{"id":5909,"date":"2014-06-20T11:35:12","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T11:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essayshark.com\/blog\/?p=5909"},"modified":"2023-03-15T11:44:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T11:44:52","slug":"the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Gatsby Essay: What Makes Jay Gatsby So Great?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n\n

The Great Gatsby is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. F. Scott Fitzgerald discussed in it issues of post-war society, American dream, love, and wealth which draw the attention of the reading audience until today. Especially interesting is the question of whether the protagonist is even deserving of being called great or is the title ironical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Samuels claims that despite the uselessness of his beginnings, Gatsby is great due to the intensity of his will (789). However, it is my contention that Jay Gatsby is a person whose false love, materialism and egotism led him to the tragic end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might be argued that Gatsby\u2019s feelings for Daisy were genuine. With striking determination he worked hard to be close to Daisy: he settled in the house just opposite, threw grandiose parties with the hope that she might appear there, arranged a meeting with her after five years of separation. Finally, he took the blame upon himself after she killed Myrtle Wilson in the car accident: \u201cWas Daisy driving?\u201d \u201cYes,\u2019 he said after a moment, \u2018but of course I\u2019ll say I was\u201d (Fitzgerald 154). Nevertheless, as Hermanson points out, the protagonist is more \u201ccommitted to an idea of Daisy that he has created than to the real woman she is.\u201d Self-centered Gatsby imagined himself just about the son of God and considered Daisy as a trophy, as a means of realization of his dreams. An \u201cideal\u201d Daisy existed as a phantom of imagination in Gatsby\u2019s mind, but in fact, she could not meet that image. In addition, Daisy\u2019s love was not strong as well: \u201cI did love him once\u2014but I loved you too\u201d (Fitzgerald142).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gatsby tells Nick Carraway: \u201cMy family died and I came into a good deal of money\u201d (Fitzgerald 71). At first, this seemed to be a reasonable explanation to the enormous wealth such a young man possessed. Although, as a novel develops, we see that material possessions which helped Jay to reach high status were obtained illegally (bootlegging, stolen securities). In order to understand how Gatsby became so rich one should consider a substantial influence of Dan Cody and Meyer Wolfshiem on his character formation. When the protagonist came back from the war, he was so poor that for some time could not even buy new clothes. Dan Cody, a silver mining millionaire, took young Gatsby aboard of his yacht and provided him with different jobs while they sailed around the continent. At that time Gatsby\u2019s character began to take shape \u2013 he was approaching his dream \u2013 to belong to the upper class. No lesser influence on Gatsby had another shady character \u2013 Meyer Wolfshiem; he, eventually, made his fortune: \u201cDid you start him in business?\u2019 I inquired. \u2018Start him! I made him\u201d (Fitzgerald 182). Now, we see that the bad influence of Cody and Wolfshiem, combined with Jay\u2019s desire to be rich in order to win Daisy spurred him on to criminal activity and materialistic view of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were close friends\u201d (Fitzgerald 179). This is how Nick describes his relationship with Gatsby at the end of the story. It could be said that their friendship was strong. Nick agreed to help Gatsby arrange a meeting with Daisy and objected against Jay\u2019s \u201csupport\u201d in return; they had an intimate conversation about Daisy, and only Nick was privileged to hear a whole story of their relationship. Furthermore, it is Nick who organizes Gatsby\u2019s funeral when everybody is unconcerned. However, according to Lewis, Gatsby\u2019s wealth and hospitality which secured his hold on many peoples\u2019 memories were empty (47). Klipspringer cares more about his lost tennis shoes than Gatsby\u2019s death. His parties were crowded but \u201cno French bob touched Gatsby\u2019s shoulder\u201d (Fitzgerald 55). Even a relationship with Nick looks doubtful because we cannot be sure whether Gatsby made a friendly request asking him to arrange a meeting with Daisy, or he just used Nick to get closer to her. Thus, in his pursuit of material success, Gatsby didn\u2019t develop any real friendships at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been shown, therefore, that Jay Gatsby cannot be regarded great in a very real sense. Striving to gain Daisy\u2019s love, climbing out of poverty to the upper class, crowds of people at his parties could create an impression that the protagonist was no ordinary man. But if we probe a little deeper, we will see false illusions about Daisy, unlawful manner of business and egotism which isolated Jay Gatsby from other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby.<\/em> Wordsworth Editions, 1993.
\nSamuels, C. Thomas. \u201cThe Greatness of Gatsby.\u201d The Massachusetts Review<\/em>, vol. 7, no. 4, 1966, pp. 783-794.
\nHermanson, Casie. \u201cAn Overview of The Great Gatsby.\u201d Some Critical Essays of F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby<\/em>, 1997, www.stephaniesandhurst.tripod.com\/id4.html.
\nLewis, R. Money, Love and Aspiration in The Great Gatsby.<\/em> Cambridge U.P., 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Our The Great Gatsby<\/em> essay covers the issue of how to write a paper in literature. Read also other sample on our site \u2013 we have examples for other subjects as well. If a particular essay is difficult for you to write, than simply leave it to EssayShark.com. Our writers are ready to write a paper of any topic, level, and difficulty. Whether you need to write a simple essay or a complicated thesis, our writing service can help with any writing assignment. Choose our site if you don’t have time to deal with your paper on your own. Place an order right now and we will solve any of your writing problems!<\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Great Gatsby is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. F. Scott Fitzgerald discussed in it issues of post-war society, American dream, love, and wealth which draw the attention of the reading audience until today. Especially interesting is the question of whether the protagonist is even deserving of being called great or is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19205878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay-samples","category-samples"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Great Gatsby Essay Example<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The \u201cGreat Gatsby\u201d is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. Check out our The Great Gatsby essay and buy papers like this from us.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Great Gatsby Essay Example\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The \u201cGreat Gatsby\u201d is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. Check out our The Great Gatsby essay and buy papers like this from us.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Free Essay Examples from EssayShark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-20T11:35:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-15T11:44:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Great-Gatsby-Essay.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/\",\"name\":\"The Great Gatsby Essay Example\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Great-Gatsby-Essay.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-20T11:35:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-15T11:44:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#\/schema\/person\/0a8625f9c64489784b6e8afa8a3af28c\"},\"description\":\"The \u201cGreat Gatsby\u201d is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. Check out our The Great Gatsby essay and buy papers like this from us.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Great-Gatsby-Essay.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Great-Gatsby-Essay.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"The Great Gatsby Essay\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Examples\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Essay samples\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/essay-samples\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Great Gatsby Essay: What Makes Jay Gatsby So Great?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/\",\"name\":\"Free Essay Examples from EssayShark\",\"description\":\"Find free college essay examples and other paper examples on any topic on our blog. Use them as ideas for your own writing and as a source for citations.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#\/schema\/person\/0a8625f9c64489784b6e8afa8a3af28c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80057fa7257386dff3eb465ecb76567923c51ec2e025860f821fed23394ae846?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80057fa7257386dff3eb465ecb76567923c51ec2e025860f821fed23394ae846?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/examples.essayshark.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Great Gatsby Essay Example","description":"The \u201cGreat Gatsby\u201d is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. Check out our The Great Gatsby essay and buy papers like this from us.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Great Gatsby Essay Example","og_description":"The \u201cGreat Gatsby\u201d is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. Check out our The Great Gatsby essay and buy papers like this from us.","og_url":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/","og_site_name":"Free Essay Examples from EssayShark","article_published_time":"2014-06-20T11:35:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-15T11:44:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Great-Gatsby-Essay.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/","url":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/","name":"The Great Gatsby Essay Example","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Great-Gatsby-Essay.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-20T11:35:12+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-15T11:44:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#\/schema\/person\/0a8625f9c64489784b6e8afa8a3af28c"},"description":"The \u201cGreat Gatsby\u201d is an outstanding piece of classic American literature. Check out our The Great Gatsby essay and buy papers like this from us.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Great-Gatsby-Essay.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/The-Great-Gatsby-Essay.jpg","width":960,"height":630,"caption":"The Great Gatsby Essay"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/the-great-gatsby-essay-what-makes-jay-gatsby-so-great\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Examples","item":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Essay samples","item":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/essay-samples\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Great Gatsby Essay: What Makes Jay Gatsby So Great?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#website","url":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/","name":"Free Essay Examples from EssayShark","description":"Find free college essay examples and other paper examples on any topic on our blog. Use them as ideas for your own writing and as a source for citations.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#\/schema\/person\/0a8625f9c64489784b6e8afa8a3af28c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80057fa7257386dff3eb465ecb76567923c51ec2e025860f821fed23394ae846?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80057fa7257386dff3eb465ecb76567923c51ec2e025860f821fed23394ae846?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/examples.essayshark.com"],"url":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19294071,"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5909\/revisions\/19294071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19205878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essayshark.com\/examples\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}