Why Is The Great Gatsby Great

Whether it’s the lavish parties or immoral behavior of the upper class, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, in the beginning of the story seems to be going for the shock value. The books repeats and focuses on how much the rich don’t care for societal norms, and shows the reader just what happens when a normal person tries to become like them. Fitzgerald shows Gatsby as an attractive personality that doesn’t bother following the rules if it means achieving his dream. However, that isn’t all there is to it; Fitzgerald is also saying something about how impossible it is for those who aren’t born into the world of daily parties and callous behavior to enter it on hard work alone.
Gatsby worked hard on becoming wealthy in the Midwest getting
He shows them as lacking any set of morals. Even our narrator Nick doesn’t really care and does whatever is interesting, however he changes after having met Gatsby a bit, but his callousness still shows a bit when he decides to break up with Jordan on the phone. However, Fitzgerald still paints Gatsby as being “Great”; why is that you might ask? It’s because even after having accumulated after all that wealth Gatsby still had one thing that set him apart from the rest of the wealthy. That trait is ultimately what leads to his demise, but nonetheless it is his source of greatness. That trait is that he still loved someone. True it was in a sort of madness that he loved her, but that is more emotion than any other empty character aside from Myrtle’s husband George showed. The difference between George and Gatsby is a simple one. Society naturally respects the wealthy and strives to be liked them; George was just a common man so emotions and feelings existed for him because that’s just we’d expect from a normal person. However, Gatsby showed the reader that in achieving his dreams he gave up a lot of things, such as his name, morals, and family; he refused to give up on what drove him, his emotions and desire for more. It’s what makes Gatsby one of us, the commoners. He achieved what many dream of achieving, and he did so while keeping the traits we admire in people, those we see ourselves as