The Great Gatsby
Prompt #16 · The Great Gatsby
Prompt Type: Character Arc
Jay Gatsby's carefully constructed persona gradually unravels to reveal his true origins and motivations. Analyze how Fitzgerald uses the revelation of Gatsby's past to develop the theme of self-invention and the American Dream. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career—when he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior.”
Chapter 6
Argument
This quote marks the EARLY BASELINE of Gatsby's transformation, showing the moment he consciously rejects his origins ('James Gatz') and begins constructing his new identity ('Jay Gatsby'), which is central to the theme of self-invention and the American Dream.
Quote 2
“The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.”
Chapter 6
Argument
This quote represents the TURNING POINT in Gatsby's arc, revealing his 'Platonic conception' of himself as a divine self-creation. The metaphor ('son of God') underscores the grandiosity and fragility of his invented identity, directly tying to the American Dream's illusions.
Quote 3
“The lawn and drive had been crowded with the faces of those who guessed at his corruption—and he had stood on those steps, concealing his incorruptible dream, as he waved them goodbye.”
Chapter 8
Argument
This quote captures the FINAL STATE of Gatsby's arc, where his 'incorruptible dream' clashes with the reality of his 'corruption.' The juxtaposition highlights the collapse of his persona, reinforcing the novel's critique of the American Dream's emptiness.
Quote 4
Chapter 6
Argument
This quote captures Gatsby's TURNING POINT delusion, where his refusal to accept the impossibility of recreating the past ('Can't repeat the past?') underscores the tragic flaw in his self-invention—his belief that the American Dream's promises are eternally renewable.
Quote 5
“And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy's dock. He 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. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.”
Chapter 9
Argument
This quote reflects the FINAL STATE of Gatsby's arc, where the green light's symbolic shift from aspiration to futility ('his dream must have seemed so close') crystallizes the novel's critique of the American Dream as an illusion that recedes endlessly.