Jay Gatsby: The Manipulator of Reality
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is the story of Jay Gatsby and his inexorable desire to achieve the status and dreams he has coveted throughout his life. The dream of profound wealth in the 1920’s is represented through Gatsby’s road from destitution to extreme wealth and social stability at the time many admired those who had it and those who were impoverished desired to achieve it themselves. Gatsby is willing to change his entire persona and evade his past in order to achieve affluence and claim that he has been part of the upper class his entire life. However, wealth is not the only object that Mr. Gatsby desired during this era of economic prosperity. Gatsby 's ultimate …show more content…
Gatsby and Daisy’s rebuilding of their relationship could only start at Nick’s house. The house is a reminder of their first time being together in Louisville, because it evokes the first signs of genuine emotions between the two, and it’s simplistic in comparison to the rest of the excessive world within East Egg and West Egg, the location of their two properties. When describing his house in contrast to those around him like Gatsby’s, whose house, “looks like the World’s Fair,” (81), Nick says, “I lived at West Egg, the-well less fashionable of the two, though this is most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge palaces that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season,” (5). Nick’s house is not as luxurious like the other houses in West Egg and East Egg, but he is able to enjoy and live there because he does not desire excess, however, Gatsby does. Instead of being content with the simplicity of Nick’s house, Gatsby manipulates the genuine qualities by decorating the house with luxurious flowers. Even with the upgraded house, it does not compare to the level of prominence Gatsby is accustomed to and takes the opportunity to make use the house to make himself …show more content…
Although Gatsby obtained a plethora of wealth, he never was contempt with the level of prosperity he managed to reach in his life. Similar when he diminished the simplicity of Nick’s house when he met Daisy there, he diminishes his true character by being absorbed the the prospects of wealth and perfection. However, when Gatsby 's manipulation of others is tarnished, he ensues fear in the one person he truly desires, Daisy. Even when his real character is revealed at the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby continues to try to maintain his perfect image, and his belief he can manipulate arouses fear and Daisy. If Gatsby never tried to manipulate others, and the settings around him, his true character would never impact those around him and he would still be alive. In short, Fitzgerald uses Gastby to show that the manipulation of others does not lead to to affluence or a true completion of a goal, it only leads to death and
The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, is the story of Jay Gatsby and his inexorable desire to achieve the status and dreams he has coveted throughout his life. The dream of profound wealth in the 1920’s is represented through Gatsby’s road from destitution to extreme wealth and social stability at the time many admired those who had it and those who were impoverished desired to achieve it themselves. Gatsby is willing to change his entire persona and evade his past in order to achieve affluence and claim that he has been part of the upper class his entire life. However, wealth is not the only object that Mr. Gatsby desired during this era of economic prosperity. Gatsby 's ultimate …show more content…
Gatsby and Daisy’s rebuilding of their relationship could only start at Nick’s house. The house is a reminder of their first time being together in Louisville, because it evokes the first signs of genuine emotions between the two, and it’s simplistic in comparison to the rest of the excessive world within East Egg and West Egg, the location of their two properties. When describing his house in contrast to those around him like Gatsby’s, whose house, “looks like the World’s Fair,” (81), Nick says, “I lived at West Egg, the-well less fashionable of the two, though this is most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge palaces that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season,” (5). Nick’s house is not as luxurious like the other houses in West Egg and East Egg, but he is able to enjoy and live there because he does not desire excess, however, Gatsby does. Instead of being content with the simplicity of Nick’s house, Gatsby manipulates the genuine qualities by decorating the house with luxurious flowers. Even with the upgraded house, it does not compare to the level of prominence Gatsby is accustomed to and takes the opportunity to make use the house to make himself …show more content…
Although Gatsby obtained a plethora of wealth, he never was contempt with the level of prosperity he managed to reach in his life. Similar when he diminished the simplicity of Nick’s house when he met Daisy there, he diminishes his true character by being absorbed the the prospects of wealth and perfection. However, when Gatsby 's manipulation of others is tarnished, he ensues fear in the one person he truly desires, Daisy. Even when his real character is revealed at the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby continues to try to maintain his perfect image, and his belief he can manipulate arouses fear and Daisy. If Gatsby never tried to manipulate others, and the settings around him, his true character would never impact those around him and he would still be alive. In short, Fitzgerald uses Gastby to show that the manipulation of others does not lead to to affluence or a true completion of a goal, it only leads to death and