The Great Gatsby Title Analysis

The title of a fiction book can be one of the most important aspects of the writing process because they often have a great influence on the story. In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the title was created with the intention of using irony to characterize the main character. At first, when the reader begins the story, they see Mr. Jay Gatsby, a man of enormous wealth with a huge mansion, a very nice car and someone who throws crazy parties in which hundreds of strangers attended while seeing Gatsby as a glamorous and magnificent person because of the title and background knowledge of the book. However, the perception of Gatsby changes greatly throughout the book. As the story progresses the reader begins to see Gatsby as a sad man who is focused on recreating the past. By giving the title of “The Great
This shows that the “greatness” described in the title is fake, creating a sense of irony for the reader. At the end of the book, the reader finds out that all of Gatsby’s wealth doesn’t even make him happy. He ends up firing all of his servants and stops throwing parties. The reader also learns that his wealth comes from illegal activities (not a drug store chain…). The only reason he became the wealthy person he is was to impress Daisy and try to recreate their love before Gatsby left for WWI. Lastly, Gatsby’s “friends” are only using him for his wealth. This is shown in the last chapter of the book at Gatsby’s funeral. Nick tries his hardest to get any of his friends to come to Gatsby’s funeral, but nobody except his father shows up.

Instead of being a good, glamorous “Great”, the title “The Great Gatsby” was meant to be a sad great. The irony of the title is one of the aspects that makes “The Great Gatsby” such an exciting