F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby tells a story about the American Dream, and the downfall of those who attempt to reach its illusionary goals. The American Dream has always been based on the idea that each person, no matter who he is, can become successful in life by his hard work. The dream also embodies the idea of a self-sufficient man, an entrepreneur making it successful for him. Jay Gatsby, the main character, embraces this dream of happiness in order to recapture his past love, Daisy Buchanan, who rejected him due to his economic standing. He achieves wealth and success through racketeering in hopes to win back Daisy. It is this point which brings up a controversy among various critics. It is a fact that Gatsby uses criminal activity in order to become wealthy. The question is whether he uses this criminal activity to fulfill his idea of the American dream or is he just a common criminal dressed up in fancy clothes? I feel that Gatsby is an honorable person. He uses criminal activity only as a means to obtain the love and respect of his only true love. His criminal activity is not just to acquire wealth; it is to become one of the elite so that he may become worthy of Daisy's love. Jay Gatsby is not just a criminal who manipulates others; he is a romantic who hopes to fulfill his own version of the American dream.
             One critic, Robert Ornstein, believes that Jay Gatsby is great. He writes that Gatsby's fantasies of love "is the kind that keeps people from becoming...too old or too wise or too cynical" (Gatsby is a Classic Romantic 33). When Gatsby finally reunites with Daisy, he compares the "great distance that had separated him from Daisy...as close as a star to the moon" (Fitzgerald 84). Nick Carraway, the narrator, describes Gatsby's face as an "expression of bewilderment" as Gatsby listens to Daisy's voice "with its fluctuatin
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