Effectiveness of the Ending in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
...al aim in life. On the other hand Gatsby aims for the American Dream, and works towards it with all his might. We find out In Chapter nine, that Gatsby gets his idea of how to accomplish the American Dream from Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Mr. Wolfshiem, his father shows Nick an old book of Gatsby’s which obviously from the huge amount of scribbled down notes he lived by day to day. "Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it; read one improving book or magazine per week; and be better to parents." Gatsby hopelessly wanted to improve himself, to impress Daisy and to become the person he thought he had to become to do so. In his eyes if he done all this he would be able to By planning become so wealthy that he would win the love of his life, Daisy Buchanan. Sadly though Gatsby’s hard work goes to waster as this hope never comes true no matter what he does. He goes to all the trouble of throwing huge parties to try and fit in with people and in the end hardly anyone knows him! Gatsby's mission to achieve the American Dream is doomed from the start because he went into it with the wrong attitude; he tries to buy his way into a society that will never accept him. The ending is also effective because it inspires a great deal of pity for Gatsby Here is a man who’s dedicated love as turned into obsession and the obsessions even realistic from the start. This obsession is the women Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life. Jay Gatsby moving to the city of New York is a loyal and devoted man who is willing to cross oceans, move across the world and do anything else In the name of his one true love. His life is based of his belief in realistic ideas. The ideas basically rule his life, they greatly influence all the decisions he makes. It is heartbreaking to see therefore when he is trying hard to make his ideas work and then to see them not being even considered. When he makes his ideals heard, his actions are wasted on a thoughtless and shallow society. People are so narrow minded and selfish that they don’t think about his feeling or even care as he drives himself mentally into oblivion. The more Gatsby gets into his dreams the more he gets taken from reality. To see anyone work this hard and for I tall to go to waste, have no chance from the start makes an effective ending. The ending has a sad bitter but effective ending because Gatsby even at the end is with his dream, the green light. In The Great Gatsby, the green light is visible to many and always distant. To some such as Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s ungrateful husband it is just a light, but to others, like Gatsby, it is their hopeful future. As Tom said in chapter one, "I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of the dock. When I looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness”. He saw a green light. That is all, just a light that may have been at the end of the dock. When Gatsby vanished, this represented him approaching and trying to attain the green light, which was his future he sought after and believed in. As Marius Bewley agrees, the green light represents his faith, "An image of that green light, symbol of Gatsby's faith, burns across the bay," Since the green light represents Gatsby's faith, it is hard for him not believe in it and reach for it. In a way, the green light represents assurance, and he relies on it; it is his faith. To Gatsby, his idealistic future, his green light, is associated with Daisy and so she is his dream that will never be reached. It is later in the book, in chapter five, when the green light starts to relate to Daisy, because Daisy becomes part of Gatsby's desired future, and “If it wasn't for the mist I could see your home across the bay. You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock". Eventually, Gatsby wants to arrive at that green light, grasp it, and develop his life into it, with Daisy. As Marius Bewley says, "For Gatsby, Daisy does not exist in herself. She is the green light that signals him into the heart of his ultimate vision. In view of the fact that the green light is Gatsby's wanted future, if he associates Daisy with the green light she is part of his new future. He always tried to had a dream and never gave up trying to reach for it; the green light symbolizes this dream to Gatsby as there is a green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. However this dream wasn’t realistic and sadly would never be achieved. It because he didn't ever live in the life he had; Gatsby lived in the life he wanted. F. Scott Fitzgerald uses green light to represent the unreachable dream in the future that is always being sought after and wanted by Gatsby, but never obtaine...