English 11
            
            
            
             The Great Gatsby
            
             Standing as one of the great novels of the 20th century, The Great Gatsby has endured because of its amazing understanding and explanation of human nature in its purest form. The themes and ideals in this novel have remained eminent even now, some 80 years later, because The Great Gatsby is a book about the strongest of human emotions and needs; love, hate, distrust, and most of all, desire. The most prevalent theme, however, is the loose morals, extravagant wealth, and the steady disintegration of dreams in the 1920s.
            
             Our narrator in this tale is a young man by the name of Nick Carraway. Nick is not a wealthy man himself, but comes from generations of money. He resides in a humble cottage in West egg, an area typically inhabited by what is called "new money". Nick is a sensible man, and is determined to make his own place in the world, and is not concerned with becoming rich so much as becoming happy. Nick doesn't quite fit in with his new neighbors and friends, and in the end finds himself appalled by their reckless behavior.
            
             Living next to Nick we have the great Gatsby himself. Jay Gatsby is the epitome of new money. He throws wildly excessive parties with music, dancing, and alcohol, despite the prohibition ban. Jay has an immense mansion on the coast of West Egg and furnishes it with everything a man could desire. But he is not happy. Jay slowly begins to realize that for all his wealth and excess, he has but one true friend, Nick Carraway. Though Jay has done much for all his partygoers, he fails to realize at the time that money can only buy you so much. When Jay finally is reunited with Daisy, he hopes that his wealth will persuade her to stay with him since the reason she left him was his poverty. Daisy, however, doesn't know what she wants, and Jay's dream is crushed. Despite his money, parties and affections, he cannot win back the girl he t...