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How Is Jay Portrayed In The Great Gatsby

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Few stories capture such a polarized figure as Gatsby in the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. On one hand, Gatsby is a wealthy man who does little to hurt others and shows a great level of respect for those around him. However, on the other hand, he was a deeply corrupted character blinded by emotions and desires that devoured him from the inside out. The book's main character, Nick, is the technical writer of the story, and so the name of the book “Great” Gatsby already says something about Nick’s opinion of Gatsby. However, Nick is left blind by many things, only vicariously hearing about the feigned appearance of Gatsby and his wealth from other deeply corrupt characters and not hearing anything uncorrupted about Gatsby …show more content…

‘You can’t repeat the past.’ ‘Can’t repeat the past?’ He cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’ He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand.” (Fitzgerald 110). He was completely blinded by his feelings for Daisy, so much so that he believed that he could control time to repeat the past, reproaching Nick when he said he couldn’t. It was highlighted in chapter 5 too, when Gatsby knocks over Nick’s clock waiting for Daisy (Fitzgerald 86-87), illustrating Gatsby’s attempt to ‘control time.’ It was not only when being challenged on time, but any other time something got in his way, he became aggressive, as when Tom talks about uncovering Gatsby’s dealings in front of Daisy, he is described as looking like he had ‘killed a man’ (Fitzgerald 134). Whenever his dream is challenged in any way, Gatsby’s calm manners and attitude disappear, and he is revealed to be quite aggressive. There is another characteristic of Gatsby hidden beneath his surface as well. One thing that truly makes Gatsby stand out from the crowd to Nick is how driven by emotion he …show more content…

‘But it wasn’t a coincidence at all.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.” (Fitzgerald 78). Gatsby did it because he loved Daisy, doing whatever he could to be close to her. Gatsby is a Romantic character trapped in the challenges of the Modernist period, because the characteristics that Gatsby shows—emotion, care for making things beautiful with nature because of Daisy (Fitzgerald 84), his individuality, and so on—are all characteristics of the Romantic period. However, someone like Nick—written in the first person, his symbolism, formalism, and formality when addressing certain topics—are all characteristics of the Modernist period. The reason that Fitzgerald conveyed it in this way is likely to highlight the shift in the times. How characters like Gatsby, wrought by emotions, simply cannot exist in a world with the Modernist ideals shown by someone like Nick. As it is said at the beginning of the novel, Nick saw Gatsby as ‘great’ because of his hope (Fitzgerald 2)—a hope he never saw in anyone else because the Romantic period characteristics that defined Gatsby didn’t exist in anyone else that Nick knew. So, is Gatsby ‘great?’ It depends on what light you shine on

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