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Was Jay Gatsby A Good Man?

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Was Jay Gatsby a good man? to answer that one must know what defines a good man? is it success in life? Or is it living in the way the pleases a person the most? God through the bible has defined the true meaning of a good man. Man is to be kind and honest, Humble and selfless. Man is also supposed to give all glory to the creator from who all blessings and good things flow. Does Gatsby the aforementioned traits of a good man? Once closely examining his actions and deeds during his time on the earth one must conclude he fell short of being a biblically good man. Gatsby who was born to a farming family in the Midwest, failed to learn from his heritage. Gatsby viewed his poverty stricken family as beneath him, he elevated himself above mortal …show more content…

His deeds throughout life are man centered and self pleasing, whereas a biblically praise worthy man deeds should be God- centered and heavenly pleasing. His chosen profession was that of a bootlegger , a bootlegger is a person who sells illegal contraband to the general population. His hole career was founded on immoral principles, we are called to obey all appointed authority for God placed them in a place of power for a reason , Gatsby by being a bootlegger was going against what God had decreed. After obtaining his wealth via bootlegging his deeds become no more pleasing to God. He throws lavish and extravagant parties for the sole purpose of impressing others and bringing glory to himself, this goes directly against mans purpose man was created to glorify not to be glorified. Gatsby was wrong to seek glory and admiration from man solely to glorify himself. His talents and monetary resources should have been used to impressing and bringing glory to God. Gatsby was also quite willing to rekindle his romance with the married daisy. Marriage is a sacred bond joining two people into one flesh, the bond is not to be broken but yet Gatsby seeks to do just that he desires to slice through the bond and take daisy for himself. the action or even the thought of the action is found appalling in the eyes of God. Gatsby once more seeks to quench his own desires and wishes instead of those who created

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Dating back to his childhood, Gatsby developed a deadly sin during his early teenage years, ultimately leading him to his wealthy lifestyle. “[Gatsby’s] heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain… each night he added to the pattern of his fancies… these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination… they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality” (99). Gatsby’s envy of the wealthy life caused him to develop a deep desire to stray away from his life of clam digging and salmon fishing and become a wealthy man in an upper class society.

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In Scott Fitzgeralds novel “The Great Gatsby” it gives many examples of how Jay is not so great. Everyone in New York (in the story) thinks that Jay Gatsby is wonderful and “great”, but as you read along you notice that Jay Gatsby is not all that great. He makes himself look so good in front of everyone but in reality he's not. He started out as nothing and became something big, but no one really knew besides Nick, he could see that there was nothing great. Why is Gatsby so great?

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Some say Jay Gatsby is a horrendous criminal that cares only for his greed for wealth. Others say his criminal actions are justifiable because it is to attain Daisy. Does Gatsby deserve pity or is he a greedy scumbag that deserved his fate. Gatsby is worthy of pity because he is selfless and moral throughout the novel. Gatsby is selfless because he only cares about Daisy and only got wealthy to be with Daisy.

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A man representing Christ or even showing Christ like characteristics would never stoop to the grounds of using a friend in order to achieve your own vindictive and selfish desires. Gatsby uses kindness and friendship for the sole purpose

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Gatsby believes that money can buy him whatever his heart desires. Gatsby’s misunderstanding of the way money functions in the society he lives in results in the failure of his attempt to gain both status and the

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This lead to him thinking everything was perfect and heading off to war, leaving Daisy behind. When he returned, he still had the same dream that he had once accomplished, but it had become unrealistic because Daisy was married. Gatsby’s dream began to cloud his reality and he didn’t give up on it. Despite it being unreachable, Gatsby’s dream continued to be very important to him, as he felt “that if he had searched harder, he might have found her” (152-153). He didn’t know how to win Daisy over, but that didn’t stop him from trying and searching.

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Gatsby’s “Greatness” Greatness is showed by the choices we make in life. From how we see the circumstances and how we react to them. Gatsby is not as great of a man as Nick claims that he is. Gatsby makes foolish, childish and delusional decisions and not at all great.

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Nick describes Gatsby “a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father 's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 98). He compares Gatsby and Jesus Christ to show how he created his own identity. After he reinvented himself as a rich man, Gatsby had to maintain his image, so he went to the extremes to make as much money as he could. These extreme ways of making money worked very well for him, but the

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Gatsby doesn’t really show what he really is to the public, and that makes him a different person from what the others think of

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When we use wealth as our vehicle to self fulfillment, it easily distracts us from our original goal. In our efforts, it is easy to lose sight of our aims and compromise our principles to attain the wealth we desire. It is evident that even amidst his riches, Gatsby is unfulfilled. The wealth he hoped to use to strengthen his claim to honour has undermined his chances of being worthy of it. Instead of giving, wealth has stripped him of his morality and trapped him in a lifestyle that demands he only be pulled further into immorality.

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Gatsby even talks about how, “His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people-his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (Fitzgerald 104). Throughout all of his young years he felt as though the world was calling to him to become something more. That passion led Gatsby to believing the only way to “free” himself from those “constraints” was by going out into society and becoming a part of the American dream. When he competed his destiny of becoming successful he had not realized how much the journey had taken away his morals and passion that had been present in his younger years. As became his version of an American he lost his ability to have that passion and in the end of

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Gatsby was a man who came up from essentially nothing by gaining his money through bootlegging and other illegal acts in order to gain a reputation in society. Gatsby’s constant desire to accomplish more in his life demonstrates the corruption of the American Dream. It is evident that Gatsby has had a thirst for the American dream since a young age, this is shown when Gatsby’s father says: “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind?

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Self-Reinvention in the Great Gatsby Self-Reinvention: The act of reinventing or changing oneself, this means, changing ones’ personality, social status, and past. One person who reinvented himself was none other than the Great Gatsby. Gatsby is an obvious example of self-reinvention, especially when he tells Nick about his real story. Another person who reinvented himself is the narrator Nick. Nick is the less obvious example of self-reinvention; however, he still undergoes a self-reinvention process.

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708 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, social class is a key theme, as seen by every character having their own distinct class. Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and even Nick are old money, Gatsby is new money, and the Wilson 's are no money. In short, the more money you have, the better off you will be. In the epigraph of the novel, there is a poem by Thomas Parke D 'Invilliers, who is a fictional character created by Fitzgerald himself. This poem is about using materialism to win over the affection of someone, which is exactly what Gatsby tries to do.

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Any morals the characters in Gatsby have are ignored when it comes to obtaining status and wealth. Jay Gatsby is a prime example of this claim, as he committed crimes such as bootlegging in order to gain money and fame. When confronted about where he inherited his money from by Nick, Gatsby replies,

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