The Great Gatsby: Pages 37-48



A Party at Gatsby's Mansion

As more and more mysteries, suspicions, and gossip about the great Mr. Gatsby emerge throughout these pages, the reader is finally introduced to the man himself. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald ensures that the life of the title character of his novel, The Great Gatsby, still remains a guarded secret. This has made me curious over the reason for the secrecy, which I am sure was also the author’s intention. Gatsby throws grand parties that everyone and anyone attends, yet he is rarely seen during them. Why is he so elusive? It seems as though he is a decent person, but the fact that not one person seems to know his true past is confusing. Rumors drift around that he might have killed someone or that he is from a prominent family in Germany, yet although Gatsby must know about the misconceptions regarding his person, he does not set anyone straight. I, if being accused of murder by others, would make a very important point of proving them wrong about such an inhumane act, but Gatsby does not seem to care or worry about the speculations surrounding him. Furthermore, when main character Nick Carraway finally meets the mysterious man, he does not really know whether to believe what he is told. It seems that Gatsby has spread many stories about himself to various members of the community, but because of his mystery, many are skeptical about him. To me, Gatsby is best described with the same words Carraway uses to describe Gatsby’s extravagant parties, “significant, elemental, and profound,” (Fitzgerald, 47). My final question is why, out of all the people that have to be living in Long Island, does all the controversy surround one specific person? I am sure, however, that the elemental significance of Gatsby will be sure to unfold as the novel continues.