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Is Jay Gatsby Worth It

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Was it Worth it? In the eye-opening novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald there are several characters we meet through the perspective of Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel. The most prominent is the infamous Jay Gatsby. Throughout the novel, we learn several things about Gatsby’s character, such as his blatant lies about his life and how he got so wealthy, his ongoing obsession with the supposed love of his life, Daisy Buchanan, and his delusions about going back in time to get what he missed out on. Therefore making the argument that Gatsby is a compulsive, obsessive, and delusional charter. Throughout the entire novel, Nick is trying to figure out who Gatsby really is and if any of the things he has told him are true. Spoiler: not much of what Gatsby says to Nick at first is the truth. To start off Gatsby claims, “I am the son of some wealthy people in the MidWest- all dead now” (page 64). This is big lie number one, Gatsby is really from a family of dirt-poor farmers. Gatsby got so wealthy through the business of bootlegging. Gatsby also tells Nick, “I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford because all my ancestors …show more content…

Gatsby started this obsession when he bought a mansion located on the eastern shores of West Egg giving him the perfect view of Daisy’s house which is across the cove on the shores of East Egg (chapter 1). Later in the novel, Gatsby practically begs Nick to have Daisy over to his house so he can show up and surprise Daisy with his mansion and money. This is another example of how Gatsby lets his obsession with Daisy influence his actions. After Daisy sees Gatsby's house and goes to his party she informs him that she isn’t a fan of the extravagant affair and Gasbty being who he is stops the parties immediately (Chapter 7). This shows how all of the bells and whistles Gatsby uses are just to lure Daisy to him and not for any other reason other than to get the

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820 Words | 4 Pages

First, Daisy and Nick join Gatsby at Gatsby’s house next door where her and Gatsby get some time to recollect themselves, “He hadn 't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs,” (pg.112). First, in this part of the book is when Gatsby’s attitude throughout the rest of the story completely changes; therefore, the whole world seems to disappear causing him to fall for Daisy. Then, he doesn’t even compensate the rest of his house and how glorious it is due to Daisy taking over his whole entire attention span; this almost caused him to fall down his own stairs.

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Gatsby tells Nick that he came from a very wealthy family, and that he studied at Oxford University. “I’ll tell you God’s truth.” His right hand suddenly ordered divine retribution to stand by. “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West—all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years.

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After only knowing Nick for a couple of days, Gatsby invites Nick to lunch with him. Gatsby wants to clear up any rumors Nick has heard about him at Gatsby’s party and during the car ride to lunch he opens up to Nick about his past. Gatsby reveals that he comes from “wealthy people in the middle west” who were “all dead now” so he “came into a good deal of money”(Fitzgerald 65). Gatsby has only known Nick for a short amount of time as stated previously but is so eager to tell Nick about his life. The people that come to Gatsby’s parties know close to nothing about Gatsby or his past which is why people often gossiped about how Gatsby became so wealthy.

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699 Words | 3 Pages

The novel The Great Gatsby illustrates how focusing excessively on a particular desire can lead to a distorted, overly optimistic, idealistic perception of it, far removed from its actual reality. From the beginning Gatsby displayed this insistent need for Daisy early on in the novel, It affected nearly every aspect of his life “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay”(78). Keep in mind, when Gatsby purchased the house he and Daisy hadn't spoken in years. Gatsby still needed to be close to her, even if that

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415 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is crazy due to his love obsession over Daisy. Throughout the book Gatsby has been a mysterious rich guy that no one knows anything besides rumors regarding him. No one knows why he lives there, why he is throwing all the parties, and how he makes all of his money. As Nick and Gatsby create a friendship Gatsby begins to trust Nick and lays the truth on him. This leads to Gatsby admitting his love towards Daisy while talking with Nick.

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896 Words | 4 Pages

Nick believes that Gatsby should welcome all of his guests, so when he does not even see Gatsby he has pessimistic thoughts about Gatsby’s character. At this point Nick has begun to

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1395 Words | 6 Pages

And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all.” (Fitzgerald Chapter 4, page 65) In this quote, Nick is realizing that Gatsby may not be as honest as he first appeared. The fact that Gatsby stumbled and choked on his words as if he was trying to hide or conceal something makes Nick become suspicious of Gatsby and the life he portrays. Gatsby’s character has been developed since the beginning of the novel as rising from rags to riches and attaining notoriety and unending wealth.

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Furthermore, while Nick reflects on Gatsby’s past, he says Gatsby, “was a son of God- a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that- and he must be about his Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception, he was faithful to the end,” (62). The quote implies the reason for Gatsby’s falsified persona of success is that he is insecure about where he comes from. It is also because money alone does not bring the same status that inherited wealth does.

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124 Words | 1 Pages

2. Gatsby comes from a poor family in North Dakota, but he lied about his past and said that he came from a wealthy family in San Francisco. Gatsby had also claimed that he inherited his wealth, but the truth is that he acquired his money from bootlegging. At the beginning of the novel he said he went to Oxford to make others think of him highly, but the truth was that he only studied at Oxford for 5 months. In other words, Jay Gatsby lied about his past to cover up that he came from a poor family.

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Also every time Daisy would have stepped out onto her and Tom’s backyard she would be able to see Gatsby’s place and be reminded of what she could have had if she only had waited for Gatsby 5 years ago but nope, she decided to marry Tom Buchanan for his money instead. Another excellent point to go with the way Gatsby has an obsession with Daisy is all the parties he threw for her. Gatsby threw all the party’s he could because he thought that Daisy loved parties and that she would eventually attended one of his parties he threw. He also threw one party basically every week trying to see if Daisy would come over to one. Then it all of a

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1176 Words | 5 Pages

Early on in the novel, Gatsby expresses his obsession with Daisy when he meets up with her for the first time. In chapter 5, Gatsby performs all sorts of grand gestures in order to show Daisy how much he has thought about her the past 5 years. He prepares his house and Nick Carraway’s by cutting their lawns, sending over flowers, and preparing lemon cakes for her (Fitzgerald 82-85). All of these actions are very grand considering the time period. Gatsby wishes to prove to Daisy that he has always thought of her.

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931 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the book Gatsby’s life is a mystery. Not just to the readers but to the world and people of the novel. Eventually Gatsby reveals his rise from poverty to greatness to Nick. It’s revealed that Gatsby grew up almost dirt poor.

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853 Words | 4 Pages

From this information, many novel readers believe that Gatsby may not have been all that it. I personally agree with this statement because Nick has always shown that he is a very honest and sincere

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” When Nick explains to a man of whom he disapproves of completely that he is worth the price of the whole East Egg crowd put together, yet Nick's entire social life is composed of these people he says he disapproves of. Nick has made clear that he cannot be nearly as honest as he convinces the reader that he may display. Nick’s point of view affects the story for the reason that he makes this comment towards Gatsby. Nick is clearly holding back, it shows that these are his thoughts, some may not agree with this statement. Thinking about Nick’s point of view and how part of the statements he makes could be different in his perspective.

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808 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby is a wealthy man who lives in West Egg. He tells Nick that he is “the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West” (Fitzgerald, 65). He later states, “I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford, because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition” (Fitzgerald, 65). This is what Gatsby wants Nick to believe but, in reality, Nick tells the reader that Gatsby was a man by the name of James Gatz and he was the son of unsuccessful farmers.

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