The Great Gatsby Title Meaning

For most books, the title is a foregone conclusion to how the story will be told. It is a marker for how the author envisions the readers to see and read their book. The titles that are deemed to be good are ones that might cause one to think or view the ideas presented in a different light than the obvious. This is where The Great Gatsby falls. The story of the upstart Jay Gatsby attempting to win back his former lover Daisy Buchanan is told through the eyes of Gatsby’s good friend Nick Carraway. Nick portrays Gatsby in a more positive light than Gatsby deserves. It can be seen through different inferences and connotations made throughout the book that Gatsby is not all that deserving of the hallowed “great” title given to him by author F. Scott Fitzgerald. This is not all to say Gatsby is a

But Gatsby cannot be great, not with his unfulfilled his dreams, his corrupt past, or his hollow reality. Gatsby’s greatest struggle in regards to reaching his full potential was his lack of ability to complete his dream. Gatsby grew up poor, went to war, and then made a name for himself with wealth. But none of those were his dream. Gatsby’s dream was finding a way to bring Daisy and himself back together. The two dated briefly while Gatsby was in the war, but ended up growing apart from each other. Gatsby worked and worked all for the purpose of bringing back Daisy, despite her marriage to Tom Buchanan. Daisy toyed with his heart bringing him closer for times and farther away during others. But alas, “There could be no fulfillment of Gatsby’s tragic dream” (Samuels 783). Daisy never committed to Gatsby before his tragic ending, which in and of itself was caused by Daisy never committing to Gatsby. Gatsby