What Is The Responsibility In The Great Gatsby

Improved Essays
With great wealth comes great responsibility; in The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald tries to illustrate how untrue this statement really can be. Scott yearns to show, in a fast paced and money driven world, that fortune does not necessarily define a person. At the heart of this life is the complex character Jay Gatsby – who doesn’t seem to fit anywhere. Growing up poor and gaining a vast wealth: it seems he can pay homage to both sides but fits nowhere. The character of Gatsby seems to match the gray ash ridden area between West and East Egg. Gatsby is an illustrious character who tries to reinvent and make himself up to be something he’s not and this leads to dire consequences. In the 1920’s where one lived suggested a lot about whom they …show more content…
There were two motivations for his new personality. Firstly he wanted to be the complete opposite of his deprived family. He knew great wealth was his destiny – even though he wasn’t born into it. Unfortunately he would have to switch from innocence to dishonesty to gain his new identity; so he turned to bootlegging. Ironically Gatsby steers toward using illegal actions shortly after he was denied his inheritance from his mentors’ mistress; that rejection essentially pushed the final button for his switch in personality. (Pinsker, Sanfor. “Seeing The Great Gatsby Eye to Eye.” College Literature, Winter 1976.) The other reason for his personality switch was to become rich to win Daisy back by "deliberately giving Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe he was a person from much the same stratum as herself.”(Callahan, John F. F. Scott Fitzgerald 's Evolving American Dream: The ‘Pursuit of Happiness.’ Twentieth Century Literature, 1996. Print.) Daisy came from a healthy background of wealth and it was rare to have a marriage between the middle class and the rich. Gatsby has a personality struggle during his time he is trying to win Daisy back. He is so tied up with how great it was in the past and how far he has come that he is oblivious to the impossibility of a future with Daisy because they are really two very different

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Wealth is not the only thing you need to live the American Dream. He had wealth but he was not happy with his wealth because all that he had done to earn his money was so that he could do things and have expensive possessions so that Daisy would notice him and fall for him again but she never did. The American Dream has three central assumptions to it which is that America is a land of bounty, beauty and unlimited promise, the second is the belief in progress and being optimistic, and lastly the triumph of the individual. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows throughout his novel The Great Gatsby that the American Dream cannot be achieved if you follow these three assumptions. He shows the reader how the American Dream is not promised to anyone who can follow and succeed in these topics, but that many that do accept the challenge of achieving the American…

    • 1635 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Among the characters is Willy Loman. Willy is portrayed as a very insecure and egocentric travelling salesman who have a very strong belief in the American dream pertaining to easy way of obtaining success and wealth acquisition. According to Nilsson et al (56), success can only be achieved through rigorous indulgent of activities which are viable and acceptable lawfully. However, even though there is a lot of misconception about the acquisition of wealth through other means apart from working hard for it, many people believe that ill-gotten wealth do not last and if it does, there is a lot of suffering at the end. On the other hand, Biff Loma, a son to Willy feels so compelled to search for reality of life.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    While he was growing up poor, he knew that he couldn’t do whatever he wanted because there were limits of his class. Now that he was successful and considered “new money”, the term used when someone made themselves wealthy as compared to the term “old money” when the wealth ran in the family, Gatsby had the money to do anything he desired. Therefore, the innocence of not being exposed to wealth when he was younger incorporates itself into the romantic idealism that he has during the story that he can buy the person he loves anything she desired. Scott F Fitzgerald portrays in Jay Gatsby the kind of materialistic man that believes anything is possible, “He presents it in Gatsby as a romantic baptism of desire for a reality that stubbornly remains out of his sight” (Bewley 2). Since he has a substantial amount of money, Gatsby now believes that he can win over anyone he wants with it, such as Daisy, and he masks up his emotions and feelings with the wealth.…

    • 1782 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Great Gatsby Conclusion

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages

    At the end of the book, Nick still disapproves of Gatsby and the way he acquired his massive wealth, but he admires Gatsby 's ambition and desire to see his dreams come true. Nick tells Gatsby, "They 're a rotten crowd...You 're worth the whole damn bunch put together" (154). During his time in West Egg, Nick has realizes that the majority of the people Gatsby associated with were only concerned with money and social status, like Tom and Jordan, but Gatsby only strives to achieve this wealth in an attempt to impress Daisy and win her back. Though his means of achieving wealth were illegal, his intentions were pure, which Nick respects. He knows that Gatsby is the only one out of his entire social group that has a real purpose in life and a dream to strive for; Nick 's acknowledgement of Gatsby 's determination shows that he is a reliable narrator.…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    He also discovers that working hard may not be all it takes to achieve the American Dream as quickly as he wanted. Despite the fact that she is a married woman, Gatsby sets out to win Daisy back, and he believes he can do so by becoming rich. The pursuit of wealth eventually fully corrupts Gatsby, as he sacrifices his morals more and more in his attempt to achieve his goal. Gatsby meets Meyer Wolfsheim, a shady businessman, who takes him in, believing he could be helpful: “I saw right away he was a fine-appearing young man, and when he told me he was an Oggsford I knew I could use him good.” (171). Wolfsheim offers Gatsby a job doing illegal work as a bootlegger under him, which Gatsby accepts, sacrificing his morals for wealth.…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    However, the materialistic ambition led F. Scott Fitzgerald towards a disastrous downfall, “Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald did spend money faster than he earned it; the author who wrote so eloquently about the effects of money on character was unable to manage his own finances”(“Fitzgerald Biography” par.1). The novel, The Great Gatsby centers on the negative view of money. Nonetheless, F. Scott Fitzgerald himself was focused on his economic status that he did not acknowledge the dangers of materialism. The Great Gatsby is a story of how good fortune can bring great unhappiness. However, the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald spent carelessly and was only about his economic standing.…

    • 2451 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Dust In The Great Gatsby

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Despite his low class origin, he makes it his mission to become rich and upper-class. Once he gains money through suspicious means, he creates an entire persona that seems to embody the essence of wealth and power. But eventually, his charismatic persona is undone by Tom’s belief that Gatsby is bootlegging. Gatsby’s wealth does not prevent him from losing Daisy; in fact, the suspicious nature behind his “new-money” causes Gatsby to sink into a defeated state and lose Daisy forever (4). Despite his shattered state, Gatsby refuses to accept the loss of his imagined ideal and instead chooses to protect Daisy, leading to his death.…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    But Jay Gatsby 's dreams of being a millionaire are interrupted by his flawed views on what is actually reality, and what is materialistic. Jay Gatsby believes that he can do anything with the money that he has earned. Jay Gatsby believes that he is somewhat invincible, that he can do no wrong. But Jay Gatsby is very flawed. Jay Gatsby believes that he can recreate the past, he is very naive.…

    • 1382 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    A desire for wealth and success is in every human being, whether they admit it or not. Everyone wants a life of wealth and success, as life seems to become much easier and carefree. However in the pursuit of such a lifestyle one does not always find that the life of the wealthy is as appealing as they originally thought. This is the case for Nick Carraway, as his pursuit for a successful and wealthy lifestyle ends in failure, and a realization of the true evils that being wealthy entails. Throughout the novel, The Great Gatsby, author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, communicates the message that success is not guaranteed if, one solely uses the success of others to develop their own success, this is shown as Nick attempts to use the success of the people…

    • 1752 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Gatsby’s case, his attempt to achieve the American Dream ultimately results in serious and very deadly consequences for himself. As for George Wilson, he too fails to achieve the American Dream as his success is restricted living in the Valley of Ashes. As for the Buchanan’s, the dream is vanished because of the wealth they have achieved through Tom’s inheritance. It seems that having money was the ultimate goal for the characters in the novel, but for those had achieved it already did not equal eternal happiness for…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays