SELFISH PEOPLE IN THE GREAT GATSBY:

The Great Gatsby is set among wealthy, educated

people, who

have lots of leisure time and little concern about people who are not in their social milieu. Nobody's concerned about politics or spiritual matters but everybody cares about how they are perceived socially. Those who do come from other classes seek and envy the glamour and lifestyle that they see in the elite. Jay Gatsby, the protagonist, is able to attain a certain amount of wealth, but he cannot fake education or social behaviors that only come with "old money." The novel's two main locales, West Egg and East Egg, are distinguished also by class. East Egg represents "old money" while West Egg represents the nouveau riche. East Eggers consistently look down on West Eggers for precisely this fact. Class and wealth are virtually indistinguishable from each other, but if a person lacks education, then he is clearly not part of the upper echelon.

A quote showing selfishness is :

Next morning I sent the butler to New York with a letter to Wolfsheim, which asked for information and urged him to come out on the next train. That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it. I was sure he’d start when he saw the newspapers, just as I was sure a there’d be a wire from Daisy before noon—but neither a wire nor Mr. Wolfsheim arrived; no one arrived except more police and photographers and newspaper men. When the butler brought back Wolfsheim’s answer I began to have a feeling of defiance, ofscornful solidarity between Gatsby and me against them all.

This shows that to Nick’s surprise, everyone neglects to honor Gatsby’s memory. It’s tragic for two reasons. In the first place, Gatsby’s life was full of people who didn’t truly care about him. Second, abandoning Gatsby is a sad attestation to how shallow and selfish people can be. Nick’s disgust with everyone who attended Gatsby’s parties, Gatsby’s business partners, and even Gatsby’s one true love seems justified. What do you think?