The tragedy of a gangster’s life begins with identity or the lack of it. The marking point of a gangster is the persona they create. Gangsters don’t start as gangsters. They start from nothing and claw their way up to success. They know what it’s like to be no one and have nothing. Take Gatsby for instance. He was a poor kid who had no money to his name and no means of making something for himself. Then he meets Dan Cody and he decides to transform himself into the person he’s longing to be- Jay Gatsby, a man who knows everyone, has connections everywhere, and has more money than he knows what to do with. But he was also a man no one else knows. They know of him, but they don’t know him. And this is exactly what makes being a gangster so tragic and also futile. No matter what he does to make a name for himself, no one is ever going to know the true him. Not even Gatsby’s own father knew him. This anonymity is one of the trademarks of gangsters. People talk about them. They create rumors about the “terrible acts” or the “amazing deeds” but none of the rumors are the truth. I think that kind of life must be so exhausting, and it makes me wonder is it even worth it? Is money or fame enough to weigh out the drawbacks of being alone? Also, Gatsby dies in the end too, so I would say that that would be a no.