Jay Gatsby's Life

Our early years are what inevitably influence our outlook on life as we forge our future. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby became a slave to his past, obsessively working to regain the love he once lost. Gatsby embarks on his heroic journey to make his dreams a reality, however his sentimental attachment to his past prevented him from marching forward and fulfilling his dreams. 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

His initiation is marked when he falls deeply in love with the young and wealthy Daisy Fay. Gatsby describes Daisy as the first “nice girl” he’d met, becoming entranced by her beauty. Gatsby enters the magical and at the same time dangerous world of love. Gatsby was nothing but a poor soldier, yet he became even more invested in his relationship when “He took what he could get… eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand” (Fitzgerald 156). Gatsby refused to let his lover escape since he had “... committed himself to the following of the grail” (Fitzgerald 156). The development of Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship made Gatsby feel as though he had finally found the hidden gem he was searching for; Gatsby became consumed in his relationship with the young

Throughout his time away, he kept in touch with his beloved Daisy, however she soon became engaged to the tremendously wealthy Tom Buchanan. Devastated, Gatsby became involved in less than plausible business by selling illegal alcohol in order to acquire a great fortune. Gatsby’s motivation to overcome his past economic hardships and forge an empire came from his inability to let Daisy go. Gatsby was determined to climb up the economic ladder after returning from war and discovering Daisy had married Tom Buchanan for his wealth. After five years of shady businesses, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (Fitzgerald 83). Gatsby finds himself in an a great deal of chaos; he feared losing his love, so he was determined to “... fix everything just the way it was before,” (Fitzgerald 117). Gatsby was obsessed with repeating history, and was determined to get Daisy back at any