The Really Great Gatsby In his novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates Gatsby as a character who becomes great. He begins life as a normal lower class citizen. But Gatsby has a dream of becoming rich. After meeting Daisy, he has a reason to strive to become important. Throughout his life, Gatsby gets the title of being truly great. Even before Gatsby is introduced, it is hinted that he is out of the ordinary. The first evidence of this is when Nick says, “Gatsby turned out okay in the end.” (2) Nothing was known about Gatsby at the time and Nick is already saying that Gatsby was fine. There is an air of mystery surrounding Gatsby. Everyone knows him, but no one knows who he really is or where he comes from. Even in our first glimpse of Gatsby, he is looking for something only he can see. There were many stories about Gatsby but no one knew what to really believe. In one instance Jordan commented, "I think he killed a man." (49) Even when Gatsby confessed his past he didn't always tell the truth. He told Nick that he inherited great wealth, but in reality Gatsby earned his wealth on his own. Even though Gatsby lied, the fact that he made himself who he was makes him even greater. When Gatsby was still James Gatz, he dreamed of leaving his life on the farm behind and becoming part of the upper class. Gatsby's father knew this too when he said, "If he had lived, he would have been a great man." (169) His father didn't know that Gatsby was already great. Gatsby didn't always do the right thing to accumulate wealth, but he was always good in his heart. His first real breakthrough into the outside world was when he met his best friend Dan Cody. Gatsby was seventeen at the time and had just left his life on the farm. Cody was a wealthy man in his fifties and showed Gatsby the ways of the world. Cody was said to find Gatsby "...fast and extraordinarily ambitious." (101) He welcomed Gatsby and treated him almost like a son. Gatsby would inherit some of Cody's wealth after his death, but was stripped of his inheritance by Ella Kaye.