Jay Gatsby, throughout the novel, had a dream, a reality he strived to achieve, which he desperately worked for and amassed a fortune for in the hopes it would help him attain what he desired. Gatsby had surrounded himself with money and hosted many opulent parties to find Daisy again, but these parties also had another goal: to create a higher social status for Gatsby. Gatsby was an insecure man who always wanted the social status and wealth he felt he deserved, and his insecurity is seen in his actions with others, in how he handles problems, and in how he conducts himself.
Gatsby would often use the phrase “Old sport.” It was a way he socialized with people and built a more intimate relationship with them. He constantly used that phrase almost to a forced degree, as if he was trying to force a deeper connection with other individuals and when he felt that the connection he shared with someone was deteriorating, he would push back further into his facade of being a wealthy man from from a Midwest family who went to Oxford and was a decorated war hero. This happened with Nick Carraway, when Gatsby noticed that Nick had heard rumors about him, Gatsby talked with Nick and projected an image of being a wealthy hero who had been successful in everything. He told Nick, “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West – all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford,” (Fitzgerald 51), the he showed Nick a picture of himself at Oxford and said that the person next to him has become the Earl of Doncaster, and told Nick a about his time in the army saying “I was promoted to be a major, and every allied government gave me a decoration – even Montenegro” (Fitzgerald 52) then showed Nick the medal to secure the image Nick had of him was positive. His response to the situation shows how insecure he was when he started painting a picture of his past to Nick to stop Nick from having a bad opinion of him.
Gatsby’s reactions show how insecure he was; one major part of that insecurity was his upbringing in a poor family. It is explained that Gatsby met Daisy “by a colossal accident. However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders.” (Fitzgerald 114), he in part blames losing Daisy on him being poor at the time and acknowledges their differences in class, he was using a fabricated lie of being rich and the uniform of an officer to get close to Daisy. When Daisy married Tom, Gatsby realized that it was because he was poor and Daisy couldn’t wait any longer for him. Gatsby himself even says such when he confronted Tom, he said, “She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me.” (Fitzgerald 100). The fact that he was poor caused him to lose Daisy, which contributed to Gatsby’s insecurity about his past. He hated how he grew up poor and felt he deserved to be rich, and when he eventually became rich, he tried to erase his past and make it seem as if he was always rich.
Gatsby’s persona of being a rich person, acting as part of the gentry, and surrounding himself with luxurious goods were all part of his attempt to win Daisy back. He thought that if he could impress Daisy with his wealth, he could have her back and used his displays of wealth to ease his insecurities. He wished for a spot among the rich, it is part of the reason he hosted public parties where any rich person could stumble on in. In these parties, he built his social status, and when Tom confronted Gatsby about his unethical business practices, Tom denigrated his social status and even called Gatsby “a common swindler who’d have to steal the ring he put on her finger.” (Fitzgerald 102). Tom investigated Gatsby, and when he found out how Gatsby had made his money, Tom, being old money, felt that he was superior to Gatsby, as Gatsby was new money and had illegally gained his money. Tom tore into Gatsby’s status and degraded the persona he had created saying he had “picked him for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and i wasn’t far wrong.”(Fitzgerald 103), and exposed the situation with Walter Chase who Gatsby “let him go to jail for a month over in New Jersey” (Fitzgerald 103). Tom broke Gatsby’s character in front of Daisy, and Gatsby responded strongly, with Nick describing him as, “He looked – and this is said in all contempt for the babbled slander of his garden – as if he had ‘killed a man..’” (Fitzgerald 103). Tom was denying Gatsby his status and belittling him; the slander of his status triggered Gatsby’s hatred for his poor past, which in turn became a hatred directed towards Tom. Gatsby didn’t lash out at Tom but instead started consoling Daisy and defending his character just as he had done with Nick, he sensed his positive image deteriorating, and his anxiety response made him deny what Tom had said to try to restore that image. His desperate actions to save his image and his response to Tom’s claims show his insecurity and the desire to maintain social status.
Gatsby had grown up as the son of a poor farmer, became rich, and tried to erase his true past as James Gatz, creating instead Jay Gatsby, a man meant to ease his anxiety and hatred he had of his past, and create the life Gatsby wanted. Jay Gatsby was a man plagued with anxiety and a disillusioned reality that cost him his life. His interactions showed how insecure he was and slowly revealed the true man he was as he talked about his fabricated past, it became more uncertain, his need for approval of others surfaced, and the root of his anxiety was revealed showing how insecure he was and the lengths he would go to to ease that anxiety and achieve his goal.
