AS 91479 -- Hypotheses on the Great Gatsby Let's get critical, critical! After reading and evaluating F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby", I found that, although superficial Since viewing this text may seem to highlight the glorious lives of the richest and most powerful, a more comprehensive approach to this is needed text to delve into the superficial themes of conflicted love between a man and a woman and the deeper themes such as a moral purpose. Fitzgerald claimed to be a moralist at heart, preaching the degeneracy of the rich. Yet, on the other hand, Fitzgerald wanted to live large. These conflicting feelings related to wealth emerge easily in his work. Throughout the novel there are contrasting connotations. Jay Gatsby is a romantic and tragic hero, who mistakenly believes that by using his "power" of wealth he will be able to regenerate the past and reconnect with Daisy. Daisy is Gatsby's main motivation in acquiring his fortune, "driven by his love for a woman who symbolized everything he desired", he fell in love with her beauty, grace, and aura of luxury, much like the American dream itself. Gatsby fails to see Daisy for who she truly is, instead believing that she will complete his dream. He was so blinded by money that he didn't see the real Daisy. In reality, Daisy is "insincere and empty", and although the brief relationship goes unnoticed for a while, Daisy has no intention of leaving Tom. Without Daisy, Gatsby's “life has been confusing and disorderly” (p. 140). While Sparknote critics state that "Gatsby imbues Daisy with a kind of idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor possesses, Gatsby longs to recreate a vanished past – his time in Louisville with Daisy – but is incapable of doing so", thus suggesting that Wealth had corrupted Gatsby and his ability to see reality as well as his dreams. The opposing critic believes that Gatsby "[does] not belong to this materialized and demoralized world", and that his dream is a "traditional and uncorrupted American dream". However, Gatsby was simultaneously materialized and demoralized as he became fixated on the money that would ultimately "buy" the life he dreamed of. He believed that if he could. Throughout the novel Fitzgerald illustrates the era of the American Dream that was carefree, free-spirited and saw those who lived for the moment, however, he also connotes the flip side as lonely and morally empty. This is directly demonstrated by how Gatsby used money as a tool of power and soon became trapped in the social world of 1920s New York and corrupted by greed. For this reason he becomes a victim of the material world of 1920s New York. This can often be seen from the way Gatsby throws such extravagant parties where "the parties are filled with people who instantly forget about each other, or who don't even know each other at first" (chapter 3) - the guests are not there to know. Gatsby or anyone else establishes a connection between them. This example shows readers the rapid moral decline of society as the characters in the novel put money before morality, indicating that the era had a "reckless jubilation that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music, embodied in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties ". that Gatsby hosts every Saturday night – has ultimately led to the corruption of the American dream, as the unbridled desire for money and pleasure has overtaken nobler goals.” The way in which “Fitzgerald initially presents Gatsby as the aloof and enigmatic host of the incredibly opulent parties thrown every week in his