In Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, the main character, Jay Gatsby, has an elusive and undefined nature about him. He claims to be the son of a wealthy family in the Midwest (all of which are dead), and this is how he acquired his fortune.
Gatsby invites Nick Caraway to lunch, and here it becomes evident that he is in some shady business. While at lunch, Meyer Wolfsheim turned to Nick and said, “I understand you’re looking for a business gonnegtion.”. Gatsby quickly answered for Nick, saying Wolfsheim had the wrong man. Instead of questioning this further, Wolfsheim immediately drops the subject and begins to eat. By taking great caution not to openly discuss their “business”, Gatsby and Wolfsheim reveal that their business dealings are secretive and likely illicit.
In addition to learning that Gatsby is likely involved in illegal business, after doing some research Tom Buchanan finds out that Gatsby owns drug stores that sell alcohol discreetly. Tom points this out as the group begins their infamous drive to New York City, stating that if his car runs out of gas he “can stop at a drugstore. You can buy anything at a drugstore nowadays.” This remark from Tom is a subtle dig at Gatsby’s implied involvement in bootlegging.
The final piece of the Gatsby puzzle comes towards the end of the novel, where Gatsby’s father solidifies the truth about his upbringing. Throughout the novel we learn that his parents were “shiftless farms people” and Gatsby, or James Gatz, had always dreamed of a grander life. He had ran away from home at 17 and reinvented himself with a yachter, Dan Cody. He eventually met Daisy before leaving for WWI and losing her to Tom Buchanan. While we know that he tragically doesn’t realize his dream of reconnecting with Daisy and eventually dies, there still seems to be something missing about the analysis of his character. Nick hints to the qualities of Gatsby, and maybe it’s his extraordinary hope that makes it feel like there is something more to Gatsby than what we will ever know.