Who is gatsby really

To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it Paragraph beginning of chapter; middle of chapter; on: end of chapter , or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. He smiled understandingly--much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life.

It faced--or seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.

Precisely at that point it vanished--and I was looking at an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. His tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face and his short hair looked as though it were trimmed every day.

Gatsby's very first appearance is a bit surprising and anti-climatic—he is presented as just another party-goer of Nick's age before it's revealed that he's actually the famous Gatsby. That said, Nick's description of Gatsby's smile—"rare" and "full of eternal reassurances" that "understood you the way you wanted to be understood"—sets Gatsby apart as someone special and alluring. Gatsby has tan skin and short hair, but otherwise most of Gatsby's characterization comes through his dialogue and actions—Nick doesn't linger on his physical appearance the way he does with other characters especially Tom and Myrtle.

Perhaps Gatsby having more of a "blank slate" appearance allows the reader to more easily project his shifting characterization onto him from mysterious party host to the military man madly in love with Daisy to the ambitious farmboy James Gatz , whereas characters like Tom Buchanan and Myrtle are more stiffly characterized.

Gatsby was born "James Gatz," the son of poor farmers, in North Dakota. However, he was deeply ambitious and determined to be successful. He changed his name to "Jay Gatsby" and learned the manners of the rich on the yacht of Dan Cody, a wealthy man who he saved from a destructive storm and ended up being employed by. However, although Cody intended to leave his fortune to Gatsby, it ended up being taken by Cody's ex-wife Ella Kaye, leaving Jay with the knowledge and manners of the upper class, but no money to back them up.

Gatsby ended up enlisting in the military during World War I. He met Daisy in Louisville before he was shipped out to Europe. In his uniform, there was no way for anyone to know he wasn't wealthy, and Daisy assumed he was due to his manners.

He kept up this lie to keep up their romance, and when he left she promised to wait for him. Gatsby fought in the War, gained a medal from Montenegro for valor, and was made an officer. After the war ended, he briefly attended Oxford University through a program for officers, but left after five months.

By the time Gatsby returned to America, he learned that Daisy had married and became determined to win her back. Through Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby got into shady business read: bootlegging, gambling to get rich. It worked, and Gatsby accrued a huge sum of money in just 3 years. He moved to West Egg, bought an extravagant mansion and a Rolls Royce, and started throwing lavish parties and building up a reputation, all in the hopes of meeting Daisy again.

Luckily, an aspiring bond salesman named Nick Carraway moves in next door just as the novel begins. Nick is Daisy's second cousin, and through that connection he is able to reunite with Daisy during the novel.

To see how Gatsby's life fits into the biographies of the novel's other characters, check out our timeline. Although Nick briefly glimpses Gatsby reaching out to Daisy's green light at the end of Chapter 1 , we don't properly meet Gatsby until Chapter 3. Gatsby has been throwing lavish parties, and he invites Nick Carraway to one.

They meet, and Gatsby takes a liking to Nick, inviting him out on his hydroplane the next day. He also speaks to Jordan Baker in private, and reveals his past history with Daisy Buchanan.

In Chapter 4 , he spends more time with Nick, telling him about his service in WWI as well as a made-up story about his past as the only surviving member of a wealthy family. Later, he has Jordan explain Gatsby and Daisy's background in a bid to get Nick to help the pair reunite. Through Jordan and Nick, Gatsby is thus able to meet with Daisy again and begins an affair with her in Chapter 5.

Throughout all of this Gatsby continues to do business with Meyer Wolfsheim and run his own bootlegging "business," mainly based on the mysterious phone calls he's always taking. Rumors begin to swirl about where he got his money. Tom Buchanan, in particular, is instantly suspicious of Gatsby when they meet in Chapter 6 and even more so after he and Daisy attend one of Gatsby's parties.

Daisy seems particularly unhappy and Gatsby frets. At the beginning of Chapter 7 , he stops throwing the parties, fires his current staff, and hires Wolfshiem's people instead, telling Nick he needs discreet people—this makes the affair easier, but also hints at Gatsby's criminal doings. In the climactic Manhattan confrontation with Tom and Daisy later in Chapter 7, Gatsby tries to get Daisy to admit she never loved Tom, and to leave him, but she doesn't.

Later in the same chapter, he and Daisy leave together to drive back to West Egg in Gatsby's distinctive yellow car. However, Daisy is driving and hits and kills Myrtle Wilson, who ran out into the road since she thought the car was Tom's. Gatsby resolves to take the blame for the incident and still believes that Daisy will leave Tom for him.

During Chapter 8 , Gatsby confides in Nick about his past, the true story this time. At the end of Chapter 8, Gatsby is shot and killed by George Wilson, who believes Gatsby killed Myrtle and was the one sleeping with her.

Meanwhile, Daisy and Tom have left town to avoid the repercussions of Myrtle's death. In Chapter 9 , Gatsby's funeral is sparsely attended, despite Nick's efforts to invite people.

Gatsby's father does make an appearance, sharing some details about young Jay's early ambition and focus. Nick leaves New York shortly after, disenchanted with life on the east coast. Thus Gatsby's actual death has caused Nick's metaphorical death of leaving New York forever. And what was the motive for this? His love and desire to make his woman happy and in order to be on the same level with her he decided to become rich.

He was fascinated by luxury and the lifestyle of the rich and Gatsby was truly dedicated to make his dream come true. But, unfortuntely for Gatsby, his dream, Daisy, was not the same girl he felt in love a long time ago.

She was the same nice, beautiful and lovely girl just in his dreams. That was such a rare kind of love from Gatsby side that hard to find in real life. In the summer of , when The Great Gatsby is set, Prohibition was only two and a half years old. The Volstead Act , which officially prohibited the selling and manufacture of alcoholic drinks, was passed in late October, Even the most famous bootleggers in America rarely made millions during the early years. It is also hinted at one point, by a jealous Tom Buchanan, that Gatsby may have had another illegal side venture, perhaps in the bond business, though we know scant few details about it.

How did Gatsby spend his money? But Kenneth A. And, of course, there was booze. I asked Jill Gordon , an East Hampton—based event planner, to spitball an estimated cost per party, assuming that people attended each event.

She sent me the following estimated bill:. Gatsby, we are told, also had a customized Rolls-Royce, two motor-boats, and various other expenses related to his business. The car is the easiest to figure out. Rolls-Royce had just started selling versions of its cars in the U. The boats are similarly easy to price. This J. Fitzgerald initially presents Gatsby as the aloof, enigmatic host of the unbelievably opulent parties thrown every week at his mansion. He appears surrounded by spectacular luxury, courted by powerful men and beautiful women.

He is the subject of a whirlwind of gossip throughout New York and is already a kind of legendary celebrity before he is ever introduced to the reader. Gatsby has literally created his own character, even changing his name from James Gatz to represent his reinvention of himself. As his relentless quest for Daisy demonstrates, Gatsby has an extraordinary ability to transform his hopes and dreams into reality; at the beginning of the novel, he appears to the reader just as he desires to appear to the world.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. See Important Quotations Explained. Gatsby invests Daisy with an idealistic perfection that she cannot possibly attain in reality and pursues her with a passionate zeal that blinds him to her limitations.

Gatsby is contrasted most consistently with Nick.