The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a story of rags to riches, passion, and the hollowness of the upper class. A common wonder regarding this piece is the question of what it is that makes Gatsby so great. Through the use of works by Harlem Renaissance poets such as Langston Hughes and Claude Mckay, with a connection to the themes of the story, the questionable greatness of the notorious Jay Gatsby can be proven valid.
In chapter six of Fitzgerald’s novel, it is revealed that James Gatz had been born to farmer parents residing in North Dakota. Since boyhood, he had always been very organized and ambitious, keeping daily agendas and lists of ‘general resolves’ for self improvement. According to his father, “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got for improving his mind? He was always great for that…” (173). Beginning in childhood, James grasped onto a dream of leaving North Dakota and making a name for himself. Though he held many grueling jobs in his youth, he saw little benefit from his work. It was through a coincidental introduction to extremely wealthy Dan Cody that prompted Gatz to reinvent himself into the man known today as Jay Gatsby. Cody served as a mentor figure, supplying Gatsby with additional motivation to reach a similar level of success and teaching him the ways of the wealthy. Regarding his new persona, “The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old...

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...rately concludes, “They’re a rotten crowd… You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together” (154). The difference from the other, wealthy characters, that makes Gatsby great is the fact that he is motivated by the real emotion of love; Everyone else is motivated by the fraudulent lust of greed. As the poem states, though he was of lower class, Gatsby turned out to be worth more than any of the morally corrupt higher class.
To conclude, Gatsby proves through his prolific and loyal nature, that he is indeed great. The usage of Harlem Renaissance poetry in comparison to The Great Gatsby helps to clarify the qualities that make Jay Gatsby such a magnificent, dynamic character.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925
Hughes, Langston. ¨Mother to Son¨
Hughes, Langston. ¨As I Grew Older¨
Hughes, Langston. ¨Question [1]¨

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