The Rolls Royce-driving, Plaza Hotel party-throwing, Long Island-dwelling Gatsby, according to the compilation, is worth a cool $1 billion — and there's more where that came from. Epitomizing Jazz Age decadence, what would a modern day Jay Gatsby lifestyle cost us?
Jay Gatsby
Gatsby owns numerous valuable assets, including his 12-bedroom mansion in West Egg worth $39.5 million, a custom Rolls-Royce and two motorboats. Forbes estimates the novel protagonist to be worth $1 billion.
Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. The character is an enigmatic nouveau riche millionaire who lives in a luxurious mansion on Long Island where he often hosts extravagant parties and who allegedly gained his vast fortune by illicit bootlegging during prohibition in the United States.
When Cody died, he left Gatsby $25,000, but Cody's mistress prevented him from claiming his inheritance. Gatsby then dedicated himself to becoming a wealthy and successful man. Nick sees neither Gatsby nor Daisy for several weeks after their reunion at Nick's house.
As an example, Jay Gatsby portrays the new money. Gatsby, who is a resident of West Egg, made his fortune during the economic expansions of the Roaring Twenties. He is the figure through which Fitzgerald draws the readers' attention to a new element of the society who are nouveau rich Americans.
The main resource of Gatsby getting all his money from is from bootlegging. Wolfsheim says “...these newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know”. Gatsby never grew up into money, selling alcohol illegally made him become rich because alcohol was illegal in the 1920s.
We are told that Gatsby came up from essentially nothing, and that the first time he met Daisy Buchanan, he was “a penniless young man.” His fortune, we are told, was the result of a bootlegging business – he “bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in Chicago” and sold illegal alcohol over the counter.
Though Gatsby has always wanted to be rich, his main motivation in acquiring his fortune was his love for Daisy Buchanan, whom he met as a young military officer in Louisville before leaving to fight in World War I in 1917.
When Cody died, he left Gatsby $25,000, but Cody's mistress prevented him from claiming his inheritance. Gatsby then dedicated himself to becoming a wealthy and successful man.
Scott Fitzgerald Made $8,397 On Great Gatsby; His Daughter Gets $500,000 Per Year From It.
Tom tells George that the car belongs to Jay Gatsby who lives in West Egg. George walks to West Egg where he shoots Gatsby in his pool, killing him instantly, before taking his own life. Gatsby is 32 years old. Of all Gatsby's high society friends, only one, Owl-Eyes attends Gatsby's funeral.
After returning home from war, Gatsby purchases a 12-room mansion in West Egg, Long Island (West Egg is thought to be a thinly veiled stand in for Great Neck, LI). Lamm estimates that an estate like Gatsby's would cost $30 million today, even after the collapse of the housing market!
Nick Carraway's Background
Nick grew up in the "middle West," (what we call the Midwest), in a wealthy family that was "something of a clan" (1.5). His family made their money from a wholesale hardware business his grandfather's brother began after sending a substitute to fight for him in the Civil War.
Fitzgerald makes it very clear that the wealth that Tom and Daisy has is superior to the wealth that Jay Gatsby has. Tom and Daisy were highly educated and came from money, while Gatsby got his money from selling illegal alcohol and throwing extravagant parties with the alcohol.
Gatsby was born "James Gatz," the son of poor farmers, in North Dakota. However, he was deeply ambitious and determined to be successful. He changed his name to "Jay Gatsby" and learned the manners of the rich on the yacht of Dan Cody, a wealthy man who he saved from a destructive storm and ended up being employed by.
On the way out, Santa Claus' net worth of $51,600,160,268 was mentioned to the gentlemen. It was unanticipated that the figure didn't exceed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' net worth when Claus has magic on his side. “It's never about the money. It's about using what you have to love and care for others,” said Claus.
The only people to attend the funeral are Nick, Owl Eyes, a few servants, and Gatsby's father, Henry C. Gatz, who has come all the way from Minnesota.
Who got Gatsby's Money when He Died? The novel does not say who inherits Jay Gatsby's money at the end. By details that F Scott left behind, we can guess that either the inheritance would go back to his parents or other family members, but not to Daisy.
Despite his idolizing of Dan Cody, Gatsby learns from his mentor's alcoholism to stay away from drinking – this is why, to this day, he doesn't participate in his own parties. For him, alcohol is a tool for making money and displaying his wealth and standing.
Gatsby reveals details of his and Daisy's long ago courtship. He was enthralled by her wealth, her big house, and the idea of men loving her. To be with Daisy, he pretended to be of the same social standing as her. One night, they slept together, and he felt like they were married.
Jordan recounts to Nick the story of Daisy's wedding day, when Daisy got drunk and told Jordan that she did not want to marry Tom. Her decision to return the pearls ends up being purely symbolic, however, because she finally does wed Tom for his wealth and high social standing.
Gatsby's tragic flaw is his inability to wake up from his dream of the past and accept reality. His obsession with recapturing his past relationship with Daisy compels him to a life of crime and deceit.
According to the Forbes “Fictional 15” of 2010, a list of the richest fictional characters by net worth, Jay Gatsby is ranked #14 on the list with an estimated net worth of $1 billion. However, GoBankingRates' investigation reveals that Jay Gatsby's spending on high-ticket items threatens his future rankings.
Gatsby grew up in an impoverished family in rural North Dakota. However, his path to success was neither clean nor legal; he participated in organized crime, specifically the illegal distribution of alcohol and trading stolen securities.
Yes, Daisy did know that Gatsby was poor as she had met him before he joined the army and had a short relationship with him.