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Examples Of Ambition In The Great Gatsby

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Young Gatsby’s ambition is able to allow him to capture his goal of becoming rich and well known. His ambition allows Gatsby to work hard and work on a strict schedule until he is able to escape the poor life he lives in North Dakota. As a teenager he is not overly ambitious, yet he is controlled and follows his schedule that resembles Benjamin Franklin’s schedule. The ambition Gatsby has allows him to escape his poor life. His father knew when Gatsby runs away that he is meant for more than farming like his parents and his ambition was able to make that future a reality: “ I see now there was a reason for it. He knew he had a big future in front of him” (172). Gatsby’s ambition allows him to have a successful future. Mr. Gatz receives a photo …show more content…

Gatsby invests his life to winning Daisy that his ambition turns into an obsession of having Daisy. Gatsby builds up a facade of his life to look more intriguing for Daisy. Gatsby throws parties to try to attract Daisy, but these parties are host to many guests that “came and went without having met Gatsby at all” (41). Gatsby’s death erases the facade of popularity when no one who went to a party of his shows up at the funeral. Gatsby is alone in the end. He puts all his chips into repeating the past and winning Daisy back, and his plan backfires. “his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him” (180). Gatsby is close to his goal of Daisy before the Buchanon’s and him go to town that he speaks for her overstepping their relationship: “Your wife doesn’t love you… She loves me” (130). Gatsby wants Daisy’s love for him to be true that he does not wait for her to tell Tom that she never loves him. Gatsby’s excessive ambition for Daisy leads his presence to shrink Daisy’s opinion. In his final days Gatsby’s excessive ambition for Daisy leaves him “anxiously” waiting for Daisy to choose him (154). Gatsby’s ambition exceeds the limit of where ambition turns into obsession, and Gatsby could never let go of the past and move

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His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…” (Pg. 110). Like any other person with human morality, Gatsby expected, his work would upshot his life and dream into his deepest desires. While he did get what he wanted previously, his desires changed a bit towards another aspiration. Daisy.

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Gatsby had spent so much time and effort pursuing this unrealistic view of Daisy that it became impossible for her to live up to these expectations. He never made a real effort to find out who she actually is, or even simply respect that she had created a life apart from him. It’s unsurprising that he is disappointed by reality; he has been living in an elaborate dream, deluding himself to believe that his plan to win her over will work just because he wants it to, and ignoring the real factors that would break this illusion until it is broken for him. Gatsby is aware of the factors playing against him when it comes to his dream of being with Daisy, such as her marriage and commitment to her family, but he creates a mental version of events that serve him when he cannot accept this reality. Subsequently, he suffers from realizing that his imagined perfect version of Daisy and their perfect life together is not real or reasonable.

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F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, explores the idea of the pursuit of dreams and the unattainable desire to recreate the past. People everywhere are motivated by similar dreams that give them meaning to the things they do. Gatsby builds his life around his dreams and they shape his identity while also holding him back from true greatness. He is obsessed with this dream and like many people, can only see that it won’t work out after he has already devoted so much to it.

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Gatsby’s one goal was to live a happy life with Daisy, just like he did all those years ago. This doesn’t end up happening since Daisy doesn’t leave Tom to go and get back with Gatsby. During Gatsby and Tom’s argument Daisy pleads with Tom to take her away and for them to leave, saying, “Please, Tom! I can’t stand this any more”(Fitzgerald 134). This was the moment where Gatsby’s dream life with Daisy began to slip out of his hands, as Daisy chose to stay with Tom.

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Attempting to Attain Love while Neglecting Reality An individual’s quest for luxuries is a natural phenomenon, in which they have to develop certain intangibles, in order to achieve a safe and a satisfying result. There has to be a balance however, in which they have to be able to differentiate between a healthy and an unhealthy goal. Failure to comprehend the miscellaneous nuances of their respective goals can have a devastating effect on all parties involved. In the novel, “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald effectively establishes the amount of self-sacrifice that each character has to make, in order to fulfill their respective objectives in life. The extent of the sacrifice needs to be controlled and subdued, such that the individuals

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Gatsby is obsessed with his own idea of who Daisy is and what he remembers her as, “Almost five years! 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” (page 95). Gatsby goes through great lengths in order to become who he thinks Daisy would want, “He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths--so he could 'come over' some afternoon to a stranger's garden” (page 63).

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In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Jay Gatsby grew up poor in the Midwest but through his ambition and a little bit of illegal alcohol sales was able to become wealthy and live in New York across from Daisy the love of his life. Gatsby throws extravagant parties in an attempt to get Daisy’s attention so they can fall in love again. Gatsby eventually gets killed because Daisy ran someone over with his car. When Nick goes to Gatsby’s funeral none of the people who attended his parties attended his funeral because Gatsby didn't actually spend anytime with them becoming friends because he was so focused getting Daisy back. Focusing solely on one's ambitions can distract from their personal

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Although Gatsby has already gotten what he had longed for all those years he is still not satisfied, this is when he begins to manipulate Daisy. As Nick says himself "he wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you’.” (Fitzgerald.105) After the heated argument

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1123 Words | 5 Pages

Daisy’s love for both of these men was her weakness, but her love also became Gatsby’s weakness as well. After years of loving this woman, Gatsby is no longer able to accept the fact that the past is past, and it must remain there, weakening him and his ability to see situations clearly. When Gatsby first meets Daisy after their years apart, he is fearful of what could or could not occur, even stating that their meeting is “a terrible mistake”(87). When he first tries to relive the past, he internally realized that it is impossible, and with that realization, he tries to back out of the meeting. At the same time though, Gatsby, though aware of his futile pursuit, continues on the path that will lead to his destruction, eventually letting himself

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2036 Words | 9 Pages

His goals and ambition for the future give him a purpose. Gatsby’s specific goals encourage his actions, using his goals to identify who he is and what he does. Gatsby also symbolizes the emptiness of the American dream through “his attempt to achieve his aspirations, which leads to his demise (“The Great Gatsby”). His need for Daisy’s love and what he goes through to achieve his goal eventually lead to his death. He dies without achieving his dreams, losing his wealth, and not getting acceptance, symbolizing how the American dream is

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756 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby’s dreams and aspirations in life are rather interesting and amazing as he goes about his life in the book. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald helps highlight the social, moral, and political issue that were very present during the 1920’s and today. Gatsby is the focus of the book as before the book began, he was an ex-soldier who came to wealth by some rather illegal ways. Daisy a married woman is his person of interest, who was his ex-lover 5 years before the book started. Gatsby’s actions, and words demonstrate a clear obsession with Daisy that seems to have no end.

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812 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby’s many goals throughout his life emulate the significance of dreams. Gatsby’s father first introduced Gatsby’s goals by showing a small piece of paper with many tasks and reminders written. This piece of paper showed that Gatsby “was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves or something … about improving his mind” (Fitzgerald 173).

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1756 Words | 8 Pages

Gatsby was a man who came up from essentially nothing by gaining his money through bootlegging and other illegal acts in order to gain a reputation in society. Gatsby’s constant desire to accomplish more in his life demonstrates the corruption of the American Dream. It is evident that Gatsby has had a thirst for the American dream since a young age, this is shown when Gatsby’s father says: “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind?

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703 Words | 3 Pages

Gatsby falls in love with Daisy the first minute he meets her and never stops loving her even though she has obviously moved on. Gatsby does everything he can to be closer to her like buying “that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (78). Gatsby knows that if he can get the girl of his dreams he will not feel lonely anymore. " He talked a lot about the past… he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was” (87).

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780 Words | 4 Pages

(99) In this moment, Gatsby makes it clear to Daisy that he could easily provide her with the same lifestyle she shares with Tom. Once Gatsby captures Daisy’s affection, he becomes full of greed and doesn’t want to believe she ever gave any of her love to Tom. “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you.’” (118) When Daisy states “‘Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom,’ (142), Gatsby begins to feel a “touch of panic” (142). All of his parties, stories, and entire persona were all fabricated to win Daisy back.

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