Why is Gatsby Great? - The Great Gatsby (1974) Discussion

[–] OneThousandThings 19 years ago

you're an idiot

"Two... four horses? That's crazy."

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[–] jaffamuncher 19 years ago

The book come from Nicks point of view. What made Gatsby great to Nick was that he was trying to better himself. He wanted out of the poor lifestyle he had as James Gatz and made himself into the rich Jay Gatsby.

Though Nick says he likes to reserve judgements (page 1 in my book)he looses this when he leaves New York and heads back West, we see he doesnt like the Buchanan style people, who have the money and only care about materialistic things but nick returns with good views on Gatsby as in the end, he was the only character Nick could see another side of. Which make Gatsby great to him.

(im studying this novel at the moment...)

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[–] el_pieablo 19 years ago

Gatsby is great cause the story is told by Nick Carraway, who adores Gatsby, not just for his lavish parties, but for the man he is behind the facade, A man just wanting to be loved, and wanted. Nick was the only person to see the real Gatsby, Hence the Great Gatsby

"This is my BOOMSTICK"

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[–] Police386 19 years ago

He's anything but great. The title is ironic.

http://www.ymdb.com/police386/l14835_ukuk.html

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[–] schu617 19 years ago

I agree with the person who compared the title of the "Great" Gatsby to the titles of the Great Houdini, etc. Gatsby was like the great illusionists that captivated the public in the '20s in that he created a perception of himself that was not true. I'm sure the fact that he did it for love is also valid and part of Fitzgerald's decision in choosing a title, but I think "Great" is more of a reference to his role as an illusionist.

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[–] hmatin 19 years ago

Am I going off on one here: are nick and gatsby the same person?
rather like fight club with ed norton as nick and brad pitt as gatsby. The pitt/redford parallels are neat!

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[–] gregm1989 19 years ago

I believe that gatsby is great for a couple reasons:

1. his ability to reinvent himself. not many people can just drop their entire lives and become something completely different and "spring from the platonic vision of themselves." remember his schedule for self improvement? thats initiative that not many people have.

2. his capacity to love. in a community such as the one exhibited in the book where friendship and loyalty are just code words for how many venal pleasures one can satisfy you, gatsby seemed to be the only person there that really knew how to love somebody. his love for daisy, although dillusional, stayed with him literally until the day he died.

also i mentioned the fact that he is dillusional, which can be viewed as good AND bad. he flat out refused to believe that his chances with daisy were long gone. to maintain this type of blissful ignorance can be considered great.

hope this helped, even though its like a year too late.

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[–] el_pieablo 19 years ago

In reference to point 2, Carraway also know the meaning of friendship and loyalty as exhibited in this, "your better than the lot of them Gatsby"

"Brick Not Hit Back!"

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] jjtcorsair 19 years ago

The title refers to the way his wealth allowed him to be perceived. He tried to appear "great" in terms of the trappings of wealth in order to get Daisy back but in truth he was less than great.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] eden_echo 19 years ago

I don't think Gatsby was altogether great, it was how people perceived him and in their opinions, they thought he was great but only because of all the lavishness he put upon them, with his long after midnight parties, him flaunting his "newfound' wealth. But all in all, why go into such details and trying to figure out all these "major" things, it's just a story about a man still pining for a woman he'll never have again.

ANIMAL LOVERS UNITE

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[–] GTKing7 19 years ago

i think Gatsby was great in a way.. he stayed true to his dreams.. not many people do that..

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] solidsnake5555 19 years ago

In my opinion Gatsby is great because of his dream. Gatsby loved Daisy and never let the dream of the two of them being reunited go. However Gatsby is betrayed by this dream when he sees the reality of Daisy's true personality. In a sense, Gatsby's death symbolizes the death of the american dream. For these reasons he ceases to be Jay Gatby but instead The Great Gatsby, the man who stands for the american dream.

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[–] shakespeake 19 years ago

Because Nick makes him so. It's all about Nick, really. He's the one who decided to write this story and to assign meaning to it. Without Gatsby's "greatness" (dedication to Daisy, perhaps) there is no story.

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