On The Greatness of Gatsby

1.Introduction

The Great Gatsby， as a true portrayal of “Lost Generation”， is written by the twentieth century of Francis Scott Fitzgerald. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his passion and obsession for the beautiful upper-class woman Daisy Buchanan. It embodies and expresses simple human desires and yearnings， inherent in all men， for dreams and happiness. "In this paper， we are focused to the “greatness” of the pitiable and tragic character-Gatsby， then find out why is Gatsby great.

2. Gatsby’s Greatness

Gatsby’s greatness lies in material wealth and his spiritual determinations sticking to His dream. For higher needs require better outside conditions to make them possible. And it is Gatsby’s strong will to win back Daisy that brought Gatsby great material wealth and it is his Individual creativity that makes his spirit glorious.

2.1 Material Wealth

Material wealth is considered as a criteria of one’s social status and identification. Gatsby is endeavored to accumulate riches to qualify himself to meet the need of the social norms. And he finally possesses beautiful mansion and his grand parties to show off with an intention of attracting Daisy.

2.1. 1 "The Extravagancy of the Time

From his failure of love with Daisy， Gatsby gets a good lesson and knows he must be rich. When he can not come back to Daisy because of going to Oxford University， Daisy feels great pressure from outside world. The story’s narrator-Nick describes her situation：

And all the time something within her was crying for a decision. She wanted her life shaped now， immediately- and the decision must be made by some force- of love， of money， of unquestionable practicality- that was close at hand.

That force took shape in the middle of spring with the arrival of Tom Buchanan. There was a wholesome bulkiness about his person and his position， and Daisy was flattered.（151-152）

That is to say， Tom satisfies Daisy's need because of the force of love， the force of money， and the force of unquestionable practicality. All the three are combined to make Daisy decide to marry Tom. From the story of Tom and Daisy's marriage， Gatsby comes up with a conclusion： if he possesses what Tom possesses， he is sure to win Daisy back. He knows the only choice he can have is to change his situation of poverty.

Before Fitzgerald presents readers who Gatsby is， readers can only perceive the great riches Gatsby makes within a few years. Now Gatsby is a wealthy young man living in a grand mansion in East Egg. He is famous for the lavish parties he throws every Saturday night， but no one knows who he is. At the beginning of Chapter Three， the big party given by Gatsby deliberately shows that Gatsby is rich enough to match up with the East Egg where Tom and Daisy live， to show that he is able to Daisy back.

2.1.2 The Authentic Intention of the Parties

Actually， the parties given every week-end by Gatsby are alienated parties. Gatsby does not get pleasure from the parties but uses them as a means to show his wealth and， the most of all， to attract his dreamy girl一 Daisy. In chapter 3， the narrator Nick depicts the picture of Gatsby in the party：

When the Jazz History of the World was over， girls were putting their heads on men's shoulders in a puppyish， convivial way， girls were swooning backward playingfully into men's arms， even into groups， knowing that someone would arrest their falls一but no one swooned backward on Gatsby， and no French bob touched Gatsby's shoulder， and no singing quartets were formed with Gatsby's head for one link （50）.

From those words， we know Gatsby is completely alienated from the party. It seems that he has nothing to do with the party： no dancing， no drinking， no playing. What he has is the loneliness of being alienated.

2.2 Spiritual Greatness

Though Gatsby is living in the times when everything is floating in air， he is so determined to pursue his dream and realize his dream of wealth. Gatsby is great because he has this kind of ability to realize his dream. It is always right to pursue the wealth or money or dream in whatever situations， whether the situation is alienate or not. But the alienation makes his dream have a temporary greatness. Under this ideology， he has formed a wrong idea： he can control his love by means of money or wealth， which leads his quick and tragic end.

Gatsby has another spiritual greatness： sincerity and loyalty. He is sincere and loyal to his love， to his dream. It is his loyalty to love that drives him to go from rags to riches. When his purpose of winning Daisy back is perceived by Tom， he deliberately tells all his truth about his love to Daisy. Gatsby has a sharp conflict with Tom. After the accident happens， Nick has a talk with Gatsby about it.

\"Was Daisy driving？\"

\"Yes，\" he said after a moment， \"but of course I’ll say I was. You see， when we left New York she was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive一and this woman rushed out at us just as we were passing a car coming the other way. It all happened...\".（114-115）

Gatsby uses \"of course\" so naturally that it seems he were Daisy's husband. He is so considerate to Daisy that he is willing to be Daisy's scapegoat. And his greatness can be seen from his death， he is really good-natured， responsible and sincere.

3.Conclusion

Gatsby pinned the faith to American dream一 that with wealth and power to acquire happiness. Throughout his entire life， he was endeavored to gain riches with the intention to win Daisy’ back. Finally， he became one member of upper class. But the final result of him was death. Although he had failed to realize his dream， he is still great， his greatness lies both in material wealth for which he has made a great effort. And another important thing一spiritual greatness， although Gatsby lives in a society where people indulge in the material comforts and regard money as the only thing， he still has dreams and ideals， and has great determination to realize them. Here his value has been fulfilled.

References

1.Francis Scott Fitzgerald. 2005. The Great Gatsby[M]. Wordsworth Classics

2.Fang Yaping. 2010. From Jatz to God’s Boy： On the Greatness of Gatsby[J]， Overseas English

3.Huang Yuan. 2014. An Interpretation of Jay Gatsby’s Tragedy in The Great Gatsby from the Perspective of Sartre’s Existence[J]，Yunnan Normal University