Why Is The Great Gatsby Great

A marvelous novel, “The Great Gatsby” written during the 1920’s by F. Scott Fitzgerald proposes a question about the truth of being “great”. The novel's protagonist, Nick Carraway grows close to Jay Gatsby; a rich, party man. Carraway strongly believes that Gatsby deserves to be known as “great.” Nevertheless, Gatsby remains an ordinary man from start to finish. In fact, there are numerous reasons why Gatsby should not be known “great.” To list a few, Gatsby does not do anything extraordinary to earn the title of “great”, he does not work hard for success, and pretends to be somebody he wishes to be. Throughout the entire novel, Jay Gatsby does not do anything to make himself significantly different from the other characters. Simply, Gatsby

During this time, American citizens yearn to be wealthy and up to date with the advancing economy. As a result of being rich and already having the “American dream”, Gatsby does not try to improve himself as a person. Adding on to this, one must be better than average to be “great.” Important to realize, Gatsby throws free parties with benefits, “The bar is in full swing...between women who never knew each other's names” (Fitzgerald 40). No doubt, people only acknowledge Gatsby for the amount of money he possesses. Additionally, he throws parties to feel as if he has friends that care for him. Sadly, most of the guests do not recognizes Gatsby during the parties, “Once they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby…” (Fitzgerald 41). Although this may be true, Gatsby does deserve a honorable mention for serving in World War One, “”I was in the Seventh Infantry until

In fact, Gatsby changes his name from “James Gatz”,“He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career-”(Fitzgerald 98). During his younger years, Gatsby felt impecunious due to his family’s unsuccessful farm. As a way to cope, “James” ran away and began a new, successful life with the help of Dan Cody. In fact, the wealthy man even gives young James a job as a personal assistant. Consequently, James begins to go by the name of “Jay Gatsby” to match his plans of becoming successful. To his advantage, James Gatz starts his life over as Gatsby and tries to forget his former life. In a way, “Gatsby” might be thought of as a coping mechanism. With this being said, Gatsby has all of the materialistic and characteristic traits that he wishes to have while growing up. Some of these examples might include his house, wealth and increase in social interaction. Once living comfortably, Gatsby begins to obsess over the past, “He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something , some idea of himself perhaps , that had gone into loving Daisy” (Fitzgerald 110). Openly, Gatsby does not want to accept the fact that Daisy marries another man. In fact, Tom realizes that Gatsby puts on a show to feel better about himself, “”"I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife.”” In other words, Tom