Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby(originally namedJames Gatz) is the titular fictional character ofF. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novelThe Great Gatsby. The character is an enigmaticnouveau richemillionairewho lives in a luxurious mansion onLong Islandwhere he often hosts extravagant parties and who allegedly gained his fortune by illicitbootleggingduringprohibition in the United States.Fitzgerald based many details about the fictional character onMax Gerlach,a mysterious neighbor andWorld War Iveteran whom the author met inNew Yorkduring the raucousJazz Age.Like Gatsby, Gerlach threw lavish parties,never wore the same shirt twice,used the phrase "old sport",claimed to be educated atOxford University,and fostered myths about himself, including that he was a relation of theGerman Kaiser.
The character of Jay Gatsby has been analyzed by scholars for many decades and has given rise to a number of critical interpretations. Scholars posit that Gatsby functions as acipherbecause of his obscure origins, his unclear religio-ethnic identity and his indeterminateclass status.Accordingly, Gatsby's socio-economic ascent is deemed a threat by other characters in the novel not only due to his status asnouveau riche, but because he is perceived as a societal outsider.The character's biographical details indicate his family are recent immigrants which precludes Gatsby from the status of anOld Stock American.As the embodiment of "latest America",Gatsby's rise triggersstatus anxietiestypical of the 1920s era, involvingxenophobiaandanti-immigrant sentiment.
A century after the novel's publication in April 1925, Gatsby has become atouchstonein American culture and is often evoked in popular media in the context of theAmerican dream—the belief that every individual, regardless of their origins, may seek and achieve their desired goals, "be they political, monetary, or social. It is the literary expression of the concept of America: The land of opportunity".Gatsby has been described by scholars as afalse prophetof the American dream as pursuing the dream often results in dissatisfaction for those who chase it, owing to its unattainability.
The character has appeared in various media adaptations of the novel, including stage plays, radio shows, video games, and feature films. Canadian-American actorJames Rennieoriginated the role of Gatsby on the stage when he headlined the 1926Broadwayadaptation of Fitzgerald's novel at theAmbassador Theatrein New York City.He repeated the role for 112 performances.That same year, screen actorWarner Baxterplayed the role in thelost1926 silent film adaptation.During the subsequent decades, the role has been played by many actors includingAlan Ladd,Kirk Douglas,Robert Ryan,Robert Redford,Leonardo DiCaprio, and others.
After the publication and commercial success of his debut novelThis Side of Paradisein 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wifeZelda Sayrerelocated to a wealthy enclave onLong IslandnearNew York City.Despite enjoying the exclusive Long Island milieu, Fitzgerald disapproved of the extravagant parties,and the wealthy persons he encountered often disappointed him.While striving to emulate the rich, he found their privileged lifestyle to be morally disquieting, and he felt repulsed by their careless indifference to less wealthy persons.Like Gatsby, Fitzgerald admired the rich, but he nonetheless harbored a deep resentment towards them.This recurrent theme is ascribable to Fitzgerald's life experiences in which he was "a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton."He "sensed a corruption in the rich and mistrusted their might."Consequently, he became a vocal critic of America's leisure class and his works satirized their lives.
While living in New York, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's enigmatic neighbor wasMax Gerlach.Gerlach claimed to be born in America to a German immigrant family,and he served as an officer in theAmerican Expeditionary ForcesduringWorld War I. He later became a gentleman bootlegger who lived like a millionaire in New York.Flaunting his new wealth, Gerlach threw lavish parties,never wore the same shirt twice,used the phrase "old sport",claimed to be educated atOxford University,and fostered myths about himself, including that he was a relation of theGerman Kaiser.These details about Gerlach inspired Fitzgerald in his creation of Jay Gatsby.With the end ofprohibitionand the onset of theGreat Depression, Gerlach lost his immense wealth.Living in reduced circumstances, he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head in 1939.Blinded after his suicide attempt, he lived as a helpless invalid for many years before dying on October 18, 1958, atBellevue Hospital, New York City.He was buried in a pine casket atLong Island National Cemetery.
Mirroring Gerlach's background, Fitzgerald's fictional creation of James Gatz has a Germanic surname,and the character's father adheres toLutheranism.These biographical details indicate Gatsby's family are recent German immigrants.Such origins preclude them from the status ofOld Stock Americans.Consequently, scholars have posited that Gatsby's socio-economic ascent is deemed a threat not only due to his status asnouveau riche, but because he is perceived as an ethnic and societal outsider.Tom Buchanan's hostility towards Gatsby, who is the embodiment of "latest America",has been interpreted as partly embodyingstatus anxietiestypical of the 1920s era, involving anti-immigrant sentiment.Accordingly, Gatsby—whom Tom belittles as "Mr. Nobody from Nowhere"—functions as a cipher because of his obscure origins, his unclear religio-ethnic identity and his indeterminate class status.
Due to Gatsby'snouveau richebackground and indeterminate class status, Fitzgerald viewed the character to be a contemporaryTrimalchio,the crude upstart inPetronius'sSatyricon, and even refers to Gatsby as Trimalchio once in the novel.Unlike Gatsby's spectacular parties, Trimalchio participated in the orgies he hosted, although the characters are otherwise similar.Intent on emphasizing the connection to Trimalchio, Fitzgerald entitled an earlier draft of the novel asTrimalchio in West Egg.Fitzgerald's editor,Maxwell Perkins, convinced the author to abandon his original title ofTrimalchio in West Eggin favor ofThe Great Gatsby.
FollowingThe Great Gatsby's publication in April 1925, Fitzgerald was dismayed that many literary critics misunderstood the novel,and he resented the fact that they failed to perceive the many parallels between the author's own life and his fictional character of Jay Gatsby; in particular, that both created a mythical version of themselves and attempted to live up to this legend.
Born circa 1890to impoverishedLutheranfarmers in ruralNorth Dakota,James Gatz was a poorMidwesternerwho briefly attendedSt. Olaf College,a small Lutheran institution in southernMinnesota.He dropped out after two weeks as he disliked supporting himself by working as a lowlyjanitor.
In 1907, a 17-year-old Gatz traveled toLake Superior,where he met coppertycoonDan Cody whoseyachtTuolomeewas anchored in Little Girl Bay.Introducing himself as Jay Gatsby,the ragged young man saved Cody's yacht from destruction by warning him of weather hazards.In gratitude, Cody invited him to join his yachting trip.Now known as Gatsby, he served as Cody'sprotégéover the next five years and voyaged around the world.When Cody died in 1912, he left Gatsby $25,000 in his will (equivalent to $789,310 in 2023), but Cody's mistress Ella Kaye cheated Gatsby out of the inheritance.
In 1917, after theUnited States' entranceintoWorld War I, Gatsby enlisted as adoughboyin theAmerican Expeditionary Forces.During infantry training at Camp Taylor nearLouisville, Kentucky, 27-year-old Gatsby met and fell deeplyin love with 18-year-olddebutanteDaisy Fay.Dispatched to Europe, Gatsby attained the rank ofMajorin theU.S. 7th Infantry Regimentof the3rd Divisionand garnered decorations for extraordinary valor during theMeuse–Argonne offensivein 1918 from every Allied government, including the one ofMontenegro, which KingNicholas Igave him theOrder of Danilo, to "Major Jay Gatsby For Valour Extraordinary".
After theAllied Powerssigned anarmistice with Imperial Germany, Gatsby resided in theUnited Kingdomin 1919 where he briefly attendedTrinity College, Oxford, for five months.While there, he received a letter from Daisy,informing him that she had married Thomas "Tom" Buchanan,a wealthy Chicago businessman.Gatsby departed the United Kingdom and traveled across theAtlantic Oceanto Louisville, but Daisy had already departed the city on herhoneymoon.Undaunted by Daisy's marriage to Tom, Gatsby decided to become a man of wealth and influence in order to win Daisy's affections.
With dreams of amassing immense wealth, a penniless Gatsby settled inNew York Cityas it underwent the birth pangs of theJazz Age.It is speculated—but never confirmed—that Gatsby took advantage of the newly enactedNational Prohibition Actby making a fortune viabootleggingand built connections withorganized crimefigures such as Meyer Wolfsheim,aJewishgamblerwho purportedlyfixed the World Series in 1919.
In 1922,Gatsby purchased aLong Islandestate in thenouveau richearea ofWest Egg,a town on the opposite side ofManhasset Bayfrom "old money"East Egg, where Daisy, Tom, and their three-year-old daughter Pammy lived.At his mansion, Gatsby hosted elaboratesoiréeswithhot jazzmusic in an attempt to attract Daisy as a guest.With the help of Daisy's cousin andbond salesmanNick Carraway,Gatsby succeeded in seducing her.
Soon after, Gatsby accompanied Daisy and her husband toMidtown Manhattanin New York City in the company of Carraway and Daisy's friend Jordan Baker.Tom borrowed Gatsby's yellowRolls-Royceto drive into the city. He detoured to afilling stationin the "valley of ashes",arefuse dumpon Long Island.The impoverished proprietor, George Wilson, voiced his concern that his wife Myrtle was having an affair with another man—unaware that Tom was the individual in question.
At a hotel suite in the twenty-storyPlaza Hotel, Tom confronted Gatsby over his ongoing affair with his wife in the presence of Daisy, Nick, and Jordan.Gatsby urged Daisy to disavow her love for Tom and to declare that she had only married Tom for his money.Daisy asserted that she loved both Tom and Gatsby.Leaving the hotel, Daisy departed with Gatsby in his yellow Rolls-Royce while Tom departed in his car with Jordan and Nick.
While driving Gatsby's car on the return trip to East Egg, Daisy struck and killed—either intentionally or unintentionally—her husband's mistress Myrtle standing in the highway.At Daisy's house in East Egg, Gatsby assured Daisy he would take the blame if they were caught. The next day, Tom informed George that it was Gatsby's car that killed Myrtle.Visiting Gatsby's mansion, George killed Gatsby with arevolverwhile he was relaxing in his swimming pool and then committed suicide by shooting himself with the revolver.
Despite the manyflappersandsheikswho frequented Gatsby's lavish parties on a weekly basis, only one reveler referred to as "Owl-Eyes" attended Gatsby's funeral.Also present at the funeral were bond salesman Nick Carraway and Gatsby's father Henry C. Gatz, who stated his pride in his son's achievement as a self-made millionaire.
The character of Jay Gatsby has become a culturaltouchstonein American culture and is often invoked in popular discourse in the context ofrags-to-richesgrandeur. CommentatorChris Matthewsviews the character as personifying the eternal American striver, albeit one is keenly aware that hisnouveau richestatus is a detriment: "Gatsby needed more than money: he needed to be someone who hadalwayshad it.... this blind faith that he can retrofit his very existence to Daisy's specifications is the heart and soul ofThe Great Gatsby. It's the classic story of the fresh start, the second chance".However, in contrast to Gatsby as "the eternal American striver", folkloristRichard Dorsonsees Gatsby as a radically different American archetype who rejects the traditional approach to earning wealth via hard work in favor of quick riches viabootlegging.In Dorson's view, Gatsby "rejected theProtestant ethicin favor of a much more extravagant form of ambition".
The character is often evoked as an indicator ofsocial mobility; in particular, the likelihood of the average American amassing wealth and achieving theAmerican dream.In 1951, Fitzgerald biographerArthur Mizenerfirst interpreted the final pages of the novel in the context of the American dream."The last two pages of the book," Mizener wrote in his 1951 biographyThe Far Side of Paradise, "make overt Gatsby's embodiment of the American dream as a whole by identifying his attitude with the awe of the Dutch sailors" when first glimpsing theNew World.Mizener noted the dream's enchantment is qualified by Fitzgerald via his emphasis on the dream's unreality.Mizener argued that Fitzgerald viewed the American dream itself as "ridiculous."Following the publication of his 1951 biography, Mizener popularized his interpretation of the novel as an explicit criticism of the American dream in a series of talks titled "The Great Gatsbyand the American Dream."
Expanding upon Mizener's thesis, scholarRoger L. Pearsontraced in 1970 the literary origins of this dream toColonial America.The dream is the belief that every individual, regardless of their origins, may seek and achieve their desired goals, "be they political, monetary, or social. It is the literary expression of the concept of America: The land of opportunity".Echoing Mizener's earlier interpretation,Pearson suggests Gatsby serves as afalse prophetof the American dream, and pursuing the dream only results in dissatisfaction for those who chase it, owing to its unattainability.In this context, the green light emanating across theLong Island Soundfrom Gatsby's house is interpreted as a symbol of Gatsby's unrealizable goal to win Daisy and, consequently, to achieve the American dream.Reporting in 2009 onthe economic effects of the Great RecessiononLong Island—the fictional setting of Gatsby's mansion—The Wall Street Journalquoted a strugglinghotelieras saying "Jay Gatsby is dead".
The term "Gatsby" is also often used in the United States to refer to real-life figures who have reinvented themselves; in particular, wealthy individuals whose rise to prominence involved an element of deception or self-mythologizing. In a 1986exposéon disgraced journalistR. Foster Winanswho engaged ininsider tradingwithstockbrokerPeter N. Brant, theSeattle Post Intelligencerdescribed Brant as "Winan's Gatsby".Brant had changed his name from Bornstein and said he was "a man who turned his back on his heritage and his family because he felt that being recognized as Jewish would be a detriment to his career".
In more recent years, Gatsby's voracious pursuit of wealth has been referenced by scholars as exemplifying the perils ofenvironmental destructionin pursuit ofself-interest.According to Kyle Keeler, Gatsby's quest for greater status manifests as self-centered,anthropocentricresource acquisition.Inspired by the predatorymining practicesof his fictional mentor Dan Cody, Gatsby participates in extensivedeforestationamid World War I and then undertakes bootlegging activities reliant upon exploitingSouth American agriculture.Gatsby conveniently ignores the wasteful devastation of the valley of ashes to pursue aconsumerist lifestyleand exacerbates thewealth gapthat became increasingly salient in 1920s America.For these reasons, Keeler argues that—while Gatsby's socioeconomic ascent and self-transformation depend upon these very factors—each one is nonetheless partially responsible for the ongoingecological crisis.
Both the character of Jay Gatsby and Fitzgerald's novel have been linked to composerGeorge Gershwin's 1924 songRhapsody in Blue.As early as 1927, writerF. Scott Fitzgeraldopined thatRhapsody in Blueidealized the youthful zeitgeist of theJazz Age.In subsequent decades, both the latter era and Fitzgerald's literary works were often linked by critics and scholars with Gershwin's composition.In 1941, historianPeter Quennellopined that Fitzgerald's novelThe Great Gatsbyembodied "the sadness and the remote jauntiness of a Gershwin tune".
Accordingly,Rhapsody in Bluewas used as a dramaticleitmotiffor the character of Jay Gatsby in the 2013 filmThe Great Gatsby, the fourth cinematic adaptation of Fitzgerald's 1925 novel.Various writers such as the American playwright and criticTerry Teachouthave likened Gershwin himself to the character of Gatsby due to his attempt to transcend his lower-class background, his abrupt meteoric success, and his early death while in his thirties.
The first individual to portray the role of Jay Gatsby was 37-year-oldJames Rennie, a stage actor who headlined the 1926Broadwayadaptation of Fitzgerald's novel at theAmbassador Theatrein New York City.As "a handsome Canadian with a good voice",Rennie's portrayal of Gatsby was met with rave reviews from theater critics.He repeated the role for 112 performances and then paused when he had to voyage to England due to an ailing family member.
After returning from England, Rennie continued to appear as Gatsby when the stage play embarked upon a successful nationwide tour.As Fitzgerald was vacationing in Europe at the time, he never saw the 1926 Broadway play,but his agentHarold Obersent him telegrams which quoted the many positive reviews of the production.
In later stage adaptations, many actors have played Jay Gatsby. TheYale Dramatic Associationperformed a musical production ofThe Great Gatsbyin May–June 1956.This was its first musical adaptation.In 1999,Jerry Hadleyportrayed the character inJohn Harbison's operatic adaptation of the work performed at theNew York Metropolitan Opera,and Lorenzo Pisoni portrayed Gatsby inSimon Levy's 2006 stage adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel.In 2023,Jeremy Jordanplayed Gatsby inThe Great Gatsby: A New Musical,and, in 2024,Isaac Cole Powellplayed the role inFlorence Welch's musicalGatsby: An American Myth.In January 2025,Ryan McCartantook over the role of Gatsby from Jordan in the Broadway production of the musical.Jamie Muscatois set to star in the West End production of the same musical beginning in April 2025.
A number of actors later portrayed Jay Gatsby in cinematic adaptations of Fitzgerald's novel.Warner Baxterplayed the role in thelost1926 silent film.Although the film received mixed reviews,Warner Baxter's portrayal of Gatsby was praised by several critics,although other critics found his acting to be overshadowed byLois Wilsonas Daisy.Purportedly, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wifeZelda Sayreloathed the 1926 film adaptation of his novel and stormed out midway through a viewing of the film at a cinema."We sawThe Great Gatsbyat the movies," Zelda wrote to an acquaintance in 1926, "It'sROTTENand awful and terrible and we left."
Nearly a decade after Fitzgerald's death by a heart attack in 1940, Gatsby was portrayed byOklahomaactorAlan Laddinthe 1949 film adaptation.Ladd's Gatsby was criticized byBosley CrowtherofThe New York Timeswho felt that Ladd was overly solemn in the title role and gave the impression of "a patient and saturnine fellow who is plagued by a desperate love".The film's producerRichard Maibaumclaimed that he cast Ladd as Gatsby based on the actor'srags-to-richessimilarity to the character:
In 1974,Robert Redfordportrayed Gatsby ina film adaptationthat year.Film criticRoger Ebertof theChicago Sun-Timesbelieved that Redford was "too substantial, too assured, even too handsome" as Gatsby and would have been better suited in the role of antagonist Tom Buchanan.Likewise, film critic Gene Siskel of theChicago Tribunecriticized Redford's interpretation of Gatsby as merely a "shallow pretty boy".Siskel declared there was little resemblance between Redford's suave portrayal and the ambitiousparvenuin the novel.
In more recent decades,Leonardo DiCaprioplayed the role in directorBaz Luhrmann's2013 film adaptation.In a 2011 interview withTimemagazine prior to the film's production, DiCaprio explained he was attracted to the role of Gatsby due to the idea of portraying "a man who came from absolutely nothing, who created himself solely from his own imagination. Gatsby's one of those iconic characters because he can be interpreted in so many ways: a hopeless romantic, a completely obsessed wacko or a dangerous gangster intent on clinging to wealth".
The character of Jay Gatsby has appeared many times in television adaptations. The first was in May 1955 as anNBC episodeforRobert Montgomery PresentsstarringRobert Montgomeryas Gatsby.In May 1958,CBSfilmed the novel as an episode ofPlayhouse 90, also titledThe Great Gatsby,which starred 50-year-oldRobert Ryanas the 32-year-old Jay Gatsby.
Toby Stephenslater portrayed the character in a2000 television film adaptation.In a 2001 review of the television film,The New York Timescriticized Stephens' performance as "so rough around the edges, so patently an up-from-the-street poseur that no one could fall for his stories for a second" and his "blunt performance turns Gatsby's entrancing smile into a suspicious smirk".
InThe Simpsonsepisode "The Great Phatsby",Mr. Burnsassumes Jay Gatsby's role,with the storyline spoofing the 2013 film adaptation.In theFamily Guyepisode "High School English",Brian Griffinis portrayed as Gatsby.
Kirk Douglasstarred as Gatsby in an adaptation broadcast onCBSFamily Hour of Starson January 1, 1950,andAndrew Scottplayed Gatsby in the 2012 two-partBBC Radio 4Classic Serialproduction.