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Identity In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

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In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys the issues of identity and individuality of how one's identity never truly changes despite his change in wealth through James Gatz and Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby has never been true about his identity in the past. Before the title of Jay Gatsby he was known as James Gatz when he was younger, he had his name changed for a new life hence the ‘identity’ change. Jay Gatsby now in the book is featured as a new ‘individual’ though he still holds his identity high up in status. Fitzgerald states that your Identity and individuality are present through your past and present. Fitzgerald conveys how a new persona overrode James Gatz's identity through Jay Gatsby. Gatz was from North Dakota and has never …show more content…

Throughout the book, Gatsby is present by flaunting his wealth around. Gatsby throws parties often on the weekends to get Daisy's attention. Gatsby desired Daisy, he had gone to the military just to come back and find out that she did not wait for him like promised, “She wanted her life shaped now, immediately — and the decision must be made by some force — of love, of money, of unquestionable practicality — that was close at hand” (116). Instead, Daisy married Tom because she liked having a status to her name, which Gatsby did not have beforehand. Furthermore, Gatsby was still after Daisy, she had created an image that embodied her as an ‘innocent’ woman which was false, Gatsby later finds out that she has a child with Tom destroying reality for him. Though Gatsby and Daisy’s ‘relationship’ failed alongside the new ‘identity’ he had fixtures, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (137). This implies how the dynamic between Gatsby and Daisy failed since Daisy never committed to him even after the ‘identity’ change. Through these factors, the ‘identity’ he had curated for Daisy failed significantly, Gatsby never ended up with Daisy and ended up running away

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