Was Gatsby really great?
The Great Gatsby - Francis Scott Fitzgerald
Gatsby's problem is not that love was too great. He had a long-lasting love, but it wasn't the actual Daisy he thought it was. Daisy was already married and shaking, holding on to her past feelings and present stability at the same time. But Gatsby didn't see such Daisy. He saw an old picture of Daisy completing his life. So his love is hot but cold. It seems like a heart for one person, but he doesn't listen to what the person is feeling now.
I feel uncomfortable at this point. Gatsby is not just a person who dreamed in vain; he had abilities to make his dreams come true. He made money, bought a house, and brought people together. Parties grew bigger every time, and the mansion shone night by night. On the surface, he is the one who pushed his life for himself. And that's why Caraway calls him great. But you ask whether persistence is really great. If the direction is wrong, persistence becomes a danger, not a virtue. Because power that cannot stop when it has to stop is power.
The reason Gatsby seems colder is that he is not someone who has never checked reality. He met Daisy again and saw her shaking. At the Plaza Hotel, Daisy can't say she never loved Tom. She says she once loved Tom, but Gatsby also loved him. This breaks down the story Gatsby has had. The past did not come back clean; Daisy did not remain the same as Gatsby had waited for. Gatsby refuses to accept it. He believes in the story he has held for a long time more than the signals Daisy sends. Passion then changes from innocence to stubbornness.
In today's technological world, this structure is frequently seen. Many companies create recommendation algorithms, stating that they will understand people better. At first, it seems convenient. I show you a video I will like first and then select a piece to read. But in many cases, the system's actual understanding is not of a person's life, but of clicks and residence times. The algorithm moves toward retaining people rather than expanding them when content that makes them stay longer is treated as better content. Numbers get better; but the numbers don't mean it in a good way.
Recruitment AI works similarly. Companies refer to fairer and faster selection. However, if historical data has already valued certain schools, genders, and careers more highly, the system can more quickly repeat old prejudices rather than calculating fairness. Most medical AIs nowadays are highly accurate. They find diseases with a certain percentage of accuracy. However, if the doctor cannot explain the judgment in the hospital and the patient is not convinced of the results, the accuracy is half-hearted in reality. Just because a goal is plausible does not mean that it reaches the real problem.
Gatsby's party looks like a device like that. He built his mansion to meet Daisy and called in people. More music, more alcohol, and more gossip filled the house. But the whole scene was a signal for one person. The problem is not whether the signal reached the other, but that Gatsby himself was tied deeper. The bigger the party got, the more realistic he became, the more evidence he attached to his fantasies. Money and ability did not wake him up. Rather, it made him go further.
Illusions aren't always bad. New products or systems may start with a rather unreasonable imagination at first. Some think of things that don't already exist, and others push in ways that people haven't said they need. Without such imagination, there are few changes. However, you have to listen to the reaction that comes back after the imagination goes out. If people are uncomfortable, they have to fix it, and if the result is different from what they expected, they have to stop and watch it again. There are moments when fantasy changes reality, but there must also be moments when reality fixes fantasy.
Gatsby didn't have that second moment. Even when Daisy was shaking, he didn't stop telling his story. Even when she couldn't completely deny the past, he demanded harder. This attitude is not unfamiliar to technicians. When you're stuck in the belief that search recommendations make you comfortable, you don't see what kind of thoughts the recommendations push. When you're stuck in the belief that financial screening is efficient, you don't ask why someone keeps getting eliminated. The same is true of judicial or surveillance technology. To classify more accurately doesn't always mean a more legitimate decision.
If the efficiency is increased while the direction is wrong, the failure does not get smaller. Rather, it becomes faster. If Gatsby had less, his fantasy might have ended small. But he was able to mobilize too much. Wealth, charm, party, and rumors all moved in one direction. It is a tragedy that the direction was not a path to a real person named Daisy, but a path back to the past he created. His death floating in an empty pool may seem like a martyrdom of love, but I read it as a scene showing how far false beliefs can go when they get enough resources.
If Gatsby is great, it's not because he is pure in passion. He shows how dangerous passion becomes when you don't check reality. You need faith in the beginning. But faith alone cannot change direction. You should be able to hear the answer when reality has already given you a different answer, as Daisy said. What's left after reading Gatsby is not to dream harder. It's more like saying to see the facts with the person in front of you rather than the picture you made.