What Role Does Success Play In The Great Gatsby

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In the book The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald is saying success is unique, but could be dangerous. Everyone is different, which calls for different passions in life and goals, basically success to them. Some people want their own success so bad they lose sight of reality and focus on it like an obsession, which could lead to dangerous choices and an unwise lifestyle. On the topic of success being exclusive for everybody. People grow up, live, and go through different experiences. This plays a direct role in their idea of success, and what drives them to it. An example in The Great Gatsby is Gatsby, he wanted one thing, Daisy. That’s what drove him to throw huge parties in hopes she’d stop in. The money and lavish living wasn’t what he wanted, that wasn’t his idea of success. Granted he did need them to get to Daisy, it was being with her that was what he wanted, his passion really. This example is important in the book as well as real life because most people want the glitz and clamor, but success is unique to everyone. …show more content…
Yet again, in The Great Gatsby it showed what a rotten man was with a twisted idea of success and that would be Tom. Which was of course symbolic of the insidious things people can become and do when they have a false sense of reality and a morally wrong idea of what success is. An example of this in the book is when Tom got Gatsby shot, he instigated it so he could stay in power and control with his money. Tom loved his money as much as he loved saying how rich he was. He used it as leverage on people and thought of himself as a “ big man “ when it was his own idea of achievement that makes him hollow and angry. A great contrast to Gatsby’s idea of success, yet again showing success is unique but in this case turned