Examples Of Ambition In The Great Gatsby

Caroline Goveas
Mrs. C. Custodio
ENG 3U1
21 June 2023

Ambition: How the Greatest Motivator Can Lead to the Greatest Sacrifices Eric Maisel, a psychotherapist and an author, once said “Ambition is vital, but dangerous: it is a keen motive and a driving force, but over what edge can it drive the artist?” (Maisel). In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great American novel, The Great Gatsby, Lauren Weisberger’s cult-classic novel The Devil Wears Prada, and Taylor Swift’s heart-wrenching song “You’re On Your Own, Kid”, a warped perception of ambition, causes divergence, sacrificing one’s true self. The Great Gatsby illuminates Jay Gatz’s ambition, his pure but twisted intentions revolve around his love interest Daisy, and result in the loss of his true

Additionally, Andy Sach’s overambition in The Devil Wears Prada, alters her personal ideologies, sacrifices her priorities, and fractures her interpersonal relationships. Similar to both Jay Gatsby and Andy Sachs, Swift’s character in “You’re On Your Own, Kid” navigates ambition, which is centric to a love interest, as well as overambition, both leading to losing part of herself. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby clearly showcases Jay Gatsby’s distorted, ambitious perceptions, which motivate him to change himself, essentially for love. Even before Gatsby met Daisy, he had the notion that he would have to change himself, in order to be successful. After Gatsby’s untimely death, Mr. Gatz, his father, says ‘“Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves…Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind?”’ (Fitzgerald 139). Gatsby was evidently always ambitious; his aspirations did not spring into conception simply after he met Daisy, but rather, he “always had some resolves” since his youth. Even as a child, he had ambitious

Both Swift’s voice and Fitzgerald’s Gatsby are enamoured by the promise of being loved, and pursue this love adamantly, to the point where they change themselves dramatically. In the bridge of the song, Swift emotionally sings “I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this / I hosted parties and starved my body, / Like I’d be saved by a perfect kiss” (Swift). Gatsby and Swift have ambitions centred on pursuing their relative romantic interest, believing they would be “saved by the perfect kiss”, that love would be their key to eternal happiness. Swift “gave [her] blood, sweat, and tears” to impress this love interest, which conventionally implies that she worked incredibly hard in her passionate pursuit. However, one could also analyze this lyric as to say that Swift lost a piece of herself, viscerally shedding “blood, sweat, and tears” in her ardent endeavour. Similarly, Gatsby worked incredibly hard to build a life that would suit Daisy, however in the process he also lost pieces of himself. Notably, Gatsby loses his moral compass, he sacrifices his values, and a sense of security, in order to pursue his questionable career as a bootlegger. Additionally, both Gatsby and Swift’s characters “hosted parties” in order to lure and impress their intended partners, flaunting the wealth and