How Is Jay Gatsby Selfish

“I found myself on Gatsby’s side, and alone” (172). In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby was a very wealthy man in East Egg who came from a poor family in the south. However, he was unsuccessful in the way that he achieved his wealthiness. Also, he was not necessarily someone who could be trusted because of his skeptical actions throughout the book. Clearly, Gatsby does not deserve his title of greatness because he is not well liked, he is unfaithful, and he is involved in illegal activities.

It is evident that no one should have intimate relations with a married man or woman. However, Gatsby clearly does not get the message. A cite from The Great Gatsby that shows Gatsby’s inappropriateness is when Tom, Daisy, Nick, Jordan and Gatsby are in a hotel room and Gatsby says to Daisy, “Daisy, thats all over now. It doesn't

matter any more. Just tell him the truth- that you never loved him and its all wiped out forever” (139).. This shows that Gatsby is clearly having intimate relations with Daisy which is obviously wrong while Daisy is married. No matter how much they are in love with someone, you don't have intimate relations while they are married. If that person loves you then the other person married would divorce their spouse and do it the right way. A different sentence in the book that clearly shows Gatsby and Daisy are intimate with each other is when, "Daisy told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded" (125). This shows that Gatsby was so involved with Daisy that Daisy is finally saying I love you to Gatsby in front of Tom, also showing how Daisy feels so strongly towards Gatsby and doesn't even think of Tom while he is in the room. It is clear that Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship is progressing fast. Although it should not even be happening while she is married. Through reading The Great Gatsby, it is obvious that it is extremely inappropriate to have intimate relations with a married person, and usually doesn't work out great.

Along with being romantically involved with Daisy, Gatsby is also illegally involved in the drug business.

No one knows where Gatsby got his riches, but they do know it had to be illegally. So many people thought he was involved in illegal activities because of what happened in the book where, “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.”(141).This shows that Tom along with many other people are very curious as to how Gatsby earned his money. Tom is just the first to find out what the "drug stores" that Gatsby mentioned are. When Gatsby tries to get Nick involved with him and Wolfshiem, Nick turns it down leading to an awkward confrontation. “This is just a friend. I told you we’d talk about that some other time.”(75). Wolfsheim gets Nick confused with someone wanting to get into their “business”, but Gatsby quickly interrupts, not wanting Nick to find out about his work. Gatsby gets so many phone calls, no one really knows his story, and his fame and riches came almost overnight. These all confirm that Jay Gatsby was indeed involved in

illegalities.

All of these attributes contribute to why Gatsby does not have many friends. Just because one has money, does not mean he is worthy of the title of greatness. A wealthy man is not always a popular man and a popular man is not always a wealthy man. In the novel Nick Carraway, Gatsby’s only true friend, states, “The loneliest moment in someone’s life is when they are watching their world fall apart, and all they can do is stare blankly” (92). According to Nick, Jay Gatsby had everything, but really he had nothing because he was without the important things in life such as friends, family, and a woman to love. Towards the end of the novel, someone who was thought to love Gatsby says, “When a man gets killed I never like to get mixed up in it in any way. I keep out” (180). This helps to prove that he is not well liked because when he dies nobody really seems to care, all they care about are themselves. Clearly, a man who is liked only because of his money and who has very few people at his funeral makes for a not so “Great Gatsby.”

Clearly, Gatsby does not deserve his title of greatness because he is not well liked, he is unfaithful, and he is involved in illegal activities.Through reading the book, it can learned that it is inappropriate to have relations with a married person. Just because someone is wealthy, does not mean they are happy and liked by everyone they meet. Doing illegal actions, can lead to many bad situations, including death. Due to the previous reasons stated above, it is evident that Jay Gatsby is not worthy of his title “The Great Gatsby.”