Redemption In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

After understanding how Hemingway uses The Sun Also Rises to comment on mankind’s need for salvation, one can compare it to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Like Hemingway, Fitzgerald wrote during a time when traditionally held morals and social structures were being questioned and discarded. The Great Gatsby’s setting revolves around careless characters seeking escape and needing redemption. By examining the redemptive figure Jay Gatsby and his savior-like relationship to Daisy Buchanan and Nick Carraway, one can distinguish the various techniques used by Fitzgerald to portray and comment upon the nature of humanity.
Jay Gatsby represents the ultimate picture of redemption through his mythic life story. Born into a humble farming family, Gatsby embodies the ‘American dream’ belief that hard work and following the system will allow one to move upwards in society (Fitzgerald 98). Starting his young adult life as a lowly deckhand, Gatsby works diligently and eventually …show more content…
While leaving Gatsby’s house one day, Nick proclaims, “They’re a rotten crowd…You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together” (Fitzgerald 154). This statement reflects Nick’s resentment towards others and his persistent self-righteous view. After Gatsby’s death, Nick plans to return to the Midwest, but before he leaves “wanted to leave things in order and not just trust that obliging and indifferent sea to sweep my refuse away” (Fitzgerald 177). He visits Jordan to discuss their relationship and tells her he is “too old to lie to myself and call it honor” (Fitzgerald 177). Through Gatsby’s sudden death, Nick realizes his dishonesty with himself and can admit he wrongly handled his relationship with Jordan. Overall, Gatsby’s friendship saves Nick by helping him realize his biased self-perception, preventing him from future dishonest mistakes, and redeeming him from previously mishandled