People often move on day by day because of a goal that drives them onward. Without something to look forward to, many are forced to a stop and start yearning for the past instead of expecting the future, which traps them in one instance in time as the world around them moves on. This ultimately comes with its repercussions sooner or later, as seen in The Great Gatsby. Jimmy Gatz had the determination and resolve to move out of the poor circumstances he was born into in order to make a brighter future for himself. However, as he grew into Jay Gatsby, he met Daisy, a false symbolism of what he was looking for: wealth, a comfortable life and success. Finding a fallacious ending in her, he leaves his dreams behind, following an illusion—something …show more content…
His imagination of who and what he could be drove him forward in his everyday tasks, and with the belief that working hard would earn him prosperity and upwards social mobility, he strived for a better life than the one he had been given at birth. This attitude of actively seeking success through everything he did was balanced with a healthy lifestyle—it was a full bundle for Jimmy Gatz: education, exercise, filial duties and chores all balanced in one day. Gatsby’s to-do list not only showed that he had his day worked out for himself, but that he didn’t leave room for procrastination. Unlike many people his age, who would’ve spent their time with friends or having fun, Gatsby’s schedule displayed how he was like: intent on improving himself, with no wasted time on the way of doing so. By shaping himself a dream and working towards it despite the toil it required, Jimmy Gatz was an ideal example of someone who very possibly had the American Dream in his hand. As Gatsby’s father noted about him, “Jimmy was bound to get ahead”—his father saw the potential in Gatsby as a child, and that potential and forward momentum that Gatsby possessed, fueled on by his determination and the better future he laid out for himself would have been enough for him to achieve his dreams if he hadn’t stumbled across Daisy along the