Examples Of Innocence In The Great Gatsby

Innocence is something that is hard to maintain and easy to lose, especially to the hands of other people. The idea of innocence is a very important ideal to keep in mind when thinking of the character Jay Gatsby, “Jay Gatsby is indeed in many ways an innocent abroad whose story in such a light reiterates a cast of heros of classic American Literature such as James Fenimore, Cooper Nathaniel’s “Natty” Bumppo, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, and Herman Melville’s Ishmael of Moby Dick, all personifications of the innocent hero.”(Glenday 67) Gatsby is similar to other characters of his nature but is manipulated and has his innocence destroyed by other characters in The Great Gatsby. Other characters in the story take advantage of Gatsby and use

This is the only way that Jay can be satisfied in his life. This fact is proven by the conversation had between Nick and Gatsby,”He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that 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 return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was.” (Fitzgerald 132) This shows that instead of moving on and fixing the way his life is now that Jay Gatsby would like to relive his past experiences which eventually causes him to perish as he doesn't care about anything but Daisy and their life together. Nick Carraway is one of Gatsby’s closest friends in the story and is the only true friend to Gatsby whose actions don’t eventually lead to his downfall. Proving that there is a side to Gatsby that Nick is able to be friends with, without taking advantage of him shown in, “They’re a rotten crowd,” I shouted across the lawn. “You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.” (Fitzgerald 154) Nick thinks Gatsby is a better person than all of his other friends as Gatsby has never lied to or hurt Nick, or

Gatsby only does these things for Daisy because of the past they have together and the love he has for her, “This reading shows us that Gatsby’s grail is to not only recover Daisy Fay but also some idea of himself that has gone into loving Daisy.”(Aboukhadijeh) Gatsby is killed because of this love, as George tracks him down after finding clues to who killed his wife and Gatsby takes the fall for Daisy’s mistakes and is shot in his pool because of the actions of Tom and Daisy. “It is clear that Tom and Daisy played a key role in the murder of Gatsby; therefore, they should share the responsibility for his death.”(Aboukhadijeh) Daisy and Tom face no punishment for their actions leaving all the blame on Gatsby, and after his death they leave their home to lay low. “I couldn't forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 187) Tom and Daisy used their money, and influence over Gatsby to not face judgment for their crimes and to take away the