Examples Of Ambition In The Great Gatsby

As one of the most distinguished American novels, “The Great Gatsby” provides insight into culture during the roaring twenties. American society in the era advertised a hyper-fixation of money, and as a result, wealth and ambition were conflated. “The Great Gatsby” reveals to what degree a facade of luxury transpired through the upper class’ search for meaning. Specifically, F. Scott Fitzgerald highlighted the story of James Gatz — under the alias of Jay Gatsby — from the perspective of Nick Carraway. Nick, a veteran, and Yale graduate, was fascinated by the culture of wealth in the twenties and began adapting his life to mirror Gatsby’s. Eventually, Nick realized the errors in his approach to conforming to society and discovered his life had

Nick showed conceit in the opening portion of the book, and Fitzgerald implies he viewed life as a test to find the proper way to live. The reader’s introduction to Nick’s vanity: “Everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known.” (pg59). Nick believed his life’s path was correct, leading to his superiority complex. Gatsby’s way of living appealed to Nick, so he undertook an affluent culture. Claire Stocks illustrates: “ it is only Nick (whose inherited wealth is on the decline and who identifies with Gatsby's desire to improve his social standing) who wants to believe that such a transformation as Gatsby's is possible.” (All Men Are [Not] Created Equal). Nick’s blindness that there’s only one way to live life augmented his desire to mirror Gatsby, which drove his loss of purpose at the end of the novel. Nick began to grapple with existentialism when he realized his honesty was a front, as he wasn’t true to himself. Nick states: “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes’ power of correction… wind blew the west laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.” (176). Nick’s arrogance to the West made him blind to the life he had previously led in the East. After Gatsby’s death,

Dan Cody, a mogul who attained incredible wealth, inspired the identity change in Gatz by presenting him with luxury. After accumulating a significant amount of capital, Gatsby fabricated a flamboyant and mysterious persona for himself, complete with a lavish estate and a group of faux friends. Jay described the contents of his estate: “I keep it always full of interesting people, night and day. People who do interesting things. Celebrated people.” (90). Gatsby's fixation on his image drove him to surround himself with socialites in an attempt to appear enigmatic and divine. Kevin Rea associates Gatsby’s longing for meaning with the color blue to show his existentialism. Rea argues: “Gatsby gazes across the blue sound to an aristocratic love just out of reach. Overall, the colour is linked to airy, empty insubstantiality and, in the end, to tragic yearning.” (The Colour of Meaning). Rea shows the empty nature of Gatsby’s life, even though it is filled with boundless material substance. The comparison of Gatsby’s life to the color blue illustrates his loneliness due to the false image he advertised. Gatsby's opulent lifestyle failed to lead him to his dream, Daisy. Despite his vast wealth, Gatsby realized that his life had no purpose without someone to share it with. This realization led him to question the meaning