Great Gatsby: Connector: Post 4
I’m going to focus mainly on Gatsby’s funeral and how it relates to some other scenarios. In the movie, The Ultimate Gift, a young man is in the prime time of his life and is really rich and has a “great” girlfriend and a lot of “friends.” Then something happens to him and all of his money is taken away from him: credit cards, debit cards, paper money, everything. When he goes to ask his friends for money or help they all leave him out on the street. When he realizes one night that he has no money on him {and his credit cards have been canceled} to pay for dinner and asks his very wealthy girlfriend to pay she dumps him. This goes to show how people are treated when they have money and then when they are “worthless” to people. This happens in the Great Gatsby when Nick is asked to organize the funeral for Gatsby. Nick can’t find anyone to come to the funeral, though it seemed that when Nick was alive he had a lot of friends, but it was only because he was rich.
Who do you think Gatsby’s real friends were and why do you think that Nick was asked to organize the funeral for Gatsby?
-Maddie Zinn
Category: Connector 2 comments »
April 19th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
The only friend that I think Gatsby had was Nick. Nick was the one that Gatsby went to about Daisy and Nick tried to help him throughout the book. Daist was not his friend because she didn’t leave Tom for Gatsby and didn’t keep her promise that she made to him when he left for the war. We also know that Tom was not Gatsby’s friend! He hated Gatsby because of his love for Daisy. This leaves Nick. This is why I think Nick was asked to organize the funeral for Gatsby. Everybody knew that Nick was his only real friend and liked him for more than his wealth.
~Lauren Gress~
April 19th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I agree with Lauren, but I would like to add some of my thoughts onto what she already said. Lauren narrowed down Gatsby’s friends from three possible contenders: Daisy, Tom, and Nick. However, I don’t think this is a good group to choose from. These are the only three we really know about, but we still need to consider the fact that Gatsby probably had friends not mentioned in the book – people from back home, from the war, etc. When I say “friends” I don’t really mean friends though. Gatsby doesn’t seem the type to keep a lot of company – instead I see him as a man with many acquaintances but not true friends. I’m sure that he had people that he knew and was polite to, but I’m not sure that he would consider them his friends. That being said, I agree that Nick was Gatsby’s only true friend. Even though they only knew each other for a short time, it seemed as if Nick really listened to what Gatsby had to say and tried to help him out with his problems, which only a friend would do. I also feel as if Gatsby treated Nick as a friend as well. He let Nick into his life, which he obviously didn’t do with most people. The way he shared things with Nick is a mark of friendship. I also agree with Lauren on why Nick was left to organize the funeral. Gatsby would have wanted the funeral arrangements done by his closest friend (which again supports the fact that Nick was indeed Gatsby’s friend). As I already said, Nick was the only person who really knew Gatsby, which is what makes him suited to arrange Gatsby’s funeral. I don’t think much can be said about why Nick was picked. He just was, and that’s all there is to it.
Erin B