Jay Gatsby
Jay Gatsby is a young adult of approximately 30 years who rises from poverty to become a rich man. During his childhood, he lives in the rural area of North Dakota and slowly gains wealth. However, we realize that he earns his wealth through criminal activity, such as trading in stolen security and distributing illegal alcohol. From his early years, Gatsby did not like being poor and sincerely wanted to be productive. Just after two weeks, he drops off from college because he could not raise enough fees from his small job. Although Gatsby wanted to be wealthy, he was mainly motivated by the love that he had for Daisy, who he met when he was an officer in Louisville just before leaving for world war 1. He met Daisy and immediately fell in love and going to the extent of lying about his background to please her. However, Daisy ended up marrying Tom when Gatsby was in Oxford, trying to gain an education. From that moment on, Gatsby was obsessed with winning Daisy back, which drove him to be “great.” He later acquired an enormous amount of wealth and bought a massive mansion in West Egg after that, holding lavish parties in his mansion every week. From this Gatsby story analysis, we can learn deeply and understand the personality and character traits. We learn that Gatsby is a good-hearted and loyal man. He also has numerous character traits such as hopeful, determined, romantic, and hard working.
From the passage, Jay Gatsby possesses certain character traits. First, Gatsby is friendly through his wonderful smile just as seen in the statement; “He smiled understandingly, much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you might come across four or five times in life.” When someone shows a genuine smile, he or she openly invites the sense that he is willing to interact with other people and friends as well. A genuine smile also invites the perception that someone is agreeable and trustworthy.
Additionally, a smile shows that someone is worthy of another individual’s attention and time because he is willing to cooperate. Secondly, Gatsby is cautious, and this is evident in the text; “Some time before he introduced himself, I’d got a strong impression that he was picking his words with care.” He is keen to make sure that he chooses his words with care whenever he was talking.
The passage about Jay Gatsby is among the most prominent examples of personification used in the story. The abstract concept has been given human self-awareness and has human emotions, perceptions, actions, and thoughts. The book also uses personification to capture the wonders of Gatsby as a persona, enhance the qualities of characters, and give them more depth. For instance, “He smiled understandingly… you hoped to convey.” This passage is crucial in understanding the novel’s plot because it allows us to see the wonders of Gatsby and appreciate his qualities throughout the story.
The character Jay Gatsby has been used to show several themes, including the American dream, class, and past and future. Regarding the American Dream, Gatsby symbolizes dreams, both original uncorrupted and corrupted. He thinks that his problems can be solved by wealth, which makes him pursue money through criminal activity. Gatsby’s incorruptible love for Daisy is what drives him to pursue money through shady deals. There were three different social classes in the story, such as no money, old money, and new money. However, Gatsby represents the new money social class who made their wealth in the 1920s and lacked social connections, thus compensated this by lavishly displaying their wealth. Lastly, Gatsby is frequently troubled by time; that is, he is haunted by the past. For instance, when Nick tells Gatsby that he cannot repeat the history, Gatsby replies by saying that “Why? Of course, you can!” This shows that Gatsby is determined to recapture a perfect and golden past with Daisy and believes that wealth can help in this.
Works Cited
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Broadview Press, 2007.