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Patrick Scott

Ms. Winter

English 3, Period 7

26 February 2016

We All Walk Alone On An Empty Staircase

Subtle self-destruction lies within every living being; in order to prevent this, one must be

conscious of the variables in the equation of life. Throughout the course of F. Scott Fitzgeralds

novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), the reader follows the lives of characters who are morally

corrupt and socially active. The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, was raised in poverty and experiences a

taste of the glamorous upper class life which drives his ambition to permanently achieve this

sensation, he goes about this with Daisy always in his thoughts, she is his ideal embodiment of

luxury and the American Dream. Gatsby becomes the bane of his own existence when his faults

ultimately lead to his own downfall. The young entrepreneur becomes morally bankrupt as a

result of artificially forging his personality for acceptance, living a life of hollowness, and living

in the past with the inability to acknowledge that others do not.

Gatsby comes from a past that he is not proud of and actually hides this from anyone that

is not significantly close. He molds his character to gain acceptance and likeability not only

from his greatest desire, Daisy, but everyone he encounters. He proves his caution with his

party guests is a result of his profession of illegally dealing alcohol during prohibition when a

woman says,When I was here last I tore my grown on a chair, and he asked me my name and

address--inside of a week I got a package from Croiriers with a new evening gown in it
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(Fitzgerald 47). With this insight, it shows that Gatsby is not only a cautious, but self-conscious

person; by purchasing this woman a new dress, he appeals to her and prevents any possibility of

dislike to himself. Further into this adventure, he arrives in a beautiful car to invite Nick for

lunch,Nick ruminates the moment when he statesHe saw me looking with admiration at his car.

Its pretty, isnt it old sport. He jumped off to give me a better view (Fitzgerald 68). Gatsby

may just be proud of his earnings and likes to express his success, however when reading this

passage, it gives the mood of slight arrogance, but this feeling may vary. Overall, Jay expresses

self consciousness and the desire for acceptance to many characters, a life of hollowness is a

bi-product from fabricating his reality to others senses.

As a tragic hero, Gatsby indirectly reveals how he lives a life of hollowness many times

throughout the course of this story. One outstanding characteristic of Fitzgeralds literature is

that he includes minimal filler space in his novel, in which almost everything connects and has a

reason for being there. When Nick and Jordan Baker roam into Gatsbys library during one of his

partys, they encounter an intoxicated man that was genuinely incredulous of their hosts

authenticity as,He waved his hand toward the book-shelves. About that. As a matter of fact you

neednt bother to ascertain. I ascertain. Theyre real. The books? He nodded. Absolutely

real--have pages and everything. I thought theyd be a nice durable cardboard. Matter of fact

theyre absolutely real (Fitzgerald 50). This encounter may not seem very significant, when in

reality it foreshadows the trueness and history of Gatsby himself. He may have all of this wealth,

but in reality it is a fault in how he earned it. Throughout the course of the gathering in Toms

apartment, Tom exposed Gatsbys profession to Jordan, Nick, and Daisy when he exclaims,That

drug store business was just small change, continued Tom slowly,but youve got something on
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now that Walters afraid to tell me about (Fitzgerald 141). As a result of this, it hardly fazes

Gatsby; however, Gatsby had a desire to become wealthy in the hopes of being good enough

for Daisy. Jay may have obtained this wealth, but at what cost? This shows immense levels of

corruption and hollowness for he did not legally, morally, or justly earn the money, but all of this

comes from his psychological restraints from living in the past.

It is actually quite unfortunate and painstaking how delusional this great man is. Gatsby

proves that he is both academically and physically strong, yet this unfaltering belief in the past

reveals a huge flaw. When Jordan Baker tells Nick the story of a memory she had including both

Daisy and Jay, she explains a light version of the direct emotion Jay felt,The officer looked at

Daisy while she was speaking, in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at sometime,

and because it seemed romantic to me I have remembered the incident ever since. His name was

Jay Gatsby and I didnt lay eyes on him again for over four years (Fitzgerald 80). Gatsby had

not even know Daisy for a whole day yet he had such strong feelings for her. During Nick and

Jays chat, Nick observed something: He talked a lot about the past and I gathered that he

wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps that had gone into loving Daisy. His

life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting

place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was(Fitzgerald 117). Although

Jay has not been necessarily close with Nick for a long duration of time, he opens up to Nick,

and his friend understands that he lives in the past and cannot accept the reality of the present.

With all of these faults, it hinders his potential to enormous limitations. In which leading

a life of hollowness is a bi-product of the desire for acceptance of everyone, as well as

detrimental to his psychological state and in turn, his health. From these desires and his
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ignorance it leads to his own self destruction, yet his death was not necessarily in his own power.

Even though it was not his fault, many different scenarios may have played out if he did not rush

the love he waited ever so long for. He is most definitely a tragic hero, and his story will open

eyes to the problems of living in the past for generations to come.

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Works Cited

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. New York: Penguin, 1995. Print.