who is truly focused on one dream: to reclaim the love of his life. Fitzgerald illustrates the problem of being so single-minded through Gatsby’s ultimate demise. His slow evolution and reveal of the character of Gatsby leads to a devastating climax once his dream fails. Fitzgerald uses extended metaphor and sharp diction to depict Gatsby’s crumbling life in his last moments.

     F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a tragic tale of love distorted by obsession. Finding himself in the city of New York, Jay Gatsby is a loyal and devoted man who is willing to cross oceans and build mansions for his one true love. His belief in realistic ideals and his perseverance greatly influence all the decisions he makes and ultimately direct the course of his life. Gatsby has made a total commitment to a dream, and he does not realize that his dream is hollow. Although his intentions are true, he sometimes has a crude way of getting his point across. When he makes his ideals heard, his actions are wasted on a thoughtless and shallow society. Jay Gatsby effectively embodies a romantic idealism

Everyone has an ideal vision of what he or she wants out of life. In a perfect world, everyone would die happy having achieved every goal ever set. A perfect world does not exist. Fitzgerald knows this, and he chronicles the life of Gatsby. Gatsby deeply desires to live out the “American dream.” He wants fame, riches, parties, mansions, but most of all love. Gatsby succeeds in every area except the most important. Gatsby still feels a desire to fulfill his final dream of finding a true love. Not willing to settle for an arbitrary love, Gatsby sets his sights on a young woman named Daisy. The problem is that Gatsby can never have Daisy because she is already in a relationship with another man. Gatsby, still wanting Daisy’s love but

The green light is what Gatsby aspires to meet his entire life, it is his primal destination in life. The only reason Gatsby buys the house is to see the light in Daisy's window across the bay. In chapter 5 when Gatsby tells Daisy how he stares bluntly at the green light, he is aware that he will no longer need to stare it for he has Daisy back now. He wins the reward, which was behind his primal target. His reward is the real thing and he no longer needs its representative and thus the green light begins to fade. Gatsby begins to slowly recognize the reality: no object can replace his ideal that he has created for himself since the yearly age. This shows how no mater how much materialism is acquired by a person, it will never be enough and it will never quite match up to one's illusion, to one's dream.

When a person’s greatest hope does not come true, it can not only leave them stuck and unsure what to do with their lives, but cause emotional damage as well. Putting all the eggs in one basket means that if the person loses the basket, he or she loses everything they essentially live for as well. Obviously, this leaves him or her in the lowest depths of despair. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald once again uses the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, this time to demonstrate how much hurt a broken dream can cause. Within the first hours of being reunited with his former love, Gatsby begins to suspect that the situation will not fall perfectly into place the way he imagined. Nick, after attending this awkward reunion, reflects, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything... No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (103). Although Daisy still appears as beautiful and charming as ever, Gatsby’s false image of her after several lonely years expands so much larger than life that the real Daisy plainly disappoints Gatsby. Fitzgerald strongly warns against the pitfalls of hope - once a person fixates on an idea, such as Gatsby did, reality cannot compete with the power the idea has over the person, leading to a delusional and unsatisfactory life in actuality.