Egg’s most well-known young millionaire, Jay Gatsby was shot and found dead in his private pool on October 3rd. Police confirmed his death as an apparent murder-suicide caused by George Wilson, a garage owner from New York, who had the purpose of avenging his wife’s death. Myrtle Wilson reportedly ran in front of the car as if she recognized it, but the car fatally hit her. Police later identified the automobile as being the property of Mr. Gatsby. As a result of Wilson’s murder, the driver who caused this tragic event will remain unknown, as there were no eyewitnesses that we're able to recognize who was driving the car the night of the accident.
After Mr. Gatsby's death, rumors erupted regarding his past and love life. The West Egg Times went on a treasure hunt to unravel more about the mysterious young millionaire’s true identity, origins, and past.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Mr. Gatsby’s funeral was held on October 6th at 3:00 p.m. in his mansion. Surprisingly, very few people attended Mr. Gatsby’s funeral. The West Egg Times sent a reporter to the funeral who stated that a total of eight people attended the event including servants, a few friends, and shockingly Mr. Gatsby’s father, Henry Gatz. Reporter Eric Woodbury investigated and sat down with Mr. Gatz, and asked him about his son’s origins and background.
“His name was Jimmy Gatz,” said Mr. Gatz. He then proceeded to tell the story of his son’s childhood. Mr. Gatsby was born in 1882 into a family of poor farmers up in North Dakota, rather than into wealth in San Francisco, as he claimed.
Ever since a young age, Mr. Gatsby despised poverty and ached for a life with more wealth and sophistication. “When he was only sixteen, he started the long path to improving himself. He said that creating a detailed schedule of his day and writing general resolves would lead him to a successful life. Jimmy was bound to get ahead.” Mr. Gatz mentioned.
Driven by his ambitious aspirations, Mr. Gatsby ran away from home at the age of seventeen and began attending St Olaf's College in Minnesota, but dropped out after only two weeks, as he could not bear working as a janitor in order to pay for his tuition.
Next summer, he worked in Lake Superior fishing and digging for clams. While he was out fishing one day, he rowed in the direction of a yacht that was heading in the direction of an impending storm. The owner of the boat was a fifty-year-old self-made millionaire named Dan Cody. Mr. Cody then decided to take Mr. Gatsby in and make him his personal assistant and teach him how to speak and act in a proper manner.
During their following voyages, Mr. Gatsby's dreams of achieving success and wealth were only aggravated by the development of his relationship with Dan Cody, becoming more passionately covetous of wealth, privilege, and sophistication.
After Dan Cody’s death a few years later, Mr. Gatsby joined the army, during the Great War. In 1917, he was assigned to Camp Taylor, in Louisville, before fighting in the war. Gatsby met Daisy Fay, an extremely popular young woman amongst the military officers. In order to convince her that he was worthy of her, he lied about his background to Ms. Fay, claiming to be from a wealthy family. “When I first met Jay, I had no idea of who he truly was. I have never met anyone with such good manners and was such a gentleman… I guess that’s why I fell in love with him.” said Ms. Fay when interviewed. “After one month of being together, Jay was required to serve overseas. He was always such a hopeful person that I promised to wait for him when he came back”. But in 1919, Ms. Fay broke her promise, marrying Tom Buchanan, a young man from a family of old rich, while Mr. Gatsby was studying at Oxford in an attempt to gain an education after returning from the war.
Determined to get her back, he became obsessed with the need to become rich. He convinced himself that if he became rich enough to provide for her and to be part of her social status, he would win her love back. That was his vision: his happiness would be achieved through wealth. The problem with this was that how he made his money was not important; means did not matter, the point was to make it. He began to work in the oil industry, and later with Meyer Wolfsheim, a gangster that is rumored to have fixed the 1919 World Series. While working with him, he got into bootlegging and other criminal enterprises to make enough money to convince Ms. Fay that he was enough for her.
“Gatsby was the single most hopeful person I have ever met, and will likely ever meet”, says Nick Carraway, one of Mr. Gatsby’s closest friends and Ms. Fay’s cousin. “He was a lovesick and naïve young man in love. All actions and decisions made from the day that he met my cousin had forward had the sole purpose of proving his worth and love to Daisy. He committed himself to become rich. He bought a mansion across the bay from her house just to prove his worth to her. He loved her deeply and put her on a pedestal. He treated Daisy like she was she was the only person in the world who mattered. The fact that he brought himself from zero to hero was rather extraordinary. He grew up as a poor farm boy and turned himself into Jay Gatsby, with his huge mansion and having parties that went on all night. He was self-created. He invented Jay Gatsby. That is why I think that his true story should be known” Mr. Carraway says.
Stuck on your essay?
