Presented In The Great Gatsby Essay

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How is Gatsby presented in the novel The Great Gatsby? Many have heard of this man, but surely do not remember him right off top of their head. He was known for his wealth but also known for his notorious activity in organized crimes. But at the start of the novel we aren’t directly introduced to the character of Gatsby, we know from the start that Jay Gatsby is an enormously wealthy man, who is famous for his extravagant weekly parties. However, this is all that is known about Gatsby. Even his closest friends continue to wonder what kind of man Gatsby actually is. There is mysteriousness to Gatsby that is only demonstrated through conceivable gossip, his random departures and missing parts of his past. As we start going further into the novel,…show more content…
Since little is known about Gatsby, Nick must depend on misleading rumors about the man of mystery. At one of Gatsby’s glamorous parties, a group of women gossip, “One time he killed a man who had found out that he was the nephew to Von Hindenburg and second cousin to the devil” (61). Other guest place Gatsby as a mobster or as a German spy during the war. While some of these stories may be true to his past, most are just made up things that people with wild imaginations came up with. As Nick and Gatsby become more acquainted, Nick is invited to dine with Gatsby for lunch. They went out to lunch, during one of their lunches Nick bumps into Tom Buchanan, the husband of Nick’s cousin, Daisy. Attempting to introduce Gatsby to Tom, an “…unfamiliar look of embarrassment came over Gatsby face… I turned towards Mr. Gatsby, but he was no longer there” (74). The reason for Gatsby’s disappearance at that moment is still unknown to me, but it adds to the ambiguity of his character. Throughout the book, Nick tries to strings together pieces of Gatsby’s past. However, his uncertainty grows as Gatsby reveals himself one day while driving to
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