Leon Petrulio

Ms. Miskinis
CP American Literature
31 May 2016
Literature Artifact #2
In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells a story about protagonist Jay Gatsby, and
his journey to take back the girl hes in love with, Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby doesnt
really have a specific audience, but rather is targeted towards anyone who is looking for an
unconventional love story with intriguing characters and an interesting time period. The purpose
of the book can be viewed as a few different things, from showing the materialistic distortion of
the American Dream, to an exploration of class aspirations in America. The subject of The Great
Gatsby is the protagonist Jay Gatsby.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 December 21, 1940) was an
American novelist and short story writer, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz
Age. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
(Wikipedia 2015). With this known, its no surprise this legendary work of literature came from
Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby has a very strong emotional appeal, as it is essentially a love story
of sorts, many people will sympathize for Jay, as he struggles to get back Daisy. Gatsby
believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us
then, but thats no mattertomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther (Fitzgerald,
180). This quote comes from Gatsbys good friend, Nick Carraway. The green light represents
the hope that Gatsby has regarding getting back Daisy, everytime he sees the light, it tells him

that theres still a chance that hell be able to get her. This is just one example of the many, that
exemplify emotional appeal within the book.
The Great Gatsby strengthens my position statement, which states that happiness is a
choice and is something that cannot be chased or found in materialistic things, but rather can
only be found within ones self. In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has an extraordinary amount
of wealth, enough to host parties on a colossal scale in his mansion every weekend. However, it
is clear that Jay isnt satisfied with his life. Hes trying to fill an empty hole in him that seems to
be preventing him from being happy. So, even though he has an incredible amount of wealth,
hes not happy and its quite clear throughout the book. My position statement claims that true,
lasting happiness cannot be found within materialistic things. And if it was, then Gatsby would
be quite happy, as he has enough money to buy whatever he wants, but hes not. The book
clearly shows that his amount of wealth doesnt fulfill him and hes searching for happiness in
other ways.

Works Cited
"F. Scott Fitzgerald." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 31 May 2016.