The Great Gatsby, relationships, society (**spoiler!!1**)→[More:]

So when I (finally) read that damn book a few weeks ago I thought there something profound in the ending: that nobody shows up to this guy's funeral, despite all sorts coming to his parties..

I tried to think about Gatsby then for a moment, but he was already too far away, and I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower. Dimly I heard someone murmur “Blessed are the dead that the rain falls on,” and then the owl-eyed man said “Amen to that,” in a brave voice.

We straggled down quickly through the rain to the cars. Owl-eyes spoke to me by the gate.

“I couldn’t get to the house,” he remarked.

“Neither could anybody else.”

“Go on!” He started. “Why, my God! they used to go there by the hundreds.”

He took off his glasses and wiped them again, outside and in.

“The poor son-of-a-bitch,” he said.

I mentioned this idea to my dad a few days ago, to accentuate a point, and it went over well—but upon reflection I think it's unnatural that this would actually happen.

Gatsby's problem was that he wasn't all that engaged with his guests either right? They didn't know who he was, what he did, where he came from.. he lied to them, was cold to them, didn't care for them. So the problem is not that he threw all these parties and nobody remembered him but that those type of summer parties are just status marker type affairs.. you need to follow up and follow through.

And even if you're a distant type, even a disgraced type, this phenomenon doesn't really happen. I mean, I expect a lot of people to turn up to Bernie Madoff's funeral. What do you think?