What makes us different? How do our circumstances shape our lives? The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald examines a section of the lives of a group of people. These people vary significantly in wealth, morality, background, tendencies etc. Two very important characters, Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway, live different lives as neighbors. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway differ in matters of morality, personal relationships, and wealth.
Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway exist on opposite ends of the wealth spectrum, but each has had humble beginnings. Jay, born into a poor family in the Midwest, has moved east to become wealthy. He lives out the American dream of rags to riches, but Gatsby has acquired his wealth through illegal means. Jay's insistent desire of becoming wealthy stems from his need to please Daisy, his love. After Gatsby attains his fortune, he buys a large house directly opposite from Daisy's. The house, built to amaze, makes quite an impression on Gatsby's neighbor, Nick Carraway: "The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard-it was a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby's mansion" (17). Nick's own house, situated next to this enormous dwelling, remains a reminder of his circumstances. Nick, like Gatsby, moves east to gain wealth, but does not succeed. He works honestly as a bondsman. Nick lives in a tiny home that rents for eighty dollars a month, but serves its purpose.
Nick and Jay have as much in common in terms of morality as they do concerning wealth. Jay, a single man, lusts after another man's wife. Daisy Buchanan has married Tom, but Jay lives in the hope that she will return to him one day. Jay acquisition of wealth also reveals his morality.