“He smiled understandingly---much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it…It…assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point in vanished” (48).
Throughout the first of Gatsby’s parties that Nick attends, Fitzgerald is able to hint at the many levels and sides of Gatsby’s character. However, while a mysterious side and a friendly side are alluded to, nothing is ever concluded. The aloof role Gatsby has at his own party his actions portray him as the isolated, mysterious man that everyone assumes him to be. However, his initial interaction with Nick, in which his smile “was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it…It…assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey,” provides the reader with a brief insight into a more benevolent, personably Gatsby.
Mary--Gatsby's smile is a fascinating element of his character for the way it becomes a way for him to engage in a kind of mutual act of self-creation. It's as if he stays "aloof" until he smiles.
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