Jay Gatsby's Involuntary Suicide

No, obliviously Jay Gatsby did not commit suicide, at least not in the literal or physical sense. Many characters in the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, played roles in the death of Gatsby, but none greater than the role played by Gatsby himself. Gatsby lived a life based entirely upon two things: achieving the American Dream and Daisy Buchanan. It is understandable for a young man such as Gatsby to attempt to search and work towards gaining the American Dream. However, the subject of Daisy is slightly more difficult to understand. Gatsby’s hopelessly romantic and lavish lifestyle was most responsible for his death, far more responsible than Daisy’s self-centered actions, Tom’s arrogant and hypocritical presence, Nick’s tolerant and honest manners, or even Wilson’s murderous and vengeful ways.
The beginning of the downward spiral of Jay Gatsby’s life began when he was just seventeen. Considering his past, and how Gatsby overcame his troubles, the reader might feel a perception of respect for him. However, reading farther into the story the reader will notice just how lame and caddish Gatsby really is. He seems to have a wonderful life and “had come a long way[,]… and his dream… seemed so close that he could… grasp it. [But] he did not know that it was already behind him” (Fitzgerald 180). His dream, since he seemed to have everything needed to accomplish the American Dream, was to have Daisy for himself, like it was before he went off to war. Although he knew Daisy was already married, Gatsby bought his extremely ostentatious house simply to be across from her. He threw these profligate, incredibly expensive parties with the very romantic notion that Daisy would wander in and find him with all his money and power and they would slow motion run into each other’s arms. Although Daisy and Gatsby did eventually come together, it did not seem to work out the way Gatsby had planned. Even back in the 1920’s humans seemed to have the inexplicable