Jay Gatsby Downfall

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is renowned for its beautiful writing. The novel’s plot line may be basic and the characters unlikable, but through his writing, Fitzgerald is able to turn this simple situation into one of grandeur. He is able to illustrate the beauty and magic that can be found in noticing an object for no more than what it is. In the third chapter of the novel, upon inquiries about who the infamous Jay Gatsby is, Jordan Baker graciously replies that, “He’s just a man named Gatsby” (Fitzgerald 48). The idea that Gatsby is nothing more than a man is startling to most, but no one will find this concept more distressing than Gatsby himself. As reader well know, Jay Gatsby has worked the majority of his life to be …show more content…

He was born into a poor family, one which he ran away from at a young age in the pursuit of a better future. Gatsby believed that money and wealth was the key to fulfillment in life. And ultimately, who can blame him? While many say that money can’t buy happiness, in tough times, this becomes very difficult to actually believe. Gatsby’s life was fully rooted in tough times, and so, he set out to change them. He set out to seize the world full of golden opportunities and create the magnificence that he had always dreamed of having. He set out to find the wealth he believed would accompany a meaningful …show more content…

How he came across it is something many debate about, but the simple fact of the matter is that, by the time Nick meets him, Jay Gatsby is the epitome of the 1920’s dream. This dream in which one has such a surplus of money and frivolous items that everyone else seems unworthy of their presence. Gatsby has a mansion large enough to house a hundred people, and enough liquor to drink them all into a stupor. He has numerous cars, an endless supply of food, party guests galore, and yet, he indulges in none of it. m The parties and luxurious lifestyle are not something that Gatsby is able to fully embrace because, while they help temporarily fill the void inside of him, they also, to some extent, make the void