Francis Scott Fitzgerald was ambivalent about the title, making it hard for him to choose. He entertained many choices before settling on The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald shifted between Gatsby; Among Ash-Heaps and Millionaires; Trimalchio; Trimalchio in West Egg; On the Road to West Egg; Under the Red, White, and Blue; Gold-Hatted Gatsby and The High-Bouncing Lover. Initially, he preferred Trimalchio. On November 7, 1924, Fitzgerald wrote to Perkins. — "I have now decided to stick to the title I put on the book [...] Trimalchio in West Egg" but was eventually persuaded that the reference was too obscure and that people would not be able to pronounce it. His wife and Perkins both expressed their preference for The Great Gatsby and the next month Fitzgerald agreed. A month before publication, after a final review of the proofs, he asked if it would be possible to re-title it Trimalchio or Gold-Hatted Gatsby but Perkins advised against it. On March 19, Fitzgerald asked if the book could be renamed Under the Red, White and Blue but it was at that stage too late to change. The Great Gatsby was published on April 10, 1925. Fitzgerald remarked that "the title is only fair, rather bad than good"
And why is the Great Gatsby great?
Is it his charm or his charisma? Is it the fabulous, extravagant parties he throws? Is it because he has such a mysterious past, perfect for rumors and suspicion and gossip? Is it because he has enough shirts to make a grown snob cry?
Or is it deeper than all of that?
Is the Great Gatsby great because of his friendship to Nick? Is it because he is the only honest person Nick knows in New York? Is Gatsby great because Nick feels sympathetic to him, reaching for a dream he can never attain? Is he great because he reaches so far as to die for what he believes in? Is it because we, as the readers, “watch” Gatsby reach longingly for the green light, and we feel helpless and sympathetic toward him? Is he great because of all he stands for – pride, persistence, wisdom, honesty?
So what is it?
Perhaps Gatsby is no more than a simple man who lives, loves, and dies. But perhaps he is much more than that – a hero for all dreamers, one who stands for the survival of his dreams even in the face of unconquerable adversity, and one who dies tragically, an honorable yet empty man, with an army of faithful readers mourning his defeat in death but unceasingly admiring his disposition in life. Perhaps, just maybe, it is what he is fighting for that everyone can relate to. When it comes down to it, Gatsby is fighting to chase a love that is slipping too quickly into his past for him to catch. We, as the readers, know that Gatsby’s desire for Daisy’s love is a hopeless case, yet we want so badly for him to be happy; it is this paradox that brings us all together in support of Gatsby. It is what makes us hate Daisy when she cries over the shirts. It is what makes us love him when he puts his pride aside to hide in the bushes to make sure she is alright. It is what makes us sick when Gatsby’s body is floating dead in his pool. It is what makes us feel as though we are there at his funeral, mourning the loss of a close friend.
In Gatsby, F. Scot Fitzgerald has developed a character that can only be considered great, and develops it all the way to the end of the novel. He created Jay Gatsby to embody the American dream. That unique American ability to go from rags to riches. A dream that is the epitome of all dreams, and that all people have dreamt at one time or another: The poor boy or the broke soldier having the very very rich girl, and rising to the class of the rich and famous. James Gatz, the man who would become Jay Gatsby, had only $5 in his pocket when he arrived in New York and met Wolfshiem(from the end of the book after Gatsby's death) This little piece of info shows that in a mere 3 years, he went from nothing to owning one of the largest houses in New York speaking to the most powerful people around, and throwing parties that every important person in the Us attended. This is the American Dream.
F. Scot Fitzgerald places him as a mid-west good old boy, who went into the Army to fight "the great war". He is the all American boy. Then we find out that he had a list of things to guide his life and become great. Even though F. Scott Fitzgerald could have stopped there, he did not feel that James Gatz had truly become great. He points out that Gatsby, unlike everyone else, achieved this greatness for love. When one person selflessly gives themselves, sacrifices themselves, sacrifices everything they have, and even gives their life for someone else; they are greater than anyone. Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy, to win her love, is the dream he lives for, and hope sustains him. Daisy is Gatsby's version of the American Dream, the love of his life, the perfect housewife, the ultimate status, "the king's daughter, the golden girl" (however all of these qualities are just Gatsby's idealization of her after dreaming about her for five years) and he is willing to sacrificing everything to obtain her. James Gatz lived his entire life to love Daisy. When he shows her the stuff in his house, he's showing her the house he has created for her. He doesn't really care for any of this - it's all done specifically for her. Even the parties stopped when she didn't like them. Eventually, Gatsby wins Daisy's love but this is short lived due the confrontation with Tom, where Gatsby is defeated, as Tom establishes that Daisy will stop having an affair because she is part of the Establishment, and Gatsby is a law-breaker. This is the point of the novel, where the limitations of Gatsby's greatness are revealed, as all he lives for are dreams, idealizations of reality which will ultimately leave him unsatisfied as he will never reach that perfect world.
In the end, he says that he will tell the police that he was driving, he waits outside her house like a gallant knight, and finally takes a bullet for her so that she may live on. Jay Gatsby has lived and created all that he has in the name of love and the name of Daisy, not James Gatz or Jay Gatsby.
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