Lauren Carbone 11-2
English 111
Mr. Fiorini


The Great Gatsby

“Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat...the redeeming things are not 'happiness and pleasure' but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.”
–Letter, October 5, 1940, to his daughter, Frances

The Great Gatsby was a novel that created a new mindset for its reader, making them change their outlook on the true meaning of life and what it is to want something so strong and loose it. I found that the quote taken from one of Fitzgerald’s letters to his daughter held a great representation for that of the character Gatsby, and the path his life had taken. When the quote states, “Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat” I found it to portray the life of illegal bootlegging Gatsby had and how it didn’t exactly provide him with the reward a hard earned living could. I say this because throughout the story I never found Gatsby to be truly happy with the fancy parties, extraordinary mansion, and material items this illegal job provided him with. His happiness was obtained by receiving the love of a woman he desired, which is something he had to truly work for and no bootlegging job could ever bring him. This also ties into the next statement of the quote, “The redeeming things are not 'happiness and pleasure' but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle.” This also represent that happiness and pleasure did not come from his illegal job but from the love he had for Daisy.
In general I found this quote to portray a very valuable life lesson that was depicted in the story as well. It represents that sometimes life is not always fair such as how Gatsby was killed in the end of the book, but also that the best things in life are those that are earned. The Great Gatsby was diffidently a book that contained many life lessons that the reader could take on in their own lives to learn from as well as develop their own opinions on why things work out the way they do.