Greed In The Great Gatsby

Published in 1925, The Great Gatsby is a novel that describes the lavish lifestyle of the elite in 1922. During this time of economic prosperity and prohibition, Americans became increasingly commercialized and demanding in regards to their possessions. There are always two sides to each coin, and within this novel there is no exception to that rule. Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are the embodiment of separate sides of the same coin. The title character of The Great Gatsby is a young man in his later twenties. While living in North Dakota in his youth, Gatsby despised being poor. Through his own willpower and determination, Jay Gatsby was able to rise from poverty and attain the riches that he had always desired. Jay achieved his goal of obtaining
riches through organized crime in the form of distributing alcohol illegally and trading stolen merchandise. Despite Gatsby’s eternal desire to be rich, it was his desire for Daisy Buchanan that drove him to attain his greatness.
When Gatsby first meets Daisy while serving in the military he lies about his past to convince her that he was worthy of her love. Daisy had promised to wait for Jay; however she married Tom Buchanan in 1919 while Jay was in Oxford following the war. From that moment on Jay Gatsby dedicated himself, and all that he would obtain, in the pursuit of Daisy. Most of the information received about Gatsby is withheld until fairly late in the novel. Fitzgerald keeps the information to a minimum so as to allow Gatsby’s reputation to precede him. Gatsby isn’t introduced as a character with dialogue until chapter 3. The fickle instances in the preceding chapters regarding Gatsby have only the purpose to create a mysterious natured man. The result is that the reader knows only the man that lives in excess and is surrounded by powerful men and beautiful
women. The use of the delayed reveal of Gatsby is Fitzgerald’s way of emphasizing the theatrical quality of Jay Gatsby. To further express Gatsby’s reinvention of himself he literally created himself by changing his own name form James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. This, combined with his relentless quest for Daisy, portrays his extraordinary ability to transform his personal hopes and dreams into a reality. This talent for being able to reinvent and create his persona truly gives him his quality of greatness; this greatness is reminiscent to The Great Houdini and The Great Blackstone, giving the idea that Gatsby is a masterful illusionist. As the novel progresses and Fitzgerald deconstructs Gatsby’s self-presentation, Gatsby reveals himself to be an innocent, hopeful young man who stakes everything on his dreams.
Gatsby endows Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly achieve in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations. His dream of her disintegrates, revealing the corruption that wealth causes and the unworthiness of the goal, much in the way Fitzgerald sees the American dream crumbling in the 1920s, as America’s powerful optimism, vitality, and individualism become subordinated to the amoral pursuit of
wealth. On the other side of the coin is Nick Carraway. While Gatsby represents the flashy celebrity that uses his power and wealth to try to grab the girl he loves, Nick is the young mid-westerner that is quiet and reflective, sent adrift in the vivid eastern lifestyle. As a young man from Minnesota, Nick travels to New York to learn the business of bond trading. He also happens to be the cousin of Daisy Buchanan, which enables him to be thrust in the middle of the love affair between Daisy and Gatsby. Nicks personality mixed with his connections and housing location, next door to Gatsby, make him the perfect candidate for the narrator of the novel. In chapter 1 Nick gives the reader an insight to his temperament. He describes himself as being tolerant, open-minded, quiet, and a good listener, usually resulting in him attaining peoples trust and allowing them to give him their secrets. Nicks actions throughout the novel are more of a commenter as opposed to being the dominate action figure. Aside from his role as narrator, Nick gives evidence of his mixed reactions regarding life on the East Coast. Nick enjoys and is attracted to the fast-paced, fun-driven lifestyle the East Coast offers. However, he finds this lifestyle to be grotesque and damaging. This internal conflict is portrayed by his romantic interest in Jordan Baker. He loves her exuberance and sophistication, but is disturbed by her dishonesty and lack of consideration of other people. Nick finds that there is a distortion of quality to life in New York, and the lifestyle makes him lose his equilibrium, especially in chapter 2 when he gets drunk at the apartment party with Tom. Following Gatsby’s appalling spectacle of Gatsby’s funeral, Nick sees the festivities of the East Coast as a cover for the moral emptiness that the valley of ashes symbolizes. Gatsby and Nick are by far the most contrasted characters from this novel. One could see these two characters as portraying Fitzgerald’s, or anyone caught up in the times’ personality; Gatsby being the passionate and active persona and Nick being sober and reflective. In a time when good, moral people got caught up in the new and unknown side of the aristocracy, Gatsby and Nick show both sides of the same coin.

Works Cited
"Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 28 May 2014.