The Great Gatsby Optimism Analysis

In the novel “The Great Gatsby”, the author F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates Jay Gatsby’s perpetual optimism through his struggle to balance his ideals with the reality of the world around him. This optimism presents itself in three aspects crucial to the development of his character in the novel, Gatsby’s delusion, his burgeoning ammorality, and his irrational love for Daisy. Firstly, Jay Gatsby’s continuous attempts to balance his ideology with his actuality cause him to become deluded. During the beginning of the novel before the Nick has actually met him, he’s told many wild and extraordinary rumors about Gatsby, such as the one he hears from Myrtle Wilson’s sister Charlotte.
‘“Really? I was down there at a party about a month ago. At …show more content…
Scott Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s love for Daisy to develop the optimism of his character as he struggles to balance his ideology and his reality. In the novel Gatsby sees Daisy as a representation of his ideology, because of this he views her as perfect and is unable to see her flaws. In his article “The Great Gatsby”, John A. Pidgeon states
“ As the novel unfolds, Fitzgerald illustrates the emptiness of Daisy 's character as it turns into the viciousness of monstrous moral indifference. Gatsby 's attraction to Daisy lies in the fact that she is the green light that signals him into the heart of his vision.”(Pidgeon)
I concur with M. Pidgeon, Gatsby’s optimism causes him to have such high expectations of his goals and ideals that when Daisy, the person who symbolizes these ideals fails to meet his expectations he continues to love her despite the reality of her many character and personality flaws. Another way his love for Daisy demonstrates his optimism is his determination to make her fall in love with him. This can be seen in the novel when Gatsby stays outside of Daisy’s house to make sure she was …show more content…
Since Gatsby is the most important symbol of optimism in the novel once he dies the whole story becomes more melancholic. Without Gatsby’s optimistic ideals that everything would work out, Nick is left with nothing but depressing reality. Throughout the entire novel Fitzgerald uses Gatsby 's love for Daisy as an integral aspect of his optimistic ideals, this optimism is often developed as Gatsby tries to balance his ideology with the reality of the world around him. In conclusion, F. Scott Fitzgerald shows Jay Gatsby’s incessant Optimism through his continued attempts to balance his ideology or his ideals with actualities in his life. Three vital aspects Jay Gatsby’s character development are used to demonstrate this, Gatsby’s delusion, his loss of morals throughout the novel and his love for