Compare And Contrast Essay On The Great Gatsby

`Jay Gatsby could be criticized as being one of the present day's most vile and abominable fiction characters. F Scott Fitzgerald portrayed Gatsby as being Narcissistic, sexist, and racist. Gatsby felt no moral obligation and lacked a moral compass; differing right from wrong. This constitutes his corrupted view of society being his playground. The comparison of both F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jay Gatsby influences the idea that The Great Gatsby is about how Fitzgerald would live his life without restraint. F Scott Fitzgerald, the author lived in a time of economic boom, the roaring 20s. This portrayal of wealth and possessions in Fitzgeralds' life leads to the theme of wealth in The Great Gatsby. The setting of The Great Gatsby was also in

Fitzgerald applies his own outlook on the American dream, “F. Scott Fitzgerald believed, due to his own personal experiences, that the American dream was a cruel mistress who presented all people with opportunity, yet even with success made happiness constantly out of reach.”(The Great Gatsby) Comments on the American Dream) We see this theme of happiness just out of reach throughout the whole story, Gatsby is always just out of reach of Daisy and never does truly achieve the idea of the American dream. Gatsby was gifted with monetary success but never reached a full extent of happiness. The time Fitzgerald lived was very different from the times now, he was surrounded by racist and sexist ideologies that plagued the times he lived. He applies these concepts to The Great Gatsby. In the Maturing of F. Scott Fitzgerald, they write, “Fitzgerald does not allow a single redeeming characteristic to his Jewish gambler, not even so much redemption as Shakespeare allows to Shylock in his dominantly villainous portrait." Further, while allowing that the portrayal reflected "the fashionable anti-Semitism of the 1920s"(The maturing of F.

This introduces the question of nature vs. nurture. Was F. Scott Fitzgerald born racist, sexist, and misogynistic, or did he develop these attributes through society? The more than likely answer to that is he acquired such traits through his surroundings. There's no doubt that the times Fitzgerald lived affected his mentally corrupted view of society in The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald places Gatsby in the same environment for him to develop these same traits. This adds to Gatsby's burning desire to achieve the “American Dream” which pushes him to act immorally. In an essay depiction of Gatsby they say, Two major themes constitute the ego-ideal of]ay Gatsby. One is the theme of perfection, which is expressed in his capacity for idealizing himself and Daisy to an extreme degree. The idealized Gatsby's perfection is manifested in the belief that as a "son of God '' (Fitzgerald, 1925, p. 99) he is entitled to be exploitative in any way”(The Great Narcissist). Gatsby’s self-idolization leads to him building an inflated image of himself and his dream in his mind which leads to his corrupted view of society. He neglects to think of anyone else but himself and his dreams, aligning parallel to narcissist ideology. Gatsby's ideas consist of “"perfection and omnipotence" Gasovic-Gasic and Vesel, 1981, p. 371). Such images have a "most uncompromising influence on conduct"”(The great