To What Extent Is The Great Gatsby Really Great

In “The Great Gatsby,” Fitzgerald designates Jay Gatsby as “great” to highlight his complex background, his goals in life, and the themes of this book. Gatsby’s greatness is not determined by his wealth and big parties, but his perseverance and his pursuit of the American Dream. In this novel, Fitzgerald is being when referring to Gatsby as “great” because although he has many accomplishments under his belt, it’s about how he got to them and Gatsby sacrificed some important things and will sacrifice more important things to get to this point in life.

First, Gatsby being described as “great” relates to his ability to dream and make those dreams turn into reality, it’s not referring to his impressive wealth and his big parties. Besides his past of going to Oxford and then the military, Gatsby dreams of a life and a relationship with Daisy. Gatsby dedicates everything he does to living this dream, even if he needs to go to the extremes. In the text, Gatsby says “Nobody’s coming to tea”. It’s too late. I can’t wait all day” and then Nick says “don’t be silly; it’s just two minutes to four.”(85) This refers to all of the work and time that

In the text, people at the party define Gatsby as a mysterious man, saying “somebody told me they thought he killed a man once” or “it’s more that he was a German spy during the war”. (44) With this being said in the book, it is easy to say that people don’t really know who Gatsby is and that he is very mysterious. Gatsby understands and believes in the idea of the American Dream, where success and opportunity are important factors that can shape and determine somebody’s life. Gatsby’s impressive ability to transform himself from James Gatz, a poor farm boy to Jay Gatsby, who is very wealthy and an idol to many people, shows the perseverance and limitless possibilities that not only him but many other Americans are capable