He had reached an age where death no longer has the quality of ghastly surprise, and when he looked around him now for the first time and saw the height and splendor of the hall and the great rooms opening out from it into other rooms, his grief began to be mixed with an awed pride.
Chapter 9 · Narrator
Context
Henry C. Gatz, Gatsby's elderly father, arrives from Minnesota after reading about his son's death in the newspaper. After viewing the body, he emerges and begins to take in the grandeur of the mansion—the physical proof of his son's success that he has only seen in a photograph.
Analysis
The juxtaposition of grief with 'awed pride' reveals how completely the American Dream's value system has penetrated even the intimate space of mourning—Mr. Gatz cannot separate the loss of his son from the validation of his son's achievement, and the mansion becomes a consolation that partially compensates for death itself. This moment is both tender and deeply ironic: the father's pride in the house confirms that Gatsby succeeded in his self-invention (becoming someone whose father is impressed by him), yet the house was built on criminal enterprise and failed to protect its owner from murder.
How to Use in Essay
Effective for essays on how the American Dream shapes even the most personal emotions, or for arguing that Mr. Gatz's response—measuring his son's worth by material success—represents the same value system that ultimately destroyed Gatsby.