Adolescent Heroism in FitzgeraldÆs The Great Gatsby
In F. Scott FitzgeraldÆs The Great Gatsby, the narrator Nick initially believes Jay Gatsby is the consummate hero, a self-confident master of his domain. As Nick tells us, ôSomething in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share was his of our local heavensö (Fitzgerald 21). Despite this lofty image of Gatsby, Jay Gatsby is nothing more than the product of arrested development, a man whose adolescent notions of what it is to be a ôheroö are based on surface appearances and illusions.
Jay Gatsby appears to all onlookers as the Lord of West Egg, Long Island. From his lavish home to his impeccable grooming and style, Gatsby appears to be the ideal hero. He appears to have it all to Nick, the embodiment of perfection in looks, dress, style and demeanor. However, Jay Gatsby is actually a low-born son of unsuccessful farmers whose adolescent notions of what it is to be heroic cause him to shroud himself in superficial appearances and materialism. These qualities are empty and will ultimately bring about GatsbyÆs downfall, because his character is one constructed from illusions, ones no higher than most adolescents hold as heroic. Nick eventually discovers this and maintains, ôThe truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of GodàSo he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithfulö (Fitzgerald 100).
This adolescent conception of self leaves Gatsby unfulfilled and empty because it is based on romantic notions or illusions and not reality. GatsbyÆs notion of love is also romantic and filled with illusion. There is nothing heroic in his desire to take the rap for Daisy, but his romantic idealizat
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