gatjay Romantic Jay Gatsby of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

The Romantic Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby Doesn't it always seem as though rich and famous people are larger-than-life and virtually impossible to touch, almost as if they were a fantasy? In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays Jay Gatsby as a Romantic, larger-than-life, figure by setting him apart from the common person. Fitzgerald sets Gatsby in a fantasy world that, based on illusion, is of his own making. Gatsby's possessions start to this illusion. He lives in an extremely lavish mansion. "It is a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden." (5) It models an extravagant castle with a European style. Indoors it has "Marie Antoinette music-rooms and restoration salons." (92) There is even a "Merton College Library, paneled with imported carved English oak and thousands of volumes of books." (45) There is even a private beach on his property. He also has his own personal hydroplane. Gatsby also drives a highly imaginative, "circus wagon", car that "everybody had seen. It is a rich cream color with nickel and has a three-noted horn." (64) It has a "monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes, supper-boxes, tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of windshields and a green leather conservatory." (64) Amidst Gatsby's possessions, he develops his personal self. His physical self appearance sets him apart form the other characters. His smile is the type "that comes across four or five times in life. One of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it." (48) He has a collection of tailored shirts from England. They are described as " shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel." He has shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue." (93) Gatsby wears a unique " gorgeous pink rag of a suit" that sets him apart as a "bright spot." (154) Gatsby's mannerisms are different too. He gives the "strong impression that he picks his words with care." Gatsby is an "elegant young roughneck