The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sometimes the significance of the title of a novel is not immediately

obvious. Choose a novel which fits this description and shows how,

after careful study, the full significance of the title becomes clear.

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel about a man, Jay

Gatsby, who came from nothing, but who invented a new life for himself

and tried to make something of himself to win over a woman, Daisy

Buchanan, who he had loved since he had met her. At the start of the

novel we do not know why Gatsby is great and we see evidence which

doesn‘t really point to any greatness, but after careful analysis of

his actions, we realise he is great because of what he is willing to

do for the love of Daisy.

When we first see Gatsby, we find out how ostentatious he is. He shows

off his wealth by having big parties and having a big, dramatic car.

Tom refers to his car, calling it a “circus wagon”. We also see that

Gatsby is tasteless due to the pink suit that he wears. We do not

necessarily see someone being great if they are tawdry in the way that

Gatsby is, so this is not immediate proof that he is as great as the

title of the book suggests.

Gatsby is suspected of using dishonest methods of earning money, and

Tom claims he is a bootlegger. He has associates with questionable

reputations. This, both his illegal means to earn money and the fact

that he was earning money, so he was “new money”, was frowned upon

greatly by the society Gatsby wanted to be a part of. This behaviour

is not very fitting to the heroic image Gatsby is seen to have by

having the title “great”.

Through the novel we read about lots of different rumours people have

learned about Gatsby, but the truth is, no one knows the truth about

him. We then learn Gatsby’s true history, that he was not born Jay