Bound By His Origins: An Analysis Of Jay Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is a character bound by his origins. The proof of this can be found throughout the novel; Gatsby is a liar. He is rejected, more than once, by Daisy. Furthermore he seems unable to fully integrate into the ranks of the rich elite. Gatsby is never truly able to escape his downtrodden beginnings.

James Gatsby was born James Gatz in a town in Minnesota. As a young man he was taken under the wing of a famous sailor, Dan Cody. The first thing that Gatsby does, when he meets Cody, is to introduce himself under a false name. This is the first instance of Gatsby's continuing trend of being economical with the truth. The name is very important to him. It's as though he thinks that by changing his name, he can erase his past and change his lot in life. However a simple name change is nothing compared to the larger, more extravagant fabrications he relied on later in his life.

It is never explicitly stated how Gatsby came about his fortune. However he seems to have a business connection to Meyer Wolfsheim, the man Gatsby claims "fixed the World's Series in 1919" (Fitzgerald, 71) . While having lunch with an unsavoury character like Wolfshiem does not necessarily make Gatsby guilty by association, Wolfshiem's talk of "business gonnegtions" (Fitzgerald, 69) does not make their meetings seem innocent. Furthermore, Gatsby offers Nick a job and mentions that he would not be working with Wolfsheim, creating the allusion that Gatsby himself, does work with Wolfsheim. "You see I carry on a little business on the side, a sort of sideline, you understand... It happens to be a rather confidential sort of thing." (Fitzgerald, 80) . Gatsby's admission that the business is "confidential" suggests that what he did as a sideline was not completely legal. Some academics claim "the scandal of Gatsby's success lies in his ambiguously ethnic, white, working class origins" (Goldsmith, 443) . There were always rumours floating around at Gatsby's parties that he was a bootlegger (which Tom Buchanan later confirms), this would fit with the shady, under-the-table dealings that he describes to Nick.

Among the other rumours and gossip that were heard, there were some that Gatsby himself had perpetuated. Jordan claims that she heard that Gatsby was an Oxford man. However the truth of the matter was, Gatsby did not attend the university but was sent there accidentally after the war. He spread the rumour to keep up the appearance of coming from a wealthy family, and to use it as a means of seeming better (or more educated) than he actually was. He tried to perpetuate the illusion that he had power and position behind him. But it was this great lie that lost him the love of his life.

Over his shortened lifetime, Gatsby loved one woman, Daisy. But she rejected him twice, once in their youth, and again, in their later life. In his youth he actively pursued her, under the guise of having a rich and influential family. He knew that the means by which he was courting Daisy were false, and that at any moment he could be discovered as a fraud. So he "took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously - eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand."(Fitzgerald, 142) . He had given her a false sense of security and had not expected to fall in love, but he had and she loved him as well.

When he was sent off to war they were both lonely. Through a complication, or misunderstanding, he was sent to Oxford after the war. As a result of his absence Daisy had become restless and desperate. She returned to her habit of keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men. She was feeling alone and abandoned, and when Tom Buchanan appeared, with his bottomless pockets and handsome visage, she gave into his advances. She broke off the relationship with Gatsby while he was still at Oxford.

However they reconciled later on in their lives. Gatsby once again pursued Daisy, even though he was aware that she was married, and had a child. Daisy still had feelings for him and they carried on an illicit affair. When Gatsby took her to his home for the first time and showed her all the wealth that he had accumulated, he was trying to show her that he had all the things that he had lacked as a youth. He thought that because he had the means to provide for her that they could finally be together. But after the fight in the suite at the Plaza Hotel with Tom, her faith in him was shattered. And Daisy left him once again.

Loneliness was a problem that plagued Gatsby all through his life starting with his adolescence.