F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - A Life Foolishly Lived

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The Great Gatsby: A Life Foolishly Lived

Released in 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby cleverly demonstrates the manners and morals commonly practiced throughout the time period. The plot revolves around several main themes and effectively expresses Fitzgerald’s unique perspective. With an objective standpoint, Nick Carraway narrates the story as Jay Gatsby, a foolish racketeer, tries to win over his lifelong love, Daisy Buchanan. Although pecuniary matters can often be too large of an influence on human relationships, the novel unveils several powerful battles entangling love, morals, and money.

As Nick Carraway follows the tale of Jay Gatsby pursuing a dream, Gatsby can be observed as a foolish man working so hard, and yet accomplishing nothing. One of the numerous reasons why Jay Gatsby can be seen as foolhardy when simply pursuing a dream is not because he is foolish, but rather because of the method in which he does. Stretching back to the roots of his life, Gatsby was not a wealthy person in upbringing. Following a rigorous daily schedule and constant attempts at bettering his moral values are two of his hopeful methods to win over Daisy Buchanan. Improvements such as, "No more smoking or chewing, Bath every other day, be better to parents" (182), were yet a few of his guidelines to strive for constant self-improvement. Although realizing that Daisy cannot be so easily won over, Gatsby continues to toil in attempt to win his sole love.

Not only did he concentrate on actual values in life for the future, Gatsby resolves to himself that he must change his past. Because of his dissatisfaction with his original name, James Gats, he alters his name to the more attractive Jay Gatsby....

... middle of paper ...

... the novel vividly depicted a life foolishly lived, only for a lost goal so long sought.

Works Cited

Raleigh, John Henry. "F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby." Mizener 99-103.

Sklar, Robert. F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Last Laocoon. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1967.

Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.

1. Underline titles of novels.

2. When quoting, the final punctuation should come after the parentheses instead of inside the quote, “Right you are” (72). Instead of “right you are.”

3. I see several different focuses within your paper, from the foolishness of Jay Gatsby to Myrtle to the corruption of the twenties. Stick to one of the topics and explore it fully instead of jumping from topic to topic.

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