Jay Gatsby is a character in the novel, “The Great Gatsby” by Scott Fitzgerald whom all the action revolves. As such, he is the protagonist of the story. Gatsby represents both the American Dream and the life of materialism and superficiality. Gatsby was raised in a low-income family in North Dakota before he joined the army and became a major where he made a lot of money from bootlegging (Young 275). From childhood, Gatsby longed for a life wealth and prosperity. Despite the urge to rich, Gatsby’s was mainly motivated by his love for Daisy. Gatsby was amazed by her charm and beauty. When Gatsby goes to fight in the war, Daisy promises that he will wait for him to come back, but later she marries Tom while studying in at Oxford. From that moment, Gatsby is dedicated to winning her heart again by purchasing a flashy mansion and holding lavish parties. This unworthy goal ends up costing Gatsby his life.

At the beginning of the story, Fitzgerald introduced Gatsby as an enigmatic host of opulent parties at his mansion every week (Lindberg 78). He appears to be surrounded by politicians and celebrity models. Power and success are what most Americans think is the definition of the American Dream. Indeed, Gatsby was the talk of the town as he hosted quite many celebrities in return for favours. Fitzgerald uses flashback to explain Gatsby’s background and explains the dubious means he uses to get money. Gatsby was involved in organised crime and bootlegging.

Fitzgerald uses delayed character disclosure to emphasise on Gatsby’s way of life. Gatsby is a person who can create an identity of his own by changing his from James to Jay so that he can reinvent himself. Based on his relentless quest to win back Daisy, Gatsby can transform his dreams into reality. Nick, a close friend to Gatsby, describes him as a rich and established man. Gatsby had the talent of self-invention and imbued greatness. This is emphasised when Nick calls him “The Great Gatsby” suggesting a person who is skilled in the art of deception and illusion (Prajoko et al., 45).

As the story progresses, Fitzgerald deconstructs the manner Jay Gatsby presents himself. Gatsby claims to be a good man who put all his efforts on achieving his dream but does not realise that the dream is unworthy.  He tries to build an image of a man that is self-made but, in the real sense, he is a criminal. (Wong 67). Notably, Gatsby is so passionate about Daisy and pursues her with an unmatched zeal only to find out that she does not hold him in high regard. Gatsby’s dreams start to crumble slowly. People began to question his source of wealth, and even Daisy gets suspicious of him. Gatsby stops hosting the parties and fires all the workers employing those of Wolfsheim. His discretion is a clear indication of his criminal doings.  The climax reaches when Gatsby takes the blame for killing Myrtle Wilson even though it was Daisy who was driving the car. Gatsby thinks that by taking responsibility, Daisy would leave her husband and get married to him. Gatsby is eventually shot by Myrtle’s husband who believes that he was the one who ran over and killed his wife.

Conclusively, Gatsby represents the danger is pursuing the American Dream based on the wrong morals. He reveals the risks of illegally gotten wealth and the unworthiness of the goal sought. Therefore, Gatsby is an accurate reflection of the crushing American Dream that was built on loose morals of pursuing wealth instead of optimism and vitality.

Works Cited

Wong, Kimberly. “The Accessibility of the American Dream to Racial Minorities in America.”

(2016).

Prajoko, Dwi Aji, et al. “The Optimal Relevance of American Dream Metaphor

Translation.” Fourth Prasasti International Seminar on Linguistics (Prasasti 2018). Atlantis

Press, 2018.

Lindberg, Lovisa. “The American Dream as a Means of Social Criticism in The Great Gatsby.”

(2015).

Young, Choi Chang. “Male Characters in The Great Gatsby from Perspective on

Postcolonialism.” 영어권문화연구 9 (2016): 275-292.

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