The Not So Great Gatsby Essay Research free essay sample

The Not So Great Gatsby Essay, Research Paper The Superficial Gatsby In the novel entitled The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is at times made out to be better than us. At first glimpse he is sophisticated, utilizing large words and claiming that he is an Oxford adult male. But when we look closer we can easy see that this adult male is a travesty. Much of this adult male has been shrouded in enigma. We know really small about his yesteryear until later in the book. We don t cognize where he was born, who his parents are, or where all of his money came from. He often disappears signifier Nick s position apparently without a hint. All of these things make him out to be person of existent importance but by looking closely we can garner an copiousness of grounds to the contrary. We see that he is merely a adult male looking for the lost love of his life, Daisy. He is a adult male looking for the American dream and when he does non happen it, we see at last that he is merely like the remainder of us. The word great is slightly obscure in intending. Whether person is great or non frequently times depends on the individual judging them. My personal beliefs every bit far as illustriousness are concerned are non really complicated. When I think of person who is or was great, I think of Jackie Robinson, Louis Armstrong, and Albert Einstein. These are all people who affected the manner we live and have changed our society as a whole for the better. My parents are great ; my instructors are great, and my managers are great. All of those people have a batch of influence straight over me and they are ever altering me for the better. A genuinely great individual has to do forfeits and be really courageous. Jackie Robinson was the first black individual to come in the major conferences. To confront the sort of racism that he faced and still execute the manner he did is a effort chapeau I don t think I could make. His courage and grace under force per unit area has earned him a topographic p oint among the greats. He is a fantastic illustration of illustriousness, and there are many more like him. Not everyone has the same sort of criterion for illustriousness as I do. Another portion of being great is turning up from an destitute background. Some people, like the two childs who murdered 13 childs at Littleton High, think that Hitler was a great adult male. Some people think that Stalin and Milosevic are great. These dictators did non lift to power without support from other people. Peoples fought and died for these autocrats because ( most times ) they thought they were great. It is my belief that Daisy led Gatsby on. She turned out to be a contemptible individual who merely used to love him but lacked the strength of character to state him that. In chapter seven Daisy Tells Tom that she neer loved him but she ends up ditching Gatsby for him. She is excessively easy pushed around by Tom. If she had told him that earlier possibly he would hold listened to her and done something else with his life. He has the possible to be really great. He had the character traits of a good leader. He was really magnetic, and thought things out carefully before leaping into them. We know he could hold been a good leader because of his experience in the ground forces. If he d lived on he d have been a great adult male. A adult male like James J. Hill. He d of helped construct up the state ( 176 ) . But when he truly thought that he could acquire at Daisy, he went after her and in the procedure changed some lives but non needfully for the better. Daisy will neer bury what Gatsby did for her in taking the incrimination for Myrtle s decease. Nick found out that possibly it is impossible to accomplish that American dream. There are a batch of topographic points where Gatsby could be considered a great adult male. In chapter three we find out that he throws partie s for people he does non even know on a regular footing. He gives them nutrient and vino and something that will do their lives a little more gratifying if merely for for one dark. He besides buys a miss he does non cognize good an eventide frock to have on to his parties.He is for the most portion a really sort individual. It is a shame that he had a really fly-by-night yesteryear otherwise he might hold had a existent nice funeral with a batch of people alternatively of merely his pa, Nick, and Owl eyes. He is merely non great in my sense of the word.He touched the lives of a batch of people but non in the manner people like Einstein or Robinson changed them. Where Einstein wrote the book on modern natural philosophies and Jackie Robinson changed the manner baseball is played everlastingly, Gatsby merely does small things like throwing parties, which is a nice thing to make, but it doesn t even compare to what Einstein and Robinson did. Another portion of being great is non holding to conceal your yesteryear. There are a batch of parts of the book in which we see the bogus life he has made for himself. In chapter three when Nick is in the library with owl eyes we see that all of his books are still untrimmed. This leads me to believe that he has non truly read any of them. Besides he changed his name from Gatz to Gatsby. He buys things like his swimming pool that he neer even uses. Almost every portion of his life is a prevarication made up by him so he can take the life of Jay Gatsby. All of this lying makes him out to more of a deceitful character that a great 1. All of it is a travesty put on by him to affect a adult female that he will neer acquire. A truly great individual confronts their yesteryear, even if it is a bad one, and they come to footings with it. Jay Gatsby has non done that. He keeps his prevarication traveling to the really terminal. More than merely lying, a large portion of desiring to get marr ied Daisy was to acquire at her money. That is one of the most ugly Acts of the Apostless I can believe of. Though I do non see him as great, I do see Gatsby as a tragic character. All he wants was to acquire this miss and her money. He was in chase of the America dream and when he knew eventually that he could neer hold it, he was shot and killed by Wilson. If he had lived he might hold moved on and done something truly great with his life. Obviously Gatsby doesn T truly fall into my definition because he has non truly changed anybodys life in a manner that is similar to the illustrations supra. He has nevertheless changed lives. He changed Nick s life by being a friend and leting him to watch as Gatsby ran after the American dream. He changed Daisy s life by loving her and making the best he could to acquire her dorsum. Daisy s job is that she is pushed around a small excessively easy and merely like that she apparently forgets everything between Gatsby and herself. But being a great individual is more than merely those few things. Bing a great individual means being great and populating up to that criterion for most of your life. Most truly great people continue to run into the criterion of being great for a long clip. That is portion of what makes them so great. Jay Gatsby has turned his past life in to a fraud. Jay Gatsby who, for his ain intents, would interrupt up a matrimony. These are non traits of a genuinely g reat man.Then we come to the inquiry: Why? Why would Fitzgerald call the book The Great Gatsby? I believe it is because Nick is the storyteller and does see him as great. When I was finished reading this novel I did non come off believing non believing belly laugh that adult male was truly great. I came off thought ( among other things ) wow that rubric is non accurate because there is an copiousness of grounds to the contrary even when it is presented by a storyteller that thinks he is great. I believe that is what Fitzgerald wanted us to believe ( among other things ) .