Blake Reames

Mrs. Lott

English 11

6 May 2021

The Great Gatsby Final Essay

Throughout The Great Gatsby our eyes are opened up to all of the bad decisions that people are prone to making. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald suggests none of the Characters in the Great Gatsby are noble and responsible with the exception of Nick Carraway. Every character played a colossal role when it comes to Gatsby’s death but I believe the person we should hold most accountable is Gatsby himself. 

Gatsby’s intangetable love for Daisy is what ultimately led to his unpredictable demise. All of Gatsby’s motivation was inspired by the mere thought of living a perfect life with Daisy. This unhealthy mindset was greatly exploited when Gatsby was giving Daisy a tour of his home. Gatsby had perfected the house with such immense detail to the point to where, “A man in England'' buys Gatsby the finest clothing in hopes one day Daisy will wear them (Fitzgerald 97). Despite Gatsby’s efforts to astonish Daisy with his sumptuous clothing and extravagant mansion, Daisy could only focus on the regret that she felt deep down inside. She had come to the realization that Gatsby had come so far from just to impress her. In addition, Gatsby struggled to gain the full picture of daisy. He hadn’t taken the time to get to know all of her and instead inflated the idea of  her in his mind. This created a mirage when interacting with her and resulted in him missing all of the cues to step away. Gatsby was trying to force his way into Daisy’s life so quickly that he assumed many things and told Tom, “ Your wife doesn’t love you”, (Fitzgerald 137). But this is where Gatsby is very wrong. Daisy loves both of them and can’t seem to pick a side. The situation escalated very quickly knowing Tom’s flaring temper. 

Tom and Gatsby had clashed since the beginning of the book. Being the competitive person Tom is, he was dying to prove Gatsby was not anything near his great facade. Gatsby never saw that Tom had it out for him because of his blurred vision. His behavior and actions put a target on his back when it came to people similar to Tom. Feeling threatened Tom decides to have people look into Mr. Gatsby’s past and he found that he’s “...Got something on now that Walter’s afraid to tell me about”(Fitzgerald 141). Gatsby remained unaware until Tom used it as a topic for discussion when trying to “win” Daisy. Nevertheless Gatsby still could not have been bothered and ignored all signs of a mounding problem. Gatsby’s Blatant disregard dug him further into a hole. Tom eventually pins everything on Gatsby while conversating with George wilson claiming gatsby “Then he killed her”(Fitzgerald 166). The situation as a whole could have been avoided if you were Gatsby. His unstoppable drive to receive what he wants is what ultimately plays a huge role in his unfortunate ending. 

To continue on Gatsby was a man of arrogance and fiend for the center of the stage. This obnoxious ego is not likeable to those who seek jealousy. People like George Wilson who work extremely hard for every dollar may look at someone like Gatsby and think very negative of him. This is one reason why George Wilson is so quick to believe Tom and jump to conclusions at the end of the book because he is not likeable to outsiders. Gatsby’s facade does not correctly depict him, we see many flashes of the real him but he did not hesitate to boast talking about his house“ He revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her... ”(Fitzgerald 96).. This characteristic was Gatsby’s most noticeable trait upon meeting him so making first impressions was not his strong suit. Small imperfections like this added onto the pre existing target on his back. Gatsby being the living definition of the exact opposite of modest and humble made him easy to hate. In which this is how a few people felt about him and it grew to the point where George Wilson went to his house where the chauffeur “heard the shots”, (Fitzgerald 169). George wilson had murdered Mr. J. Gatsby and killed himself in the act. Soon his funeral took place where only Nick and a handful of others attended, none of which were who he assumed were his close friends.

To conclude, Mr. Gatsby was a man who was lost in the love that controlled his heart and his mind. The text argues his lack of proper decision making socially, and willingness to let friends of the past go is what ultimately paved the road to his eternal rest.