Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby Essay -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

â€Å"A man’s dreams are an index to his greatness† -Zadok Rabinwitz Jay Gatsby lives for his dreams. His dedication to making his dreams a reality, self-made fortune and social prestige, and the unquestionable love for Daisy Buchanan result in Jay Gatsby’s greatness. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, one can determine the world’s view of what greatness truly is. Jay Gatsby is not born great, nor is greatness thrust upon him, but he achieved greatness. Jay Gatsby represents the American Dream: life, loyalty, and the pursuit of happiness. Jay Gatsby dedicates his life to make his hopes and desires real. Jay Gatsby started his life out in the mid-west, as an ordinary, lower class citizen. However, Jay Gatsby did not grow up as Jay Gatsby, but as James Gatz, a Jewish boy. â€Å"James Gatsby- that was really or at least legally, his name† (Fitzgerald 98). He worked for over a year along the shore of Lake Superior. Once he saw Dan Cody’s yacht anchored off shore, he knew that life in the small mid-west town was not for him, he had bigger and better plans for his life. Dan Cody was much older than Gatsby, and he made his wealth from the silver fields of Nevada and the Yukon and every metal since the late 1800s. â€Å"Cody was fifty years old then, a product of the Nevada silver fields, of the Yukon, and every rush of metal since seventy-five. The transactions in Montana coppers that made him many times a millionaire found him physically robust, but on the verge of soft-mindedness, and, suspecting this, an infinite number of women tried to separate him from his money† (Fitzgerald 98). Gatsby knew that having a contiguous relationship with Cody was his chance to make all his dreams come into existence. Gatsby he rowed his boat ... ...m just for a minute, when they were first married—and loved me more even then, do you see?† (Fitzgerald 152). However, Gatsby and Daisy’s feigned relationship went into asunder. Gatsby misconceives Daisy’s love for him, Daisy does not equally love Gatsby as he does her. Daisy chooses to stay with Tom Buchanan, her peremptory husband, for her own security. Gatsby’s greatness resides with his dreams. He pursues the things he hopes, longs, and desires for. Jay Gatsby held onto his dreams, and held on to them as long as it took to make them into reality. Nick saw the greatness in Gatsby â€Å"They’re a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together† (Fitzgerald 154). Jay Gatsby represents those who take life extract a greater meaning from it and lives for a purpose. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Macmillan, 1992.