While at sea, sailors make use of anchors to secure their ships to a fixed location. These anchors lock into the seabed and prevent the ship from shifting from strong winds and waves. But when an anchor becomes stuck in the wrong place, it weighs down the ship it was meant to ground. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s initial infatuation with his own moral advancement morphs into a dream diluted by materialism and status, which causes Gatsby’s eventual descent into obsession and instability. Early in life, Gatsby strived for moral betterment over all else. Mirroring Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues in his own list of resolutions, most of Gatsby’s “General Resolves” such as “No more smoking or chewing” and “Be better to parents” (173) demonstrates Gatsby’s drive and aspirations in …show more content…
When multimillionaire Dan Cody anchors his yacht in Lake Superior, he exposes Gatsby to “all the beauty and glamour in the world” (100) through his lavish yacht and lifestyle. Gatsby takes in Dan’s immoderate way of life and becomes enamored by it, corrupting Gatsby’s goal from one of self-improvement to that of material and social gain. Gatsby then meets Daisy, the golden girl all men love and that he never expected to meet. Due to his unremarkable background and low social status, Daisy symbolizes a grail out of reach for Gatsby. He internalizes this self-consciousness when “She vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby–nothing. He felt married to her” (149). Gatsby feels married, or anchored, to Daisy and to the material wealth and mystique Daisy represents, which further corrupts his personal goal. As a result, Gatsby scrambles to achieve the same level of affluence and reputation as Daisy. Gatsby’s anchor becomes Daisy, but when Daisy slips away from Gatsby’s illusion, she drags Gatsby further down into obsession and