.
What saves Gatsby, and what makes him a masterful literary achievement.is the driving force behind his well-orchestrated rise: that years earlier, he was a poor boy, jilted by the most popular young girl in Louisville in favor of a wealthier suitor, and he has spent a lifetime working to get her back.Gatsby's longing for her, and his willingness to sell his soul to pursue her, are the purest things in this sordid tale. Jay Gatsby's world-weary idealist is the great American type. (Cohen).
I tend to agree very strongly with Cohen's view of Gatsby. Is it not every American's dream to achieve their full potential? We are given privy in Chapter IX to a schedule and list of resolves made by Gatsby, then James. His writing, dated September 12th, 1906 shows us that even as a boy, Gatsby was dreaming and planning, to become something more. The reality that Gatsby held onto his dream about being with Daisy, and his willingness to do anything to have her, is what I feel solidifies Cohen's argument that Gatsby embodies the American dream.
Tom Buchanan tended to view Gatsby as somewhat of an "evil" character based on his past dealing. "He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasn't far wrong" (Fitzgerald, 141). However, I do not see Gatsby in the same light as Tom does. Despite Gatsby's seemingly "evil" dealings, I view Gatsby as "good" because of the underlying reason behind them, to attain his dream of capturing Daisy's heart. How can an individual with a dream as noble as true love be as "evil" as Tom would make him out to be?.
As much a part of the novel as Gatsby's dream itself, is the symbol Fitzgerald uses for it, "the green light".
[Gatsby] stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and far as I was from him I could have sworn he was trembling.
