There are two words that properly describe Mr. Jay Gatsby; a phony and charismatic person. Gatsby has a very strong personality and will not give up on his so called “American Dream”. However, nobody knows the real Gatsby, not even Nick Caraway at first who later we see as Gatsby’s one and only true friend.
Jay Gatsby is a man in his mid-thirties who lives a more or less of an extravagant life which he is financing by the great deal of money he miraculously came about in some way that nobody is for certain of. In all reality nobody knows much about him at all, they only know him from the extravagant, lavish parties that he throws in hopes that one day his true love, Daisy will show up. Rumors spread like wildfire from different people when Nick asked, “… He’s a nephew of Kaiser Wilhelm’s. That’s where all his money comes from” (35). “He killed a man once… He was a German spy during the war… He was in the American Army…” (44). This confused and worried Nick until he heard what he thought to be the truth from Gatsby himself.
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“Well, I’m going to tell you something about my life… I don’t want you to get the wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear… I’ll tell you God’s truth… 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…” (65). Nick was truly convinced that his whole story was one lie upon another, especially the way Gatsby hesitated and rush through certain words. This was before Gatsby showed him his two precious jewels: the photo of himself at Oxford and the medal from Montenegro, which served as complete astonishment to Nick. He was still very reluctant in believing some of the other stories Gatsby told him prior to
Nick’s impression of Gatsby
This is almost like a roll call of the country's most wealthy and biggest celebrities. Nick then tells the story of he and Gatsby's trip to New York City for lunch. On their way to the city Gatsby starts explaining to Nick about his mysterious past. Gatsby lists a very detailed set of accomplishments and pulls out items to prove what he says. It was almost as if he had rehearsed the conversation.
Therefore making the argument that Gatsby is a compulsive, obsessive, and delusional charter. Throughout the entire novel, Nick is trying to figure out who Gatsby really is and if any of the things he has told him are true. Spoiler: not much of what Gatsby says to Nick at first is the truth. To start off Gatsby claims, “I am the son of some wealthy people in the MidWest- all dead now” (page 64).
Even the people closest to Gatsby do not fully know of his past. Although Gatsby is aware of the rumors that are spread about him, he only shares his true past with Nick. He leaves his rise to New Money a mystery for everyone else. It is evident that he
Gatsby was once seen as a respectable man who was admired by the things he did with his wealth until rumors were deemed true and everyone found out how his wealth was truly gained leading to the reasoning for his death. Gatsby's fatal flaw consumed him until he couldn't hide the truth, no longer making him a lost tragic hero. Gatsby's lies consumed his character until he was no longer seen as the same character from the beginning of the book because of his tragic fall. Gatsby's lies could only be hidden for so long until they were known to all which left his character to drastically fall at once until tragedy which is why it is important to tell the truth as the reader not to repeat the flaws of
He didn't even accept his own parents or any part of his past as his own. Gatsby’s past is full of lies, a life created from imagination that is not even real. “I wouldn’t ask too much of her,” [Nick] ventured. “You can’t repeat the past.” “Can’t repeat the past?”
Nick stated, “I found myself on Gatsby’s side, alone.” (Fitzgerald 164). This is when he realizes he is the only one who has stuck with Gatsby through everything. He realized nobody else cared about Gatsby the way he did. Even though he denies that he cares for Gatsby, in the end, he is the only one still by Gatsby’s side.
Gatsby was a very mysterious man. Every time he was put into a conversation
Throughout The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a self subservient character whose inner inhibitions, pleasure seeking lifestyle, and hubris prevent him from caring about how he affects other people. The only people to whom he ever gives the time of day are those who benefit him. Gatsby’s actions throughout the book are exemplary of these traits. The scope of Gatsby’s selfishness goes all the way to his daily life and the people he surrounds himself with. In his life he never really cared about anyone only what they could do for him.
" Under the circumstances Nick hardly expects any section of Gatsby's fabulous story to be true..." (Donaldson 161). Gatsby manipulates Nick throughout the novel, causing
Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are two of the most important characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Throughout the novel many comparisons and contrasts can be made, however, this may be arguably the most important due to the magnitude of importance of these two characters and the roles they play in progressing the story. Jay Gatsby, a fabulously wealthy young man living in a Gothic Mansion in West Egg and the protagonist, throws constant parties every Saturday night, but nobody has much insight about him. Nick Carraway, a young man from Minnesota who lives in New York City to learn the bond business, is typically an honest and tolerant man. Although they do share some similarities, they also share a plethora of differences in their
Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, is a wealthy man with dubious sources of money; Gatsby is renowned in New York due to the lavish parties he holds every friday in his mansion. These are spectacles that fully embody the wealth and glamour of the roaring twenties, and are narrated through the eyes of another character Nick Carraway, an ambitious 29 year old man that recently moved back to a corrupt new york in a cramped cottage next to Gatsby’s palace. After admiring the careless behaviour of the parties from a distance, Nick gets a personal invitation to Gatsby’s next party, he promptly becomes infatuated by the extravagant and frivolous lifestyle the parties portray, along with the superficial
In the third chapter Nick had met Gatsby for the first time at one of the large parties thrown at Gatsby 's mansion. Nick hadn 't realized he had met Gatsby until Nick said something about not meeting the host of the party. Gatsby had then stated whom he was and then said "I thought you knew, old sport. I 'm afraid I 'm not a very good host.". Nick had then stated, "He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly.
The eponymous character was born the day he met Dan Cody and invented himself a new life. Ultimately, Gatsby created and fabricated his own ideal ‘identity’ to meet his expectations: “The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his platonic conception of himself […] so he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year- old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.” Two identities therefore arise: Jay Gatsby and James Gatz. Yet one can almost see the threads of James Gatz behind the Gatsby facade. With Daisy, Gatsby loses the carefully constructed identity: he reverts to the young soul seeking for his place in the world, with “a touch of panic” in his voice when he realises that Daisy has “slipped away [and become something] no longer tangible”.