Sample essays 3
and 4
‘The character of Gatsby is far from “Great”.’
How far and in what ways do you agree with this view of the central character
in The Great Gatsby?
Essay 3 Grade A answer
Fitzgerald did not like the title The Great Gatsby, telling his editor that it ‘is weak because
there’s no emphasis even ironically on his greatness or lack of it’. However, at first
glance, the title does strike the reader as ironic: the eponymous hero is actually named
James Gatz, and he is undeniably a crook. When Tom lists the results of his research in
the climactic scene at the Plaza Hotel, Daisy recoils from the knowledge that the man
she loves is ‘a common swindler’, ‘a bootlegger’, importing and selling alcohol in spite
of Prohibition. Gatsby has transgressed betting laws, and he has ‘something on now’
that Walter Chase is afraid to talk about. Gatsby’s response is to ‘talk excitedly to Daisy,
denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been made’.
Whether we can argue that the character of Gatsby is ‘great’ depends on the way in which
‘great’ is defined.
Gatsby is not a great moral hero, nor is he important to history as, for instance, Alfred
the Great was. He has no remarkable ability and has not achieved anything noteworthy.
However, in the nineteenth century, showmen such as Barnum and Houdini used to
advertise themselves using the epithet ‘great’ to encourage audiences to think of them as
special. Like them, Gatsby is an illusionist, having created a life and an identity which he
presents to the world. There are several references in the novel which suggest that Gatsby
is like a showman; for instance, Nick describes his house as being lit up ‘like the World’s
Fair’, and Tom contemptuously dismisses Gatsby’s car as a ‘circus wagon’.
PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR A-LEVEL
© Philip Allan Updates
1
THE GREAT GATSBY
Sample essays 3 and 4
Gatsby throws extravagant parties, dispensing ‘starlight to casual moths’, a metaphor
which suggests that, in Nick’s imagination, he is like a god in his generosity to his
insignificant guests. As a result, Gatsby and his reputation become a source of speculation
among those who take advantage of his hospitality, catapulting him to an almost celebrity
status. It is rumoured that he killed a man, that he was a German spy during the war, that
he is nephew to Von Hindenburg and even that he is second cousin to the Devil.
The myth, however, is greater than the man himself. When we actually meet Gatsby, we
learn that he is very insecure, hiding behind an ‘elaborate formality of speech [which] just
missed being absurd’. Too embarrassed to ask Nick to invite him and Daisy to tea, he asks
Jordan to do it for him. Waiting ‘with suppressed eagerness’ for Nick’s return at two o’clock
in the morning, he ‘carelessly’ pretends disinterest: ‘I don’t want to put you to any trouble.’
He ‘fumbled’ as he felt for the right words to offer Nick a reward for his assistance.
When the day of the tea party arrives, Gatsby is nervous and embarrassed, trying to
escape before Daisy’s arrival on the grounds that ‘it’s too late’. Nick has to tell him: ‘Don’t
be silly; it’s just two minutes to four.’ When he follows Nick into the kitchen: “‘You’re acting
like a little boy’, [Nick] broke out impatiently. ‘Not only that, but you’re rude. Daisy’s sitting
in there all alone.’” Yet, after Nick has left them alone for half an hour and re-enters the
room, Nick says Gatsby ‘literally glowed’, ‘he smiled like a weatherman, like an ecstatic
patron of recurrent light’.
It is through descriptions like these similes that Jay Gatsby is romanticised into greatness.
When Nick learns of Gatsby’s love for Daisy, he tells his readers: ‘he came alive to me,
delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendour’. This metaphor pinpoints
the moment when Gatsby was reborn in Nick’s imagination as a romantic hero. Gatsby
is great because he has ‘an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as
[Nick has] never found in any other person and which it is not likely [Nick] shall ever find
again.’ Gatsby has a remarkable faith: he ‘believed in the green light’, believed that he
could repeat the past. He not only has a dream, but he has the power to make his dreams
come true.
Perhaps Fitzgerald is using Gatsby to show how far the American Dream has fallen
short of the ideals of the founding fathers of America. The Declaration of Independence
asserts that all men, regardless of social background or ethnic origin, have the rights to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Dream was originally a belief that all citizens
in the United States can achieve economic independence through hard work, thrift and a
concern for others. Fitzgerald shows how, over time, it evolved into something more selfish,
more materialistic; Gatsby’s dream is a corrupt one of seducing another man’s wife, and he
has achieved it by making a fortune through illegal and immoral means.
Nevertheless, we may admire Gatsby for being a faithful lover, even after the object of
his love marries someone else. He intends to take the blame for the car accident, even
PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR A-LEVEL
© Philip Allan Updates
2
THE GREAT GATSBY
Sample essays 3 and 4
though Daisy was driving, and he keeps a sacred ‘vigil’ that night to protect Daisy. Like
one of the chivalrous Knights of the Round Table, he ‘committed himself to the following
of a grail’, and he died with his dream intact. So it is possible to argue that Gatsby is great,
even while we acknowledge the irony that the one chivalrous character in the book is
undeniably a crook.
Examiner’s comments
AO1
●● Confident exploration of the question
●● Sophisticated style and vocabulary
AO2
●● Seamless integration of close detailed analysis of structure, form and language
AO3
●● Different interpretations of Gatsby
●● Passing comparison with Morte d’Arthur
AO4
●● Secure knowledge of the social and historical context and understanding of its
importance
PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR A-LEVEL
© Philip Allan Updates
3
THE GREAT GATSBY
Sample essays 3 and 4
Essay 4 Grade C answer
As the novel progresses, it becomes clear to the reader that the hero, Jay Gatsby, is a
criminal. We are not given much detail, but we learn that his business associate, Meyer
Wolfshiem, is the gambler who fixed the baseball World Series in 1919, when the
defending champions were bribed to lose some of their matches. Tom reveals that Gatsby
is a bootlegger, importing and selling alcohol under the counter in drugstores, even though
Prohibition laws made this illegal.
Gatsby is also involved in something else which Tom’s friend, Walter Chase, was too
scared to tell him about. Gatsby offers Nick a little business ‘on the side’, which has
nothing to do with Wolfshiem. This might have something to do with the strange phone
call Nick takes at Gatsby’s house after Gatsby’s death. Somebody had been picked up
passing counterfeit or stolen bonds. This question is really asking whether someone as
criminal as Gatsby can ever be called ‘Great’.
It is Fitzgerald’s narrator, Nick Carraway, who calls Gatsby ‘Great’ because he admires him,
and yet Nick also says that Gatsby stands for everything he despises. We need to explore
Nick’s character to understand why he admires a crook. Nick fought in the Great War and
obviously had a great time, so when he returned to America he was bored and restless.
He turned his back on the family business and the girl he was expected to marry, and he
went to New York in search of excitement.
By the time the novel opens Nick is nearly 30 years old and his father is still supporting
him. He has achieved nothing with his life and has no ambition except a vague dream of
fabulous wealth. He picks up a girl in the office and drops her as soon as her brother takes
notice. He enjoys being Jordan Baker’s escort for a while because she is a famous golfer
who has had her picture on the covers of magazines, but then he drops her too.
This man who has a boring life and no future to look forward to meets a man with a
fantastic dream. Gatsby is a self-made man, having started life as the son of a not very
successful farmer. He has the fabulous wealth which Nick dreams of and, if the numbers
of people who flock to his parties are anything to go by, he is very popular, unlike Nick who
does not tell us about any of his friends so presumably he does not have any.
Then Nick finds out that the reason Gatsby has acquired all this wealth and attracts all
these people is that he has a ‘grand passion’ for a rich girl he fell in love with before he
went to war. Daisy is now married and in the social class which has no contact with men
like Gatsby, so he tries to attract her to him by throwing extravagant parties which attract
famous celebrities.
To Nick this seems so romantic that he is easily persuaded to help Gatsby in his attempt
to seduce another man’s wife. Nick invites his cousin, Daisy, to tea and, of course, Gatsby
shows up. However, the scene is not romantic enough for Nick. Instead of going into the
PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR A-LEVEL
© Philip Allan Updates
4
THE GREAT GATSBY
Sample essays 3 and 4
kitchen to leave the two lovers alone, he goes outside and stands in the rain. It seems that
he wishes he too could have a grand passion, and this romantic perception of a sordid
seduction is enough to give Gatsby the glow of greatness.
Gatsby does not disappoint his admirer. He pursues Daisy relentlessly, intent on
persuading her not only to leave her husband but to declare that she never loved Tom.
Soon, however, the love affair turns to tragedy, but Gatsby’s dream does not die. He
prepares to take the blame for Myrtle’s death, even though Daisy was driving, and he
keeps an all-night vigil outside her window.
Nick is overwhelmed by such devotion, telling Gatsby: ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch
put together’. He knows that he could never live up to this dream himself. Even at their
first meeting, Nick was speculating that Gatsby must have been disappointed by Daisy.
For Nick it was her inaccessibility which was romantic. Nick dreams of following women
in Fifth Avenue, finding romance, and then moving on without any commitment. He cannot
understand the sort of love Gatsby has for Daisy, and so he idolises him.
To Nick, Gatsby is ‘Great’ because he follows his ‘grail’, like the legendary Knights of the
Round Table. Gatsby pursues his goal with a single-minded devotion, ignoring all the
conventions and rules of society, and he dies still believing in his dream. However, that is
at far as it goes. Gatsby is only ‘Great’ when seen through Nick’s romantic rosy-coloured
spectacles. To the reader, Gatsby can only be called ‘Great’ as a circus performer is called
‘Great’ to attract the crowds.
Examiner’s comments
AO1
●● A fluent and persuasive line of argument
●● Good general knowledge of the text
●● Some critical terminology
AO2
●● A narrative rather than analytical approach
●● Few quotations and these are not analysed
●● Vague implicit awareness of structure, form and language, but no analysis
AO3
●● Awareness of different interpretations of Gatsby
AO4
●● Some supporting knowledge of contextual details
PHILIP ALLAN LITERATURE GUIDE FOR A-LEVEL
© Philip Allan Updates
5
THE GREAT GATSBY