The chase of his American Dream. Starting with the title of his novel, The Great Gatsby. There is a reason for why Fitzgerald titled his book The Great Gatsby and that is because he obviously thinks highly of Gatsby and respects him for going after his American Dream and getting Daisy with all he had. Gatsby put everything he had into trying to get Daisy. Although he obtained his fortune illegally, Fitzgerald still commends him and says, “Gatsby turned out all right at the end”.
Fitzgerald says this out of respect for the man because he went out to get a fortune so he has at least a hot with Daisy because Gatsby realized how materialistic Daisy is considering she gave up love with Gatsby to marry a guy with money when he was in the war. But besides that, Fitzgerald values Gatsby attempt and even though he ultimately failed, Fitzgerald still believes he’s great. On the last page of the novel, Fitzgerald viewpoint is portrayed perfectly, he says, “… Is dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it”. Fitzgerald is commending Gatsby for all of the hard work and effort he put into chasing his unattainable dream. He came so close as though his ream could barely slip away from his outstretched arms, but then he got beat down by the “current” and the dream slipped away from him entirely. However, even though Gatsby failed, Fitzgerald makes it clear that he should be remembered as great for all of his hard work, hence titling his book The Great Gatsby.
Fitzgerald tone towards Gatsby in the above paragraph makes the reader feel a respectful and honoring mood. When Fitzgerald states that “Gatsby turned out all right at the end”, it makes the reader feel respectful of the man for him chasing after his dream and living his life according to his dream. Gatsby is one of the few people that can honestly say they lived their life how they planned it to be. Gatsby wanted to achieve his dream more then anything in the world and he did everything he could, but it Just wasn’t enough to go against the current. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter- to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… ” This quote summarizes the mood a reader should get after reading this novel. Even though Gatsby dream eluded him many times, he did everything he could. He stretched out his arms further and ran faster but it Just wasn’t enough to achieve his “one fine morning?”. But the fact of the matter is this, Gatsby tried time after time again which makes the mood respectful and honoring of Gatsby attempt to come so close to his dream but fall Just a little bit short.
In The Great Gatsby, the American Dream is used to represent an unattainable object that not even the Great will achieve. So even though Gatsby went though his whole life trying to make his dream tangible and real, it never did. And this fact is why Gatsby deserves the amount of respect and honor that Fitzgerald gives him throughout the novel because he sincerely set his heart out to attain his dream but it just didn’t work out for him.
