Gatsby

Answer

The Great Gatsby

Question 1

‘The Great Gatsby’ fictional story presents various ways in which some people can imagine and live out their dreams. One of the examples is that of Gatsby who came from a poor farming family and dreamt of becoming rich (Fitzgerald, 1991). He had a distaste for poverty and limitations that came with being poor. He dreamt of a time when he will be able to be rich just like other people. According to Buell (2014), he eventually lived that dream by using the advice of his mentor, Dan Cody, who shows him the ways of dealing with Copper and becoming filthy rich. Gatsby finally gets rich and, therefore, moves from rags to riches. The second example is the dream that Gatsby had of reuniting with Daisy. By hosting so many parties in his house with the idea that Daisy would attend, he lived the dream by being joined during a party held at Nick’s house (Fitzgerald, 1991). Finally, Nicks imagines of being invited to Gatsby’s party which was happening every week. He is finally invited despite the fact that Gatsby used not to invite people.

The three issues on how people can imagine and live out their dreams suggest that Gatsby’s ‘dream’ about having a better life and getting ahead is just having riches and getting the type of women that he desires (Lindberg, 2015). As such, his definition of ‘getting ahead’ is being filthy rich. The novel has a striking similarity with experiences of real life today. One of such experiences is those people who grow from humble beginnings and later manage to make it in life and live large. Secondly, it is a sign of individuals who dream of having relationships with those they like and eventually make it. Finally, the novel’s theme of moving from rags to riches relates with current experiences of people who grow up in poor backgrounds but later make it in life.

Question 2

The tactics used by Fitzgerald in his role as a novelist are those of starting the story slowly and then opening the eyes of the readers to the hidden truth which provides them with the real picture of events and the actual characters of people. This theme used by the author creeps up as, at first, I developed sympathies for some characters but later changed my thoughts as the story unfolded. A perfect example of how my mind transitioned is that of Daisy. In this case, I thought during the beginning of the story that she was an honorable woman. However, as the study progresses, I realized that she had another relationship with Tom and that she was actually cheating on him with Gatsby. My thoughts are then transitioned to view Daisy as a cheater and immoral woman who is after riches and does not care about hurting the feelings of other people. Additionally, I saw Nick as an upright person at the start of this story. However, when he aids and abets the extramarital affair between Daisy and Gatsby, my views on him changes.

The changes of the themes of the story and characters of people midway in the story make Fitzgerald have an effective way of telling the story. The fact that he starts slowly then opens my eyes as the story progresses enables me sometimes to be surprised and in other times change my understanding of the characters. Additionally, reading the story in the manner presented by Fitzgerald reminds me of the contemporary approaches and illusions that people have in the society. For instance, I think about people who appear harmless but later turn out to be very dangerous. As such, the strategy used by Fitzgerald is an effective one.

Question 3

In my eyes, Gatsby is heroic because he managed to imagine things and later lived the dream that he had. Gatsby climbed up the social ladder by starting up as a son of a poor farming family to a wealthy person who achieved all he wanted. Specifically, Gatsby is a romantic hero because when he was in the army, he could not get into a relationship with Daisy because Jay was unable to fulfill her needs; however, he later sacrificed all he had for her. When Jay met Daisy, his whole life was centered on making enough money so that he could get her back. His ‘dream’ was on recapturing what he had lost due to poverty at the beginning of the story. He even went ahead and purchased a house close to Daisy’s hoping that she would one day hear the party and join him; eventually, he managed to get her. Such actions are heroic as they depict how an individual can move from rags to riches.

Some of the characters who display the heroic nature of Jay include George Soros who after escaping the Nazis managed to become one of the top successful investors globally. Additionally, Buell (2014) suggests that Larry Ellison came from the slums but eventually co-founded Oracle, a big international company. Such people are heroes who defied all odds to live their dreams. Jay is referred to as a ‘timeless character’ because his experiences can be compared to people in different generations (Lindberg, 2015). Specifically, his transition from a poor person to a rich one can be applied to past generations as well as the present where people are born in poverty but achieve their dreams with time. As a result, the character he plays in the novel is relevant in the past and the present times.

Question 4

The representation of the ‘Dream’ in ‘The Great Gatsby’ does in various ways align with my background. One of the similarities is the view that a ‘Dream’ is a social doctrine which drives people into doing things and ‘getting ahead’ (Lindberg, 2015). In my culture, we use our aspirations to work hard and achieve our goals. As such, ‘Dream’ in our culture is viewed as the driving force towards the achievement of success in life. Without having a ‘Dream,’ we believe that we will not work hard as we will not have any set goals and objectives which will necessitate hard work and determination. However, the difference is that, the ‘Dream’ presented does not materialize as some individuals end up dying tragically. For instance, according to Buell (2014), although Jay achieves his dream, he ends up dying and is just a few individuals attend his final sendoff. Additionally, his fame dies with him, and he is not remembered for any good he did for the society. Such a value is not one that is used to represent a dream as only a real dream is recognized as a method of getting ahead. However, the fact that ‘The Great Gatsby’ displays how a ‘Dream’ can drive people (such as Jay) is in tandem with my cultural representation of the same.