What Makes Gatsby Great

'He took a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel........
"They're such beautiful shirts," she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. "It makes me sad because I've never seen such - such beautiful shirts before."

For my Valentine's Day post this year I offered you the scene from the Great Gatsby where Gatsby throws down his silken shirts upon the bed, upon which Daisy cries, declaring that she has never seen such beautiful shirts.
This is the central scene of the book and also one of the great love scenes in all the literature of the English language.
Last week I was talking to two young ladies, both recent Literature graduates, one of whom declared Fitzgerald to be her favourite author. To my surprise neither of them considered Gatsby's love for Daisy to be all that great. Apparently Gatsby did not see Daisy for who she really was, that his love was some kind of fixation. They told m that the book was some kind of social critique of the raging capitalism of the Roaring Twenties, as if Fitzgerald were some kind of retarded juvenile Guardian reader with a particular gift for rich poetic prose.
But it is, in fact, Gatsby's love for Daisy that makes him so great. He knows Daisy perfectly well, and it is because she is who she is, in spite of who she is, that he loves her. When younger, he might have married Daisy were it not for their differences in wealth and social standing. Somehow, he moves mountains to gain that wealth, and throws it down at Daisy's feet, in a primitive, ancient ritual, and Daisy is truly moved, yet tragically she is unable to accept his love.
It is Gatsby's heroic sacrificial love that makes Gatsby great.
In a world where love means gratification two Literature graduates cannot see Gatsby's love. They love their boyfriends as equals. No sacrifice is demanded in these relationships of mutual gratification. Compared to the heroes of the past their young men are 'poco hombres', little men who know nothing of sacrifice. Throughout the ages men have laid down their strength for their women and their children. But these days love is no longer self-denying, it is not Christ like. Instead in a vertical society, love is gratification, mutual masturbation, a deal, a consuming of each other.
No wonder the two young women were blind to the greatness of the Great Gatsby.