Mr. Gatz: What Insight Does He Offer Us?

 When Gatsby’s father, Mr. Gatz, comes to visit Gatsby’s estate, we’re made aware of how bright the now-deceased man was in the eyes of his father. At this point, we don’t really see Gatsby as the icon Nick once presented him as at the beginning of the story. It’s more of a pitiful image that is being forced upon us (181), but with the introduction of Gatsby’s father into the story, a multitude of possible outlooks on Gatsby become possible. For me, I began to see who Gatsby was as James Gatz, who his father saw him as, and what his original goals were before becoming enchanted by materialism. When talking about James Gatz to Nick, Mr. Gatz says, “‘He had a big future before him, you know. He was only a young man but he had a lot of brain power here’” (179). What could the reader possibly interpret this to mean?

One could say that Mr. Gatz didn’t know his own son, that he was oblivious to his greedy desire for money. However, who’s to say we know James Gatz better than his father? Perhaps his father wasn’t there when James Gatz became Jay Gatsby, a man constantly grabbing for money and for a woman that was the epitome of wealth in his eyes. However, can we say for certain that Gatsby always wanted to be Gatsby? We can’t. We only know what Nick has seen, for Nick narrates this story. With Mr. Gatz’s words, what we really see is what James Gatz could’ve been. He could've been a highly respectable figure--a truly respectable figure, not someone with a golden facade.

We’ll never know ourselves, though.