The Great Gatsby Strengths And Weaknesses

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are many characters in which each symbolizes their own life lesson and message. The book's main character Jay Gatsby, loves to simulate and relive the past. Gatsby is a nostalgic character who throughout the story has a moral ambiguity with his obsession with trying to prove that he can recreate past triumphs, believing that the past held everything that was great about his life, but it’s impossible to re-spark past emotions and memories. Nothing can be as it once was, people grow each day. Each new day a person has a new outlook on life, they have new feelings, emotions, and opinions. Gatsby tries until the day he dies to prove that the past can be re-created, he comes close many …show more content…

Though Gatsby’s weaknesses may outbalance his strengths, there is an up and down to everything. To begin, Gatsby is very naïve, his lack of judgement and wisdom do not work to his benefit. His naivety throughout the novel, blocks him from the true reality of who Daisy is. Daisy is a woman who thrives on the attention and wealth of others, she no longer loves Gatsby the way he genuinely loves her. This leads to him into taking the blame for Myrtle’s death, which he would not have done, if he was not protecting Daisy from the backlash. Which was a foolish mistake, this mistake ultimately leads to his murder, he dies a very sad and disturbing death being shot by Myrtle’s husband George while in his state of grieving. Gatsby also lacks the ability to move forward. This characteristic also does not work to his benefit due to the outcome of his death. Gatsby refuses throughout the novel to see reality, he had so much love and lust in the past, that it just overwhelms his heart and he believes that that is the only place he can be happy, so he constantly tries to relive it. He wastes so much time in the past, that he does not see the true potential of him as a person. Afterall he went from having very little to nothing in life, to being a successful wealthy