Compare And Contrast Daisy Buchanan And Jay Gatsby

The characters of The Great Gatsby can all be viewed in two opposing ways. They have a personality and aura about them that nobody would ever question. In an era of unprecedented wealth and personal freedom, there is so much more to these characters than first meets the eye. There is no better example of this than Jay Gatsby. Gatsby, a member of the “new” rich, holds extrordanary parties every weekend at his estate on the shore of West Egg. At the beginning, Gatsby appears to simply be a man who has achieved everything he expected to, something that the American Dream embodies. It becomes quite clear later in the story, that Gatsby is not the person he appears to be at first; in fact, Jay Gatsby isn't even his real name - his real name is Jay Gatz. The fact that this man would lie about his name reveals that there is much more to Jay …show more content…
Gatsby’s newfound wealth and arrival at West Egg is in fact part of a life long goal , a goal to win back Daisy Buchanan, a woman who he fell in love with in Louisville before he was sent off to war but lost soon after she married Tom Buchanan. The extent to which Gatsby goes to win Daisy back is showed by Nick Carraway, the narrator and neighbor of Gatsby.Nick caught an early glimpse of Gatsby's mission as he watched Gatsby one night."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." (Fitzgerald 24).The green light that Gatsby reaches out to happens to be the light at the end of Daisy's dock. Green is the color of promise and renewal, and symbolizes Gatsby’s dream and hope for the future, to get Daisy back. Unfortunately for Gatsby, his dream eventually disappears , not because