Tragedy in The Great Gatsby Essay

The Great Gatsby

In the book The Great Gatsby, author F. Scott Fitzgerald tells the story of a group of troubled upper class New Yorkers during the summer of 1922. The main character is Jay Gatsby, a wealthy young man who worked his way up from rags to riches. To the community, Gatsby is known for the lavish parties he throws each weekend at his mansion in West Egg. He is suspected of being involved in suspicious, illegal activities such as bootlegging as a source of his fortune. Gatsbys neighbor, Nick Carraway, is both a character and the narrator of the novel. He resides in a weather-beaten cardboard bungalow that is sandwiched between Gatsbys mansion and another equally large house. Nick is from the Midwest and was educated at Yale. He came to West Egg to begin his new job in the bond business. Nick actually works most of the time, so all of his accounts in the story are on his off time. He is very much an observer. When he first arrives in New York, he goes to East Egg to visit his second cousin Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan and their daughter. East Egg is made up of established families coming from old money. Its residents look down on the West Eggs because it has many lower class, new money inhabitants. Tom Buchanan attended Yale as well and comes from a very wealthy Midwestern family too. He is a large, intimidating muscular man with classic good looks and a violent temper. While at the Buchanans home, Nick meets Jordan Baker, the beautiful and corrupt longtime friend of Daisy. They become romantically involved for a short period of time. Jordan later tells Nick that Tom has a mistress named Myrtle Wilson, the wife of an oil place. After a few encounters with the two adulterers, Nick decides that Tom definitely is not the best husband being that he cheats and occasionally beats on women. After a lot of unsuccessful parties, Gatsby decides to confide in Nick about his feelings for Daisy and asks him to set up a meeting with her alone so that he could talk to her without her husband present. It turns out that fives years prior to the meeting, Daisy and Gatsby had been a serious couple and he had planned to marry her. Unfortunately, war intervened and Gatsby went off to battle. Daisy tried half-heartedly to wait for him but Tom came along and swept her off her feet with his money and security and charm. So Gatsby was forgotten. When he returned from war, he tried to track her down but she was gone and so he decided that he was going to build an empire for her. He was going to give her anything she could ever want. His means of doing so were of questionable legality but he did it in the end. He even moved directly across the water from Daisys home at East Egg when he found her again. He worshipped her. Nick felt that Gatsby deserved her more. So he set up the meeting, and Daisy came over without the knowledge of Gatsbys presence. From there, an affair began. And soon after Gatsby wanted Daisy to leave Tom. What he did not realize was that Daisy was mostly just getting back at Tom for cheating on her. She was not willing to give up her home and her daughters father for him. When Tom finds out about their affair he ends the trip to town immediately but still allows the two to drive home together. On the way, Daisy was driving and accidentally hits Myrtle Wilson, killing her instantly. She was driving Gatsbys car, so he was ready to take the fall for the woman that he loves but before the police made there way to him, Tom tells George Wilson that Gatsby was driving the car and her was the killer. In turn, George murders Gatsby and then kills himself. Daisy and Tom keep living life the way they always had, reckless and completely oblivious to the rules or consequences. Through the entire ordeal that ultimately claimed Gatsbys life, Nick had been observing his every move, taking notes on his life and problems. He was perhaps judging him. After all, Nick said that Gatsby represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.

At the beginning of the novel, Nick recalls a some advice that his father had given him ages ago. Whenever you feel like criticizing any one just remember that all the people in this world havent had the advantages that youve had. With that in mind, Nick continues to associate and interact with a man that is so against everything Nick values. He does not leave Gatsby. He is like a child in a sense. Nick knows that he is fragile. Things have to be put a certain way for him. Hes not like everyone else. Hes blind to the negative things about people. He only sees good even when there is plenty of bad. He is constantly taken advantage of. Its so obvious to anyone around him that hes miserable. Gatsby has so many tangible and material items and treasures but none that matter In the end. Hes rich on the outside, but on the inside, in his heart, hes poor. At times, Nick seems envious of Gatsbys freedom and achievement. Soon after, Nick always realizes that his freedom is not real. He is imprisoned by his desire for the one thing he cannot have.

Nick found a beauty in Gatsby. He was tragic and poetic and artistic and lovelorn. He was so much more than the boring millionaires with their inherited money and respect that lived in the Eggs. Jay Gatsby was a man of determination and destiny. He fought through the worst conditions for one thing and even had it grasped one last time. He was beautiful because he would fail, because he did all of it for her and still couldnt have her. Little did he know that he was defeated before he started. In a sense it was just a long death. His life had ended the day he shipped off, five years ago. Anyone that has a story like that should be considered great.

Whether or not this novel is a tragedy is not the question. Although there are strong arguments for both sides. The question is: How did Nick see it? How did Gatsby see it? The Buchanans? The time and torture that Gatsby went through was finally brought to an end. He was finally happy for a short moment and then put out of his misery before it could set it. Or maybe he was a jovial fellow who would have moved on from Daisy. Although that is a highly unlikely situation, Gatsby passed before that branch could be ventured and the mystery of it is just another ounce of his beauty.