Death Shows Your True Self Essay

780 words - 4 pages

“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead” (180). The Great Gatsby, a thriller that transpires over 189 pages, represents author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life. Jay Gatsby exists as a man of false money chasing the American Dream. Pursuit of his dream leads him straight to his death. The death of Gatsby shows the values of his so-called ‘friends’ and the society of the 1920s.
One idea, Gatsby believes, is he is never short on fantastic friends. Many people come to his parties, and they don’t even know him. Nick Carraway is high on this list of fantastic friends, so high that he is one that is actually invited to Gatsby’s extravagant party. “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). In reality Carraway and Owl Eyes are the only two genuine fantastic friends Gatsby has. They are there when it counts, the rest of his party going friends are nowhere in sight. “Go on! He started. Why, my God! they used to go there by the hundreds” (183). Friends come in all different shapes and forms: big, small, outstanding, and shady.
Likewise, Gatsby has some real dirty friends. Friends on this list would include the men he does business with like Meyer Wolfsheim. “Why isn’t he in jail? They can’t get him old sport. He’s a smart man” (78). These people got him to the top, and they are the people Gatsby looks up to. Once Gatsby dies, they act like he never existed. “When a man gets killed I never like to get mixed up in it in any way. I keep out” (180). A statement of this magnitude, in fact shows, the reader that some people care about their money more than the people they have close ties with. Who would think that your significant other may be your dirtiest friend?
The dirty friends aren’t even the worst in comparison to his “soulmate” Daisy. “You always look so cool” (125). At this point Daisy informs the reader that she is indeed Gatsby’s soulmate. Most of us would like to believe if we can call...

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