Jay Gatsby
Jay Gatsby Jay Gatsby, the main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a materialistic man, trying to live out the American Dream in the 1920’s. But, his way of life does not get him the woman of his dreams, and eventually leads to his death. He is an extremely wealthy man, but despite all of his money, is very lonely. Although he never gets the woman he wants, Gatsby was a dreamer. He was motivated to reinvent himself and buy his way through life, with a dream to recreate the past. Jay Gatsby was materialistic from the beginning. From his childhood, to his adult life, he dreamed of being rich. His parents were not wealthy and he grew up in the middle class, but he had always wanted lots of money. Nick Carraway states, “He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, it means just that—and he must be about His father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty” (Fitzgerald 104). No matter how he did it, Gatsby was going to be rich. From age seventeen he was determined and he would stick with his goal. According to critic Chikako D. Kumamoto, Gatsby’s “vast, vulgar, and meretricious” dream was shared by a social climbing. Nick finally figures out Gatsby’s plans with Daisy Buchannan and says, “He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths—so that he could come over some afternoon to a stranger’s garden” (Fitzgerald 80). Everything Gatsby did was to win back Daisy’s love. Being a materialist caused him to throw outrageous parties in hopes that one day, Daisy would show up to one. He believed that his money was the only way to win her over. Jay Gatsby was clearly a lonely man. He had all the money in the world to buy anything except for the woman of his dreams, Daisy. Throughout the whole novel, The Great Gatsby, he appears to be bored and alone. “Your place looks like the World’s fair” Nick Carraway says to Gatsby (Fitzgerald 86). Even to his death, no one cared
Cited: Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. Kumamoto, Chikako. “Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.” Explicator 60 (Fall 2001): 37-41. Literature Resource Center. Web. 09 Nov. 2012. Sutton, Brian. “Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.” Explicator 59 (Fall 2000): 37-9. Literature Resource Center. Web. 09 Nov. 2012.