The Great Gatsby: The Symbolic Importance of Jay Gatsby

In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is a man who has high

aspirations and is driven to attain his American Dream. The hopes and aspirations are ignited by

that green light, which he can grasp at. This green light symbolizes the love he has for this

woman named daisy, also revealing the aspects of his American Dream. For Gatsby, there is no

plan B if it fails it is all over. Gatsby needs Daisy any way he can and he will get her, he is

obsessed. He undergoes a passion, being the Agon. On the surface, Gatsby has attained this

dream, masked by the parties and wealth. He does not realize the authenticity of the illusion

which has been created out of nothing. Gatsby exhibits obvious behaviours of a psychopath and

through this, he is the living embodiment of Americans Who are believers in the facade of the

American Dream.

Jay Gatsby or Jay Gatz is the embodiment of conflict between illusion and reality at the

heart of American life. Gatsby has been a believer in that idea of tomorrow, tomorrow I will get

her. Gatsby waits and is reaching to get Daisy he is obsessed over her and goes to extreme

lengths to try and seduce her, even though she is a married woman. Gatsby goes on his dock

looking at the green light. Tomorrow, tomorrow will be the day "Daisy… you will be mine." The

green light is his drive to fulfill his American Dream. But hasn't Gatsby attained his American

Dream? The cars, wealth, that mansion?

To Gatsby everything that he has built is just the pieces to this grand puzzle that is Daisy,

everything he has done in his life was for her. This is insane for one to dedicate their whole lives

to one person who he hasn't seen in so long. Gatsby is the embodiment of beautiful bullshit and

heroic personification of An American Tragedy. Under this mask is a psychopath. He is mentally

unstable by dedicating his life for Daisy, just to fulfill this silly unattainable American Dream.

What smart man would do such a thing? Rich people have books, Gatsby has one but the books

are the illusion of being educated. Nowhere roads about attaining Daisy. We all play this persona

what we buy, where it's all buried deep in our own green light.

Fitzgerald presents the green light to be this idea of hope and dreams in Gatsby's character.

Gatsby and his interactions with the green light suggest the extreme love he attains for Daisy as

stated. The manufacturing of the American Dream can be seen through the green light. "The

green light sitting across the water over on Daisy's dock." The green light hangs at the end of

Daisy's dock. Gatsby bought his home where it is so that he could sense a chance closer to his

dream. This green light not only stands for the physical presence but the idea too. The idea is

achieving his American Dream. Gatsby reaches out for it every night say the end of his dock. In

chapter 5 we experience this importance of the Light. Its significance is expelled. Gatsby has

Daisy in his hands. "Possibly it had occurred to him the colossal significance had vanished

forever." This is troubling for Gatsby, the green light is now just a physical thing. We are all

driven by that green light of our own, we all embrace it in a unique way. Gatsby is over-obsessed

and it is in an unhealthy nature, destroying his American dream.

The American Dream is the promise of reward to those who work hard, that they will attain

wealth and a good life. This ultimately drives people like Gatsby to set unrealistic goals. This

unholy paradox, the novel is the acting tragedy of the American Dream. Gatsby achieves the

American Dream on the surface but the puzzle is not yet complete. Gatsby this he should have

Daisy, he feels that he is entitled to her because everything that he has been through for her.

Many, like most of us, believe that we are entitled to things as well. This ignorant behaviour has
aided in his downfall which is his flaw. Many fall into a similar trap, but it is the way we react to

this, how do we take on our own green light. Gatsby is obviously going to extreme lengths to

fulfill this dream, creating a madman. This goes to show the unsustainability of the American

Dream which was clearly endured in the 1920s. Does Gatsby realize this unsustainability of the

American Dream? "Gatsby believed in the green light… we will stretch further." This

description proves the American dream is unattainable and shows that dreams are not reality.

The truths are made manifest through the car crash scene where we see people from lower class

suffer while the upper class can escape due to their privilege. This translates to real-life who

those with less always end up suffering.

Gatsby is the prime example of to be the physical facade of the American Dream, thus

preventing him to exhibit psychotic behaviour. Gatsby has revealed the truth of manifest by

showing us that one's wants do not benefit the community. God loved his son, he killed him for

us. If plan A fails for Gatsby he is dead. Gatsby is totally unaware of this illusion of his dream,

how it is impossible to achieve. Gatsby is unaware of titles, he does not realize he won't win

Daisy over Tom. This is seen at the end of the novel in his rate where his beginnings come out.

Tom is "old money" Gatsby is "New Money" he does not have the class that Tom inhabits. The

reality of the American Dream is not a visual possession, he is unable to see past this. Finally,

Gatsby is a man of hope and dreams but those hopes and dreams are the representation of a

psychotic man who shows the American tragedy.