Analysis Of Francis Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

When most people think about life, they typically do not think of “winning” it. Rather, they think of how to succeed and get ahead in life - ways to become a better, happier version of themselves. Adolf Hitler, former German politician, has a different view on life, and asserts that: “Life is like a game; there could be many players. If you do not play with them, they will play with you.” In his life, Hitler understood that to get ahead, one has to “play” with other people - that is, use their disadvantages against them to allow oneself to be more successful. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, one of the most prominent writers of the 20th century, also understands this, and in his novel The Great Gatsby he looks at the “game” on a smaller, more intimate scale - one of neighbors and old friends. His novel being centered in New York, Fitzgerald scrutinizes how people interact with each other in order to benefit themselves and shows the damage that this “game” often leaves.

While the game may be
It is his lack of understanding of the game that causes him to be on the wrong end of the game, and thus, he ends up being the one that gets taken advantage of. Despite not being the one to have hit Myrtle, he paid the price for Daisy’s careless choice when Tom and Daisy tell Wilson that he was the one to have hit Myrtle (161). Wilson proceeds to go to Gatsby’s house, and Gatsby pays the ultimate price when he suffers a fatal gunshot wound from Wilson (162). While his death was tragic, it was more his forced acceptance of the blame than anything that is representative of his lack of understanding of the game. Being unable to prove that it was not him that hit Myrtle, since he was murdered, he was forced to be a scapegoat for Daisy for the murder, ruining his reputation and dirtying his legacy. In the end, he is the only one to lose, and it because of his unacknowledgement of the game being played that led to his