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How Is Jay Gatsby Successful

753 Words4 Pages

Many people desire to be great, being given a title that demonstrates their achievements and respectable characteristics. Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a charismatic person with a great amount of financial success originating from humble beginnings. After deployment in World War One, Gatsby is separated from the love of his life, Daisy. In his eyes, financial success is the only way to bring Daisy back into his life. Gatsby becomes the acquaintance of elitist Dan Cody, who takes Gatsby along for adventures, and after his death leaves Gatsby his money. After losing the inheritance to Cody’s wife, Gatsby thrives on the rich lifestyle and turns to bootlegging to create his own riches. With this money, Gatsby regularly …show more content…

Gatsby experiences the luxuries of riches and fortune when aboard a global yacht trip with the copper mogul, Dan Cody. After Cody’s passing inheritance meant for Gatsby was stripped away as the twenty-five thousand dollars, “He didn’t get… He was left with the singularly appropriate education” (Fitzgerald 100-101). This brief opportunity at riches and an easy life vanishes, leaving nothing but some prior experience that helps to drive his want for greatness and success. Gatsby’s fortune was made in hopes of attracting and reuniting with his old flame, Daisy Buchanan. The young Gatsby admired her lifestyle, he felt that “her voice was full of money” (Fitzgerald 120). Gatsby demonstrates his appeal to Daisy, he loves her social position, popularity, and wealth, which he aspires to have. Daisy’s financial strength is something that pushes Gatsby to obtain his own luxurious lifestyle; his determination and success created by Daisy promote his greatness Gatsby’s swift reach to success is an impressive feat, as he climbed the social ladder in a few years. His wealth, which is said to be a product of family inheritance, is a lie uncovered by Tom. It is instead generated from over-the-counter bootlegging of alcohol, along with illegal gambling. Regardless of the questionable acts done by Gatsby, his swift increase in wealth to achieve his morally innocent dream is …show more content…

Gatsby’s first few interactions with Nick Carroway display nothing but a welcoming and kindness. Accepting an invitation to Gatsby's party, Nick introduces himself and Gatsby gives him a warm welcome inviting him onto his hydroplane. From the start, Gatsby unveils himself as a welcoming neighbor, including others in his life. Shortly after Nick offers to invite Daisy over for tea, Gatsby is urgent to please Nick and return the favor. Listing off gifts such as visiting Coney Island Gatsby mentions he “want(s) to get the grass cut” as a gesture to repay Nick. Gatsby’s generosity and insistence on repaying Nick display the unique qualities that make him great. While on the way back from New York City, Daisy strikes Tom's secret lover, Myrtle, while driving in Gatsby's car. In order to protect the love of his life, when Nick asks if Daisy was driving the response is ““Yes” he said after a moment, “but of course, I’ll say I was”” (Fitzgerald 143). Gatsby once again puts others before himself, as he is willing to sacrifice everything in order to protect his old flame. This act of love displayed by Gatsby is a daring one that truly shows how his personality makes him so great. Gatsby’s charming personality, kind gestures, and willingness to help out others prove that he truly is

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Examples Of Greed In The Great Gatsby

1920 Words | 8 Pages

Gatsby puts on a facade and tells everyone that he inherited his money, but in reality Gatsby has other means by which he earns his money for the sake of Daisy. He stoops to a level that shows that he has no care for his morals and he will go to any extent if it means making Daisy happy and earning money. He commits multiple crimes including buying “side-street drug-stores in Chicago and [selling] grain alcohol over the counter” (Fitzgerald 133). He doesn’t care about getting in trouble with the law because he is no longer living for himself, and it seems like he is only living for Daisy, who embodies the wealthy lifestyle Gatsby has wanted his whole life. Gatsby got rich out of a sense of “desperation and crazy hopefulness, out of refusing to get over a broken heart and give up the love of his life” (Voegeli).

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How Does Myrtle Change In The Great Gatsby

834 Words | 4 Pages

Born James Gatz, his economic turn began before the story even began; when Gatsby was 17. He was a poor, and ambitious boy, and a passing millionaire took notice of this, along with “James Gatz’s” first impression, he was hired. Gatsby’s tastes, and ideology remain fixed on his desires of wealth from here on out. Even as the modern Jay Gatsby, his ideology is ever present; to do whatever it takes to live lavishly. Of course, this dramatic change and ambition was met with a crushing defeat when his employer died, and his days of wealth were squandered.

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How Does Fitzgerald Present Money In The Great Gatsby

923 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby shows Fitzgerald’s view and portrayal of the effect of money on people’s lives. Fitzgerald implies that being wealthy can lead to many great things but that money is everything but happiness and even with Gatsby’s wealth and imaginative mind, he still can not satisfy the image of Daisy since she nor any other women could ever be the girl who he desires. (Durkin). Gatsby wishes that his wealth would bring him the happiness and satisfaction he desires but instead brings him to his deathbed.

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Who Is Fitzgerald Present Greed In The Great Gatsby

986 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby reveals the truths of the 1920s about corruption, class, society and wealth. Fitzgerald shows the greed of the characters for money and power, especially the character of Daisy Buchanan, a woman who chose money over her love. The protagonist Jay Gatsby rises from poverty to opulence to win his love Daisy back. Nick Carraway, a man who witnesses the life of the pathetic man, Jay Gatsby. Through the characterization of Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald reveals that wealth can pull one in the trap of corruption, dishonesty and one’s loss of self.

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How Is Jay Gatsby Successful

566 Words | 3 Pages

Although his early grasp for wealth was honest work, his second chance is the opposite. “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter” (p 133). During the time that The Great Gatsby was written, there was a prohibition on alcohol. A way that some would make a large sum of money was by bootlegging, which is the making and selling of illegal items, particularly alcohol. This is where some of Gatsby’s wealth comes from, but much of his money comes from the stolen bonds that he sells.

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The Great Gatsby Love Quotes

760 Words | 4 Pages

On the way home from the hotel, Daisy, driving Gatsby's car, hits Tom's mistress, Myrtle. Gatsby says he'll take the blame for the death of Myrtle, therefore Daisy doesn't have to be arrested. Tom finds out and tells George Wilson, the husband of Myrtle. Enraged with the death of his wife, George shoots Gatsby in the pool. In the next chapter, Tom tells Nick one day passing by, "'That fellow had it coming to him.

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How Is Jay Gatsby Successful

793 Words | 4 Pages

Jay Gatsby was a handsome, rich man who lived in a huge mansion in the Long Island village of West Egg. Gatsby was a dreamer who always envisioned a bigger lifestyle than he grew up on. Gatsby had two main ways of making his income, and that was through an alcohol business and buying several pharmacies. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Gatsby had two American dreams. The first was to be very rich and successful and the second was to be married and have a life with Daisy.

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How Is Money Shown In The Great Gatsby

841 Words | 4 Pages

’s reactions to Gatsby's new form of wealth. His main goal is to be better than people, like Tom. He knows this is the way to get the perfect lifestyle that Tom and Daisy have together. Gatsby wants everything he does not have and he is competing for an unrealistic lifestyle just to be like others, this makes him far from “Great”. Gatsby’s title, “Great” contains irony because he does not want to achieve his goals for himself.

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How Is Jay Gatsby Successful

720 Words | 3 Pages

“And it was from Cody that he inherited money. the vague contour of Jay Gatsby had filled out to the substantiality of a man” (101). Gatsby had the potential to be a wealthy and successful man, and Dan Cody ignited that reality. And it was after this fact, when Gatsby fell in love with Daisy, and dedicated the rest of his life to be someone he wasn’t. He bought a mansion, threw parties, and played the role of a rich and luxurious man, all to win her

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Caraway In The Great Gatsby

626 Words | 3 Pages

When the awkwardness has dissolved between Gatsby and Daisy, Gatsby wants to show her his mansion and he says ‘It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it!’ (p.58,) which makes the reader retrospect that he earlier said he inherited his money, he then says he lost the money in the war. Later on, in chapter 6, Gatsby explains to Caraway that his real name is James Gatz, his family is really poor and he inherited his money from Cody, an old man that he was sailing with around the continent for several years (p.62-64), this makes the reader retrospect earlier information regarding his wealth. In chapter 7, when Daisy reveals she is leaving her husband Tom for Gatsby, Tom bursts out ‘He (Gatsby) and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drugstores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter’(p.85,) that Gatsby´s wealth comes from illegal activities contradicts the reader´s opinion about Gatsby again. After Gatsby´s death, Tom´s statement gets confirmed by Wolfsheim ‘I raised him up out of nothing, right out of the

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Materialism In The Great Gatsby Analysis

1332 Words | 6 Pages

In F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, as Jay Gatsby delves into his pursuit of wealth and need for materialism, his hopes and aspirations become shattered in a world of unobtainable and unreachable possibilities. While Jay Gatsby confidently believes that material excess will ultimately bring about love, admiration, and prosperity, the audience understands that the possession of material objects does not always lead to the possession of these intangible virtues. The richest and happiest man is the one who sets the joy and happiness of others in the center of his wealth. As Jay Gatsby dedicates himself to winning over Daisy Buchanan and falls in love with her aura of luxury, Gatsby becomes overwhelmed with an unremitting desire for money and pleasure that eventually triggers his downfall. He has one purpose in life: to attract Daisy with his ornate house on West Egg and with his overflowing sum of money.

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Great Gatsby Greed Quotes

582 Words | 3 Pages

Wealth and greed can easily change a person’s lives. One of the major changes is that you can destroy your life in a way that can affect your decisions in the future. Just like how Tom and Daisy are, in The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, that follows Jay Gatsby, a man who orders his life around one desire: to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, the love he lost five years earlier. Gatsby's quest leads him from poverty to wealth, into the arms of his beloved, and eventually to death.

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The Great Gatsby Report

254 Words | 2 Pages

He met Dan Cody, his mentor, that left all his money to Gatsby, becoming a very wealthy man, but after some time Dan Cody’s family took all his money. As the story continues Gatsby admits that bought all the things just to have the attention of Daisy Buchanan, his ex-girlfriend that left him during his time in the army. In my

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Romanticism In The Great Gatsby

715 Words | 3 Pages

Gatsby had a forbidden love named Daisy who was married, but this did not stop Gatsby from achieving what he wanted. He thrived off of his lust for her and her world of seduction that captivated him. Gatsby had a belief that he may win Daisy’s heart if he was able to possess wealth. He was “devoted to the obsessive pursuit of wealth”. In Fitzgerald’s writings, the parties thrown by Gatsby kept his sense of youthfulness as he was still prime enough to enjoy the extravagant lure of women, alcohol, and other youthful people as well.

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Self-Made Man In The Great Gatsby

1373 Words | 6 Pages

While on the surface, Gatsby does have a ‘rags-to-riches’ story, it is not a virtuous one; he amasses his wealth through illegal channels by working with Meyer Wolfsheim, and never fulfills his dream, Daisy. Also, He changes his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby when he first encounters Dan Cody. Because Gatsby has to take on an entirely different persona to achieve success, disguising his poor upbringing and suggesting that James Gatz could never achieve the American dream. Gatsby first attempts to earn his financial success by performing menial labor for Cody, but when Cody’s ex-wife swindles Gatsby out of his inheritance, he turns to illegal means of getting rich. Not only does Gatsby illegally gain his wealth my selling grain liquor over the counter, but he also does so under the direction of Meyer Wolfsheim, breaking two essential qualities of the self-made man, virtue, and independence.

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