Literary Analysis Of The Great Gatsby

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"The Orgastic Future That Year By Year Recedes Before Us": A Literary Analysis of the Significance of Idealism and Truth on Gatsby's life.

At the time of The Great Gatsby America was wrought with corruption, racism, high wage gaps, and recklessness all veiled by the glamorization of post-war money, new found freedom for women, and extravagant parties. For Jay Gatsby the country he lives in is overwhelmed with false senses of hope for the economy and materialism. The greed felt by society as well as materialistic views on social class and identity are the main causes for Gatsby's desire for change due to Daisy's obsessions with power and money. The economic roar in the twenties caused many people to start to live recklessly and flamboyantly …show more content…
The character of Jay Gatsby arose from Jay Gatz, who grew up in a rural part of North Dakota with extremely poor German-American parents. The rural and poor life was not one to be lived by Gatsby. When he was young his parents knew he "was bound to get ahead"( Fitzgerald 185). A younger Jay Gatsby came to know a man named Dan Cody who showed him the lifestyle of a tycoon and for ten years showed James what it was like to live the life he yearned for. The past of Gatsby is recalled multiple times and it is always noted how the events of his past led him to become the man he grew up to be. For Gatz, even before he met Daisy, his ideals were based on class and wealth, this affected the way he chose to live his life and how he chose to make changes. Initially ambition, determination, and goals powered and motivated James Gatz to become someone he aspired to be. However, the ambitions changed and morphed through time and eventually his obsession with social class was heightened when James learnt that Daisy would not marry him based on his wealth. Soon James's morals and beliefs began to be ignored in hopes of obtaining what he wanted. Due to experiences with Dan Cody Gatsby vocally disapproves of alcohol, yet he earned the majority of his wealth from bootlegging illegal drugs and alcohol because of his infatuation with money and Daisy. The transformation of James Gatz starts with his ambitions and goals …show more content…
In the mind and thoughts of Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan is everything he desires in the world and he is fixated on achieving her love and affection. The belief that Gatsby holds regarding his status in comparison to Daisy causes him to lack self-confidence and convince himself that he is required to morph into a gentleman in order to be content with himself and for others, such as Daisy, to accept him socially. Gatsby has been noted by his Father to have always seen himself as being above farming and the background he comes from, which means that he envied the lifestyle of the rich even before meeting Daisy and that envy was only amplified after meeting her. One of the changes recognized in Gatsby's transformation into a newly "refined" version of himself is how he transformed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby; subsequently, the latter has an improved flow to it whereas the first name is a cacophony. The inferred intent with the transformation of his name is to create an elegant and grand image of himself by choosing a brief first name and glamourous sounding last name. The significance is that he wants people to view him the same way they would hear his name— elegant and put together. The morphing of vocabulary is another way Jay Gatsby tries to create a different image for himself; moreover, Gatsby uses the term "Old sport" previously used by his mentor Dan
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