Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925, The Great Gatsby is an American novel that follows a cast of characters and their experiences living in the wealthy Long Island town of West Egg in the “Roaring Twenties.” The story is primarily based on the extravagant, but also mysterious, life of a millionaire named Jay Gatsby.
The story takes place in the summer of 1922. Gatsby, who was in his thirties, threw lavish parties and was extremely popular in West Egg. This would change when his treacherous past is resurfaced upon meeting his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. It is discovered that Gatsby’s motivation for achieving such great wealth was in fact Daisy. Gatsby grew up in an impoverished family in rural North Dakota. However, his path to success was neither clean nor legal; he participated in organized crime, specifically the illegal distribution of alcohol and trading stolen securities. Upon his return from serving in World War I, Gatsby was determined to achieve wealth and success in order to win over Daisy, regardless of what rules he broke. Of course, nobody in West Egg knows Gatsby’s corrupt background, and so he is seen as an icon and celebrity. In reality, he is a solitary man who lives in his own personal bubble, trying to relive the past. When his friends try to help him better himself, he cannot because he is too caught up in his own world and refuses to change. He fails to accept the truth, which is that Daisy is now married to Tom and that he has essentially lived a lie. Gatsby’s theatrical approach to life would come back to haunt him when he accidentally runs over and kills Myrtle with his car. Gatsby becomes so much of a problem that Wilson goes to his mansion and shoots him.
Gatsby at the beginning of the novel represents the American Dream. He rose from poverty and ended up acquiring vast amounts of wealth (even serving his country at one point. He appears to be the ideal American man, hard-working, and passionate, a real rags to riches story. But, the more the reader learns about him, the more they realize that he has a dark past. Yes, he rose from rags to be a rich man, but he did so by breaking the law as you have pointed out. Most importantly regarding Gatsby’s representation of the American Dream is that he remains unfulfilled. He appears to have all that one could want, many “friends”, a gigantic house, and lots of money. But his friends are fake and don’t know who he is, and the woman he adores is with another man. Not only has the American Dream decayed to the point where the only means to obtain it is to partake in illegal activities, but the American Dream was wrong to begin with. Materialistic things does not equate to a life well lived as Gatsby shows (of course this is an easy point for F Scott Fitzgerald to make as he grew up in an upper middle class and therefore never experienced poverty.)
I agree with your idea that Jay Gatsby is intended as the personification of the American dream in the 1920’s. on one hand Gatsby is a self-made man who rose to the highest levels of American society from nothing. On the other hand, Gatsby and his life’s work and goals are built on fraud and elusion and came crashing down in the end.
Very interesting question here J.R., “who is Jay Gatsby?”. I believe Gatsby is made to represent the common man who seeks to break out of his monetary class, and become someone of consequence. Gatsby is hopeful about his ability to control his future to a fault. In this way it could be said that inside everyone, there are similar beliefs, so maybe Jay Gatsby is hope or loyalty.
I agree with you that Jay Gatsby essentially lived a lie because his entire fortune was made illegally and his one true love, Daisy Buchanan, was married to Tom Buchanan. Gatsby made all of this money only to impress Daisy, but he was blinded by this love and decided he would do anything to gain enough wealth to impress her. He lost sight of his values and never accepted the fact that his love was already married. He never lived for himself; everything he did was to impress Daisy. He also hid the fact that he made his fortune illegally and was therefore seen as a great business man to many, which only made his web of lies expand.
Gatsby’s motivations to become wealthy are very different compared to those living in the 1920’s. Everyone else is in it for personal greed but Gatsby is doing it to impress one person so he can finally win Daisy over.
I agree, nobody in West Egg knows Gatsby’s corrupt background, which allows him to flaunt his money, but he lacked the sort of respect that Tom received. He is seen as an icon and celebrity, but was never actually honored. His motives were different from people at the time; he wanted wealth to gain the love of Daisy. This makes the theme of love more prevalent.