Ask Jay Gatsby - Tumblr Posts

when did you stop loving daisy?

(did you ever?)

POST: LONG ISLAND, NY. AUG 1922

This is an impossible question to answer. You must understand how much of myself I put into her and thus how much of myself I lost the day I realized it wasn't going to happen. Can you imagine that? Building the whole of your world and your vision of yourself on the opinion of the one person on Earth you thought you truly understood, the very first person in your life to want nothing more than to bring you peace—just for that same person to change and withdraw as you, in an effort to retain their attention, concentrated and refined yourself into exactly what you thought they needed?

For once in my life I had someone I could understand, until I didn't. And for a moment I thought for sure that without her I had nothing, that I was nothing and I would die nothing, but—

—well, that's simply not the case. Now, here, anyway. In another life maybe I pursued her until my body gave out and I rotted away to reveal I'd been hollow all along. I still feel that way sometimes, on foggy nights when the green light at the end of her dock cuts through my room.

Only now I don't face it alone. And thank god for that.

I'll always have a fondness for Daisy. I don't think I could fully extract her from myself if I tried, as many times as I've reinvented myself. I don't think that's a bad thing. She's good, you see, old sport. She really is. I don't blame her for my giving up, and you shouldn't either.

I would write more, but I have more letters to answer, a past to put away, a present to appreciate, and I'm already being called to tomorrow.

Sincerely and emphatically,

Jay Gatsby

giggling

what happened to the fender of your car? people are talking about it even over here in california. of course, i've heard rumors, but you know how news travels, and from across the country, i couldn't be sure of its credibility.

anyway, i wanted to hear it from you. it's nothing so horrific as the rumors say, correct?

correct?

POST: LONG ISLAND, NY. AUG 1922

Dear Old Sport,

Oh, California! My favorite sliver of the middle west. You know, I’m from San Francisco. Purportedly.

That being said, my car is just fine. Fender and all. I hit something on the road but—well, as I said, it’s fixed now. Everything is back to spick and span. And you can tell anyone who asks. Show them this letter, if you have to, as it bears the authentic signature:

Sincerely and emphatically,

Jay Gatsby