Gatsby Essay, Research Paper

Greatness Prevails

Is Gatsby truly great? There are a couple of different types of greatness. In fact there is good greatness and bad greatness. Adolph Hitler, although a horrible man was a great leader, he convinced and entire army that it was right to kill non-white, non-Christians. There are war heroes who are great because they fight for the cause and risk their own lives to save others. Gatsby was great in a different sense though. Gatsby is truly great because he led an incorruptible life in devotion of following his dream of a romanticized life with Daisy.

Gatsby started off as a poor man who has to struggle through life. The only nice clothes that he has is his army uniform, which Daisy, his girlfriend enjoys when he wears she thinks that he looks nice. Gatsby is in love with Daisy and she is in love with him but because he was so poor they cannot get married. To survive Gatsby has to join the army and when he goes to war Daisy marries Tom, a rich stockbroker from New York, who gives Daisy a life of luxury. The problem, unbeknown to Daisy is that he is cheating on her. When Gatsby returns from battle he notices that Daisy has married a rich man and after realizing that Daisy was after Tom s money Gatsby figures that the only way to get her back is by becoming rich himself. Once Gatsby has his dream of being rich he makes it his goal in life to fulfill the needs of Daisy and marry her. Although luring ones wife into marrying yourself is not polite, it does make Gatsby great because it takes a strong willed man to make a life goal and stick to it

Gatsby changes many things in his life when he makes his decision of becoming rich, he wants money, and he wants it as fast as possible. Since he had no real education he decides that he must attend college. Gatsby spends six months in Oxford University in England, but obviously it isn t enough because he then seeks help from another rich man. This person supported Gatsby in his quest for Daisy and even gave him money to start his investment. A quick way to get rich fast is to be a criminal and steel money various ways. This man taught Gatsby the trick of the trade or the secret behind being steeling money to become rich. It is amazing that Gatsby would go as far as committing a serious crime just to be with one woman. Gatsby tries everything to fulfill his dream of spending the rest of his life with Daisy

Eventually Gatsby does become rich, quite an accomplishment for any human being. It now time to put his dream into action and get together with Daisy. With the money he stole and earned Gatsby bought a house across the water from Daisy s and Tom s, which shows that he is just as wealthy, if not wealthier than Tom himself. Gatsby tries many things to get Daisy to notice him, but one certain strategy seems to be his favorite. Throwing big parties was Gatsby s way of getting Daisy to come over to his house. Since alcohol is banned in the 1920 s, one effective bait to attract someone to a party is by serving alcohol. Gatsby s parties are filled with drunk and happy people, but sometimes it turns s out to be dangerous. For example, after one of his parties someone was so drunk that he crashed his car and the tires fell off, but he still tried to drive away. And there are often a lot of fights, sometimes between couples or between jealous men. His parties are infamous, and even when he decides to settle down cars still pull up in his driveway looking for a good time. Gatsby also becomes Daisy s bodyguard in a sense. When everybody finds out that Daisy was driving Gatsby s yellow car and killed the lady, Gatsby hangs around her house to make sure Tom, or anybody for that matter hurts her. It is ironic because Gatsby is the one who needed a bodyguard. Sadly he is killed before he can fulfill his dream of marrying Daisy.

Since Gatsby broke many commandments and did not follow the word of the Lord he became the looser of the game called life. Tom, although not faithful to his wife, was a hard workingman who was open about everything. Tom spends his life with Daisy and is left alive by God. Gatsby devoted his whole life to pleasing himself and marrying the women of his dreams, this makes him a great man, or the Great Gatsby.