The Great Gatsby

Greta Williams 9/9/14
English 3 AP Lang per. D Mr. Butterly
Summer Reading Assignment
Gatsby

The lavish extravagant persona of Jay Gatsby was fabricated over many years. As a boy born from poverty, James Gatz always saw himself as more than a farmer, but as the son of God. When a wealthy man Dan Cody is under the influence and in trouble at sea, James Gatz sees his chance to remake himself into the millionaire Jay Gatsby. The name Gatsby becomes a superpower and legendary figure to Long Island and New York inhabitants who attend his parties. Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire of Long Island, may be a fraud and a criminal but readers see Gatsby as a sympathetic figure and root for Gatsby.
Gatsby is like any other person. As a young boy, Gatsby dreamed of living a successful life like many young adults do. He equates a successful life to lifting himself out of poverty and “getting the girl.” Gatsby is in love with a girl from his past, which helps the reader be sympathetic towards Gatsby. Many people have felt first love and can relate to Gatsby and his love for Daisy. Gatsby also is looking to be successful in life. To him that means living as the son of God. Most people want to succeed in life whether its getting good grades in school, going to their dream college, or living a lavish lifestyle. Gatsby like any other person wants to succeed in life and reunite with Daisy
Readers root for Gatsby to overcome the odds pitted against him, poverty, to better his life. He against the odds made a better life for himself. He also found his old love, Daisy Buchannan. When life started to crumble for Gatsby, for example when Daisy refused to leave Tom for him and when she refused to talk to him. Readers still root for him to overcome these obstacles. Gatsby is a tragic hero that is eventually killed by his unfailing love for Daisy and desire to protect her. Despite his criminal activity that becomes apparent at the end readers are sympathetic toward him and root for Gatsby
Although Gatsby may be a fictional character, we can mirror his drive and compassion. As the mysterious host of the fantastic parties he hosts to catch Daisy’s eyes, Gatsby displays mortal characteristics such as compassion, determination, and intelligence. Gatsby deep down is like any human being trying to succeed in life.

Daisy

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a novel of lavish parties and the luxurious lifestyle of the wealthy inhabitants of Long Island. The story centers on the mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby and his love for Daisy Buchanan. Jay Gatsby’s endless love for Daisy is the driving force behind his extravagant lifestyle and his huge empire. Gatsby’s flawless ideals about Daisy cause Gatsby to put Daisy on a pedestal. Daisy, however, is far from the perfect girl Gatsby thinks she is. She is selfish, destructive and dissatisfied with her life and herself. Gatsby and Daisy’s love is not sincere, but based on a memory of a past relationship.
Gatsby’s infatuation with Daisy has many factors from physical qualities to imaginary ones. Daisy’s voice was the “kind of voice that the ear follows up and down.” (9) Her speech exudes wealth, social class, charm and the glamour of the 1920’s—everything that Gatsby desires. Her murmur, which holds irrelevant criticisms that projects charm, captivates people so they lean toward her. The past for Gatsby is a prominent part of his desire to have a relationship with Daisy. The child Daisy was innocent and full of passion. Young Daisy was ready to marry Gatsby despite that he was poor and could not offer Daisy a lavish lifestyle. Young Daisy didn’t care about money, social status, or other social pressures. In contrast present Daisy cares about all these three things as thought her life depends on them.
For Gatsby his past with Daisy was the “good ole days”, and he wants them back. The past has led him to create a fabricated illusion of Daisy that she could never live up to. His dream Daisy would tell her husband, Tom, that she cheated on him, and doesn’t love him anymore. Daisy, however, cannot live up to his dreams. In literature forbidden love is a common theme. For example Romeo and Juliet’s forbidden love is because of their parents rivalry. Wuthering Heights and The Great Gatsby both deal with forbidden love where social pressures hurt their lovers. Gatsby’s infatuation also stems from forbidden love in the past and in the present. In the past Daisy’s parents would have never allowed Daisy to marry a man who was of a lower social class. Later on in the story Daisy is married and is “forbidden” to Gatsby
Daisy is selfish, destructive and dissatisfied with everything in her life and herself. Daisy does not deserve this adoration because she is careless. “She smashes up things and creatures and then retreats back into her money or her vast carelessness…and let other people clean up her mess.”(179) She has the affair with Gatsby because she’s overwhelmed with his devotion for her and she wants to get revenge on Tom and his mistress.
One night Daisy was driving Gatsby and herself home, when she accidently hits her husband’s mistress Myrtle, who ran out into the middle of the street. The woman was killed instantly. When Tom stops by Myrtle’s husband’s garage, he finds out what happened to his mistress. Out of anger and pain, Tom tells Myrtle’s husband that a man named Gatsby hit his wife. Tom and Daisy seem to conspire to make Gatsby the guilty party. For example, Toms tells Winston, Myrtle’s husband, that Gatsby hit Myrtle. As a result, Tom and Daisy indirectly cause Gatsby’s untimely death, when Winston murders him. This overwhelming evidence proves that Daisy does not deserve Gatsby’s adoration.

Social Class and Reality vs. Illusion Literary critic Lionel Trilling states “…. The shifting and conflict of social classes becomes the field of problem of knowledge, of how we know and of how reliable our knowledge is… the work of this novel [is ] that it deals with reality and illusion in relation to questions of social class, which in relatively recent times are bound up with money.” Fitzgerald’s main character Gatsby is shrouded in a mixture of allusion and reality. He also puts a huge amount of emphasis on social class and money. Gatsby built his life on the desire of being an elite millionaire. To Gatsby, money and a high social class is the key to getting what he wants. His money could get Daisy to fall in love with him and become “the son of God.” The Great Gatsby is a novel that deals with love, social class, and most importantly to the people of the 1920’s—money. Money shaped Gatsby into a legendary figure to Long Island and the society of the roaring 20s. Gatsby is a man built on illusion and reality. Many of the guests have different information about Gatsby’s real background. Some say he was a German spy during the war. Others say he was on the American’s side, and that he probably killed a man. Only a few select guests of Gatsby’s have ever seen him. While in reality Gatsby was a man born into poverty and on one lucky night had the chance to become the son of God. The illusions or deception of the characters, for example Nick Caraway and Jay Gatsby both built themselves successful exteriors that it is hard to distinguish the lies from their true selves. Many of the relationships in the Great Gatsby are built on illusion. Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship is merely fabricated out of Gatsby’s love for the past Daisy and Daisy’s need for a “no strings attached” relationship. Money is what makes the world go round in the roaring 20’s. It can buy you hydroplanes, luxurious cars, incredible, extravagant mansions, and fabulous parties that people come far and wide to attend. Money is everything in society during the 1920’s. It creates your standing in society and provides privileges all over the world. With money you have the privilege of living without consequences. For example, Tom and Daisy “…they smashed up things and then retreat back into their money…” Prosperity means you can hurt or leave a string of bodies without having a second thought or dealing with the consequences. Money creates demoralization of many of the characters. Wealth was one of the reasons that drove the affairs, lies, and deception. The Great Gatsby is a novel that displays the obsession with wealth and social class. In wealthy Long Island money is categorized by new money and old money. Your social class is the one you’re born into. If one tries to change or ascend the social class “ladder” then it will end in tragedy as it did for Myrtle and Gatsby. Wealth is a huge advantage in the 1920’s, but leads many characters into trouble. Gatsby creates a cover so mixed with illusion and reality that the truth is indistinguishable from all the lies, because it was one way he could get closer to the wealthy lifestyle of the son of God.