Thursday, June 19, 2008

The real Gatsby

Is Gatsby a "phony"? Why or why not?

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Making sudden profit from bootlegging, Gatsby was phony and he did not want anyone to find out of his past and ruin his chances with Daisy. He wanted people to believe that he was somebody, often by saying he went to Oxford, but he exaggerated too much and people started to doubt his words. The materialistic lifestyle that Gatsby wanted was for the main purpose of making Daisy want to be with him. He had no intention to be an upper class man; it was merely a step taken to obtain Daisy's heart.

dani.k said...

Gatsby was as much of a phony as any one who dreams or fantasizes.
What makes you a phony is that it’s more than a dream, that it’s unattainable grandeur and of no real substance, in which you must lose yourself to even begin to attain it.
Gatsby, just like anyone who’s ever lived, was a product of his environment. He was framed to want a life of magnificence that people he considered ‘above’ him, like Daisy, had. The difference was that he, unlike Daisy, didn’t take it for granted; he worked his butt off to obtain it, taking course of action and making sacrifices. But his ambitions got the best of him. They blinded him from what he was truly attaining. In a way, he is a phony, for he assumes an identity that he believes himself unworthy of, not able to appreciate the one he was given. The fact that he had guidelines and that he gave up some things to gain others makes him honorable. He was admirable for he was the only one in the book who was willing to do whatever it took to be true to his dreams, even if it meant living in an altered reality.

Da-Re Kim said...

I agree with both kyle and danik. Gatsby is phony becuase he "lived" his life not for himself but to favor Daisy. So his real character is false becuase he made himself look rich to others and especially to Daisy. I also think that Gatsby's past life is not even essential to him becuase he was so deteremined in only one thing, that he just threw away his past memories.

Janique said...

I think Gatsby is a phony but not because of the reasons mentioned. I think Gatsby was cheating himself out. Gatsby seemed to be trying so hard to have so many of the pleasures he thought would sooth Daisy that he didn't even have time to enjoy them. For example, the beautiful swimming pool he had was barely used by himself until the end of the book. At the end of the book where he is finally starting to see reality and realize all the grand things he has and uses the swimming pool is when his life is taken from him by Wilson. Gatsby was not a phony to everyone else but he was a phony to himself. He didn't even know the real him, it seemed he didn't even know what it felt like to enjoy life, to live it for himself instead of living it for someone that didn't even notice or appreciate him and his effort.

Norberto said...
This comment has been removed by the author.