The Great Gatsby Response Essay

The Great Gatsby - Critical Response to Text Cait Loewen ELA 20-1

If an individual creates the idea of a better life they will go to their wits end to make it true. In F . Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway narrates his time with Jay Gatsby, his wealthy neighbour who is attempting to pursue his idealistic lifestyle. Gatsby, having grown up poor, despises his life and eventually flees, leaving it all behind. As he gets older he becomes determined to fulfil his desires, whether they be in the heart of his former lover Daisy, a new identity or the amount of money in his pockets. To an extent, he finds success but in the process he drifts further away from reality. When an individual

This idea is further reinforced when Jay Gatsby’s version of a better life is motivated by the amount of money he has. To Gatsby, Daisy becomes a symbol of wealth, he describes her voice as “full of money” (115) and rich life that “increased her value in his eyes” (141). Furthermore, Daisy becomes the ideal person to fulfil Gatsby's idea of wealth and she is reduced to only play a role in aiding Gatsby’s success. However, the more Gatsby believes his perfect life lies in his assets, the more willing he is to ignore the truth. The truth being that wealth in life is not fulfilled through an amount of money but rather the riches of life that make a person happy. Because Gatsby failed to realise this, he willingly sacrificed the true wealth of life found in the relationships such as his parents, disowning them for being poor and further his relationship with Daisy, his love laced with a deep obsession of money. Nick perceives that Gastby “must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” (153). Eventually, when Gatsby meets the end of his life, he is left without any of the people he had interacted with, having paid the price in his pursuit of wealth. The only people who show up to the funeral are his father and Nick Carraway, two individuals who Gatsby had the potential of seeking the

The beginning of Jay Gatsby’s idealistic lifestyle starts at the age of 17. Gatsby, previously known as James Gatz had purposefully changed his name to initiate the start of a better life. Nick Carraway narrates that “Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his platonic conception of himself .”, in which he made sure that Jay Gatsby would never have the imperfect life that James had (95). Jay Gatsby is a representation of James Gatz’ ideals in which he remained “faithful to the end” to them and due to his dedication, he allowed his identity and ideals to be consumed by desire rather than authenticity