Gatsby turned out all right in the end Essay Example

and he feels that he has to conceal his real background and adopt the persona of an eccentric aristocrat to be accepted. The fact that even his name is not real shows that Gatsby is completely superficial and also could suggest that American Dream has been corrupted and that it’s not within everyone’s grasp as you have to become someone else to achieve it. Gatsby bought into the values of the corrupt society of the rich by throwing excessive parties that he doesn’t even enjoy.

At his parties, Gatsby stands “alone on the marble steps” which makes him seem God-like, watching the crowds from above and shows the reality that no one really knows who he is, “Gatsby? What Gatsby? ”. Interestingly, when Daisy finally comes to a party Gatsby joins the crowd and seems to lose his God-like status. Because Gatsby is so concerned with maintaining his created persona, he keeps his distance with most characters and doesn’t let his guard down: Nick describes him as being in “complete isolation”. Also, the manner by which Gatsby gained his wealth is vague, but it is clear that they were criminal.

Meyer Wolfshiem, a king-pin in the criminal underworld of the 1920s, states that he “made him” which suggests that Gatsby did not inherit his money as he had said. This example of frame narrative allows other characters to give their perspective on Gatsby. However, Gatsby does all these things out of immense love for Daisy, whom Gatsby persuaded to leave Tom, an incredibly wealth but violent man, the night before their wedding. Gatsby and Daisy had a short relationship before Gatsby went to war, but, then, Daisy

marries Tom “without so much as a shiver”.

He designs his entire life to win daisy back Daisy and because he successfully created a “Platonic conception of himself”, Gatsby believes that he can rewrite his relationship with Daisy as well. He wants Daisy to say that she never loved Tom so that they can “wipe out” her marriage and start again. Gatsby is a Romantic idealist and stays faithful to Daisy, never realising that he’s in love with a dream and as Nick says, “There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams -- not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion".

Gatsby’s single-minded pursuit of his dream helps the reader to sympathise with him, despite the fact that he’s mysterious and elusive. This hope for Daisy is represented by the “green light” which is a visible object near where Daisy lives. This light is the closest Gatsby can now get to her and it is a romanticised view based on an idealised view of Daisy. Daisy herself becomes a symbol of Gatsby’s hope and future, although as it turns out Gatsby was a fool for basing his love on fantasy and dreams.

His hope and creativity are inspiring but could end up being his hamartia, and, in this way, Gatsby could be interpreted as a tragic hero. Gatsby is murdered and Daisy ultimately reveals herself to be shallow and materialistic when she abandons Gatsby for a horrible man she does not love, namely Tom. Despite being a fool, Gatsby is given depth and dignity by Nick at the end of the novel. Gatsby is a

victim as well as a hero of the ‘Jazz age’ because he is as flawed as the society he lives in. Gatsby is faithful to Daisy until he died.

Gatsby is killed on the first day of autumn, at which point he was inappropriately using the pool, which could show his refusal to accept the passage of time. This reflects his clinging to Daisy and explains why he can’t accept that Daisy has left him. Gatsby was prepared to take the blame for Daisy’s “carelessness” after she hit Myrtle (the woman with whom Tom Buchannan was having an affair) and killed her. Wilson kills Gatsby because he believes that Gatsby was responsible for Myrtle’s death. This shows Gatsby to be both noble and gallant.

Furthermore, Daisy’s love was not totally unachievable as “she had told him that she loved him” and therefore, Gatsby’s quest for Daisy was not entirely disillusioned. However, Daisy doesn’t show the same commitment to Gatsby and his light sight of Daisy was when she was standing at her window before she “turned out the light”. This intense image thrusts Gatsby back into isolation as Daisy’ act of turning off the light symbolises the fact that she has thrown his dreams into darkness. I think that it is possible that Gatsby both “turned out all right” and didn’t turn out “all right”.

The power of “The Great Gatsby” lies in the ambiguous nature of the characterisation and we can be “simultaneously enchanted and repelled” by Jay Gatsby, both criticising his immoral and extravagant behaviour while admiring his glamorous lifestyle, and sympathising with his emotional turmoil. Fitzgerald’s realistic portrayal of Gatsby which encompasses the complex human

philosophy reflects the moral confusion of America in the 1920s and allows the reader to engage with Gatsby while remaining aware of his immorality.