Jay Gatsby In Henry Steele Commager's The American Mind

American essayist Henry Steele Commager states in his book, The American Mind: An Interpretation of American Thought and Character Since the 1880's something interesting about the character Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby. Commager says, “The tragedy is not that Gatsby is dead, the room sin his fabulous mansion silent - but that while he lived he realized all his ambitions.” This statement is true because Gatsby achieved all of his ambitions; accruing wealth, reuniting with Daisy, and rising in social status.
One ambition Gatsby fulfills is accruing a vast wealth. Gatsby is able to afford one of the grandest of houses, his house described as a “colossal affair by any standard” and “actual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy”. (Fitzgerald 7) While Gatsby does have an immense wealth, the means by which he acquired it are illegal. Tom Buchanan, the husband of Daisy Buchanan, exposes this fact during a dispute, saying “‘I found out what your 'drug-stores' were.’ He turned to us and spoke rapidly. "He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter.” ( Fitzgerald 143) Gatsby’s bootlegging and other illegal activities lead to his acquisition of wealth.

Gatsby is originally from North Dakota, a state in the Midwest. Gatsby throws huge and elaborate parties, parties that attract people of all creeds. Gatsby does this to fill the void in his heart from being alone and friendless. The true magnitude of his parties are not understood until one discovers how many servants are required to clean up. Nick describes the scene saying, “Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before.” (Fitzgerald