A person’s success is measured by their material possessions, wealth, and those in their life. Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby would have more than succeeded by these standards with his huge mansion and luxurious parties every night attended by the most important people in New York during the 1920s. Gatsby acquired his wealth all just to impress one person who he doesn’t see for 5 years and when he does finally meet her again he loses all interest in everything else. Also, Gatsby has no true friends as evident at his funeral when no one shows up. Because of these two reasons Gatsby is not great.
In The Great Gatsby, everyone is fascinated by Gatsby and his wealth but no one really knows how or why Gatsby became the man he is. He grew up humbly in North Dakota but wanted to be something more, then he met and fell in love with Daisy, who ends up leaving him bc he doesn’t have enough money. After 3 years of bootlegging and making quick money Gatsby is a rich and …show more content…
Gatsby when he was alive is constantly having huge amazing parties that everyone in New York loved, it would seem evident that all those people who had spent many nights at Gatsby’s parties would show up at his funeral. But in The Great Gatsby the day before the funeral it is foreshadowed that no one would come and that no one really cared, “‘The funeral is tomorrow’ I said. ‘Three o’clock, here at the house. I wish you’d tell anybody who’d be interested’ ‘Oh I will,’ he broke out hastily. ‘Of course I’m not likely to see anybody, but if I do. [...] what I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there. I wonder if it’d be too much trouble to have the butler send them on.[...]’” (Fitzgerald 169) None of those who were regulars at Gatsby’s parties showed up at his funeral, not even the many who was supposedly one of his best