The Theme and Protagonist in the Great Gatsby (Essay Sample)

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The Theme and Protagonist in the Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by Fitzgerald in 1920s painting a portrait of the frantic post-war society commonly known as the Jazz Age. It is a gateway for readers to perceive life during a politically and socially crucial and chaotic period of American history. World War I had just ended, and politically speaking, the era was marked by a government plagued by scandal and corruption as well as opposition attached to both unions and organized crime. This essay leans on describing the protagonist of the novel and examining the themes explored by the author in the Great Gatsby.
Jay Gatsby, who gives a name to the book, is the main protagonist of the story. A newly wealthy internal migrant, his life is centered on the desire to reunite with his lost love, Daisy Buchanan. His American dream quest leads him from poverty to wealth, reunion with Daisy and eventual death. In initial chapters, he is recognized as a charming, gracious and somehow mysterious dreamer. We learn more about the triggers of the mystery as the story progresses, his chief purpose of his adult life has only been to achieve the most unrealistic dream of recapturing the past. His transition from poverty to reaches can be seen as the epithet of the American dream. Raised by unsuccessful farmers, he genuinely reinvents himself from Jimmy Gatz to Jay Gatsby. After meeting Daisy, his sole purpose was winning her, and money was the issue deterring the relationship. However, Gatsby made sure he would never lack money again. His persistence in achieving his goals is commendable and the fact that he is a self-made man admirable. However, his money did not generate from inheritance but organized crime, by selling illegal liquor during an era of prohibition. He has no genuine interest in people attending parties he hosts, his biased on only those who know Daisy like Nick, Daisy's cousin. By perpetuating his childish illusion of reuniting with Daisy, he stands out to be fatally idealistic. He is impatient to distance himself from his family, yet relives his adult life trying to recapture his past with Daisy. To worsen the situation, he is in love with the idea of Daisy and not Daisy herself.
The Theme standing out is that of social upheaval. The Great Gatsby offers an excellent piece of social commentary, offering a colorful glimpse of American life of the 1920s. By setting the novel into distinct classes, each class having glitches to cope with, we get a picture as to how dangerous the world is. The elitism running through levels of society is seen in the classification of old money, new money, and no money. The wealthy in the society are not united by their money as many would assume. According to Fitzgerald, there are two types of rich people. Those born into it, like the Buchanans, classified under the old money, a class that has possessed money for generations and didn't have to work, only spend their time amusing themselves. The Buchanan family and Jordan can be seen as the society's most elitist group looking down upon those with recently acquired wealth like Gatsby as having no refinement, sensibility or tastes of their class. The new money elites are shown to be living for the moment. One would expect them to be more sensitive to the world around them, which is contrary as they are seen to be frequent party-goers and egocentric as they mysteriously disappear, citing commitments when Gatsby dies. The class with no money like Nick stands out to be honorable. However, the same cannot be said for Gatsby father as he admires the possessions his son acquired instead of respecting the person he was. Middle cla...