Created: January 27, 2022
Modified: February 07, 2022
Modified: February 07, 2022
Great Gatsby
This page is from my personal notes, and has not been specifically reviewed for public consumption. It might be incomplete, wrong, outdated, or stupid. Caveat lector.- Gatsby's life has been consumed by the single purpose of winning Daisy. He becomes wealthy, buys a giant house, and throws massive parties, not for their own sake but only because he wants to become the sort of person that Daisy would like.
- The green light across the water symbolizes what he yearns for but ultimately can never quite acquire: closeness to Daisy.
- Most of the 'visible' activity in the world (throwing parties, jousting for wealth and status) is driven by invisible, deeply personal motivations.
- He is consumed to the point where he pushes it too far: he forces Daisy to choose, to say that she never loved Tom. When in fact she did.
- Ultimately his singlemindedness leaves him broken when he fails at his one objective. Meanwhile he has no network of friends or other relationships; no one cares or comes to his funeral.
- An ostensible theme is the impossibility of recapturing the past. Gatsby wants to return to when he and Daisy were in love, and denies that the situation could be different now.
- Another theme is the falseness of the American dream. Gatsby is a poor boy made good; he acquires great wealth, is successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams, but his life is ultimately empty and unhappy.
- Nick Carroway, the narrator, is in the story but almost entirely as an observer. He starts out seeking the American Dream himself, moving to the city to start a financial career. By the end, he's seen through Gatsby that dreaming of wealth alone is not enough.