The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Research Paper Example

The notion of disillusionment is a characteristic of his life, but not in such a pronounced way as Gatsby or even his friend, Tom, and indeed, most of the major characters of the novel. Nick is from the US Midwest, but travels to New York in order to learn the bond business.[Fitzgerald 8]. It is worth noting that his profession is in many ways the very back-drop to the roaring twenties. It was the era of extreme prosperity brought about by healthy stock-market which would eventually crash and in turn, be a main catalyst and cause for the Great Depression.

Nick moves into a Long Island community known as West Egg where his next door neighbor is Jay Gatsby – the main protagonist of the novel and of course, the source for the title of the work. The theme of disillusionment is typified in the character of Nick on a number of levels. First, his pursuing a life in the 'East' is the most general area that defines most of the action of the novel, but is proclaimed in the end as a mistake: “After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction.

So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.” [Fitzgerald 140]. As narrator, the story is seen mostly through Nick's eyes. So, he is the figure who interprets for the reader, the decadence of Gatsby's life, the shallowness of the characters – such as the affair that Daisy carries on with Gatsby and the affair that her husband carries on with Myrtle, and finally, the conflicts most of the characters have over their pursuit of wealth and the emptiness of its acquisition.

The emptiness of acquiring wealth and status is unquestionably one of the constant themes of the book. In many respects, it is embodied in the figure of Daisy Nick's cousin and her husband Tom: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” [Fitzgerald 142]. One of the core plots of the work concerns Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy.

Initially he had met her when he was a young soldier in Louisville before going to Europe to War. While she promised to wait for him, she wound up marrying Tom because of his wealth and because her family approved of the relationship. In other words, she gave up a relationship built on passion for a life of security – however much she carries a lot of disdain for her husband, Tom. Gatsby's life is probably the most disillusioned compared with all of the characters. Gatsby is from a poor family, and when he met Daisy as a young soldier, he lied to her about it because of the shame and also the insecurity of feeling that she would not like him if he didn't have that type of foundation.

In a sense, he was right about the latter part given that Daisy does decide to marry Tom because of the security element. Gatsby goes to extreme lengths in order to reverse his fortunes. And, this involves both legitimate but also illegitimate business interests. He is involved with organized crime which is something that reflects the era of prohibition, but also, something that reflects the extremes that he is willing to go to in order to obtain Daisy. This is not a line that Nick crosses for approximately the same goal.

The disillusionment of his pursuit is articulated in the following: “