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Examples Of Ambition In The Great Gatsby

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Do you have a dream? Of course. Everybody has a dream or ambition. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the leading character is Jay Gatsby. Gatsby has a plethora of qualities, an evident one being his rich lifestyle. All of these characteristics relate to one thing and that is his ultimate dream. This novel takes you through a rollercoaster of themes, concepts, and emotions. All being observed from the lens of Nick Carraway, the narrator. With all the alluring and compelling characters, Gatsby definitely stands out. Jay Gatsby is a mysterious, ambitious and wealthy man, who is lusting after his dream woman. To illustrate, Gatsby is a man with many mysteries surrounding him. People speculate who and what made Gatsby …show more content…

As he articulated to Nick regarding his automobile, “it’s pretty, isn’t it, old sport?”(63) Although, Gatsby did not always live lavishly and “like a young rajah.”(64) The ambitious Gatsby rose from an underprivileged childhood in rural North Dakota. He detested being poor, having to pay his tuition at St. Olaf’s college by working a janitorial job, he dropped out after only two weeks. Gatsby despised being poor so eminently that when did get a small whiff of being rich, meeting and accompanying Dan Cody, he ultimately reinvented himself and his character by changing his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. This was the moment that sparked “the beginning of his career.”(94) This also relates to a major theme in the story, The American Dream. No matter where you are, anyone can go from the bottom to the absolute top. Gatsby’s ambition to achieve wealth may not have come in the most righteous way, as he is bootlegging alcohol, but the means to how he got the riches are not important to him. Gatsby’s wealth, richness, and extravagant lifestyle, along with the extraordinary parties, are simply an attempt to impress his dream woman, Daisy

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