The Great Gatsby Role Model

I cannot say with complete certainty that I want to model my life exactly how the Great Gatsby lived his, but he has taught me a lot about life. Jay Gatsby-originally James Gatz- lived a very stubborn life. He wanted to be educated because it would lead him to wealth. He wanted to be rich because he grew up poor. He wanted to be with Daisy because she was the first girl he ever loved. He knew what he desired and was stubborn enough to accomplish what he wanted in life. Gatsby would make a daily schedule: He was always working to better himself. All this to say, “Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (92). This discipline he has within himself makes him a great role model, and in this sense, I …show more content…
However, Daisy did not return this treatment to him. When he went off to the war for a few years, she marries another man. Even when he comes home and she is married to another man, he still loves her and will anything for her attention. I will always wonder whether Gatsby could be mad or upset with Daisy for marrying another man or how he was still faithful to her after what she did. Jay Gatsby dies protecting Daisy. After learning about what Daisy did and how Gatsby’s life is still all about her, I learned a very important lesson from him. I have learned there is a difference between love and hope. What Daisy and Jay had to start was love - it was mutual, they both cared for one another and no one else, it was pure love. After Gatsby returns from the war, that love turns into hope – hope that one day it can be the pure love like they once shared. While waiting for Daisy’s attention, he builds up this imaginary life with Daisy that surpasses her qualities and she “tumbled short of his dreams—not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her” (90). Even if Daisy would have told Gatsby she only loves him and not her husband too, she would still let him down, but because she is in love with two men their love is not pure anymore, she cannot be in love with two men. This difference I have learn between love and hope has forever changed me. I have started to cherish the moments I have with the ones I love and have held them dearer to me than before. I have also cemented in my heart that when I find someone truly special and can have a pure relationship with them like the beginning of Daisy and Gatsby, I will not let them slide away, I will always remember what is “stored up