Calling Jay Gatsby the "Great" Gatsby sort of elevates the man to mythic status. Whenever the word is appended to someone's name, they begin to sound larger than life, like they are capable of things of which regular human beings are not capable. This is appropriate given Nick Carraway, the narrator's, feelings about him. Nick admires Gatsby's "extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as [Nick had] never found in any other person and which it is not likely [he] shall ever find again." Gatsby was a dreamer, someone who believed in impossible things, and that makes him a kind of innocent (even though he did illegal things).
It is Gatsby's ability to dream and his supreme willingness to believe in the possibility of his dreams that made him "'worth the whole damn bunch [of everybody else] put together,'" according to Nick. Gatsby is "great" because he is capable of things that regular human beings are not: he retains an innocence and a hope that others cannot.
No comments:
Post a Comment