Jay Gatsby: The Mystery

915 Words2 Pages

Jay Gatsby, aka James Gatz is the subject of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. Through the course of the novel, this enigmatic and powerful character, defined by his preceding reputation is gradually deconstructed and revealed to be a lovesick man, a hopeless romantic. Understanding this statement affirms the actions taken by Gatsby in the course of the story. Unfortunately his actions also lead to the demise of dream and one himself. In the larger spectrum Gatsby is seen as the archetypical self-made man under the microscope, scrutinized by a prod to unveil what’s beneath the layers of gold and green.

Gatsby is largely a mystery at the story’s beginning, defined by his wealth and influence as well as the rumors that flood the gossip lanes. He resides in West Egg, home of the nouveaux riche, across the sound from East Egg, where the established older money claims home to. He’s largely known for his extravagant parties, open to all corners of society, but he doesn’t participate in none of them. His actions prompt one to guess a reason, which revealed is the sole reason for all of Gatsby’s achievements. When becoming friends with Nick Carraway, he gives him his back story – his family, his travels in Europe, his service in WW1 and his college days in Oxford – all to give him proof that he stems from the same pool of individuals as Nick does. This also unveils Gatsby to be innocent, and honest with most people, traits that come into conflict with his foil the aristocratic bully Tom Buchanan (Daisy’s husband). Even early on, the myth of Jay Gatsby starts to crumble away as its revealed he came to his wealth through criminal endeavors, confirmed by his meeting with Meyer Wolfshiem.

Gatsby’s behavior changes once he b...

... middle of paper ...

...ll.

In conclusion Gatsby went from powerful millionaire to obsessive lover boy. However it does not end here. Gatsby as a whole can be seen as a cautionary tale, warning its readers to not base their hopes on hallow dreams at Gatsby did. However it’s what he did to attain his status earns him his “greatness”, his self-invention, his talent to make his dreams come true. So there is some good that comes from all the disarray and further cynical attitude set forth by its narrator Nick. Like Odysseus in the Odyssey, he had an undying perseverance to get home or in this case win Daisy back, but like any of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes he did enough to induce his downfall. He chased the American Dream, in constant pursuit with no sign of stopping, even if it killed him.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York City: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1925.

Show More
Related

  • The Modest Beliefs, Genuine Heart, and Generous Will of Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...s motivation to reach into Daisy’s heart is the downfall that lead to Gatsby’s persistent nature which concentrate solely the past, Also, emptiness of existence with realization to taint ideal, Gatsby’s heart fill with illusions. As a great man his death overflows with generosity and kindness that people did not notice. The good man Gatsby’s death is a tragic, but in the end it’s another meaningless loss that buried as a lonely hero.

    Read More

  • Love, Money, And Social Class In The Great Gatsby

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Great Gatsby” was a extremely sophisticated novel; it expressed love, money, and social class. The novel is told by Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s neighbor. Nick had just moved to West Egg, Longs Island to pursue his dream as a bond salesman. Nick goes across the bay to visit his cousin Daisy and her husband Tom Buchanan in East Egg. Nick goes home later that day where he saw Gatsby standing on his dock with his arms out reaching toward the green light. Tom invites Nick to go with him to visit his mistress Mrs. Myrtle Wilson, a mid class woman from New York. When Nick returned from his adventure of meeting Myrtle he chooses to turn his attention to his mysterious neighbor, Gatsby. Gatsby is a very wealthy man that host weekly parties for the

    Read More

  • Jay Gatsby is a Sympathetic Character in Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby provides the reader with a unique outlook on the life of the newly rich. Gatsby is an enigma and a subject of great curiosity, furthermore, he is content with a lot in life until he strives too hard. His obsession with wealth, his lonely life and his delusion allow the reader to sympathize with him. Initially, Gatsby stirs up sympathetic feelings because of his obsession with wealth.

    Read More

  • Dishonesty In The Great Gatsby

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, he believes that there is a reason behind his dishonesty and that he is not a man of total fraud. Gatsby, indeed, has been dishonest, both with himself and with the rest of the world. He has lied to Nick and the others about where he comes from. His made-up story is that he comes from a wealthy family of now deceased people. He says that he is an Oxford-educated man. He also claims to be from the Midwest and lies about his own name. In reality, he is midwestern, but his father is alive and well. He is not an Oxford graduate (he only attended for five months) and he comes from poverty. His birth name is James Gatz. He is a man of new money, and he established his wealth illegally by selling drugs with his business partner, which explains his alias. In addition to Gatsby’s dishonesty by others, he is dishonest with himself. Gatsby has fabricated a dream—a fictional reality—in his mind. He wants Nick’s cousin, Daisy, whom he met five years prior to the story’s beginning, to marry him. However, this marriage could never happen, because Daisy is already married to an East Egg man named Tom, with whom she has a child. Despite the odds, Gatsby continues to push Daisy toward breaking it off with Tom. His dream overwhelms the harshness of his reality, thus causing Gatsby to continue to falsify reality and misshape it to agree with what he wants. His dishonesty is the root of his

    Read More

  • Flaws In The Great Gatsby

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gatsby makes many mistakes throughout the novel, all of which Fitzgerald uses these blunders as a part of his thematic deconstruction of the American Dream. However, Fitzgerald does not write Gatsby as a bad person whom embodies all that is wrong with western capitalism. Instead, Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby as a good man who was victim of the qualities ingrained in him by an imperfect ideological system. It is this distinction which makes Fitzgerald’s argument all the more potent, and his audience’s ability to mourn Gatsby as a tragic figure all the more important. Whereas Fitzgerald’s opinion of Gatsby may otherwise have been misconstrued as a negative one, the scene of Gatsby’s funeral clearly conveys the character of Gatsby as a tragic and sorrowful one.

    Read More

  • The Traits of Jay Gatsby

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    When looking at Jay Gatsby, one sees many different personalities and ideals. There is the gracious host, the ruthless bootlegger, the hopeless romantic, and beneath it all, there is James Gatz of North Dakota. The many faces of Gatsby make a reader question whether they truly know Gatsby as a person. Many people question what exactly made Jay Gatsby so “great.” These different personas, when viewed separately, are quite unremarkable in their own ways.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Great Gatsby And Passing

    1411 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two were young lovers who were unable to be together because of differences in social status. Gatsby spends his life after Daisy acquiring material wealth and social standing to try and reestablish a place in Daisy’s life. Once Gatsby gains material wealth he moves to the West Egg where the only thing separating he and Daisy is a body of water. It is through the eyes of Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, that the reader gains insight into the mysterious Jay Gatsby. In Nick’s description of his first encounter with Gatsby he says, “But I didn't call to him, for he gave a sudden intimation that he was content to be alone—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 away, that might have been the end of a dock.” The reader soon discovers that the green light is at the end of Daisy’s dock, signifying Gatsby’s desperation and desire to get her back. Gatsby’s obsessive nature drives him to throw parties in hopes that his belonged love will attend. The parties further reveal the ungrasping mysteriousness of Gatsby that lead to speculations about his past. Although the suspicions are there, Gatsby himself never denies the rumors told about him. In Nick’s examination of Gatsby he says, “He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.” This persona Gatsby portrays shows how he is viewed by others, and further signifies his hope and imagination

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Passion Quotes

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s conflicts between passion and responsibility demonstrate that chasing empty dreams can only lead to suffering. Gatsby’s motivation to achieve his dream of prosperity is interrupted when his fantasy becomes motivated by love. His eternal struggle for something more mirrors cultural views that more is always better. By ultimately suffering an immense tragedy, Jay Gatsby transforms into a romantic and tragic hero paying the capital price for his actions. Gatsby envokes a deeper Conclusion sentence

    Read More

  • Willy Loman, Jay Gatsby, and the Pursuit of the American Dream

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jay Gatsby, a mysterious, young and very wealthy man, fatally chases an impossible dream. Gatsby attempts to rekindle an old relationship and has confidence in repeating the past. Gatsby claims that he is going to “fix everything just the way it was before” (Fitzgerald 117). In a a conversation with Nick, Gatsby discusses how the past can be repeated and how he wants the relationship that he once had with Daisy (Fitzgerald 116). Secondly, Gatsby attempts to exemplify his wealth through fancy cars and stylish clothing. Gatsby shows his clothing to Daisy and informs her that he has a “man in England” who buys his clothes every season (Fitzgerald 97). Illustrating his wealth, Gatsby drives a Rolls Royce that “was a rich cream color, bright with nickel” (Fitzgerald 68). Although Gatsby’s foolish quest of the American dream exemplifies a respectable aspiration, it ends in a tragic death that goes virtually unnoticed. A sharp contrast to the parties , the funeral was sparingly attended and “nobody came” (Fitzgerald 182). Following the ...

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Essay: The Great Gatsby is Not So Great

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is an absurd story, whether considered as romance, melodrama, or plain record of New York high life.  The occasional insights into character stand out as very green oases on an arid desert of waste paper.  Throughout the first half of the book the author shadows his leading character in mystery, but when in the latter part he unfolds his life story it is difficult to find the brains, the cleverness, and the glamour that one might expect of a main character.

    Read More

  • Jay Gatsby

    774 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gatsby encompasses many physiognomies such as ambitious. Ambitious outlines one who is eagerly desirous of achieving or obtaining success, Jay Gatsby. It is evident that Gatsby generates his own fantasy world, a realm where he is not the underprivileged James Gatz, but the fantasized Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald conceives him as, “… 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). This quote expresses how he dreams up a new world to escape the blandness of his own existence. But his imagination and turmoil pays off because he ends up making his dreams reality. He personifies a man who goes from “rags to riches” because he strives to better himself as opposed t...

    Read More

  • Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And Native Son

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gatsby’s wealth did not bring him happiness nor did it bring him Daisy. Gatsby was so devoted to his love for Daisy that when she ran over her husband’s mistress, he took the blame. It was that last act of gallantry that cost him his life. In a mad rage the husband of the woman Daisy ran down killed Gatsby. It was only then that the truth that Gatsby’s new life was superficial came to light. His so called friends were users. His love affair a farce. Instead of staying by his side Daisy returned to her husband. None of the hundreds of people who came to his parties ventured to his funeral. Not even his partner in crime, Meyer Wolfsheim, cared about him in the end. He was no longer of value to any of

    Read More

  • Jay Gatsby: The Tragic Hero in The Great Gatsby

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Aristotle, a tragic hero character can be defined to be of noble status, but not necessarily virtuous. There is some aspect of his personality that he has in great abundance but it is this that becomes his tragic flaw and leads to his ultimate demise. However, his tragic ending should not simply sadden the reader, but teach him or her a life lesson. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is the tragic hero who portrays the corruption of the American dream through his tragic flaw. His devastating death at the end of the novel portrays the dangers of centering one’s life on money and other materialistic things and warns the reader not to follow his foolish steps. Jay Gatsby is the epitome of a tragic hero; his greatest attribute of enterprise and ambition contributes to his ultimate demise but his tragic story inspires fear amongst the audience and showcases the dangers of allowing money to consume one’s life.

    Read More

  • In The Great Gatsby, Is Gatsby Truly Great?

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nick describes Gatsby as “one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life(Ch.3).” Such description unifies the appearance of Gatsby with people’s expectation of a man who accomplished the American dream. The obsession with wealth often blinds people from the potential crisis. The crisis of having everything they worked and struggled for redefined if the reality fails them. Just like strivers who chase the American dream, Gatsby also spent his whole life in pursuit of his American dream, which Daisy was a major component of.

    Read More

  • How To Write A Book Report For The Great Gatsby

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    A seemingly easy read, The Great Gatsby has won over critics around the world, and rightfully so, has become one of today's greatest classics due to its complex literary content. The narrator of the novel, Nick Carraway, grew up in the Midwestern United States and went to school at Yale University. Returning home after traveling a great deal, he is discontent and decides to move to the East in 1922, renting a house in Long Island's West Egg section. Jay Gatsby is a wealthy neighbor living next door in a lavish mansion where he holds many extravagant weekend parties. His name is mentioned while Nick is visiting a relative, Daisy. As it turns out, Jay Gatsby had met Daisy five years before while in the military. Meanwhile Gatsby spent all of his effort after the war to buy his mansion through shady business dealings in order to be nearer to Daisy in the hope that she would leave her rich husband, Tom, for him. Daisy is impressed by Gatsby's wealth and the two begin spending much time together, raising the suspicions of Tom who had also has his own affair with a gas station owner's wife, Myrtle Wilson.

    Read More

More about Jay Gatsby: The Mystery

Open Document