Why is gatsby not great?

Answer 1

• Gatsby is great because he lives the American dream. He doesn't necessarily achieve it, but in a materialistic way he does.
• His pure love for Daisy and his generosity (parties at his house) show his difference from the crowd.
• His dream Daisy's reciprocal love, which he will never receive anymore, is his motivation never to give up during his penny less moments in the war. Additionally he is a great dreamer + hoping person: Until the end he never gives up, what makes him look magnanimous.
• The last factor of his greatness is the protection daisy experiences by Gatsby in the end of the novel, when he covers her after she killed Myrtle, which leads up to Gatsby's death.

Answer 2

Jay Gatsby can be regarded as not great as he is immoral. he is a 'bootlegger' and so therefore the reader informed that he is involved with 'dodgy dealings'. He is prepared to take the blame for Daisy driving the car, 'Of course ill say i was driving'. however as this can be seen as a heroic action it can also be viewed that he is prepared to lie in a legal situation. meaning he is a deceptive character. Without Nick's narration we would assume Gatsby not to be Great but the way in which Nick interprets Gatsby allows to think that he could be. He has an affair with Tom's wife Daisy, this is immoral and the wrong thing to do. Nick admits at the end of the novel, 'i never liked him from the beginning to end'. This suggests he realise at the end of the the novel how he had realised the wrong impression which Nick had got from Gatsby. One could argue that this is wrong due to the fact that Nick knew all the events before writing the novel. but he may have wanted to portray the events and his feelings of what he felt at the time of the incidents. This is of course if you believe Nick to be a reliable narrator.

Answer 3

"The Great Gatsby" makes the reader think of famous magicians like "The great Houdini" and "The Great Blackstone". This suggests that the persona of Jay Gatsby is a masterful illusion.

Gatsby's talent for reinvention is what makes him "Great"

("... and he created just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent... and to this conception, he was faithful to the end."),

and his ability to turn hopes and dreams into reality.

(His American Dream to achieve Daisy)

Answer 4

Whether or not Gatsby is "great" is a debatable issue. Here are two sides of the debate, however.

1. Gatsby is great as the title suggests, "The Great Gatsby."

Gatsby is characterized by his aspirations that guide him through his life. The most prominent is of his love for Daisy. He was born into a poor family but especially after meeting Daisy, he became determined to pursue her by reinventing who he was. After fighting in the World War, he comes back and searches for Daisy again. He holds lavish parties in order to find her and when he does, he convinces Daisy to marry him despite the fact that Daisy is already married to Tom Bunchanan. The main reason that many claim that he is in fact "great" is due to his genuine feelings for Daisy. Unlike Tom Buchanan, who uses money and power to gain what he wants, Gatsby pursues his love determinedly his entire life.

2. The counter-argument is simple: the laws he had broken (suggested textually) and the illicit affairs he had been involved with regardless of the reasons make him a fraud and a cheat.

Whether Gatsby really is great or not is really up to interpretation, but Fitzgerald meant for Gatsby to truly be a great, pure and aspiring character trying to attain his ultimate goal.

Answer 5

Gatsby is seen as not great in a moral or ethical sense due to his pursuit of wealth and status through deception and decadence, sacrificing true connection and integrity. His tragic flaw is his inability to distinguish between illusion and reality, ultimately leading to his downfall and disillusionment. Despite his wealth and extravagant lifestyle, Gatsby's legacy is tarnished by the emptiness and shallowness of his ambitions.