The Great Gatsby - Research Paper Example

Great Gatsby Introduction Many books that have been written by have represented the ideas of the society through tragic heroes. The novel Great Gatsby introduces readers to a tragic hero Jay Gatsby who has three traits that make him a tragic hero. He is a noble character who encounters many troubles to reach his dream, but he is defeated. The qualities possessed by Jay make him undergo different events until his down fall. He is a noble man because he is surrounded by lies and deceptions. Another quality that makes Jay a noble man is that he posses the qualities of morality. Jay is seen as a tragic hero because he posses the quality of a noble man because he has only one intention through the novel. Jay Gatsby is viewed as a tragic hero in the novel Great Gatsby because he possesses qualities that led to his failure. Gatsby is living a life of pretense to impress Daisy. He does not want individuals to understand the source of his money because he illegally obtained this money. Jays Gatsby owns new money, which is either obtained through illegal or legal ways. This is evident because his house is located in the west Egg. Jay’s money was obtained through illegal means from the mob. This lead to Jay hiding the real source of his money, because he did not want Daisy to realize. Jay wanted Daisy to know him again before she realize where he had obtained his money. He kept lying to people that his family was reach and that they had left him a huge amount of money (Fitzgerald, 45). The real source of his wealth was from mob activities and stealing alcohol. This was partaken to win back the love of Daisy. Jay is unable to reach his dream for the love of Daisy because he focuses on getting material wealth to win Daisy. He looks for wealth in fishy ways because he acknowledges that the life of wealthy people needs high class. Jay makes wealth a priority in his quest to get the love of Daisy. He even sacrifices his moral aspects in order to attain wealth. Gatsby is exceptionally devoted to acquiring wealth that he even engages in criminal activities such as drug dealing (Fitzgerald, Pp 53). This forces him to lie to Nick on how he acquired his wealth. His quest to receive wealth makes him loose his moral principles and this leads him to failure of achieving the love of Daisy. When people indulge in wealth they lose their moral values and this makes them become interested in physical engagements. Gatsby indulges himself in physical engagements by throwing parties to impress people. He believes he can create a paradise for himself and other people. This paradise is focused on physical pleasures with wealth being its priority. After Jay works hard and gets money, Daisy becomes interested in Jay. This is after seeing his big mansion and the expensive furniture. Jay was ready to do anything for him to win daisy even if it meant making illegal money through unlawful ways. Gatsby is much devoted to acquiring wealth that he even forgets his dream of love to Daisy (Fitzgerald, Pp. 78). Money and pleasure becomes a priority than his love for Daisy. His goal to get the love of Daisy is doomed to fail because he has lost all the moral necessities such as honesty and integrity. Gatsby has lost all the moral principles that he even tells Daisy of his love to him in the presence of his husband. He is not interested because he is so much concentrated on wealth and money (Heffron, Pp 21s). He believes money is the best strategy to bring comfort rather than family. Gatsby has become much pressured with money that he even says he will pay taxes for his neighbors if they will thatch their houses with straw. He uses his wealth to replace his emotions and fallen spirits. Jay Gatsby is naive and shallow minded. This is because he has focused his life to love Daisy who he met before going to war. While Jay is fighting to protect his country on the other side of the continent, Daisy is only enjoying life with reach people who adore her. This is very naive of Jay because he is putting his hopes high for a person who is not concerned with him. Jay is very devoted to Daisy but to the contrary she is not concerned with him. It is after a long time does Jay realizes that the love he planned for Daisy is not of her standard. Jay is a naive person because he was fascinated by the expensive life of Daisy and her luxurious style of living. This made him fall deeply in love with Daisy and he promised to come back a rich man (Harbison & Fitzgerald Pp 47). Daisy was not all that concerned with the life of Jay because she continued with her artificial way of living when Jay was away. Contrary, Jay was very concerned with Daisy because his love continued to grow even when he was away. This is evident since Jay kept Daisy activities on track because he showed him trimmings of their first encounter. Jay was ready to do anything for him to win daisy even if it meant making illegal money through unlawful ways. Jay was naive because he could not realize that Daisy was only interested with money because his love was bought for $30,000 necklace. Jay Gatsby possesses noble qualities that led to his failure. For instance, at his young age he was a poor farm and he considered himself as living in poverty. This makes him work extremely hard so that he can improve his life. Daisy is a materialist lady who grew tired of waiting for Jay during their earlier relationship because he was poor and there were other rich men interested in her. Jay worked hard to acquire wealth so that he could win Daisy despite knowing that she was only fascinated with material wealth. He is very obsessed with Daisy until he forgets that she is only interested in money (Hampson, Pp 12). After Jay works hard and gets money, Daisy becomes interested in him Jay. This is after seeing his big mansion and the expensive furniture. Jay is a tragic hero since he uses most of his wealth he acquired to win the love of Daisy. He uses his friend nick so that he could make an arrangement for him to meet with Daisy. At his home he throws parties every weekend hoping that daisy will show up at his parties (Heffron, Pp 32). Jay Gatsby buys expensive alcohol and beverages. He orders fresh fruits and vegetables to make the places look perfect incase Daisy decides to show up. Jay has an expensive limo that is very rare. He is very ridiculous because he does not get out of the house during the parties because he keeps watching from a room in the house if Daisy will appear. Conclusion Gatsby possesses noble qualities that led to his failure. This is because he has focused his life to love Daisy who he met before going to war. Jay Gatsby is a tragic hero since he is living a life of pretense to impress Daisy. At his home he throws parties every weekend hoping that daisy will show up at his parties. He loses focus on his aspirations in life and this leads to his failure. Gatsby is exceptionally committed to acquiring wealth that he even engages in criminal activities such as drug dealing. Jay makes wealth a priority in his quest to get the love of Daisy. He even sacrifices his moral aspects in order to attain wealth. The real source of his wealth was from mob activities and stealing alcohol. He did all this because he wanted to win back the love of Daisy. Jay Gatsby is viewed as a tragic hero in the novel Great Gatsby because he possesses qualities that led to his failure. Works cited Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1945 Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Nuvision Publications, LLC. 2008. Hampson, Kay. The Great Gatsby. 2006. Harbison, John &Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby: Opera In Two Acts.New York: G. Schirmer. 1999. Heffron, Jack. The Writer's Idea Book 10th Anniversary Edition: How to Develop Great Ideas for Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Screenplays. New York: Writer's Digest Books. 2012. Read More