The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God – a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that – and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end.
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby. Chapter 6, Describing Gatsby’s early history, Nick makes the comparison between Gatsby and Jesus to illuminate Gatsby’s creation of his own identity. In the eyes of all Jay Gatsby may be a deception, but Gatsby believed he remained true to this reinvention of himself.