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Jay Gatsby Selfish

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The Great Gatsby The loquacious Azar Nafisi once said, “The negative side of the American dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which in turn destroys the vision and the dream.” In the captivating novel “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald tells a story of the romance between Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, which at one point in time ceased to exist. As the story progresses, Fitzgerald gives the characters attributes such as drive and motivation to succeed. Consequently, these attributes are associated with many of the characters’ hopes to live out the American dream. Jay Gatsby is the perfect example of somebody who lived the American dream. As a young man, Gatsby crossed paths with Dan Cody, who starts Gatsby up in the business …show more content…

Unfortunately, Gatz was not born into wealth of any kind, and as he grew up, he realized that he craved to be successful and escape the image that he held for himself. In 1907 at the age of 17, James Gatz life is changed forever when he meets Dan Cody on Lake Superior. Correspondingly, James Gatz decides to become somebody else by changing his name to what will eventually become a household name in his area; Jay Gatsby. Following this event, Gatsby sails the seas with Dan Cody for five years where they smuggled alcohol and the men made a small fortune doing so. When Cody dies he leaves Gatsby with an inheritance of $25,000, but this is stripped from Gatsby and he finds himself once again …show more content…

At this point in time, alcohol is illegal, so the smuggling and trading of alcohol becomes Gatsby’s trade once again. Together, Wolfsheim and Gatsby make a fortune working this underground business, and this is what brings Gatsby to being the wealthy man that the people of Manhattan know. Along with this turn of luck, Gatsby is able to spark his romance with Daisy once again. In anyone’s eyes, Gatsby seems to be living the American dream, even though he has experienced great pain and suffering throughout his life to achieve

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159 Words | 1 Pages

While Tom brought Jay Gatsby's murderer to him, Gatsby inevitably caused his own death by making poor decisions and lying to the people he loved most. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby was an over the top, rich, mysterious, selfish, and cocky person with many flaws while Tom Buchanan was an upper class man, arrogant, and short tempered person. Throughout the story Jay Gatsby showed that he was selfish and was in his own world most of the book, he was in a one way relationship with Daisy and thought she would leave Tom for him and wanted Daisy for only himself. Jay Gatbsy held onto love that died 5 years ago and thought if he rekindled it he would have the “love of his life” (101 Fitzgerald) back, but he’s so far into his own world that he thinks

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549 Words | 3 Pages

In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is a wealthy man obsessed with Daisy, driven by the desire to win back her love and pretend that they were never separated. In order to achieve this, Gatsby has created a character for himself that he thinks is the best man for Daisy and sticks to this persona with little regard to the damage caused by it. His relentless pursuit of Daisy is fueled by his belief that material wealth and social status are the keys to winning her back, so Gatsby thinks he has to truly change himself to draw her attention. These changes to Gatsby and the way he thinks of himself are revealed by the distinct diction choice. These changes and his obsession with changing the past ultimately lead to his downfall, as he becomes consumed by his own delusions and

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550 Words | 3 Pages

Dominik Semeniuk Mrs. Armstrong ENG 4 C 1 2 April 2024 Gatsby: The Dream Chaser. The character Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald’s, “The Great Gatsby,” is one heck of a character. Gatsby’s many flaws and character traits create varying opinions for his readers.

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815 Words | 4 Pages

Author Zig Ziglar once said, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” His words perfectly embody what Jay Gatsby ignores in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The author spends the whole novel setting up and describing the American Dream and their effect on the characters, especially Gatsby’s corrupted version of that dream. Fitzgerald, however, writes his opinions of this idea from a pessimistic point of view. These negative ideals have led to his powerful message of his novel which is that attempting to achieve one’s unrealistic goals will lead to failure in life because it causes them to forget about the reality of their lives.

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1277 Words | 6 Pages

The “American dream” has always been the idea of achieving success through hard work and determination, and has been a topic for discussion for quite some time. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote extensively about it as one of the central themes in his magnum opus, “The Great Gatsby”. However, instead of attempting to inspire his readers with characters who made the dream come true for them, he tries to lecture the reader on how the dream died in the 1920s. One might even say that the overall mood of the novel might be one of strong cynicism, as it is distinctly indicated by the personalities of two characters in the book: Daisy and Tom Buchanan. While Daisy is portrayed as narcissistic and self-centered, Tom is shown as manipulative and forceful.

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720 Words | 3 Pages

Not so Extraordinary People may seem great until their full background is revealed and their true intentions are exposed. The more people know about the context of a person's beliefs, the more they can show their true aspirations. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is portrayed as a fantastic man when he shows his estate and belongings. When the true Gatsby is revealed, the thought of him being terrific fades away. Jay Gatsby is not a great man because of his actions to gain his achievements and motives to win Daisy over.

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770 Words | 4 Pages

“The negative side of the American Dream comes when people pursue success at any cost, which destroys the vision and the dream” - Azar NafisiIn the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald set the setting in New York, in the Roaring ’20s. Fitzgerald uses Jay Gatsby to show someone can be a wealthy man and still not get the American Dream. Jay Gatsby was a mysterious man until he met Nick Carraway. All of Gatsby’s secrets were unfolded and shown that the American Dream was something made up of. Jay Gatsby’s story is disillusioned with the American Dream, evidenced by his love for Daisy, the need to be rich, and reliving the past.

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2225 Words | 9 Pages

Dan Cody, a mogul who attained incredible wealth, inspired the identity change in Gatz by presenting him with luxury. After accumulating a significant amount of capital, Gatsby fabricated a flamboyant and mysterious persona for himself, complete with a lavish estate and a group of faux friends. Jay described the contents of his estate: “I keep it always full of interesting people, night and day. People who do interesting things. Celebrated people.”

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674 Words | 3 Pages

Born James Gatz to shiftless farm people, Gatsby always had big plans for himself. Gatsby had a “Platonic conception of himself”, he saw himself as a “...son of God”. Determined to change his fate, Gatsby “... 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

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297 Words | 2 Pages

Dan Cody ends up taking him in as his own son which foreshadows the real making of Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald describes Mr.Gatz realizing

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845 Words | 4 Pages

Gatsby’s new found riches brought along tragedy and misfortune. Although Gatsby achieved his goal of wealth and status, he always longed for more. Throughout the whole book he never felt fulfilled with what he had, causing him to partake in illegal activities such as bootlegging in order to feel more successful. Along with the pursuit of wealth, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s investigation of the ideology surrounding the American dream, finding love is also a factor contributing to societal status. Throughout the whole novel, Jay Gatsby had one goal, to win his old lover, Daisy Buchanan, back.

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934 Words | 4 Pages

The Great Gatsby: The Unachievable Chase of the American Dream The heart of the American identity is the timeless ideals of the American dream that has generations captive for the hopes of prosperity. This chase of a dream is exhibited in The Great Gatsby, as it tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman he loved in his youth. Jay sees the dream as a way out, and it slowly becomes corrupted into a symbol of getting rich. Despite Jay's work and effort, Fitzgerald portrays Jay as never seeming content with the situation, as his hopes are just out of reach.

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3479 Words | 14 Pages

Fitzgerald’s most popular novel, The Great Gatsby covers the outlook of the American Dream through Ftzgerald’s eyes. After reading the novel it seems Fitzgerald felt cynical towards the American Dream. The characters Daisy, Myrtle, George, and Gatsby, in the novel each have dreams of their own and are willing to sacrifice the good in order to to achieve this dream. Ultimately, each of these characters fail and are left with nothing. The failure of these characters represent Fitzgerald’s pessimistic view of the American Dream and the society in which it originates from.

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637 Words | 3 Pages

Jay Gatsby is the greatest example of the Disillusionment of the American Dream. At a young age Gatsby falls in love with Daisy. When he finally returns home from the war he realizes she is already married. From then on out everything he does is to get his dream back. He starts by buying a house across the bay from her home.

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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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