The "Great" Gatsby?
(prd 3)
The Great Gatsby Essay
Essay Topic #4
In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway said, “It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance that one may come across four or five times in life. It faced - or seemed to face - the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you, with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you so far as you would like to be understood, believed in you as far as you would like to believe in yourself.” (Fitzgerald 48) Nick believed Jay Gatsby was strong-minded and resolute in his odyssey; he believed Gatsby was great. A great man is selfless, honest, and trustworthy. He is sincere, has strong values, and does things for the benefit of others. Greatness means to be everything that you can be during the time you are alive and leaving that legacy behind for others to follow.
Was Gatsby a great, larger than life character who pulled himself up out of the depths of “nothing” to become rich and powerful, or was he a big fraud pretending to be something he wasn’t? Jay Gatsby was focused on a goal, that of winning Daisy, and he did whatever was necessary to attain it. To Nick, Gatsby’s gullibility to change his identity and become financially stable for a woman who left him because he was poor is almost endearing. Gatsby never veers from the task of winning Daisy, and even in the face of reality, his steadfast determination is admirable.
Gatsby took the blame for Daisy when she murdered Myrtle. He went to such great lengths to attain what he believed Daisy had wanted all along just so she would be with him...that takes a great man. Gatsby is essentially ‘great’ because all that he did – the lavish parties, the beautiful shirts, the gorgeous house – was all for a noble cause; he did this for love, for what he dreamed about for the last five years of his life. Gatsby is great for the sole reason that “he believed in the green light” (Fitzgerald 180) symbolizing expectation and
The Great Gatsby Essay
Essay Topic #4
In The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway said, “It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance that one may come across four or five times in life. It faced - or seemed to face - the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you, with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you so far as you would like to be understood, believed in you as far as you would like to believe in yourself.” (Fitzgerald 48) Nick believed Jay Gatsby was strong-minded and resolute in his odyssey; he believed Gatsby was great. A great man is selfless, honest, and trustworthy. He is sincere, has strong values, and does things for the benefit of others. Greatness means to be everything that you can be during the time you are alive and leaving that legacy behind for others to follow.
Was Gatsby a great, larger than life character who pulled himself up out of the depths of “nothing” to become rich and powerful, or was he a big fraud pretending to be something he wasn’t? Jay Gatsby was focused on a goal, that of winning Daisy, and he did whatever was necessary to attain it. To Nick, Gatsby’s gullibility to change his identity and become financially stable for a woman who left him because he was poor is almost endearing. Gatsby never veers from the task of winning Daisy, and even in the face of reality, his steadfast determination is admirable.
Gatsby took the blame for Daisy when she murdered Myrtle. He went to such great lengths to attain what he believed Daisy had wanted all along just so she would be with him...that takes a great man. Gatsby is essentially ‘great’ because all that he did – the lavish parties, the beautiful shirts, the gorgeous house – was all for a noble cause; he did this for love, for what he dreamed about for the last five years of his life. Gatsby is great for the sole reason that “he believed in the green light” (Fitzgerald 180) symbolizing expectation and