The Great Gatsby Is One of the Finest Novels - Essay Example

s the assignment was due The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is one of the finest novels written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a famous American writer in the twentieth century. This novel is a simple story with intricate description of the characters that are honored and criticized by many. The story revolves around the main character named Nick, who narrates to the readers, about the life of another character, Gatsby. The novel portrays Gatsby’s dream of pursuing his love for Daisy, whom he met five years ago. He deliberately involves in possessing wealth for winning back his lost love and finally faces the consequences of it. There are also various sub plots within the novel that intertwines with few other characters of the novel. The characters of the novel are bound with little moral values and runs after possession of wealth and materialistic values all throughout their life. Thus, the focus will be on how the characters went after one of the American Dream of acquisition of materialistic things particularly financial wealth, although that pursuit brought out their selfish side and also took them on a self-destructive path, all of which not only prevented them from reaching the beautiful state, but made also them realize their folly. Most of the characters in the novel are corrupted in the chase of wealth. There is a lack of morality in the lives of these characters as they focus on the possession of wealth and pleasure for their own gain. The author depicts how the characters tend to use people and things for their mere selfishness. Thus, their lives end up devoid of purposes and true love. This is well portrayed in the personality of each character of the novel. Fitzgerald presents the character of Gatsby, as a ceaseless possessor of wealth through all means. The reason behind his strong determination for accumulating wealth, even through illegal ways, was his true love. He believes that with the wealth he had possessed, he can get back his lost love. He strives hard in tempting and winning over his love, Daisy. However, life proves finally, that it is just an illusion. All his attempts to pursue Daisy were met with negative results. Thus, Gatsby had to face various consequences for his acts to reach his version of American dream. It shows in the end of the novel, how fallacious use of wealth can pave way for one’s destruction. Actually, Gatsby views Daisy as his golden girl, a rich man’s beautiful little girl who became an ultimate dream for a poor boy. Even Gatsby describes her as, “Her voice is full of money – that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbal’s song of it. High in a white palace the king’s daughter, the golden girl.” (Fitzgerald 99). On the other hand, Daisy is attracted towards Gatsby for his good looks, which gradually override her obsession towards wealth and so she marries Tom, an extremely wealthy man. Even after the marriage, she starts an affair with Gatsby, flattered by his wealth. Of course, as mentioned above, she was the motive behind his wealth accumulation. She is blinded by the immense wealth that Gatsby holds and has no concerns for his personality and life. Thus, not only Gatsby’s pursuit of wealth, but Daisy’s focus on wealth is viewed critically here because although she overrode her obsession of wealth, she eventually married Tom focusing on the wealth. However, at the same time, even her initial attraction towards Gatsby mainly based on his good looks, also do show her in an apt light. Although, Gatsby may know that Daisy could not be able to understand and pick true love over materialistic things, and thereby is ‘shallow’ when it comes to love, Gatsby was not ready to let her go. The entire lifestyle of Gatsby including parties and possessions were all attempts to attract Daisy. Though he pursued his dream, yet his life turned a downhill from that very moment. Once he had conquered Daisy, the dream of Gatsby is literally fulfilled. He has now nowhere to go and nothing to accomplish, as he is presently living his life of his dreams. This was set as the downhill to his self-destruction. It can be argued that, all his attempts of wealth possession had one graceful reason – his real love. But this seems to be an unworthy effort when Daisy leaves him in the end. That is, although, Gatsby takes the blame for Daisy, who drove the car that killed Myrtle, she fled with Tom with no concern for Gatsby. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then re-treated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” (Fitzgerald 145). Fitzgerald emphasizes that Gatsby’s quest for Daisy is more than just a physical endeavor. He views Gatsby’s dream as a spiritual pursuit for his love. “In an important sense, he is the embodiment of the American Dream. He has faith in life.” (McAdams 656). Gatsby’s dream of five years gets shattered when he finds that he had been running behind an illusion of love, not the true love itself. Thus, Gatsby lately realizes that he has been chasing an unworthy love as the vision of his life. As his dream is smashed by an unworthy individual, so does his America’s dream towards money and pleasure. It is believed that, with enough money, one can buy happiness by spending on materialistic possessions, but this does not serve for the long run as everyone has to face the consequences of their own acts. It is also represented through America’s spirituality, which also gets corrupted with the changes arising due to the people’s quest for wealth. The novel, Great Gatsby depicts how pursuit of wealth, purely focusing on possessing materialistic things, can lead individuals to live of life of emptiness. On the same lines, the central character of Gatsby pursues wealth to get hold of his lady love, only to be ditched by her. Thus, the novel teaches the concept that going after only materialistic wealth, even through illegal, can lead to nowhere, and will make the individuals to live a corrupt life. “The value of this novel has to be taken as an encouragement for reflecting on our direction in life. We should not think of Gatsby as a condemnation of America, but rather as a "wake-up call" of all sorts,” (McAdams 660). Works Cited Fitzgerald, F Scott. The Great Gatsby. Interactive Media, 2012 McAdams, Tony. “The Great Gatsby as a Business Ethics Inquiry.” Journal of Business Ethics. 12. 8 (1993): 653-660. Read More