What happens when someone builds their entire identity around a dream? This question stayed with me after I finished reading the book. But I still don’t have an answer to it.

On the surface, this story is about wealth, success, and pleasure. The initially mysterious Mr. Gatsby with his grand parties, the descriptions of the characters’ lavish lifestyles, even Fitzgerald’s writing style itself feels expensive.

At first, I enjoyed the luxurious setting and the beautiful writing style and simply let all the impressions sink in. But over time I realized that the story uses luxury, parties, and wealth only as a façade to show what actually lies beneath: illusions, ambitions, and loneliness.

The longer I think about the book and even while writing this, many different themes come to mind that could be analyzed more deeply, whether it’s the critique of class society, identity, self-realization, or the consequences of obsession. However, in this piece I will focus only on a few of the thoughts I had while reading and elaborate on them a bit, rather than doing a deep-dive analysis.

One thought that particularly stayed with me after finishing the book is Gatsby’s attempt to bring back the past. In a conversation with Nick he says, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” Gatsby is therefore strongly convinced of and obsessed with the idea of reconstructing the past and the feelings connected to it. In doing so, he believes he would achieve his goal. But as the story progresses, especially toward the end, we realize that he cannot control or bring back the past. Instead, the past controls him. This idea is then emphasized by Nick when he says, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Most of us have probably had a moment we would like to return to. But as Gatsby’s case shows, not only situations change, people change as well. That is exactly why the past can never truly be reconstructed the way we imagine it. Gatsby is therefore not only a tragic figure, but also an extreme example of a universal human problem.

Another observation I made while reading concerns Daisy and her relationship with Tom. I often had the feeling that she does not necessarily love Tom as a person, but rather the feeling he gives her. While reading, I immediately thought of White Nights by Dostoevsky. (Spoiler!) There, Nastenka ultimately chooses her returning lover rather than the nameless protagonist, which for most readers would have been the more logical choice. She probably chose her old lover because he gave her a feeling of freedom and adventure, exactly what she longed for in her monotonous life. (Spoiler over!)

With Daisy, it almost seems like the opposite. She does not seek adventure but security and a predictable, orderly future. Tom can give her exactly that feeling through his status, his money, and the world he comes from. Gatsby, on the other hand, cannot offer her this, even after he becomes rich. This also clearly highlights the difference between old money and new money. Gatsby has achieved wealth, but he never truly belongs to the world in which Daisy feels at home.

This becomes especially clear after the tragic car accident in which Myrtle Wilson dies. Instead of taking responsibility, Tom and Daisy retreat into their privileged world and hide behind their status and money. As soon as Daisy finds herself in a difficult situation, she consciously chooses against Gatsby and returns to the security that Tom offers her.

And unfortunately, we also see in the end that no one truly loved Gatsby. The countless people at his parties, business partners, and former lovers, none of them appear at his funeral. This makes it clear that most of them did not like Gatsby himself, but rather the exciting atmosphere he created.

One of the few exceptions was Owl Eyes. Earlier in the library he had noticed that Gatsby’s books were real, and through that he realized that there was more to Gatsby than just the outward “bling.”

This leads me to another thought. Gatsby’s father tells Nick about his old daily schedule and how Gatsby spent a lot of time with self-improvement books, work, and training. This strongly reminded me of today’s trend of self-improvement content on social media platforms or the so-called “hustle culture.”

I think many young people can get lost in this bubble if they do not realize early enough that they may be doing all these things mainly to gain recognition from society and not necessarily for themselves. Instead of truly developing and staying true to themselves, they create, much like Gatsby, an illusion that can produce equally superficial relationships and often revolves around appearances.

Overall, I liked the book, and it made me think a lot, even though this mostly happened toward the end of the story. While reading, I often had the feeling that many events seemed somewhat random or even irrelevant. But especially the final chapter gave the previous chapters more meaning for me and ultimately holds the whole book together.