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Central Conflict in The Great Gatsby

After finishing The Great Gatsby, I can safely say it is one of the greatest novels I have ever read, likely the greatest. Part of what makes it great is it's complicated conflict.

You really can't pinpoint exactly one central conflict for the novel. Here we have a man struggling with himself, constantly asking the question "is this really who I am?" Sure, he has riches and parties, but inside he is a lonely person, searching for freedom in Daisy. However, a byproduct of living in West Egg is complicated interpersonal relationships, as seen when Gatsby is blamed for the hit-and-run killing of a young woman named Wilson (the "death car", as the newspapers called it, didn't stop; it came out of the gathering darkness, wavered tragically for a moment, and then disappeared around the next bend.") and subsequently killed for it (even though it was actually Daisy Buchanan, Gatsby's unattainable goal, who was driving the vehicle. So here, we have man vs. self and man vs. man.

Comments

  1. Kim HarrisonMay 15, 2017 at 8:37 AM

    As with most great novels, there are multiple conflicts. The prompt asks what you think the central conflict is and why. A hint for this is to determine what the climax is and see what conflict is addressed in that conflict.

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