If one wants to define life in one word it would be: tough. If one wants to know how to succeed in life, the answer if unknown. However, a great man in life once said that if we lose ourselves in books, we find ourselves too. This being said, the only thing | can think of is finding myself through Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jay was a man who had only one fear, losing his true love, Daisy. However, I admire him not for his loving persona but for his dedication to success in life. He understands that in order to succeed, one must never give up, but must take all necessary measures to receive what one desires.
Life is not just given to you, it requires effort and strength, and Jay Gatsby truly understands this. Gatsby is my personal admiration and I think that his dedication is something all could take note of. Though some may say that Gatsby is not dedicated in a good way, but rather is a psychopath of sorts, stalking Daisy. Jay Gatsby was born a poor commoner, but instead of allowing that to stop him from a life of success and happiness, he acted and made something of himself. He joined the military during WWI, and upon his return to the United States he made a name for himself.
Though the terms by which he made this name were not of the highest esteem or practice, he still got there and did it on his own, getting what he knew he wanted. He was able to get “[a house that] was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden” (Fitzgerald 5). Gatsby’s acquiring of this house, in what was a relatively short period of time, shows that he had a purpose and an ultimate goal.
He knew that he wanted to be as close to Daisy as possible, and knew what he had to do to achieve this. He worked hard, and through dedication and perseverance, was able to purchase what sounds like a multi million, if not billion, dollar home. In terms of his dedication other than to Daisy, his work was always surrounding him. He constantly took phone calls “at the moment when Mr. Gatsby identified himself, a butler hurried toward him with the information that Chicago was calling him on the wire. He excused himself with a small bow. ” (Fitzgerald 48). This goes to show that Gatsby was not just a man who did things just to get them done.
If he was going to get into a business, good or not, he was going to do it wholehearted. His dedication to work, and to love shows one just how much effort life takes. When one wants to succeed, as Gatsby did, one must provide full dedication to the task at hand, and this is something our current generation lacks. Gatsby understood that one can not just give up upon failure, but rather persevere through the rough and come out on top. The dedication that Gatsby had shown throughout the book is a quality that I deeply admire, however some may feel that this trait of his is creepy and a psychopathic characteristic.
When Gatsby is “stretch[ing] 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. Involuntarily | glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been the end of a dock”, where the green light is Daisy herself, some may find a sort of stalking (Fitzgerald 21). Arguing the fact that because of how Gatsby has spent his entire life since the moment he met Daisy completely engulfed in her, he in turn is stalking her and an overly attached person. However, to that one would say he is not a stalker rather a love sick man.
He found his true soul mate, the women he connects with on a level no one can understand unless they too have experienced it. When one is in love that person is everything; “All he face was honey to my mouth,/And all her body pasture to mine eyes” (Love and Sleep 9-10). However, the fact that Gatsby is so dedicated to everything he does in life would counter this, proving that he is not a stalker, rather is just a passionate man, who completely dedicates himself to everything he does. Maybe in our current times dedication and passion is viewed as being a psychopath, however that further proves just how low our current standards have stuped.
Overall, Gatsby has proved to be a man of sincere dedication and passion towards life. One can see that he loves Daisy with all his life, but he also understands that in order to succeed in life he must take any necessary measure. Gatsby has proved to be courageous, and showed that he is not a psychopath or stalker, rather a man who is extremely dedicated. Due to Jay Gatsby’s dedication and passion directed at life, he is my personal admiration and a man that I think everyone should be guided by.
