Is Jay Gatsby Selfish

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Recommended: Literary Analysis Of'The Great Gatsby

There’s always been something grotesque about the word gorgeous. Like the iconic character Nick Carraway had once said before in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel “The Great Gatsby”, the acclaimed figure Jay Gatsby was a gorgeous human being, or the well rounded man. Unfortunately, his gorgeousness was a mask that concealed his true identity. It wasn’t the name that mislead its readers, but the reality of who he truly suppressed from the world. Gatsby believed in finding success, the American Dream. Gatsby used to be admired for pushing himself to live up to this dream, but the respect had plundered once he had deceived it. His dream of success changed once he met an ordinary girl named Daisy, but she shattered his dreams, causing him to develop …show more content…

Not even 24 hours after they had first met, Nick already developed an image of Gatsby. While driving towards the city in Gatsby's yellow car, Gatsby develops the urge of having to convince Nick to approve of him, for if he approves of him, it would mean that Daisy would approve of him. Gatsby was aware that Nick knew of stories and legends of Gatsby that weren’t true, and out of desperacy, he asked Nick “Look here, old sport. What’s your opinion of me anyhow?”(65). After hearing the various stories at his own party, Gatsby believed that in order to gain Nicks trust, he had to convince him of the “truth” of who he was. “ I’ll tell you God’s truth”(pg 65) he stated. He then attempted to derange Nicks mind and manipulate him to believe all stories of himself, and pulled various trinkets out of his pocket, such as a medal from the war and a picture from Oxford, all acting as solid evidence that his stories were true. One thing Gatsby was oblivious to was that his true intentions were clear and Nick was not gullible. Being old moneyed, he understand what kind of man Gatsby was. He noticed the little things, like his use of the phrase “old sport”, showing improperness, and Gatsby's medal from montenegro, a hidden state on a map. He even noticed the yellow car and the white suit, both striking attention from all corners. Gatsby craved the idea of fitting in, yet …show more content…

His last extravaganza, in which Daisy had attended for the first and last time. He convinced himself that everything was perfection, and every waiter and drink was modified to her liking, yet, out of ignorance, only ever thought of the new moneyed lifestyle, never taking into account Daisys old moneyed self, likewise, her present life. While at Gatsby's second party, Daisy had attended, yet, didn’t enjoy it as much as Gatsby reckoned. Old Money Daisy was very appalled by the actions and people she came across at this party. She found herself repetitively stating “ I think she’s lovely” showing her disinterest among the other guests at this party. “I feel far away from her” Gatsby said, “Its hard to make her understand”(pg 109). This quote is hypocritical and naive, for Gatsby is clearly the one who didn’t understand her life, or anything about her anymore. Not only was she perplexed by the people, but his hospitality towards her was quite improper, for he paraded her with names of people she never knew, constantly interrupted her, all just to make her approve of something old money condemned. He didn’t stop to think once that the parties she attended were traditionally small gatherings of people whos family names she had been associated with for years. For these reasons, Daisy could never approve of such a man as naive as

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