The Great Gatsby Antagonist Analysis

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The Hidden Antagonist in The Great Gatsby There is a certain social responsibility that comes with wealth, which is to maintain the appearance of a perfect lifestyle. However, in it’s true form, one’s lifestyle is only a perception created to please the public’s eye. According to the novel, The Great Gatsby, despite financial differences, the common factor within all social classes is dissatisfaction. It is especially prominent in high social classes high societies and. The ideas Concepts in the novel reciprocate the idea that wealth does not satisfy one’s hunger for something more, it only amplifies it. Almost all characters, both main and supporting, express self destructive tendencies to cope with their own dissatisfaction. Consequently, …show more content…

Indirectly, this is also a belief that Jay Gatsby adopts. As a young man raised by simple farmers out West, Gatsby believed that wealth would win over the woman he loved, Daisy Buchanan. Blinded by his love for Daisy, Gatsby does anything and everything he can to achieve the level of wealth she has. It is through his sheer determination for her that he improves own life. But despite all of his money and achievements, he still feels as though it isn't enough; Jay Gatsby is unsatisfied because he doesn't have the person he has tried to have chased since the beginning. The problem is, Gatsby thinks that with Daisy, he will be truly happy content; But what he doesn't know is that through his crusade, he sacrifices his chance at having a great life and achieving happiness, all for a girl he doesn't really know. He’s a character who's optimistic for something that’s proven itself unattainable, but “the problem with [his] optimism, though, is that, rather than qualifying as happiness, it anticipates future happiness.” (Thompson, 2010, 7). Gatsby’s greatest weakness is not coming to the realization that Daisy herself is too vain and materialistic to leave her seemingly perfect life, complete with a family and lots of wealth. Even in the end, his attempts at impressing Daisy don't succeed, and as a result he goes to the grave unsatisfied with the life he