How Is Jay Gatsby Selfish

All throughout the book The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby appears to be this successful, happy, businessman living the American Dream. When in reality, he is a very unhappy and a lonely man using his wealth and power to make himself feel happy and full. Although Jay Gatsby was living the American Dream, he died in an unhappy state of mind. There are a lot of examples all throughout the book that support this idea that he died an unhappy man. One of the main events that happens in the book that shows how Gatsby died an unhappy man is when his funeral is being held and no one shows up. "The minister glanced several times at his watch, so I took him aside and asked him to wait for a half an hour. But it wasn't any use. Nobody came" (Fitzgerald 174).

"'You can't repeat the past.' 'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'" (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby has it set in his mind that he can recreate the past that he and Daisy had. This is obviously unrealistic because she is now married and has a child but Gatsby does not care, he will do whatever it takes. "He foolishly expects to resume his romance with Daisy exactly at the point where he had left it several years before. This is impossible, of course" (Young). Gatsby goes as far as taking the blame for the car accident that resulted in the death Myrtle Wilson and in the end results in him being killed by her husband George. This ultimately ends in Gatsby being unhappy because he can not have Daisy and then he gets murdered for something that she did, and dies an unhappy man. "The years, for Gatsby, have been devoted to the obsessive pursuit of wealth, which he wants only because he believes it will win Daisy for him" (Mangum). Gatsby thinks that by having a big house, expensive clothes and throwing big parties it will bring Daisy back to him. This quote also does an excellent job of showing how obsessive Gatsby is with Daisy and really proving that he will do whatever it takes to get her