The Great Gatsby (Blog 14)

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nick describes what it was like after Gatsby's death.  Nick tried so hard to contact a lot of people about the incident, and I found it upsetting that only a few people showed up to Gatsby's funeral.  I feel like all of the people just used him to go to his parties because they clearly didn't care enough about him to show up to his funeral.  They all made up excuses to not come.  I think that this shows that, besides a few people, Gatsby was ultimately a very lonely man.  I was shocked when Mr. Gatz, Gatsby's father, arrived; I had no idea that his parents were even alive.  When Mr. Gatz walked around Gatsby's house, I liked to see how proud he was of his son.  "He had reached an age where death no longer has the quality of ghastly surprise, and when he looked around him now for the first time and saw the height and splendor of the hall and the great rooms opening out from it into other rooms, his grief began to be mixed with an awed pride" (Fitzgerald, 168).  It seems like Gatsby's father had never been to his son's house, so he was not aware of how successful his son had become.  I expected Mr. Wolfsheim to come to the funeral, but he seemed to be too caught up in his work to care.  He said that he was extremely upset about the news, but I think it is a shame that he didn't show up to the funeral of his closest friend.  Another person that I expected to show up to the funeral was Daisy.  Nick never got a hold of her, yet I still think it's sad that she wasn't there because Gatsby really was in love with her.  When Owl-eyes showed up to the funeral, I honestly didn't even remember who he was at first.  I think this further proves that none of Gatsby's "friends" were sincere, but at least Owl-eyes made an effort.  I think that he really just had a desire to become close to Gatsby, which is why he probably showed up to the funeral.  Ultimately, I feel sorry for the lonely life that Gatsby lived.  I didn't realize how alone he must have been until Nick explained his funeral situation.