Good evening everyone. As you all know my name is Nick Carraway and I am humbled to have the opportunity to speak here at my dear friend Jay Gatsby's funeral. As we gather here today we will commemorate Jay's life by his successes and his willingness to always keep pushing forwards. It may come as a shock to most but whilst I was writing this I had trouble putting Gatsby's persona and figure on a piece of paper, But to overcome that challenge I will be telling everyone about our story. What is the definition of greatness? Some people define greatness by accomplishments and others define greatness by how they have impacted and changed the world and the people around them. Gatsby had all of these traits but what truly made him great was his willingness and determination to achieve his …show more content…
Gatsby wanted to make his dream a reality and didn’t stop until he had achieved it. Jay showed his greatness in many ways especially through his determination, grit, and willingness to put anything on the line in order to achieve his goal. Many people see Gatsby and his life and get led to the assumption that he wasn’t great due to the fact that he attained his money through illegal means. Although this is true I disagree. Money is one of the most important and crucial things in life and you should put everything on the line in order to obtain it. This is what Gatsby did: he pushed himself to get and obtain wealth by any means necessary. New York and Long Island especially is a place where cruel and despicable people reside; My experience on Long island was dreadful. “Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction —Gatsby, Who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn”. Gatsby differentiates himself from the common people. Yes, the way he obtained his wealth was unlawful but he never used his money to think that he was better than anyone else;even with all the