Selfishness In The Great Gatsby Analysis

Several people may assume that selfishness is both unhealthy and wrong. A selfish person usually puts his own needs before the needs of other people. Selfish people need to be able to draw the line between when they need to worry about themselves, or when they should be concerned with other people. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in the view of Tom Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, it is clear that the nature of man is showing selfishness through cruelty, greed, and manipulation. Cruelty is one way that the nature of man shows selfishness. When Nick describes Tom, it is showing a sign of cruelty. Nick describes Tom by saying, “Two shining, arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward” (9). Here Nick is describing how

Gatsby tries to influence Nick into helping him fall in love with Daisy. Fitzgerald states, “I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby 's house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited—they went there” (45). The quote shows how Gatsby wants to manipulate Nick into helping Daisy fall in love with him. Gatsby was inviting Nick to his parties because he knew Nick was cousins with Daisy, and Nick could help Gatsby and Daisy to regain the love they once had for each other. Gatsby was hoping that since he has invited Nick to all the parties that he hosted that in return, Nick would do something nice to him. Nick does not realize that Gatsby is using him this way until the day that Gatsby told him what he wanted him to do. Gatsby achieved the goal, he wanted through Nick because he finally got to meet Daisy. Gatsby was really selfish because he tricked Nick into being his friend, but all he really wanted from Nick to get him and Daisy back together. Manipulation is just one of the ways that people who are selfish use toward other people to get what they