The criteria of what makes a person great vary on the individual asked. The Great Gatsby, tells the story of Jay Gatsby who is from a farm in North Dakota where he lived a life of poverty. When he falls in love with Daisy, Gatsby is sent to fight in the war where she leaves him for Tom. This leads him to follow a life in search of wealth and prestige just to win back Daisy. The means he goes about achieving his goals are very questionable. In The Great Gatsby by Scott J Fitzgerald, it is arguable that Jay Gatsby is not a great man.
Gatsby is a horrible person considering his concerning sense of morals. When Gatsby brings Nick to tag along on a trip around town, he introduces Nick to a friend of his by the name of Meyer Wolfsheim (Fitzgerald
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That reveals to Nick, how Gatsby will befriend people no matter how horrible their actions and cores are. Gatsby not only interacts with criminals but is also one with himself. When Gatsby and Tom start arguing about Daisy, Tom exposes one of Gatsby's side endeavors. Turns out that Gatsby alongside Wolfshiem, “brought up a lot of side-street drug-stores… and sold grain over the counter” (Fitzgerald 133). Gatsby willingly selling alcohol is a major deal, considering this was during prohibition when it was illegal to manufacture, sell, and drink any alcoholic beverages. His participation in criminal activities does not give him any favors in being a good person. He willingly participated in those side occupations, making him a bad person. Gatsby is also an extremely talented liar. When Gatsby first falls in love with …show more content…
He is a mysterious figure whom Nick has never met. His first glance at Gatsby is when he is standing on a field with his trembling arm reached out towards a green light on a dock at another house (Fitzgerald 11). Gatsby is reaching out for Daisy, someone who has been unavailable for quite a while by that point. Gatsby is also someone who likes to constantly host parties. The reason he does so is because, “he wants [Daisy] to see his house… half expect[ing] her to wander into one of his parties, some night” (Fitzgerald 79). Daisy is a person of status, who has the wealth to go around for days. Gatsby attempts to show off all the wealth he has through parties with Daisy. However he can not seem to grasp the distaste she has, considering that she is from old money, and Gatsby is from new money. However, Gatsby's jealousy of Daisy rears an ugly head when he gets into a fight with Tom. He tries to force Daisy to “just tell the truth- that you never loved him- and it’s all wiped out forever” (Fitzgerald 132). While Gatsby is partly true considering she had loved in before, that does not erase the time and space they have had from each other. Daisy is not the same person she was before, she was married now and even had a daughter. So Gatsby trying to make her revoke her livelihood is extremely selfish. That is why Gatsby is not capable of living in the