Gatsby Analysis.rtf - Thompson 1 1Alissa R Thompson Mr...

Thompson 1
1
Alissa R. Thompson
Mr. Michaud
Advanced Composition
18 January 2010
Living the Dream
In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the idea that people will do anything they can
to live in their dreams is displayed through Gatsby’s actions. After Gatsby meets with Daisy for
the first time in five years, Nick talks about what is going through Gatsby’s mind. Nick says that
“no amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart”
(101). Gatsby realized Daisy wasn’t like what he pictured in his dreams anymore. She fell short
of his dreams. Even though she wasn’t what he imagined her to be, Gatsby still told himself that
he loved who she was and wanted to be with her. This helps portray Fitzgerald’s idea that people
go to extremes to live in their dreams. Another example is at the end of the story when Nick talks
about Gatsby. Nick thinks about how Gatsby “had come a long way to this blue lawn and his
dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it” (189). Gatsby did