Jay Gatsby is the central character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. From the beginning, Gatsby is portrayed in the novel as an enigmatic and mysterious figure, who has built his fortune in suspicious and unclear ways. Throughout the book, Gatsby's character is revealed through and by the eyes of the narrator, Nick Carraway, who is both fascinated and repulsed by him. Gatsby is a man of grand ambitions and is driven by his desire to win back the girl he once loved, Daisy Buchanan. He has created a lavish lifestyle for himself, complete with a mansion, fancy cars, and extravagant parties, all in the hopes of winning back Daisy's heart. “everything he did was for the singular purpose of winning her. Money was, essentially, the issue that prevented their being together, and so Gatsby made sure he would never again be without it” (Cliffnotes 1). His obsession with Daisy is …show more content…
He is not who he appears to be, and his past is a mystery. This mystery is emphasized when nick, the narrator, says, “He hurried the phrase “educated at Oxford,” or swallowed it, or choked on it, as though it had bothered him now. And with this doubt, his whole statement fell to pieces, and I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all”(Fitzgerald 65). This fact is also highlighted by the fact that Gatsby is not even his real name. He was born James Gatz, and changed his name to reinvent himself. This is further emphasized when Nick reflects on Gatsby's true nature, "He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself" (Fitzgerald