Was Gatsby Great? The Great Gatsby Part 2: Crash Course English Literature #5

SPOILER ALERT: This video assumes you've read the book.

In which John Green continues to explore F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. In this installment, John looks into the titular Gatsby's purported Greatness. Gatsby's single-minded pursuit of Daisy, his checkered past, and his checkered present all play a role in determining whether he was, in fact, great. Here's a hint: you don't have to be good to be great. It turns out greatness doesn't have much to do with whether you're a good person. Along the way, John explores the relentless forward march of time, the use of poetic language, and the ironic titling of novels.

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[ChrisTaylor]

Let's not forget that Nick states "I’m inclined to reserve all judgments" and goes on to judge everyone else in the entire novel for possessing the same flaws which he shares, and which the reader also shares.

We like to think of ourselves as above the action of the story, but in reality we should be able to see some shared characteristics between ourselves and at least one character.

[orlandoa.]

I think Gatsby fell in love with the idea of daisy rather than daisy herself, and so when his idea of daisy didn't match who daisy actually was, his reality came crumbling down upon him. And so it was rather his failure to accept the reality that daisy was not he thought she was than anything else that ultimately lead to his demise.
- Yet I can't help but admire Gatsby's courage and sense of hope, he was a dreamer.

[IzzyWootonn]

"The tragedy isn't in dreaming, it's in chasing an unworthy dream." Yes. Thanks for the awesome vid John!

[simplethings]

Daisy, in a way, just became an imaginary character to Gatsby. He took the best moments that he had with her and for five years created a portrait of Daisy that made her out to be the most incredible person on earth. In reality she was just a snobby careless upperclass woman who really wasn't worth pining after

[bffs]

its amazing how within 20 minutes of these 2 videos I've been more intrigued in this book than in all of the hours we've talked about it in my english class 

[urgaguer]

To talk about Jay Gatsby I think we have to separate the idea of "great" and "good" because yes, Gatsby was undoubtedly great. He accomplished "The American Dream" and became "great" but in order to do so, he gave up on being "good".

[saraha.mubarak]

Gatsby, in my opinion, was great. His actions towards his cause were great. His cause, however, was not so great.

[beautifulendings]

Dear John,
please make more Crash Course Literature (more specifically more Gatsby ones) because you explain it so well and are obviously passionate about it.

[EnglishMuffin]

Yes, I feel that Gatsby was a great man. Unfortunately, he was a great man who aspired for something unworthy of his pursuit. He was kind and warm and giving, but to all the wrong people. He built himself up from nothing to this fantastic life of mansions and high-class parties. He *was* the American Dream. This is what most Americans believe *is* the American Dream, or a similar variation of it. Some might even say it made him greater that he did it for love, that it was incredibly romantic of him to become so successful for Daisy and not for himself. I think, though, that most of us are coming to realize how unhealthy and hollow a dream that really is. He did all of that and ultimately lost his life for a woman that decided to stay comfortable in her miserable life with an unbearable asshole of a husband. His father was right. Had he used that ambition for real greatness, he could have done so much more.

[LifeLover]

John Green, will you be my English teacher?

[TheEmmaporium]

To quote JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, "'After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great.'"

[ianalvord]

I don't think "me from the past" is him from the past anymore. 

It's more like "people I don't agree with in the present."

[kenllacer]

*Gatsby* became *great* the moment he *envisioned a future of prosperity* for himself and adopted a name that would better suit his needs and ambitions. To say that the characters in the book are dull and uninteresting would constitute a lie since the characters were designed specifically for people to connect with them regardless. The fact that *he took risks* by joining the war and later the gangs of NYC proved that he was an extraordinary human being while still cowering at the utter simplicity of meeting a woman for tea. Finally, him being able to stay in the path he laid down for the sake of a *dream* (Daisy) he never had assurance for is *selfless*. Personally I think that was admirable and constituted _a beautiful death_. Thank you, Mr. Green for making these videos about my favorite piece of literature.

[aphrog]

I just realized that John's laptop says "this machine kills fascists" while his brother Hank's guitar says "this machine pwns noobs"

[kalimorgia]

To quote Emerson: "To be great, is to be misunderstood"

[kelcieford]

That's one thing I learned: That everybody worships something. And what you worship reveals who you are as a person.

[pavelradev]

Gatsby was Great. He was just mildly delusional and really motivated. He did great things and only wanted 1 thing, Daisy. This blinded him. He was living in the past. He just could not let go. Letting go can be one of the hardest things to do. When it comes to Gatsby, He had 1 goal and "Finding it, though, that's not the hard part. It's letting go." Father Elijah, Fallout New Vegas.

[imowilliams]

my english a level is riding on these explanations of TGG, I'm trusting you, John.

[najadamu]

It's hard to tell whether or not Gatsby was truly great because so much of what we see of him is from Nick's romanticised perspective, and the image of this charismatic legendary symbol that Gatsby puts on.

But yeah, I'd say he's great because he's a genuinely sympathetic character who's just so daring and ambitious and the scene where his father comes to the mansion after his death and is marvelling over all that his son obtained with Nick... even if, to readers, it's nothing more than Gatsby's rather pointlessly extravagant show of wealth for Daisy, it MEANT something to Jay Gatsby's father. It was the culmination of years of hard work in pursuit of an unattainable goal and, let's face it, most humans are always striving to better themselves. You can see in sportspeople, actors, etc.

[blazestorm]

Gatsby for me had the potential to be great. Everything he did in a way was great. However his naivety and innocence in his passion for Daisy was what wasn't great. He fell into the trap of following after shiny bright fools gold.