Following the Crowd by Patricia

Following the Crowd by Patricia - October 2025 Scholarship Essay

When I had to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald for my English class year I was not looking forward to it, I had heard so many awful things about the book, but to my amazement that very book is now my favorite. The Great Gatsby follows so many different themes and has so many different forms of symbolism, but my main takeaway was Gatsby's willingness to follow the crowd to get what he wanted. Sure he may have stood out like a leader but Jay Gatsby was doing whatever it took to infiltrate the ranks of the rich to get closer to Daisy, he would have done anything for her. When he threw all those parties just to grab her attention it wasn't him defying anyone's orders or making a choice against everyone else, no he was doing it so that more and more people would show up. Because he knew that it would intrigue Daisy. He followed the crowd till he got what he wanted, till he reached his goal. It shows me how being a crowd follower won't make you duller or a conformist, but rather that you are so devoted, dedicated to one thing that you will do anything on the planet to get to it, to earn it. Gatsby showed me that I don't always have to stand out, that it's not the end of the world if I follow the crowd.