What Does J Hill Mean In The Great Gatsby

Brauer, Stephen. “Jay Gatsby and the Prohibition Gangster as Businessman.” The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, vol. 2, 2003, pp. 51–71., www.jstor.org/stable/41583051. Jay Gatsby was a perfect representation of the businessman in the early twentieth century. This is because Gatsby made his wealth from connections with gangsters. The great businessmen of the time, who earned the nickname of Robber Barons, served as Fitzgerald’s source for the creation of Gatsby. In the end, the man who got the honor of representing Gatsby was James J. Hill. This is explicitly referenced in the Great Gatsby during Gatsby’s funeral. Gatsby’s father tells Nick Carraway that, “Jimmy was bound to get ahead. If he’d of lived, he’d of been a great man. A man like James

in Brauer 51). Hill was a railroad tycoon from the Northwest. He grew up poor but worked hard and became a dominant player in the railroad industry. In a similar manner, Gatsby started out poor and worked hard to become the wealthy man that he was at the end of his life. However, Gatsby differs from hill due to Gatsby wealth being derived from bootlegging and other scandalous activities. His father chooses to ignore this “[suggesting] that the means to success do not matter so much as the results” (Brauer 52). This was in line with the changes that were occurring in the Jazz Age. Hill was dead by then, and the times were different. The definition of success in America was changing so that it could be free of any ethical guidelines. Moreover, this story of America losing its way is portrayed within Gatsby. He starts out at boy in love with the ideals that Benjamin Franklin preached; ideals that were rooted in being virtuous. As his life goes on and he meets men like Dan Cody, it is the glamour of wealth that captures Gatsby’s eye. This newfound path that Gatsby decides to walk along is cemented by his relationship with the gangster Meyer Wolfshiem. He leads Gatsby to greatness, which is where Gatsby hopes to impress Daisy. When she cries over the shirts that came from