Why would Gatsby create a fictitious past for himself?
In order to establish himself within a new and fabulous area, Gatsby had allowed rumors of him to circulate, as well as claiming he was the son of a rich family, whom had all died, and was an Oxford man. To further his new background he even changed his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby in order to create a new life for himself and establish a new legacy. His fake past also could have contributed to his plan to win back Daisy; by reinventing himself into something he never was, Daisy wouldn't have known that it was the James Gatz that she knew in Louisville and therefore would come to his great parties. His new identity also is a representation of the American dream and it's success. By stumbling upon money, Gatz wanted to leave his simple life completely behind and grasp his new found life and in order to do that he felt the need to create an elaborate past in order to hide the fact that he himself was once simple and plain.
Why would Daisy choose to reconcile the relationship that she and Gatsby had in Louisville?
Daisy's love for Tom and Gatsby were two very different kinds of love. Her love for Tom was for the security and money that he would be able to provide her, as well as the status she would have by marrying him. However, her love of Gatsby was much more emotionally driven because he was still James Gatz when they had first met. Once Daisy sees Gatsby's great wealth, much greater than that of Tom, she realized that she could have both a man that was in love with her and that would have treated her well and all the money that she could have dreamed of. This is also is representative of the pursuit of the American dream, with Gatsby representing the American dream and it's success. With Daisy now pursuing a relationship with Gatsby, it shows her pursuit of her idea of the American dream, comfort, security, wealth, and love.
How does Nick choose to explicitly state that all the characters are from the West help the story?
The great American dream originally lied in the West and the potential prosperity that it could bring. With all of the characters moving to the east and establishing a life in New York City, it illustrates the idea of the American dream dissipating as well as the morality of the West losing itself to the materialism of the East.
How does the title The Great Gatsby relate to the story?
With the setting of the story in the 1920's, it was the decline of the idea of the American dream. Fitzgerald depicts a society in which materialism reigns over morals with Nick Carraway, a supposedly very moral person who withholds judgement, telling the story. With the earlier explanation of Gatsby being the American dream, his death represents the end of the great American dream and is ultimately the main theme of the novel.
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