"He had everything a man could want--power, grace and style" - Simon and Garfunkel. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most classic novels in American Literature, so it is obvious that many new readers would assume that the novel's main focus is on American society in the 1920s. There’s wild thinking in what is not expected however, the ugly truth behind the main character, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby pursued something that had meaning, leaving his life void of just that. Gatsby's unexplained wealth and social status, his brief and spiraling relationship with Daisy Buchanan and his dreary death breaks the illusion, conveying that Jay Gatsby is opposite to what the title says, he is not "Great" after all. The irony in the title also
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The only ones who showed up for Gatsby at the time of his death were Carraway and, “an endless drill of police and photographers and newspaper men” (163). In Carraway’s eyes it was him and Gatsby against them all. Before Gatsby had died, people “used to go there by the hundreds” and now it’s at a point where, “Nobody came” (174-175). Everything had fallen apart and Carraway had known how much Daisy meant to him, and how much the wealth meant to Daisy, so he called Gatsby’s mansion a “huge incoherent failure of a house” (179). None of his plans ended up working. He did become wealthy, but what good is that if you’re dead? The love of his life turned her back on him when he needed her the most. Carraway says, “I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock” which proves that Gatsby could’ve been so much more if he weren’t so focused on the goals that made him change his character. Gatsby’s death allowed the readers to see the ugly truth behind his wealth, social status, and relationship with Daisy. Neither Gatsby’s death nor his life were “Great”. It may not have been very clear throughout the beginning of the novel, but as his death approached, the meaninglessness of his life built up. Nothing ended up working out for Gatsby the way he planned. All the money in the world couldn’t buy his way through life and that’s obvious when his life is taken for something that he didn’t even
The only ones who showed up for Gatsby at the time of his death were Carraway and, “an endless drill of police and photographers and newspaper men” (163). In Carraway’s eyes it was him and Gatsby against them all. Before Gatsby had died, people “used to go there by the hundreds” and now it’s at a point where, “Nobody came” (174-175). Everything had fallen apart and Carraway had known how much Daisy meant to him, and how much the wealth meant to Daisy, so he called Gatsby’s mansion a “huge incoherent failure of a house” (179). None of his plans ended up working. He did become wealthy, but what good is that if you’re dead? The love of his life turned her back on him when he needed her the most. Carraway says, “I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock” which proves that Gatsby could’ve been so much more if he weren’t so focused on the goals that made him change his character. Gatsby’s death allowed the readers to see the ugly truth behind his wealth, social status, and relationship with Daisy. Neither Gatsby’s death nor his life were “Great”. It may not have been very clear throughout the beginning of the novel, but as his death approached, the meaninglessness of his life built up. Nothing ended up working out for Gatsby the way he planned. All the money in the world couldn’t buy his way through life and that’s obvious when his life is taken for something that he didn’t even