Jay Gatsby was a wealthy character who was determined to achieve whatever he set his mind to. His determination and motivation, whether it be influenced by himself or by others, helped him to strive for what he wanted. Gatsby’s goal was to live a life that was better than the one he had lived as a child. While Gatsby was motivated by others, he displayed several characteristics of self-motivation throughout the book as he worked towards this goal before he was distracted by an unrealistic dream. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby could have lead the same extravagant lifestyle as a self-motivated man rather than as a man motivated by the dream encompassed by the Green Light. On several occasions Gatsby’s self-motivation …show more content…
Jennifer McClinton-Temple wrote an article titled “Success” in which she says that Gatsby gains his wealth through knowing morally corrupt people so that he can impress Daisy. McClinton-Temple says that if Jay were to accomplish his goal of winning over Daisy, he would not be able to enjoy it, “because he showed poor character in its pursuit, and because he is denying his true identity in the entire enterprise” (para. 6). Gatsby lost himself in the pursuit of Daisy because he became so wrapped up in the idea of reliving the time which the two had together. If Gatsby would have remained self-motivated, he would have gained his wealth through legal means as he would only be striving for a better life than what he had before as he was doing before he met Daisy. If he had not met Daisy, Gatsby would have been more business focused and would have built up a business rather than working for Meyer Wolfsheim and participating in illegal activities for money. He would have been able to create a business and run it efficiently as he demonstrated organization and motivation in the Hopalong Cassidy book he had as a child. Gatsby’s accomplishments would have held more weight if he would have accomplished them through legal means as it would have taken more work and would have been more