Otázka: Literary analysis of Jay Gatsby
Jazyk: Angličtina
Přidal(a): mudrnik
Jay Gatsby is born into poor family as James Gatz, he tries to escape poverty, working as a janitor, however this does not satisfy him, so he decides to move onto bigger things. Luckily for him, he meets Dan Cody a man who made his fortunes during gold rush.
After the death of Dan Cody, Gatsby inherits his immense wealth and meets Daisy. These two falls madly in love. But Gatsby must leave for war. Since women during that time were dependent on their husband Daisy cannot afford to wait on Gatsby and decides to marry a Tom Buchanan instead. Tom unlike Jay comes from a well-off family and can financially satisfy her needs.
Gatsby seeing that money and status is so important to Daisy decides to overhaul his identity. He is striving to look better than Tom and desperately tries to fit into the old money families and their lifestyle. He does this by changing his name and making up lies about his life. E.g.: “Well, he told me once he was an Oxford man.” A dim background started to take shape behind him, but at her next remark it faded away. “However, I don’t believe it.”
In addition, the book is full of symbolism and gives the reader hints on what is Gatsby chasing and why is he doing it. Such as the green light shining from Daisy´s dock, which Gatsby is desperately trying to reach. Here the green is used as a symbol for money (green=Dollar). You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock.” This quote is stated by Gatsby as he is showing Daisy around the house, and for the first time it is explicitly stated that the green light belongs to Daisy´s house.
Jay is unable to move on and is stuck in the past and lives in constant delusion. He does not see the real personality of Daisy and heavily romanticizes her. “She was the first “nice” girl he had ever known. In various unrevealed capacities he had meet such people, but always with indiscernible barbed wire between. He found her excitingly desirable.” I am going to fix everything just the way it was before”.
In addition, Gatsby believes money has the ability to get him anything he wants. “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: “I never loved you.” His reliance and obsession with money perfectly reflects the materialistic way of life in the US during the roaring twenties.
In Conclusion, Gatsby´s inability to move on, and stop clinging onto the past is what stops him from seeing that other people change and develop. This prevents him from being able to see Daisy the way she really is and not just her idolized version. I believe Jay Gatsby does not really develop his personality throughout the book, but simply remains stuck in his own delusions, this ends up costing him his, as he decides to protect Daisy from the consequences of her own actions up until the very end.
