Matthew Nguyen

The Great Gatsby Essay

Gatsby represents a balance of both good and evil, and cannot be seen as
merely good or bad. He means well, however his actions counter his good intentions
at times. His purity was gradually stained by the corruption of a mixture of
underground gang business and boundless love that have led to many conflicts
within the book. He is much like the American dream starting out as a simple, easy
to reach idea and is slowly turned into an impossible dream that cant be reached
no matter how hard you try.
Gatsbys very first true dream was to rise out of his dirt poor life in the
Midwest and become a successful wealthy man. It was a good dream at which he
worked and studied hard every day, slowly saving money to run away and reach his
dream. It seemed like he would succeed as well after meeting Dan Cody and being
the one who would inherit his fortune, but he was cheated out of it and had to start
back in square one again. Then the war further delayed him, and that is where he
began to descend into the dark underworld of the gangs when he met Meyer
Wolfshiem. Gatsby was a man who wanted to work hard for his money and live
easy, however Wolfshiem and gang members are the type who would do anything
for money no matter how dirty their hand could get. Gatsby was now making easy
money sellinggrain alcohol over the counter.(141), he had gained millions and
was now able to live his dream, but had broken the prohibition laws that banned
alcohol and that was not even the end of his quest for money. Thedrugstore
business was just small change,(141) for Wolfshiem and Gatsby who had
something that Walters is too scared to tell me about.(141). Gatsby who had
worked so hard to become a respectable rich man had been reduced to working in
the depths of the gang underworld. All he wanted was to become rich, but he had
the misfortune to be cheated, then to be pulled into the gangs. Money was once
seen as part of the American Dream, but had become a source were corruption,
greed and infatuation blooms from; easily changing an honest hardworking man
into a greedy, deceiving, and blinded crook who seeks only to gain more and more
money.
Gatsbys love knows no bounds; he will do absolutely anything for his love
Daisy no matter what the consequences may be. However you can see that his love
has become tainted by his obsession over Daisy. In some ways Gatsbys love seems
overly obsessive; constantly trying to have Daisy all for himself. Everything Gatsby
has ever done after the war has been for Daisy. The money, the parties, the rumors,
even his houses location was in some way to attract Daisy over to reunite with her.
Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.(83). He
yearns for her attention so much that he would buy a massive house directly across
from Daisys house to be as close to her as possible. His extravagant parties were
also just a way to try and lure Daisy over to his house; and at every party he would
be standing alonelooking from one group to another...(54) constantly looking
into the crowds of guests to see if Daisy was among them. He believes that Daisy

Matthew Nguyen
has only ever loved him and wants her to say that she had never loved Tom in the
first place so that he can have complete control over her and finally have her to
himself. However Daisy is torn between Tom and Gatsby and once Tom reveals
Gatsbys gangster business she quickly chooses Tom over Gatsby simply because
Tom has Stable old money while Gatsby has unstable new money. After Myrtle was
killed by being run over by Gatsbys car Nick questions Gatsby on what happened
and asked is Daisy was one driving Gatsby quickly says Yes, but of course Ill say I
was.(151). Even though Daisy has sided with Tom, Gatsby still loves her so much
that he would even take the blame of killing Myrtle when Daisy was the one that
killed her. He had become so blinded by his love that he would disregard any
common sense and aimlessly follows the past around, clinging onto the belief that
he would always have Daisy. He even believed that Daisy still loved him and would
come to him despite her already choosing Tom over him for the money Tom has.
Daisy had become his American dream; his desired, unobtainable dream that left
him so quickly that he could not understand what happened.
The past of Gatsby has reviled many actions that have been part of Gatsbys
rise and fall. James Gatz had the drive to work and study hard to become rich. He
had become the gentleman known as Jay Gatsby by living with Dan Cody and was
to be the one to inherit all his fortune. But the fortune soon quickly vanished after
he was swindled of all Dans money and was left with only the ability to be a
gentleman. He changed his course from solely money to have Daisy for himself and
had decided to make her wait until he became a man with money. Again misfortune
struck, war had begun add took him away for years, preventing him from being with
Daisy and insured that she would be taken away from him by Tom before he even
had a chance of making money. He would soon turn to the underworld for his
fortune, where the booze money would raise him to the top of society and placed
him in a position to steal back Daisy who he believed Tom had stolen her from him.
So far every choice by Gatsby had been accompanied by good and bad, countering
his attempts to become a perfect man for the one he loves. He bares the
consequences of his sins later on losing his love, his money and his life. Gatsby is
stripped of his perfect man cover and is reviled to be as human as everyone else
struggling to try and reach this idea of perfection but instead beat on, boats
against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.(189) never moving from
the spot no matter the amount of effort and sweet used to try and escape the
imperfect world that we live in.
In the end Gatsby cannot be defined as merely good or bad; he is this man
who has done bad things for his good will and had paid the ultimate price for it. He
had been corrupted by his own dreams that had once started out pure and simple.
Dreams can start out innocent and pure, but they might just easily switch into a
distorted vision that can lead you astray such as Gatsby had been.