Themes In The Great Gatsby

Backpack Literature defines theme as “the general point or truth about human beings that may be drawn from” a story. Most novels do not have one single theme, but instead have many themes spread throughout. Some of the themes may be related but others can come from opposite ends of the spectrum. The Great Gatsby has several themes that are related such as greed, lust, and selfishness. One of the themes that stood out to me was that some people will never be fully satisfied. This is demonstrated by Jay Gatsby’s continuous us of illegal activities to make more money to impress Daisy, by Tom Buchanan’s affair with a mechanic’s wife even though he was already married, and by Jay Gatsby constantly throwing parties to try and win Daisy back after

Nick Carraway says Gatsby’s estate is “a colossal affair by any standard” (pg. 3). He described it as “a factual imitation of some Hôtel De Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool” (4). At the beginning of the novel, it is unknown how Gatsby has made his fortune but various rumors are going around that he “killed a man” or that he was “a German spy during the war” (29). As we progress more and more though the novel, we find out that Gatsby is not the man we first thought he was. Tom accuses Gatsby of being a part of illegal activities such as buying many drugstores in New York and Chicago so he could sell “grain alcohol over the counter” (89). F. Scott Fitzgerald never explicitly confirms this, but it is the most logical explanation of how Gatsby gained so much wealth in so little time. Was Gatsby so obsessed with making money that he was willing to do criminal deeds in exchange for it? Even though he was insanely affluent, it does not seem like he will ever be truly satisfied with is

It will have been “five years next November” since the last time that they had met (57). Nick is talking to Jordan about how big of a coincidence it was that Gatsby bought a house directly across from Daisy and Jordan tells him that “it wasn’t a coincidence” (52). “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (52). Gatsby spent all that time away from Daisy trying to better himself just because he could not spend another second without her. He had an enormous mansion, a massive amount of wealth, and threw some of the best parties in the country, but he was still unhappy because he did not have the girl that he