The Man Behind Jay Gatsby Essay Research

The Man Behind Jay Gatsby Essay, Research Paper

The Man Behind Jay Gatsby

In the novel The Great Gatsby , not many people really knew the man known as Jay Gatsby. When he was rich and powerful, he was the man you want to know. But when he was dead, life went on without him. It seemed as if nobody cared that he was the man behind the parties and all the good times. This shows that the opinion of the great Jay Gatsby changed by the end of the story. He was an icon of not only every man s image of the American Dream, but he was also apart of Americanism and the American Experience. He was seen as the richest and luckiest man during his time.

Unlike any of the other characters in the novel, Jay Gatsby does not change during the course of the story. He as a person might not have changed, but the way that people perceived him certainly became different. When he was alive and well, he was the perfect idea of the American Dream. He had more money than he knew what to do with. He could afford to have oversized parties every weekend. Jay Gatsby was the person to know when it came to the Eggs.

In the beginning, he was only known as Jay Gatz. He was a poor boy in the army. He only had his charm to get him by. This is the time when he meets Daisy. She was a very rich girl, from a wealthy family. They were in love from the beginning. Unfortunately, Daisy believed that rich girls don t marry poor boys. From that moment on, Jay Gatz wanted one thing: to get rich so he could show Daisy that a poor boy could get rich. Jay Gatz became Jay Gatsby. This new man wanted to become the American Dream at an early age. He did what ever he could to get his money.

Daisy Buchannon is a dynamic character with many different sides to her personality. Early on in the book, she is portrayed as sweet and innocent. Her white and seemingly floating dress appeals to Nick in this way. She grew up as “the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville.” (1, 148). Even then she dressed in white. Daisy also keeps a daughter around as a show toy. Whenever company comes over, she beckons for the little girl to come and put on a little act for everyone. This signifies her life. Daisy becomes radiant and personable. When everyone has gone, she is a bored housewife, of no importance to the world wondering aloud what she is going to do with the rest of her life. She appears to be bored yet innocent and harmless. But her innocence is false. Simply a materialistic young girl and has little mind of her own is underneath all of that covering. Daisy rediscovers her love with Gatsby because of his nice shirts and large house. Daisy has been well trained in a rich family. She has grown up with all of the best. When Gatsby failed to contact her, she went off and married another man, without evening having heard word from Gatsby. All of these many and round characteristics add complications to the plot and dimension to the meaning she adds to the book.

The above mentioned characteristics also help to create some of the main conflicts. Daisy was involved in the conflict between her and Tom. Tom had a mistress and Daisy was upset by it. Another conflict is her love affair with Gatsby. Her apparent sweetness and innocence allow Gatsby to fall in love with her. But her impatience and ignorance of true love or the meaning of truth or compassion allow her to flawlessly marry Tom, without a sober thought of Gatsby. He falls for her, which leads up to the further conflict. The conflict is whether or not she will fall in love with Gatsby. Gatsby is still in love with her after five years. He hopes and dreams that she is too. This creates another conflict: Gatsby’s dream. When Gatsby was seventeen, he dreamed of being rich and powerful. When he meat Daisy, his dream changed. His goal was to see if he could reach his dream.

One of the more puzzling things about Jay Gatsby is where did he come from and where did he get his money. Nobody other than Daisy really knows where he came from. When people were talking at one of Gatsby s first parties, nobody could really say where he was from. They all said different places. When it comes to Gatsby s fortune, that is another enigma all together. When Nick asked about his fortune he first said, I inherited a good amount of money from my parents. Then when Gatsby mentioned, I was in the drug store business and the stock market, but I am in neither of these any more, Nick caught him in one of his lies. Gatsby has got good enough to get himself out of situations like this one. He merely told Nick that he worked after the great crash. This tells us that he tried a few ways to get rich, but he makes it sounds they never worked. It can only be speculated on as to what business he is into now or even how he came into his wealth, but we can be sure that he wanted to keep it to himself.

It was this defence mechanism that, in the end, destroyed him. Jay Gatsby had kept his business life such a secret that he couldn t let anyone get close enough to him to learn what he was up to. It was quite obvious that he did not like this loneliness, but he knew it came with all the wealth that he had. He did not want to be alone any longer. He now felt it was time to confront Daisy with his feelings for her. He set up the tea party so they could meet. In a way, Gatsby uses Nick to get the chance to meet with Daisy. It seems that Nick does not really seem to mind