Nicks View Of Gatsby example essay topic

How Far Do You Consider Gatsby To Be The Epitome Of The American Dream And Its Failure The Great Gatsby is a book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is set in the nineteen twenties in the unique narrative style which is that he is writing about a fictional character called Nick Carraway writing a book about a man called Jay Gatsby who he feels was a man who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. Gatsby is a very rich yet contradictory character, He is portrayed throughout the novel as being heroic person because during the war her received a medal from every allied country the medal symbolizes some of the best and most noble traits of human nature such as valour, honor and bravery but in an extreme case of dramatic irony such a heroic man he cannot raise the courage to engage Daisy. Another side of Gatsbys contradictory nature is the idealistic way he chases Daisy as well as the fulfillment of his dream yet he is extremely reckless in the way he confronts Tom and lets Tom release the figurative ghosts that are Gatsbys past life especially his criminal activities. Maybe Fitzgerald designed Nicks view of Gatsby in such a way that he is mocking him and the American dream. Many critics dont view Gatsby in this way; they see him as a criminal who obtained wealth through crime and contacts more commonly associated with the gangster era in the 1960's.

Even though he is very wealthy he is always seen as number two to Mayor Wolfshiem and this adds to the sinister undertones in the novel yet Gatsby appears to be very European importing fine clothes and cars as well as living in a mansion based on a French model maybe this is used to add a touch of class to this criminal element of his life. My personal view of Gatsby is that he is the epitome of the American dream, he is very noble courageous and a self made man but he is nave in believing that hard work and perseverance is all you need to achieve everything you want. He also has a large attachment to the past and he believes he can change it Cant repeat the past he said incredulously of course you can as well as this he has a large picture of Dan Cody the man who made him what he. This could be linked back to my early comment in that Gatsby is trying to replicate the so-called old style aristocrats which supposedly had everything that wanted. I think Gatsby acts in this way because before he achieved his fortune and was with daisy he believed they truly happy and the fact he attempts to commit suicide during the war lends itself to this. The basis of the American dream is wealth, happiness and freedom and by the American constitution every citizen is entitled to this.

Another irony is that Gatsby has always had two of these ideals but never the third one to make him truly complete and he believes Daisy is the key. Nicks view of Gatsby is very important as he is the narrator and he appears to be one of the few people that actually likes and respects Gatsby as a person and not for what he owns. Nick uses very figurative language to describes Gatsbys personality and character by saying If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures then there was something gorgeous about him, Gatsby appears to be a man who genuinely cares and has this the reoccurring smile which appears to be very assuring to the other characters especially Nick. I believe Gatsby is a very confused person who does have some heightened sensitivity to the promise of life where as some people critics perceive this and Gatsbys whole image is a show, which hides his true persona that, which is that of a criminal. This is also backed by Fitzgeralds foreshadowing Gatsbys dark secret, which is why he is never shown in sunlight but this could be interpreted as a way of hiding for the ghosts that haunt Gatsby. Gatsby is outwardly an ideal candidate for the American dream; at the time he would have been considered a true gentleman due to his supposed upbringing and wealth.

He started from nothing but constantly strived to improve himself as the extract from Gatsbys diary shows yet no matter how hard he tries he can truly enter the world of the aristocracy this relates to Nicks view that he had a platonic conception of himself this is a brilliant comparison to Gatsby as Plato said that the nobility had a soul of gold and the working class had a soul of bronze and that no matter how hard you tried you could never move to another class. Beneath this flash exterior, he has a very different persona, he is a shy and lonely which is the main reason he holds these lavish partys to hide this and it is a brilliant use of dramatic irony to show that Gatsby is a unhappy man These factors arent really the reason Gatsby fails to achieve his dreams. The more important factors of Gatsbys failure are his, naivety, loyalty, Tom and Daisy. His wealth and loyalty are two qualities that escalated his failure, Firstly his great wealth isolated him from society, although he held these parties he was never a part of them because of his loyalty and love towards Daisy, Gatsby is so enthralled by this women he can even recall the date the last meet five years in November like a love sick puppy but this could also been seen as a role reversal as usually it is the women who remember such things and the men who forget. Daisy, Nicks cousin is portrayed as being a well educated women married to a rich man called Tom Buchanan. Daisy is always shown or being described as white or silver these are associated with innocence and purity and this is reflected in her character and the fact that she cant decide between Tom or Gatsby and it was decision that brought about the failure of his dream and as Nick says it Must have seem so close he could he could hardly fail to grasp it.

Gatsby unshakable belief that you can change the past and some say his will to live but it was Tom Buchanan's Very nature and arrogance that ended Gatsbys life. At the time Gatsby would have been seen as New money and therefore alienated from the aristocrats who had inherited their money from there parents. Fitzgerald was often referred to as the laureate of the jazz age his book to symbolize The roaring twenties, and during this time as with today money is power and power is a supposed to be a major aphrodisiac for women and I think that is the main reason behind him driving Gatsby car as well as trying to show off. Perhaps Tom had not taken Gatsbys car so he enhance his image, Myrtle would not have run towards the car and who she thought was Tom.

The accident itself may still have happened but Gatsby would not be involved and may have won the girl after all. My personal opinion is that Gatsby and Myrtle are quite similar they both wish to gain happiness and power through marriage although these appear in different forms and it is this desire that leads to both there deaths Gatsby lived for and breathed for the American dream and some critics say that when he lost Daisy he was essentially a corpse waiting to die but would he have recovered from this blow like he did during war. Although some critics believe that there was no inner meaning to this novel I think that it shows us that money cannot buy use happiness not even in the Land of hope and glory. The Great Gatsby is considered to be Fitzgeralds greatest work because of it simplicity where as his other works such as tales of the jazz age were fatally flawed. The books its self was Fitzgerald reflection on the his era and I believe it is and deserves the title of a literary classic.