Is Gatsby great?

‘Only Gatsby… was exempt from my reaction – Gatsby, who represented everything for which I had unaffected scorn’

The notion that Gatsby is ‘great’ comes largely from the narrator, Nick Carraway. He often looks for gorgeous things in Gatsby’s life, for example his car and his house, as a pointer towards Gatsby’s importance. He looks for other signs of Gatsby’s significance in his youth, explaining how he started his career with Dan Cody and how this led to his success. It is difficult to know which parts of the story are true and which parts are not, though, because Nick wants Gatsby to be a great man, a man he can associate himself with, so this undoubtedly clouds his vision. It makes it more difficult to determine, from what Nick says, whether Gatsby is great or not. However, he has a tendency to also imply that he is everything Gatsby is not.

‘Thirty – the promise of a decade of loneliness.’

Gatsby, on the other hand, has a somewhat naïve idea that he could continue where he left off when he finds Daisy; life is only just beginning. At the end of the novel Nick even says

‘I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more.’

This would indicate that even Nick could see, eventually, that Gatsby and all he stood for was not greatly successful in the end.

Gatsby’s material possessions further the idea that Gatsby is something special. The possessions are not unusual for his class at that time, the ‘Jazz Age’, and may well have impressed Nick, deep down, although he says

‘Gatsby…represented everything for which I had unaffected scorn.’

Gatsby uses these possessions, the most important of which is his ...

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‘I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more.’

This would indicate that even Nick could see, eventually, that Gatsby and all he stood for was not greatly successful in the end.

‘Gatsby…represented everything for which I had unaffected scorn.’

Gatsby uses these possessions, the most important of which is his house, to impress Daisy and anyone who cares to be impressed. In Chapter 3 Jordan and Nick come across a ‘large Gothic library, panelled with carved English Oak’ and they meet man who is standing in the middle of the room. He is surprised by the large collection of books

‘ [The books are] Absolutely real – have pages and everything.’

This indicates that not everyone sees Gatsby, or perhaps the age he lives in, as totally real. Daisy is impressed by Gatsby’s house, though

‘I love it, but I don’t see how you live there all alone.’

Gatsby’s library is made from English Oak, which was very classy in the 1920’s, and is an extra sign of his wealth and ‘status’. It is also a centre of education and learning – things that can make a man great, and is one of the signs of Gatsby’s educated past. These continue through the novel, for example when Gatsby shows Nick a photo of himself at Oxford. This constant attempt to portray himself as something special and different contradicts his quiet nature. He is a poor host because he hardly ever makes himself known to his guests when he throws his large parties – another sign of his stature, and he cannot handle meeting Daisy again and hurries out of the room. This is mostly to due with his shy nature, as well as the fact he is facing the end of his dream. This hints towards the reality that Gatsby is false because he is not good at being great; he seems to find it uncomfortable. This could be to do with the fact that another man, Jay Gatz, invented the character ‘Jay Gatsby’. Gatz is living someone else’s life and it does not suit him. Gatsby was created to be great and in a sense he is. He cannot really fail; he does not need to have any depth to his character because he is not really authentic. He has material possessions, wealth and a vision, so he is successful. The question should be ‘Is James Gatz ‘great’?’.

It could be said, however, that Gatsby’s dream of meeting Daisy takes away from this ‘greatness’. The dream is obsessive and he is constantly living in the past; his future is really his past. His dream is such that he is not allowed to ever fulfil it because if he does he has nothing to live for. The green light at the end of the dock needs to stay at a distance.

‘There must have been moments when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams… because of the colossal vitality of his illusion.’

Perhaps the hollowness of the dream, which is reflected in his hollowness, means he can never be truly great.

Gatsby also has a criminal past, which Nick chooses to ignore because it taints Gatsby’s image. He sold alcohol during prohibition and receives mysterious telephone calls; Nick even received one after Gatsby’s death.

This past that Tom discovers is part of the history of the character of Jay Gatsby, a history that is shadowy and elusive. The air of mystery adds to his character and gives him some depth, which could make him a great man.

Overall, Jay Gatsby is at times great but he can also be incomplete. He has money, possessions, education and a dream. He is also, however, fake, naïve and hollow.

His dream, which he has been following for many years, is unrealistic. He believes that when he meets Daisy Buchanan again, everything will go back to the way it was before. It becomes apparent that if he ever fulfils this dream he will fall apart, because he would have nothing left in his life to chase and this indeed is the case when he meets Daisy.

On the other hand, the character ‘Jay Gatsby’ has been created for one specific purpose: to be great. He does to some extent realise this ambition; he does not really need to be a fully rounded person because he is not fully real.

James Gatz, on the other hand, is not great. The two characters are pretty much the same in terms of their physical nature – they are the same person physically, but they are also worlds apart; Gatsby is everything Gatz is not, which is the reason Gatz invented him. In this sense Gatsby is a great success; he has done what he needed to do. Everyone knows the name ‘Jay Gatsby’.

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