The Great Gatsby: The Truth about Gatsby

It is funny the way people make up rumors about things just because there is doubt.  This is very common today and apparently was back in the 1920's as well. The people of West Egg Village and around New York where Nick Carraway and Gatsby live are constantly gossiping about Gatsby simply because they don't know much about him.  Hardly anyone does.  Whenever his name is brought up in conversation, assumptions and accusations fly.  For example, when Tom Buchanan first goes to one of Gatsby's parties he expresses his frustration with Gatsby's mystery, " 'Who is this Gatsby anyhow?' demanded Tom suddenly. 'Some big bootlegger?' " (Fitzgerald, 107).  The rumors and assumptions serve more to give Gatsby an air of mystery than to show some sort of downfall of the society I think.  The rumors make the revelation of Gatsby's true past as Daisy's ex-lover more surprising and profound.  In fact, this revelation is made even more surprising because Gatsby lied to Nick about his past at first.  While they are on their way out to lunch one day he tells Nick the studied at Oxford, that his parents died and left him a great deal of wealth, and that he traveled the world. According to the breakdown of Gatsby's true background that Nick later informs us, none of these things are true.  I was annoyed with Gatsby after discovering that.  When they do arrive at lunch; however, Fitzgerald implements another foreshadowing trick which are very common throughout his The Great Gatsby, when Nick spots Tom Buchanan and attempts to introduce Gatsby, only to find him gone.  In hindsight, this should have revealed a lot more to me than it really did at the time.