A Modern Hero

A modern hero is defined to be someone who is your average every day man. However, that person carries a sense of human weakness which causes them to make sacrifices for the sake of the greater good. An example of a modern hero would be Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fritzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby's human weakness of becoming wealthy for the sake of his relationship with Daisy Buchanan only leads to his own tragic downfall, thus making him a modern hero.

Just like any other modern hero, Jay Gatsby appears to be an average man. In the eyes of the public, he is young and very wealthy. However, after learning about his past, readers learn that Jay Gatsby is not the same man in which the other characters in the novel, aside form Nick Carraway, sees him to be. For instance, readers learn that unlike Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby is not born into wealth and privilege, but rather comes from a poor farm family. However, Gatsby likes to portray himself as if he is born wealthy and would create stories of where he comes from, such as when he lies to Nick about him coming from San Francisco. Gatsby's goal to achieve the American Dream only blinds him as he continues to lie about his identity. Even Nick Carraway is able to see right through Gatsby's lies when he compares Gatsby's idealism to a world that a seventeen year-old boy would create. The fact that another person can identify Gatsby's fake identity shows that Gatsby is only an average man who has high hopes and dreams in life. 

Not only does Gatsby like to think he is rich and wealthy, but he also blinds himself from facing reality. For example, Gatsby's unconditional love for Daisy Buchanan causes him to think that she is the most perfect human being he has ever seen. He uses his fake persona to attract Daisy because he thinks this is the only way that she will be attracted to him and therefore, be willing to marry him. However, it is obvious to  readers that Daisy is nothing close to perfect for she is only in for the money. Gatsby does not realize that if it wasn't for the army suit he wore when Daisy first saw him, she would have never cared for him in the first place. Gatsby likes to think this way because this is what he expects to happen in his own idealistic world. He expects that if he continues to put on his fake identity, not only will Daisy accept him, but the rest of society as well. He believes this is the only way he will gain their respect. However, as much as one tries to run away from the past, they can never get away from it because the past will always be there behind them. Gatsby does not realize this because he is so caught up in his own idealistic world that he cannot even distinguish whats real and not real. He can't realize that just because he is rich does not mean he is actually rich. The fact that he had to go to turn to illegal ways, such as bootlegging, shows that he will never be like Tom and Daisy. 

Gatsby's desire to become rich for Daisy only leads to his own tragic downfall. Not only is Nick able to see right through Gatsby's lies, but Tom Buchanan as well. Although Tom's actions leads to Gatsby's death, it is Gatsby himself who actually brings himself to his downfall. Gatsby's unconditional love for Daisy causes him to lie for her and also causes Tom to show strong hatred towards him, resulting in the action of killing him. If it wasn't for his fake identity, none of what happened to Gatsby would happen in the first place. However, the fact that he decides to put on an act for Daisy shows that Gatsby is unable to move on from his "American Dream". He is unable to move past his "perfect world" simply because he believes he finally found his dream: finally being able to spend his life with Daisy. It is evident in the end that Gatsby did not achieve his goal after readers learn that none of the people, except his father and Nick, he thought accepted him didn't even go to his own funeral. This only proves that in reality, Gatsby never really achieved the life he thought to have lived after all. He never realized that he never really did have money, a lot friends, or Daisy.  

Gatsby's struggle to achieve the American Dream only leads to his own downfall. His weakness of trying to become rich for the love of Daisy Buchanan is what makes him a modern hero.