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Research Paper On The Great Gatsby

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What qualities truly make someone great? The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, takes place in 1922, in New York City. Nick Carraway, the narrator, moves to West Egg, a place of new money. His mysterious and very wealthy neighbor, Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties every weekend. He throws these parties to hopefully draw his ex-lover, Daisy Buchanan, back to him. Daisy Buchanan lives in East Egg, a place of old money, with her husband, Tom Buchanan, and their daughter. She is also Nick Carraway’s cousin. When Gatsby learns that Nick is related to Daisy, he wants him to help reunite them. Towards the end of the novel, Gatsby is killed by George Wilson for allegedly killing his wife. Throughout the novel, Gatsby is known for having …show more content…

Scott Fitzgerald, shows how having good moral qualities can truly give someone the title of being “great”. To begin, Jay Gatsby’s unconditional love towards Daisy Buchanan shows how “great” is a fitting title for him. Gatsby throws extremely lavish parties every weekend to hopefully bring Daisy back to him. For example, Jordan says,”I think he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night” (79). Gatsby had so much love for Daisy that he threw parties to impress her. He thought that by throwing the parties, she would eventually show up and they could be together again. Another example is Gatsby buying a house across the bay from Daisy’s. He would stare at the green light at the end of her dock to remind himself of how close he was to getting her back. Buying a house and throwing big parties helped show how much Gatsby truly loved and cared about Daisy. Furthermore, Jay Gatsby never letting other people’s opinions bother him also showed how “great” was a fitting title. Most people thought that he was a German spy and that he even murdered someone. For example, girls at a party said, “Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once” (44). The girls told Nick and Jordan that Gabsy had allegedly committed …show more content…

Lastly, Jay Gatsby's outstanding hospitality towards others also made him truly “great”. Gatsby would throw huge parties every weekend and invite basically everyone to New York. He would open his huge mansion to whoever. He always had expensive food and drinks and a live band of dancers. For example, Nick says, “On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvres, spiced hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to dark gold” (page number). Nick describes the kind of lavish food that Gatsby offers. Along with all the food, he also offers very expensive kinds of alcohol like gin, liquors, and cordials. The selfless things that Gastby does for others is just another factor that makes “great” a fitting title. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, shows how the title “great” can be used for someone who has excellent moral qualities. Jay Gatsby shows unconditional love towards Daisy Buchanan, by throwing parties to impress and hopefully bring her back to him. He never lets anyones opinions on him change his outlook on

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The Great Gatsby, is a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel was written in 1925, and has been a classic for years. The main character, as well as who the perspective of the story is from, is Nick Carraway. Carraway’s cousin, Daisy Buchanan, also lives in New York. There, she is married to a rich man named Tom Buchanan; however, Tom is having an affair with another women, named Myrtle Wilson.

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Despite what the title suggests, within “The Great Gatsby”, Jay Gatsby is neither truly great, nor even named Gatsby. His elaborate transition from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, both literally and figuratively changing his identity, completing an ingenious façade to replicate the essence of greatness Gatsby sees in the aristocracy. Although Gatsby attempts to build his own greatness through material wealth, his only means is through the criminal activities of Wolfstein, with this unsavoury connection to the insidious underbelly of New York City undermining Gatsby’s quest for greatness. It is only from the distinctive perspective of Nick Carraway that the idea of Gatsby as “great” emerges. As explained by Carraway, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (pg. 140), this glamourous hopefulness being what attracts Carraway towards Gatsby, with Gatsby representing the idea of the American Dream for Nick Carraway.

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Gatsby is an accomplished man who makes a name for himself and earns the respect of New York. When he throws his extravagant parties, it seems as if all of New York is in attendance. People crave pleasure to distract themselves, and “Sometimes they [come] and [go] without [meeting] Gatsby at all, [they only come] for the party” (Fitzgerald 41). Gatsby’s events satisfy the hedonistic cravings that society has, making him likable by the public and legitimizing his fame.

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In the story "The Great Gatsby" Nick has a favorable opinion of Jay Gatsby. In the first chapter of the book Nick states "When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction- Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. " The book gives many examples of Nick thinking of Gatsby as the "Great" such as Gatsby 's smile, what Gatsby was willing to do for Daisy, and what Gatsby did for himself.

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Gatsby was indeed great, because he was always improving to help himself achieve the "American Dream". He also achieved all of his wealth for Daisy due to his charming demeanor. Gatsby got all of his wealth from bootlegging. He bought his great big mansion and everything he owned for Daisy. Gatsby learned all of his sophisticated ways from Dan Cody and all of his wealthy friends.

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People who think that Gatsby may not deserve his title of great may think “Doesn’t this just prove that Gatsby is a terrible person and that he doesn’t deserve his title of Great in the book?” On the contrary, Gatsby showing these qualities allows him to be a human, just like these other people that he’s so much greater than, but the difference is that Gatsby isn’t always that way, he’s not always a shallow person and when something gets serious he doesn’t try to fle Throughout the book, Gatsby shows that he is a generous person; he lets anyone come to his parties no matter who they are and, in Nick’s case, sometimes offers assistance with other things like transportation or getting a house cleaned up free of charge. People like Tom looked down on Gatsby because he made his money in a bad way or was from new money, but Gatsby never looked down on people, he didn’t know anything about them, whether they were good people or bad, but he still allowed them to come into his house, ride in his cars, and eat his

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