Passage Analysis

“I suppose he’d had the name ready for a long time, even then. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people- his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all. The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God- a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that- and he must be about His Father’s Business, the service of a vast, vulgar and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.”
(Fitzgerald 104)

This passage is when Gatsby’s past is revealed and who he was when he was younger is shown. This passage shows why Gatsby is so obsessed of showing his money around by having extravagant parties, and by having a car that everybody will notice, and by continually trying to show Daisy his wealth. Gatsby’s parents were poor but Gatsby’s personality, ambitious, would never let him be poor, so to get away from that lack of wealth Gatsby created a new persona of himself. That new persona was a fresh start for Gatsby; he had no past now so now he could be anything he wanted. This new persona reflected Gatsby’s personality and who he wanted to be not who his parents were. This new persona was what helped Gatsby get started towards his wealth because this new persona got Gatsby to go work for Dan Cody and in return Gatsby had inherited some money from Cody which got him started towards his fortune. This new persona didn’t mean that Gatsby didn’t love his parents because Gatsby had actually bought his Father his new house. It only means that he didn’t love that they were poor and that if he kept their name he would also be poor. Also this new name that Gatsby created could also arouse lots of suspicions from other characters because Gatsby is already thought to be a bootlegger and criminal and now that we find out that he had changed his name this could mean that he all those rumours are true and he is trying to keep his true identity safe.