Gatsby
Extended Character Analysis
Jay Gatsby embodies the American Dream, ascending from poverty to a station of immense wealth. He is born James Gatz and grows up on his family’s farm in the midwest. He attends college in Minnesota, working as a janitor to pay his tuition, until he meets Dan Cody, a wealthy gold miner. Cody takes Gatsby under his wing, mentoring him and introducing him to the lure of wealth and materialism. Gatsby remains Cody’s protege until Cody’s death, at which point Gatsby joins the army.
While stationed in Alabama, Gatsby meets Daisy Fay and immediately falls in love with her. Meeting Daisy only serves to enhance his fixation on wealth. After leaving to serve in the war and returning to build a bootlegging and drug-smuggling empire, he remains fixated on Daisy, who has since married Tom Buchanan. Gatsby ultimately comes to believe that only reclaiming Daisy’s love will fill the emptiness in his life. Rather than viewing Daisy as an independent person with a life and goals of her own, Gatsby instead treats her as a possession that was stolen away from him by life’s circumstances. He is unable to comprehend—or rather, unwilling to admit—that Daisy could be capable of loving another man.
Gatsby displays an intense desire to be the sole recipient of Daisy’s love. Not only does he ask Daisy to leave Tom, he also insists that she admits to never having loved him at all. In a broader sense, life’s complexities and nuances are largely lost on Gatsby, whose single-minded fixation on his material and romantic goals is the product of a life otherwise devoid of meaning and connection. At his core, Gatsby leads an empty existence, reliant on external factors for his happiness and fulfilment. For him, satisfaction is not gleaned from the acquisition of his goals, but rather from the endless pursuit of them. He is a dreamer first and foremost, forever driven to strive for more whenever a new benchmark is reached.
Gatsby represents the American Dream itself, flashy and alluring, but ultimately made of empty promises. No matter how hard Gatsby works, he will never truly obtain inner fulfilment because the American Dream has externalized happiness, framing it as something that can be bought. Gatsby is disconnected from the reality that the rest of the characters live in, one which is defined by the limitations of gender and class.
However, for all the ways Gatsby is disconnected from reality, his insulation is also what draws people like Daisy and Nick to him. Jay Gatsby ignores others’ notions of limitation. Instead, he continues to dream and strives to make his dreams into reality. For Daisy, with her abusive husband and cynical attitude about her place in the world, Gatsby is a fantasy she can escape into. He is the hopelessly devoted romantic who fought his way to the top just for her. For Nick, who craves authenticity in a world that seems to lack it, there is an earnestness in Gatsby’s motivations that transcends the superficiality of his actions. However, for both Daisy and Nick, Gatsby’s dream is a form of escapism, not something they genuinely believe in. Ultimately, Gatsby’s ideals are shattered, and he is left alone, disillusioned and unable to come to terms with the fact that his dreams were built on lies.
Time also plays a significant role in Gatsby’s characterization, specifically his inability to live in the present. As a child, he continuously strode towards an indeterminate future where he could escape poverty. His youth was spent chasing after money and status, desperately rejecting his humble upbringings in favor of rewriting his history to align with the future he sought. However, upon achieving his goals, he is left dissatisfied. So, rather than attempting to find happiness in the present, Gatsby turns back to the past, hoping that rekindling his relationship with Daisy will fulfill him. This proves to be a fool’s errand. Whereas the future is always moving closer, the past is always moving further away. No matter how hard Gatsby tries to recreate the past, true happiness does not dwell there and, indeed, never did. Unwilling to embrace the present, increasingly disillusioned with the future, and desperately chasing after the unobtainable past, Gatsby is left to stagnate, shot dead in the unmoving currents of a swimming pool. Gatsby remains a figurehead for human aspiration, an American Icarus in whose life one finds both the lofty heights of dreams and the inevitable tragedy of their fall.
Expert Q&A
What does Gatsby's response to the dinner invitation reveal about his social sensitivity? How might this scene relate to his love for Daisy?
Quick answer:
Gatsby's response tells the reader that he lacks a certain amount of social sensibility and is unable to recognize social cues. Gatsby misinterprets Mrs. Sloane's invitation and accepts the offer without realizing that she is simply being polite. Gatsby enthusiastically accepts the offer in hopes that he will see Daisy at the dinner and prove that he is worthy of being in her social circle.
Tom Buchanan and his two upper-class friends, the Sloanes, are out horseback riding. They stop at Gatsby's merely because they are thirsty and want a drink of water. Tom wants to use Gatsby, as he does people not of his social class, for his own convenience. Gatsby mistakes this stopping in for a social call and treats his visitors as guests.
Nick happens to be there and registers embarrassment when Gatsby mistakes the slightly drunken Mrs. Sloane's dinner invitation as sincere. This shows that Gatsby buys into the American dream that anyone who makes enough money, as he has done, can enter the highest classes. Tom, of course, never for an instant sees Gatsby as anything more than a lower-class grifter. He jeers at him to Nick for taking the invitation seriously, and the three equestrians ride off without him.
It's significant that this scene takes place after Gatsby and Daisy have reunited. Gatsby has always seen in Daisy the confident girl and woman who grew up in secure and affluent financial conditions. Part of what attracts him to her is her casual attitude to wealth—she has never had to worry for one minute about money. Being back with her represents to him the acceptance he has always wanted into the upper classes. Because she is having an affair with him, he feels more confident than ever that he is accepted in her class. Although he usually has sensitive social skills, his love of Daisy blinds him to reality. He feels a closeness and affinity to Tom that Tom does not to him. It doesn't occur to Gatsby that Daisy may just be using him.
The scene reinforces that no matter what Gatsby does, he will never be part of Tom and Daisy's world.
During Gatsby's brief interaction with the Sloanes, he demonstrates his inability to read social cues and take a hint. When Mrs. Sloane casually asks him to attend dinner at their house, Gatsby enthusiastically accepts the invitation without realizing that she was just being friendly. Unlike Nick, Tom, or the Sloanes, Gatsby does not hail from a wealthy family and is unfamiliar with the social cues of the elite. Gatsby misinterprets Mrs. Sloane's invitation and foolishly believes that she is being sincere. In contrast, Nick understands that she is being decorous, and he politely declines the offer.
Gatsby's enthusiastic response also reveals his desire to meet up with Daisy and gain entrance into her social circle. Since Gatsby moved to the West Egg, he has been trying to reconnect with Daisy and prove that he belongs in her social class. Gatsby is willing to do anything to impress Daisy, which includes attending random dinners with other wealthy strangers. When Gatsby enters the house to get ready, Tom quickly criticizes him for his lack of social grace and is appalled that Gatsby accepted Mrs. Sloane's insincere invitation. Nick responds by coming to Gatsby's defense and mentions that Mrs. Sloane did invite him. Nick is subtly calling out Mrs. Sloane for being insincere, and the group leaves before Gatsby returns.
In our society we have people who suffer from mental or physical disabilities. This scene demonstrates another disability at work, social disability. Gatsby is not a good reader of people or their intentions. He doesn't get the hint... several hints, and it shows.
I think Gatsby is indeed paralyzed by his love for Gatsby and a chance to see her would indeed be great, but he may also want to be socially accepted. That would be an additional feature to have in order to demonstrate worthiness to Daisy. Here, he is awkward in and among a group of people. His parties aren't awkward... but perhaps that's because he doesn't engage with the people.
I think that this scene is meant in part to show that Gatsby is not very socially sensitive. Tom points out, once Gatsby is not in the scene, that the invitation was not really sincere. However, Gatsby does not seem to realize this.
However, I think the scene has more to do with Gatsby's obsession with Daisy. Gatsby has been hoping, of course, to find a way to casually meet up with Daisy again. He has been hoping to show her that he has become rich and worthy of her. Therefore, he will do anything (even if it is expensive or socially awkward) to try to meet her again.
How does Gatsby respond when Nick asks about his source of income?
Quick answer:
When Nick inquires about Gatsby's source of income, Gatsby initially claims inheritance, but soon contradicts himself saying he earned it in just three years. Nick's further probing irks Gatsby, causing him to snap but quickly regains composure, stating involvement in various businesses in the past, including the oil and drug trade. Gatsby's wealth is a mystery throughout the novel, with suggestions of bootlegging and a lost inheritance from Cody.
Gatsby's source of wealth is one of the novel's mysteries, though Tom will uncover him as a bootlegger. Gatsby at first tells Nick he inherited his money. Later, when Gatsby mentions to Nick that "it took me just three years to earn the money" to finance his mansion, Nick questions this, saying he thought Gatsby had inherited his fortune. Gatsby revises his story on the spot, agreeing that he did inherit, but explains that he lost it all in the "panic of the war." When Nick then asks what business he is in, Gatsby's congenial mask slips, and he tells Nick to mind his own business, revealing that this is a touchy topic. He catches himself, however, and says he's been involved in several things, then mentions the drug business and the oil business, but notes he's not in either now.
Gatsby's business dealings are shady, but we do learn later that he inherited $25,000 from Cody, money he never saw.
I think that the answer you are looking for is in Chapter 5. It comes just before Nick and Daisy and Gatsby go over to show Daisy around Gatsby's house.
Nick asks Gatsby how he made his money -- what business he was in. Gatsby basically tells Nick that it is none of his business and that he should butt out. Then he realizes that that was a rude thing to say and he backs off and says that he was in a bunch of different businesses.
I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered, “That’s my affair,” before he realized that it wasn’t the appropriate reply.
“Oh, I’ve been in several things,” he corrected himself.
What is Gatsby's reply when Nick asks about his money, and why is it significant?
In chapter four, Gatsby takes Nick out to lunch and elaborates on his fictitious past during the car ride to New York City. In the car, Gatsby tells Nick that he was raised in America but was educated at Oxford. He then explains to Nick that all of his ancestors had attended college at Oxford and it was considered a family tradition to attend there. Nick begins to doubt Gatsby's story and asks him where he grew up in the Midwest. Gatsby responds by saying, "San Francisco" (Fitzgerald, 70). He then proceeds to tell Nick that his family left him a considerable amount of money, which he used to travel throughout the world collecting jewels, hunting big game, painting a little, and enjoying other luxurious activities. Nick initially finds Gatsby's story hilarious and can tell that he is lying about his past.
In the next chapter, Gatsby tells Daisy that it took him just three years to earn enough money to buy his mansion and Nick calls him out on his lie. When Nick reminds Gatsby that he said he inherited his money, Gatsby responds by saying,
"I did, old sport . . . but I lost most of it in the big panic—the panic of the war" (Fitzgerald, 96).
When Nick asks what business he was involved in, Gatsby initially refuses to go into details before saying,
"Oh, I’ve been in several things . . . I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I’m not in either one now" (Fitzgerald, 97).
Gatsby's answers to how he accumulated his wealth are ambiguous and Nick is suspicious that some of the rumors about Gatsby's involvement in the criminal underworld are real. However, Nick has extreme faith in Gatsby and hopes that he is telling the truth.
What does Gatsby say when Nick asks how he makes his money in The Great Gatsby?
In addition to the great response above, it is good to add that this particular point in the novel is one of personal victory to Gatsby. He is there with Daisy, and he is about to show her around his house. Showing off how "well" he has done for himself means, to Gatsby, that he is finally worthy of Daisy. Having Nick there serves as further proof to Gatsby that he is distinguished and admired by many.
However, in the conversation that ensues as Daisy goes to wash her face, we notice that there are cracks in Gatsby's surface that reach straight to the core of his insecurities and his feelings of worthlessness. After all, Gatsby is not about who he is, but what he has.
"The house looks well, doesn't it?" he [Gatsby] demanded. "See how the whole front of it catches the light."
I agreed that it was splendid.
"Yes." His eyes went over it, every arched door and square tower. "It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it."
"I thought you inherited your money."
At this point, Gatsby gets nervous realizing that he has been caught in a lie, a type of lie that would push him quite low in the social ranking of the peers that he is desperately trying to impress. The society that Gatsby wants to dominate is one where everything is given for no reason. They are idle heirs and heiresses with not a worry in the world who have never had to work for a living. To that society, working for a living is something done by the poor by birth—hence, their feelings of entitlement and debauchery with the money and all the many things they inherit just for being who they are. Gatsby does not share this origin, and it gnaws at him inside. This is why the next exchange makes Gatsby more guarded still.
"I did, old sport," he said automatically, "but I lost most of it in the big panic -- the panic of the war."
I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered, "That's my affair," before he realized that it wasn't the appropriate reply.
After telling Nick off, basically, Gatsby immediately tries to gain ground by retracting his reply and adding that "he has been many different things." This is evidence of Gatsby's inner fears of his origins and his background—and also of the fact that he knows he is deceiving others as well as himself.
What does Gatsby say when Nick asks how he makes his money in The Great Gatsby?
Quite simply, Gatsby replies with a tart, "That's my affair." Oh my, Gatsby gives throws a pretty quick barb at Nick in the middle of Chapter V when he asks Gatsby that question, doesn't he? Let's look at the entire exchange:
I think he hardly knew what he was saying, for when I asked him what business he was in he answered: "That's my affair," before he realized that it wasn't an appropriate reply.
"Oh I've been in several things," he corrected himself. "I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I'm not in either one now."
Gatsby's reaction is incredibly telling. It reeks of anxiety and gives wonderful evidence (and some of the first we are presented with) that Gatsby is doing something that is not entirely legal, ... or at least something that is not entirely accepted by mainstream society.
The exchange also provides another example of the awkwardness of Gatsby's personality in personal discourse. Just as Gatsby is out of place (even in West Egg), he is even out of place in everyday pleasantries.
What quote shows that Gatsby throws parties hoping Daisy will attend?
Quick answer:
A quote that shows Gatsby throws parties hoping Daisy will attend is from Chapter Four: "He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths--so that he could come over some afternoon to a stranger's garden." This indicates Gatsby's intent to attract Daisy's attention through his lavish parties.
In Chapter Four of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway remarks in his narration,
The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths--so that he could come over some afternoon to a stranger's garden.
In the previous chapter, Nick's narration includes a description of the lavish parties held by Gatsby at his opulent mansion. With such an ostentatious show of his Rolls Royce transporting people to and from the city, and his station wagon "scamper[ing] like a brisk yellow bug to meet all the trains" and maids and gardeners toiling all day in preparation along with the arrival of a "corps of caterers," it would be impossible for the Buchanans to not notice the activity of their neighbor. Then, too, outrageous rumors begin among the myriad guests, such as that of Gatsby's having killed a man and his being a nephew of Kaiser Wilhelm, rumors that would arouse the curiosity of the most jaded of neighbors.
All of Gatsby's efforts are meant to draw attention to himself in hopes that Daisy Buchanan's curiosity will be piqued to the point that she will wish to attend a party herself. The fact that Jordan Baker is a guest at the party in Chapter Three offers another lure to Daisy as Gatsby hopes that
sooner or later Jordan was going to yield him up her person to a greater or lesser degree. Instead of rambling this party had preserved a dignified homogeneity, and assumed to itself the function of representing the staid nobility of the countryside--East Egg condescending to West Egg, and carefully on guard against its spectroscopic gayety.
Clearly, Gatsby hopes that Jordan and Nick, friends of Daisy, will describe his parties and entice her to attend one, or at least, to invite him to East Egg and her "garden."
Gatsby reveals his life story to Nick in The Great Gatsby
Summary:
Gatsby reveals his life story to Nick in chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby. He explains that he is the son of wealthy parents from the Midwest, educated at Oxford, and a decorated war hero. Gatsby's recounting is intended to impress Nick and validate his social standing, although some details later prove to be exaggerated or false.
In The Great Gatsby, why does Gatsby reveal his life to Nick in Chapter 4?
During their ride into New York, Gatsby spins some very fantastic tales about his personal history for Nick. All of his stories are designed to make him seem a worthier and more respectable man, in spite of the rumors Nick surely has heard. To emphasize his sincerity, Gatsby refers to what he tells Nick as being "God's truth."
According to Gatsby, he was born into a wealthy Midwestern family, all of whom were (conveniently, for his purposes) dead. After growing up in the United States, he went to school in England, at Oxford, in accordance with the long-standing family tradition. When questioned by Nick, Gatsby adds, surprisingly, that his Midwestern home was San Francisco. After all his family died, he inherited the family fortune, moved to Europe, and lived "like a young rajah."
His story continued that his life in Europe ended when World War I began, he served as a first lieutenant in the Argonne Forest, and performed incredible feats of military heroism. For his service, he was received a military promotion to major and was decorated by all of the United States' allies, including "little Montenegro down on the Adriatic Sea!"
Nick finds the story to be incredulous, but is then shocked and confused when Gatsby shows him two souvenirs from his past: an inscribed, authentic-looking medal from Montenegro and a picture of Gatsby taken at Oxford with a group of young men in blazers: "There was Gatsby, looking a little, not much, younger--with a cricket bat in his hand." Untangling the truth of Gatsby's past requires the rest of the novel. Gatsby tells Nick this fantastic history to establish his personal credentials and gain Nick's approval because Gatsby wants Nick to arrange for him to meet Daisy.
Why does Gatsby tell Nick his life story in Chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby?
Gatsby is in love with Daisy, Nick's cousin. He and Daisy once had a relationship, but they have not seen each other in 5 years. Gatsby has moved to Long Island in order to meet her again, but has not managed to. The big parties he has thrown have not brought her to the house like he hoped they would. So, Gatsby has formulated a plan, with the help of Jordan, to have Nick bring Daisy and he together.
In order to this, however, he must feel that he should be on friendly terms with Nick. After all, it is a large favor he is asking. Therefore, he gives Nick details about his life that no one else in the area has been privy to. The show of trust is to make Nick understand him and feel friendly towards him, making Nick more likely to agree to the plan.
In The Great Gatsby, why does Gatsby share his life story with Nick and does Nick believe him?
Gatsby very much wants Nick to help him in his quest to reunite with Daisy so he takes him to lunch in the city. On the drive in, Gatsby knows it is important to dispel some of the rumors Nick would have heard about him at his party. So he offers to tell Nick about his past.
What Gatsby tells is a mix lies and truth. He says he comes from a rich midwestern family, but then undermines that by saying the "midwestern" town he comes from is San Francisco, which is on the west coast. He also says he has hunted big game in the capital cities of Europe, which is impossible, as big game, such as lions and tigers, are not wandering around those cities. Nick has to avoid laughing and thinks:
The very phrases were worn so threadbare that they evoked no image except that of a turbaned "character" leaking sawdust at every pore as he pursued a tiger through the Bois de Boulogne.
In other words, Nick believes that this cliched story comes straight from cheap dime store novels Gatsby has read. Gatsby also tells Nick that he is an Oxford graduate, a tradition that goes back generations in his family, and that he was decorated as a war hero in World War I by the country of Montenegro.
Nick believes none of it, but then Gatsby, like a good con artist, is able to produce the war medal and a photograph of himself at Oxford, which helps convince Nick the story is true. The story is a mix of truth and falsehood, though mostly falsehood, which is how a con man would operate.
In The Great Gatsby, why does Gatsby share his life story with Nick and does Nick believe him?
Nick tells the story of Jay Gatsby because he is arguably the most objective character in the novel. Also, since he has no previous knowledge of Gatsby, Nick can narrate in less of a chronological order than one would expect from those who have been acquainted with him.
As the readers learn about Gatsby in bits and pieces of background mixed with current knowledge, Nick tells readers about Gatsby in non-linear order that is typical of the Modernist movement in literature. In addition, this style of narration also seems more believable because this is the order in which one normally learns about someone. And, for Nick to repeat the fabrications of Jay--such as his war record--lends a trust factor to the narration because he is more naive about Gatsby than others. As he declares, "I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known."
In addition, Nick is a person whom others trust. However, Nick, too, becomes entangled as his own romantic naivete causes him to give more credibility to Gatsby than he would any other character or would an omniscient narrator. Yet, this credibility of Gatsby makes him "great," a man who believes that he can repeat the past and improve upon it.
With the assistance of Nick Carraway as narrator, Gatsby comes alive as a romantic hero. In Chapter Four, Nick narrates,
Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor.
But, this romantic hero deteriorates for Nick, and he becomes disillusioned, thinking of returning to the Midwest where he can "run faster" and transcend the past and recreate the past.
In The Great Gatsby, why does Gatsby share his life story with Nick and does Nick believe him?
Making Nick the narrator is an interesting decision on Fitzgerald's part. If he wanted a truly objective narrator, he could have easily written the novel in third person omniscient point of view, with a narrator who was not involved in the story at all. Instead, he uses the character Nick. For all of Nick's insisting in the first chapter that he is so nonjudgmental and tolerant, he wouldn't exist at all in the story if he were completely objective.
So what purpose does he serve, if not to relate the story objectively as it happens? There are a few answers to this. For one, Nick works as a reader surrogate, the everyman coming from the country to the glitzy life of New York and taking the reader along for the ride. As Nick experiences this new life, readers are introduced to it as well, through his eyes.
On a related note, Nick as a character struggles with this new life of Jazz Age parties and superficiality. He undergoes an internal conflict throughout the book as he works out whether the glamorous, fast-paced life of New York is worth the damage it does to people and relationships. This is symbolized through his relationship with Jordan Baker, whose liveliness attracts him at first, until her carelessness and dishonesty turn him off of her.
Finally, Nick plays a role in doing exactly what he says he doesn't do: providing judgement. As he looks over Gatsby's unattended funeral, he contemplates the moral emptiness of free-wheeling East Coast life and the futility of the American Dream. At the end of the novel, Nick acts as a vehicle to transport Fitzgerald's themes to the reader.
The Great Gatsby's portrayal of Gatsby as a sympathetic character despite his moral failings
Summary:
Gatsby is portrayed as a sympathetic character despite his moral failings because his actions are driven by his idealistic love for Daisy and his desire to recreate the past. His flaws and criminal activities are overshadowed by his romantic optimism and the tragic nature of his unfulfilled dreams, which elicit empathy from the reader.
Why should we sympathize with Gatsby?
Jay Gatsby is a sympathetic character because his intentions were pure and his pursuit of the American Dream was solely motivated by his love for Daisy Buchanan. Jay Gatsby was born James Gatz and grew up in a working-class family. After briefly courting the wealthy Daisy Fay and working for Dan Cody, James transformed himself and entered the illegal bootlegging industry to attain wealth. While Gatsby's pursuit of wealth was corrupt, his intentions were admirable and pure. He understood that he would never have a chance of being with the woman he loved since she came from an upper-class family and he was extremely poor. Instead of lamenting his situation, Gatsby successfully attained the American Dream to improve his chances of marrying her. As a citizen of the West Egg, Gatsby is portrayed as rather naive and innocent in comparison to the debased, arrogant citizens of the East Egg. Unfortunately, Gatsby surrounds himself with shady, selfish individuals, who do not genuinely care about him, including Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby also demonstrates his love and concern for Daisy by taking the blame for Myrtle's death and making sure Tom will not harm her. Nick also has a positive perception of Jay Gatsby and views him as a charismatic, enthusiastic dreamer with pure intentions and a hopeful spirit. After praising Gatsby, Nick comments,
Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and shortwinded elations of men.
Why does Gatsby deserve the reader's sympathy?
Firstly, I would discourage simplistic readings of the other characters. Gatsby uses the Buchanans, who are, indeed, unappealing people, to critique the American Dream. The Buchanans embody the social prestige of "old money" that Gatsby seeks to gain. Though Gatsby has earned a lot of money through bootlegging (a business made successful due to demands of alcohol from people like the Buchanans), he can never gain entry into the world of the Buchanans.
Arguably, each character in the book is an archetype from American life: Tom Buchanan is an entitled racist; Daisy is a wealthy, passive woman from the South who has been taught to believe that youth and beauty can protect her from unhappiness; Myrtle Wilson is a social climber who allows rich Tom Buchanan to abuse her so that she can be near him; Myrtle's husband, George, is a poor man who is taken advantage of by those who have more than he, living in a world he only partially comprehends.
Gatsby, as Nick Carraway narrates at the end of the novel, embodies the hope that existed in New York's first Dutch settlers. He started as a poor boy, probably of Jewish extraction (his name was James Gatz) who exhibited an unusual level of discipline at a young age and used that to become a success. He embodies the American value of hard work as a path to success. He is always striving—an aspect of his character that is illustrated by his reaching, literally, toward the green light that marks the shore of East Egg where Daisy lives.
Having written all of this, the question of whether Gatsby deserves sympathy is a subjective one. Most would agree that the novel's outcome is sad, and Fitzgerald offers no moral comeuppance for the Buchanans. However, Gatsby is a snob who distances himself from his humble origins and embraces materialism. He probably loves Daisy, but it is unclear because he seems more focused on her as a thing to win, a way to enter an exclusive social class.
Fitzgerald uses The Great Gatsby to critique the American Dream and to find fault with the notion that everyone can succeed. Gatsby, for all of his wealth and notoriety, never felt successful and never got what he wanted. The Buchanans, though in possession of the prestige that Gatsby desired, are miserable people. The American Dream is a creation of the imagination, something elusive and always just out of reach, like the green light on a distant shore.
Why does Gatsby deserve the reader's sympathy?
On the most basic level, we can sympathize with Gatsby for being a dreamer. He wanted something and he set out to get it. His desire, his passion...both deserve admiration and so his failures deserve (some) pity.
There is also a complex sort of powerlessness involved in Jay Gatsby's story. He wants to change. He wants to make himself into something that he thinks is better than what he once was.
This craving for betterment and change is naturally a sympathetic drive. We can all understand this impulse. Again, the fact that he fails in the end to achieve his aims might lead us to feel some pity for someone who had such a baldly sentimental goal.
Jay Gatsby's acquisition of wealth and its sources in "The Great Gatsby."
Summary:
Jay Gatsby's wealth in The Great Gatsby comes primarily from his involvement in illegal activities, including bootlegging during Prohibition. He accumulates his fortune through dubious means to win back Daisy Buchanan, his former lover, and to gain acceptance into the upper echelons of society.
How does Gatsby become a wealthy businessman through illegal means in "The Great Gatsby"?
Jay Gatsby gets most of his wealth from his illegal business in liquor smuggling. This book is set during the Prohibition era in the United States (1919-1933). During this time, it was illegal to produce, transport, or sell alcoholic beverages. Because of this, and because people still wanted to drink, there was a huge black market for alcohol.
In real life, many bootleggers got rich off of this illegal trade. In the book, Gatsby gets rich in this same fashion. You can get confirmation of this, for example, in Chapter 7. Tom accuses Gatsby and Wolfsheim of having been bootleggers and Gatsby does not deny it.
He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong.”
What is the source of Gatsby's fortune in The Great Gatsby?
Jay Gatsby spins quite a yarn about himself in chapter four of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. By this time, narrator Nick Carraway has heard many rumors about the mysterious man. He had heard that Gatsby is a bootlegger, that he is an Oxford man, and that he once killed a man, among other rumors. Gatsby invites Nick to lunch and then asks Nick to tell him what his opinion of him is. When Nick appears to be caught off guard, Gatsby explains that he doesn't want him to get the wrong idea from all the stories that abound about him. Gatsby's ostentatious displays of wealth and enigmatic ways leave a lot of cause for speculation about how he acquired his fortune.
"'I'll tell you God's truth.' His right hand suddenly ordered diving retribution to stand by. 'I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west--all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years. It is a family tradition.'
He looked at me sideways, and I knew why Jordan Baker had believed he was lying."
When Nick questions what part of the "middle-west" Gatsby's family is from, Gatsby responds with "San Francisco," which is a strange response considering that it is located on the California coast and nowhere near the midwest. He tells Nick that when all of his family died, he came into a good deal of money. He then tells Nick about his time in the military during the Great War. He tells him he was promoted to Major and earned medals of honor. When he produces the medal and a picture of himself in the quad at Oxford, Nick believes the whole of Gatsby's story is true. Gatsby explains that he is about to ask Nick for a favor, and he wanted Nick to know that he wasn't just some nobody. The favor he is asking of Nick is that he wants him to ask his cousin Daisy over for tea.
Nick finds out the truth about Gatsby in chapter six when a reporter shows up with information and asks Gatsby to give a statement. It turns out that his real name is Jay Gatz, and he is the son of dirt-poor farmers. He earned his wealth through bootlegging in the time of prohibition.
What is the source of Gatsby's fortune in The Great Gatsby?
Ironically, Nick Carraway narrates that the many who accepted Gatsby's hospitality "paid him the subtle tribute of knowing nothing whatever about him." For, Gatsby has manufactured an illusion about himself that depends upon no one knowing nothing of him.
On the morning that Gatsby pulls into Nick's driveway, Nick remarks that Gatsby, in fact, "had little to say." So, when Gatsby launches into his biographical history, Nick is rather taken aback on their "disconcerting ride" as he feels that hearing Gatsby's story is rather like skimming quickly through several magazines. And, that Gatsby lacks credibility is evident in his remark that his family, who all are deceased (conveniently for Gatsby), left him "a good deal of money." Furthering his lack of credibility, Gatsby tells Nick that they were from the "middle-west"; however, when Nick asks, "What part of the middle-west?" Gatsby responds "San Francisco."
How do Jay Gatsby and the Buchannans earn their wealth?
Tom and Daisy Buchanan do not actually need to make money. When Nick first introduces Tom's character to the reader, he says that Tom's "family were enormously wealthy [...]." He says, "Why they came East I don't know," and so this makes it seem to me that Tom does not, in fact, work at all. Nick came East in order to work in the bonds business during the booming economy after the war, and this kind of occupational concern was evidently not Tom's. Nick continues, "I felt that Tom would drift on forever seeking, a little wistfully, for the dramatic turbulence of some irrecoverable football game." Statements like this seem to paint Tom as having relatively little to do—this is probably why he has time to keep a mistress and read racist books—so I do not believe that he works. Working is for people who have new money (or no money), and Tom's money is old.
Tom fully reveals how it is that Gatsby makes his money during the final big confrontation in the city. He tells Daisy,"'He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.'" So Gatsby has made his fortune illegally, selling alcohol during the Prohibition era. This is how he was able to make his fortune so quickly, it seems.
How did Jay Gatsby acquire his wealth?
Jay Gatsby, originally James Gatz, was born to poor farmers in North Dakota. Although Gatsby grew up poor, he dreamed of climbing the social ladder and becoming a member of the social elite. When Gatsby was seventeen years old, he met a rich copper mogul, Dan Cody, who hired him as a personal assistant. On Dan Cody's yacht, Gatsby sailed from the Barbary Coast to the West Indies and fell in love with the life of luxury. This experience also taught Gatsby how to interact with members of the upper class. After Cody passed away, Gatsby enlisted in the military to fight in World War I.
When Gatsby returned from the war, he was penniless until he met the shady Meyer Wolfsheim, who introduced him to the illegal bootlegging business. The source of Gatsby's wealth is seemingly confirmed when Tom confronts Gatsby and accuses him of illegally selling alcohol in drug stores during Prohibition. Gatsby doesn't deny it:
"I found out what your 'drug-stores’ were." He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn’t far wrong."
"What about it?" said Gatsby politely. "I guess your friend Walter Chase wasn’t too proud to come in on it."
As Wolfsheim's partner in crime, Gatsby amassed a fortune in the underground bootlegging industry and eventually purchased a gaudy mansion in West Egg, directly across from the Buchanan estate.
In the story, Gatsby is considered "new money" and flaunts his wealth in hopes of attracting Daisy's attention. At the beginning of the story, Nick Carraway hears many rumors surrounding Gatsby that connect him to the criminal underworld, and these rumors are confirmed when Tom Buchanan investigates Gatsby and exposes him as a bootlegger in front of Daisy.
According to The Great Gatsby, how did Gatsby become wealthy?
This is a really interesting question. The reason why the answer isn't so easy to figure out is because we have to filter Gatsby through the lens of the 1920s. I could talk all day about the huge amount of "Gatsby gossip" that is in the novel before this actual moment, but we have to wait (and wait) until the middle of chapter 4 to hear it from Gatsby. The flappers and gangsters at Gatsby's parties get in the way.
In fact, the first time we hear something from Gatsby's lips, he says, "My family all died, and I came into a great deal of money." Of course Gatsby first insists that San Francisco is part of the Midwest. Um, San Francisco is absolutely not the Middle West. But I love the use of wording here to avoid a lie, per se. Yes, his family died. Yes, he came in to a great deal of money. What he doesn't say is that he didn't come into the money because his family died. Nick, of course, mistakenly takes Gatsby's statement as a statement of inheritance.
Awww, our little innocent Nick.
There's another little inkling a bit later when Gatsby tries to tactlessly ask Nick to go into business saying, "I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of side line, you understand." Uh huh. Obviously if Gatsby scoffs at Nick being a bond man and then offers him this "job," then this is a way to make money. How would Gatsby have know this was a way to make money if he didn't make money that way himself? But are there specifics here? No.
Even later, Gatsby "clarifies" the situation with Nick:
"I thought you inherited your money."
"I did, old sport," he said automatically, "but I lost most of it in the big panic--the panic of the war. ... Oh, I've been in several things," he corrected himself. "I was in the drug business and then I was in the oil business. But I'm not in either one now."
And yet, even when Tom confronts Gatsby about his bootlegging, Gatsby responds by saying, "What about it?" This is even after Tom mentions Chase taking the fall for Gatsby. So, of course, Gatsby continues to be the king of circumlocution, as esoteric as ever. Gotta love those well-dressed, handsome rich guys who revel in word play.
In The Great Gatsby, why does Gatsby pursue wealth?
In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is basically broke when he meets Daisy. When he goes off to fight in the war, he vows not to lose her because of money. He gets out of the army, goes to college and then gets involved in a drug ring and organized crime. He does this solely to build himself up in order to win over Daisy. Since Daisy is a popular, beautiful girl from a wealthy family, Gatsby felt it was necessary to gain wealth to be in that same social class.
When Gatsby and Daisy fell in love, prior to her marriage to Tom, Gatsby recognized that Daisy was on a higher social or economic bracket than he was. And although Gatsby had always put Daisy on a pedestal, he played it like he was a part of that same upper class. Nick gives us some insight in Chapter 8:
I don’t mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact, he had no such facilities -.
In fact, obtaining wealth was just one part of making himself, really recreating himself, into a more well rounded person. Gatsby's father comments on this in Chapter 9. "Jimmy was bound to get ahead. He always had some resolves like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that." Mr. Gatz tells Nick this after showing one of Jimmy's (Gatsby's) old regimens which included working out, reading, elocution and studying various subjects. Gatsby was always positioning himself towards some goal (Nick refers to it as the "following of a grail"). Gatsby felt he needed wealth to be a good match for Daisy. Acquiring this wealth was just one aspect of remaking himself into someone he thought would be more socially acceptable as Daisy's husband (in Daisy's eyes and society's) .
How does Jay Gatsby acquire his wealth?
Rumors abound about how Gatsby made his fortune, and Gatsby himself is not especially forthcoming about the source of his wealth. In chapter five, he tells Nick he was "in the drug business" and "in the oil business," but also claims he inherited wealth before losing most of it in "the panic of the war." Speculation is rampant that he is a bootlegger of alcohol, and when confronted by Tom Buchanan in chapter seven, he doesn't deny selling grain alcohol in his Chicago drug-stores or his association with the gangster Meyer Wolfsheim. Tom also implies that Gatsby has profited from illegal gambling. In chapter nine, Meyer Wolfsheim regales Nick with the story of how Gatsby came to work for him after arriving penniless from the war. While tying up loose ends for Gatsby after his death, Nick intercepts a phone call that reports an associate of Gatsby's has been arrested for dealing in stolen bonds.
Why does Gatsby acquire wealth by corrupt means?
On a more superficial level, Gatsby seeks his fortune through corrupt means because he wants to win Daisy's heart. Unlike Tom and Daisy, Gatsby doesn't come from a family of great financial success. Instead, he was fairly broke when he and Daisy first met. Because he is convinced that Daisy will love him if he can integrate himself into the lifestyle of the socially elite, he reinvents himself. James Gatz from rural North Dakota becomes Jay Gatsby. In order to complete this transformation, Gatsby must determine how to substantially increase his income, and he turns to bootlegging, which was quite common during the Prohibition setting of this novel. Tom ultimately confronts Gatsby about his shady business dealings, telling Daisy and others,
He and this Wolfshiem bought up a lot of side-street drug stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. That’s one of his little stunts. I picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him and I wasn’t far wrong.
Gatsby doesn't deny this accusation, only questioning, "What about it?" Considering Tom's immoral activities himself, Gatsby's question isn't completely out of line. Ultimately, however, Gatsby finds that even incredible wealth isn't enough to sway Daisy's heart, and he is devastated when she chooses to remain with her cheating husband rather than build a new life with him.
On a more complex level, Gatsby turns to a corrupt line of work because he is dissatisfied with his life. He is stuck in the past, unable to let go of dreams which have no future for him. Gatsby is disillusioned, believing that money can cure the feelings of inadequacy which have plagued him since he was young. He feels the need to prove himself, and winning Daisy's heart seems to be the ultimate prize to validate his sense of self-worth. Gatsby turns to morally corrupt behaviors because he believes that his authentic character is simply not good enough.
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