Gatsby's True Care And Knowledge example essay topic

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, Nick's claim that Gatsby turned out to be all right is true because Gatsby cared about other people, knew how to love, and openly as well as freely shared his wealth. Nick was able to support his conclusion because Gatsby sincerely had compassion for other people. Fitzgerald provides numerous examples of Gatsby's true care, causing it to be quite prevalent throughout the novel. Gatsby's knowledge of how to love is a significant reason why Nick was able to advocate his proclamation.

This wisdom is an important component in the basis of the novel, and Fitzgerald continuously uses it to portray Gatsby's true character. A final and substantial reason why Nick was able to validate his statement that Gatsby turned out all right in the end is that Gatsby generously shared his prosperity. Fitzgerald uses both Gatsby's true care and knowledge of how to have love for others in the formation of Gatsby's ability to share his wealth. Nick, being a benevolent person himself, could detect the true heart of Gatsby and his genuine compassion for others. Nick was able to validate his statement that Gatsby turned out all right in the end because he genuinely had compassion for other people. Upon obtaining his wealth, Gatsby made sure that his parents' needs were adequately taken care of.

He furnished a new home for them, and he made certain that they never lived in destitution. During one of Gatsby's extravagant parties at his home, a young woman tore her dress on a chair. Gatsby truly cared enough about the woman, as well as the inconvenience the furniture in his home caused her, that he acquired her name along with her address and sent her a package with a new evening gown inside. Gatsby also showed his care for others by being kind to strangers regardless of their financial circumstances.

For example, even though Nick was not as wealthy as Gatsby was, Gatsby welcomed him with a sincere heart. Along with many other things, he invited Nick to his parties, took him out to lunch, encouraged him to use his beach, and went hydroplaning with him. Also at one of his lavish parities, Gatsby was unexpectedly called to the telephone during a conversation. Instead of rising and hurrying out of the room to answer the call immediately, Gatsby kindly excused himself with polite words and a small bow that included each person he was speaking to in the conversation. Gatsby's compassion for his guests' feelings was displayed through his benevolent manner.

He cared enough about them to considerately leave the room. However, he was also sensitive to the telephone caller's feelings and time; he did not keep the person waiting to speak with him on the phone lingering too long. This is yet another example of how Fitzgerald illustrated Gatsby's truly caring manner. When Gatsby requested that Nick invite Daisy to his home, he knew that he was making use of Nick's bigheartedness. He did not want to inconvenience him in anyway, so Gatsby sent the servants and gardener from his mansion to prepare Nick's home. Gatsby was also a very understanding man.

He displayed an especially sympathetic attitude, which is an indication of a caring person. For example, when Nick first met Gatsby, he did not realize that the man he was talking to about Gatsby was in fact Gatsby. When Nick found this out, he was rather embarrassed, but Gatsby rid him of his discomfiture with an understanding smile. Nick described it as "one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it" (Fitzgerald 48). Gatsby could have been extremely rude to Nick about the mistake; however he disregarded it and showed his incredibly understanding personality through his smile. A final example of Gatsby's genuine compassion for others is in how much he cared for and about Daisy.

Gatsby sincerely cared so much that he changed his life for her. He went from being a poor farm boy to a wealthy and high-class man, just to have a chance at gaining Daisy's love. This is true devotion and consideration, which F. Scott Fitzgerald skillfully developed in Gatsby. This development also stretched into giving Gatsby the ability to know how to love.

Gatsby's knowledge of how to love is another reason Nick was able to confirm his statement that Gatsby turned out all right in the end. Gatsby was so deeply committed to Daisy that he changed himself just so he could have a chance with her. He knew that she was exceedingly wealthy, and this posed a problem. Gatsby did not have a great deal of money, and during the time of the novel, it was unheard-of for an aristocrat to get involved with a poor individual.

Consequently, Gatsby used his military uniform to hide his penniless background and worked to gain money so that Daisy would consider him an equal. This shows that Gatsby genuinely knew how to love because he was willing to exert himself to secure it. Gatsby waited for Daisy and followed her social career. This is another indication that he knew how to love because he cherished her enough to stay devoted to her, and only her, even if they were separated.

However, Daisy did not wait for him, and after Gatsby discovered that she had needed security and married while he was overseas, "he found that he had committed himself to the following of a grail" (Fitzgerald 149). Gatsby was seeking the inner completeness, just as those in search of the grail were, and he knew that Daisy's love was the only thing that could provide this wholeness. Comparable to how the grail rested on the peak of a mountain, encircled by water and obstacles that only a select few could overcome, Daisy's love also rested far away, and there were many hurdles that Gatsby needed to clear in the pursuit of her love. The protection that he offered her is a final and significant example of Gatsby's true knowledge of how to love. He wanted to keep her from any harm that could come into her life. Gatsby was so devoted to Daisy that he was willing to give up his life to spare her the least amount of pain or suffering.

For instance, Gatsby chose to take the blame for the collision between Myrtle and the car that Daisy was driving, which instantaneously caused Myrtle's death. He was willing to endure any punishment, persecution, or notoriety that came with this liability. He did not wish to see her hurt in any way. Gatsby not only provided mental and emotional protection, but physical protection as well.

On the night of the afternoon in which Daisy confessed that she never loved Tom, Gatsby was willing to wait outside Daisy's house all night to make sure that Tom did not hurt or bother her about the unpleasantness of the day. And even when Nick tried to assure Gatsby that Tom was not even thinking about her, he would not leave. He did not want to put Daisy in any sort of situation where danger could be inflicted on her, even if there was not a threat. This is true passion and devotion, proof that Gatsby knew how to love. Gatsby's care for others and knowledge of how to love also extended into his finances; having these characteristics, Gatsby openly and freely shared his wealth. Gatsby's ability to openly and freely share his wealth was a substantial reason why Nick was able to support his conclusion that Gatsby turned out all right in the end.

Gatsby was not selfish with his money; he did not keep it all for his own pleasurable uses. In fact, he expended a great amount of his money for people whom he did not even know. He hosted incessant and extravagant summer parties; he was rarely familiar with any of the guests because they simply invited themselves and were welcomed merely for attending. He wanted people to enjoy themselves in the midst of his prosperity.

Thus the food, entertainment, hospitality, and all of the other aspects of Gatsby's parties were incredibly lavish: Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York-every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulp less halves... At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby's enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d'oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another. By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitiful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums.

The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing up-stairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive, and already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colors, and hair shorn in strange new ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introduction's forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other's names. (Fitzgerald 39-40) Gatsby opened his home to his unfamiliar guests and allowed them to eat his food until they were satisfied, drink as much of his liquor as they wished, and dance as long as they desired to the music of the orchestras he provided. This truly illustrates that he was a man who unreservedly shared his wealth. Not only did Gatsby share his wealth through his summer parties, he shared it with those around him everyday. For example, on pages 102 and 103 of his novel, Fitzgerald displayed Gatsby's daily sharing of wealth by directing it toward the group of people that arrived at his home on horseback.

Although the group was rather rude to him, Gatsby still acted politely and exhibited earnest hospitality. He offered them a cigarette or a cigar as well as something to drink; he encouraged them to stay for supper and accepted their self-invitation to come to his next party. Gatsby could have turned the group away; instead, he opened his home and prosperity to them. He also exhibited his free sharing of wealth by offering Nick a side job to help him out with his finances. Gatsby was aware that Nick did not make a great deal of money, and he wanted to lend a hand by sharing some of his assets. The fact that Nick did not have an abundance of riches enabled him to see that Gatsby did not have an aristocratic attitude; this provided support for his claim that Gatsby ended up to be an acceptable individual.

Nick's statement that Gatsby turned out to be an acceptable individual in the end of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is relevant because Gatsby showed compassion toward other people, understood how to love, and generously shared his wealth. With the various examples Fitzgerald provides throughout the novel, it is effortless to see that Gatsby sincerely cared for other people. This is one rationale that Nick used to support his claim that Gatsby turned out all right. Fitzgerald created Gatsby as a man who truly had a heartfelt knowledge of how to love, and it was through Gatsby's use of this wisdom that Nick was able to advocate his claim. A final reason he was able to do this was by taking into account Gatsby's ability to openly and freely share his wealth. This ability showed Nick that Gatsby was not self-centered and only concerned with his own prosperity, but truly altruistic.

Whether he was portrayed as altruistic, caring, or loving, I feel that Fitzgerald crafted Gatsby's character well. He delayed the introduction of most of the information on Gatsby until relatively late in the novel, which helped to shape Gatsby as an individual. I think that Fitzgerald used this method to emphasize the theatrical quality of Gatsby's approach to life, which is an essential part of his personality. Fitzgerald allows Gatsby to literally fashion his own character; he has him change his name, from James Gate to Jay Gatsby, which represents the recreation of himself.

I believe that what gives Gatsby his quality of "greatness" is the gift of self-invention that Fitzgerald skillfully creates in him. I believe that it is this skill is what Fitzgerald used to superbly craft the character of Gatsby.

Bibliography

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925.