Greatness is a quality that can be accomplished through willpower. The Modernism novel, “The Great Gatsby”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, depicts the love story of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan amid the lavish roaring twenties. Set in Long Island, Nick Carraway illustrates the mysterious Gatsby and his unobtainable love for Daisy. Furthermore, the extraordinary Jay Gatsby is categorized as “great”. His greatness is facilitated by his intense ambition for both wealth and Daisy, which eventually shifts his entire identity into the alluring, mysterious man worthy of the title “great”.
For instance, Gatsby was known for his determined nature, which propelled him to always strive for more. He was a man who refused to settle for less, even when faced with overwhelming odds. Despite being born into poverty, Gatsby witnessed the lavish lifestyles of the wealthy, and was determined to live as they did. Tom Buchanan reveals, “’He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter’” (133). One of
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“James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen” (98). The transition from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby symbolizes his escape from his past life. “James Gatz” was the name of the son of poor farmers from North Dakota. “Jay Gatsby” is who he aspired to be; it was a reflection of his dreams. Furthermore, Jordan Baker states, “’It wasn’t until then that I connected this Gatsby with the officer in her white car’” (77). What began merely as a symbolic change, evolved into a true change in identity. His ambitions shifted him from somebody impoverished, into a man that embodies wealth and prestige; even Jordan Baker could not make the connection that the Gatsby she knew back in Louisville was the same man in West Egg. All in all, Gatsby perfectly encapsulated the mysterious and alluring persona that accompanies