Nick's Money Fade (2024)

FAQs

What does Gatsby reply when Nick asks him how he makes his money? ›

Gatsby never says how he makes his money; in fact, when Nick asks him about “what business he was in,” his straight reply is “That's my affair” (^Fitzgerald 95). Definitely, Gatsby generates his fortune from his dirty business; nevertheless, his corrupt actions merge from other directions, as well.

Nick's comments about money, especially in the first chapter, are mostly critical and cynical. First of all, he makes it clear that he has "an unaffected scorn" for the ultra-rich, and eyes both new money and old money critically.

Nick's final thoughts suggest that the future will forever remain inaccessible. Gatsby believed that he could shape the future to fit his dreams. But in the end, he fell short of achieving his vision of a happy future with Daisy. The troubles of his past came back to overpower his ability to change his fate.

Nicks Final message to the reader is that society is composed of Boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." Why does Fitzgerald include the information about race and what does it say about the context of society?

What does Gatsby reply when Nick asks him how he makes his money? He replied that he was in the drug and oil business. This shows that Gatsby truly wasn't the most truthful business man.

This is at the very end of the novel. Of the late Gatsby, Tom says, “That fellow had it coming to him. He threw dust in your eyes just like he did in Daisy's….” And that's why it matters that Nick is gay and in love with Gatsby: because Tom's assessment is spot-on, but Nick will never admit it.

The metaphor “her voice is full of money” represents Gatsby's desire to obtain Daisy's love. Wealth is posed as a significant attraction for all characters of the novel. And Gatsby sees both values as equal. In “The Great Gatsby,” the author shows the comparison of old money and new money.

Although Gatsby truly loved Daisy, this love was one-sided because Daisy was only attracted to Gatsby because of his wealth and status.

The book doesn't say who inherited Gatsby's money. It stands to reason that the estate went to his father, Henry Gatz. Gatsby had already shared some of his money with his family. A couple of years before Gatsby's death, he visited his father and purchased the house he lived in.

Daisy is unable to confront the reality of her part in Gatsby's passing due to her feelings of guilt and shame; as a result, she is prevented from attending the funeral of Gatsby. In addition, Daisy is still married to Tom, so she may be concerned about what the aftermath of her attendance at Gatsby's funeral will be.

Did Daisy call Gatsby in the end? ›

In both book and movie, Gatsby is waiting for a phone call from Daisy, but in the film, Nick calls, and Gatsby gets out of the pool when he hears the phone ring. He's then shot, and he dies believing that Daisy was going to ditch Tom and go way with him.

A distraught George traveled to Gatsby's mansion in West Egg and shot Gatsby dead before turning the weapon on himself. Soon after Gatsby's murder, Daisy, Tom, and their daughter departed East Egg, leaving no forwarding address.

Honestly, there's no real sign that Daisy knew he died, but literally what did she owe him anyway. He manipulated her, lied to her, treated her like an object and nearly ruined her life.

After witnessing the callous indifference and hedonism of the idle rich during the riotous Jazz Age, he ultimately chooses to leave the eastern United States forever and returns to the Midwest.

Expert-Verified Answer

In The Great Gatsby, Daisy does not call Nick after Gatsby's death due to her desire to avoid being associated with Gatsby, her absence from town, and her fear of making Tom angry.

Overjoyed, Gatsby immediately offers to have someone cut Nick's grass. He also offers him the chance to make some money by joining him in some business he does on the side—business that does not involve Meyer Wolfsheim.

During their trip to New York City, Gatsby talks to Nick about his past. It appears that he comes from a wealthy family, born into luxury in the Midwest. He also had been “educated at Oxford.” Gatsby says that after his family members' death, he inherited their wealth and traveled across Europe.

It is speculated—but never confirmed—that Gatsby took advantage of the newly enacted National Prohibition Act by making a fortune via bootlegging and built connections with organized crime figures such as Meyer Wolfsheim, a Jewish gambler who purportedly fixed the World Series in 1919.

Apparently, he started off penniless and made his money selling illegal, over-the-counter liquor in his drug-store empire during the first two years of prohibition. Read: Invest in pricey cognac? Kevin Roose, for New York Magazine, calculates that with the low profit margin nature of the bootlegging business.