And， after boasting this way of my tolerance， I come to the
admission that it has a limit Conduct may be founded on the hard
rock or the wet marshes， but after a certain point I don''t care
what it''s founded on. When I came back from the East last autumn I
felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of
moral attention for ever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with
privileged glimpses into the human heart Only Gatsby， the man who
gives his name to this book， was exempt from my reaction - Gatsby，
who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scum. If
personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures， then
there was something gorgeous about him， some heightened sensitivity
to the promises o life， as if he were related to one of those
intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand mikes
away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby
impressionability which is dignified under the name of the creative
temperament''-it was an extraordinary gift for hope， a romantic
readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which
it is not likely I shall ever find again. No -Gatsby tumid out all
right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby， what foul dust
floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my
interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of
men.
My family has been prominent， well-to-do people in this Middle
Western arty for three generations. The Caraways are something of a
clan， and we have a tradition that we''re descended from the Dukes
of Buccleuch， but the actual founder of my line was my
grandfather''s brother， who came here in fifty-one， sent a
substitute to the Civil War， and started the wholesale hardware
business that my father cranes on today.
I never saw this great-uncle， but I''m supposed to look like him -
with sepal reference to the rather hard-boiled painting that hangs
in father''s office. I graduated from New Haven in 1915， just a
quarter of a century after my father， and a little later I
participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Great
War. I enjoyed the counter raid so thoroughly that I came back
restless. Instead of being the warm centre of the world， the Middle
West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe -so I deeded
to go east and loam the bond business. Everybody I knew was in the
bond business， so I supposed it could support one more single man
All my aunts and uncles talked it over as if they were choosing a
prep school for me， and finally said，'' Why -ye-as，'' with very
grave， hesitant faces. Father agreed to finance me for a year， and
after various delays I came east， permanently， I thought， in the
spring of twenty-two.
……
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