Irony

"Yeah, Gatsby's very careful about women. He would never so much as look at friend's wife." (pg 72)

Throughout the first half of the novel "The Great Gatsby" I found two situations that I felt were somewhat ironic. The first occurrence that I felt was ironic was on page 72 (quote from about). In this scene Nick is speaking with Mr. Wolfsheim (a very suspicous man). Gatsby has just left and Mr. Wolfsheim and Nick begin talking about him. Mr. Wolfsheim makes this comment to back up his opinion that Gatsby is a great and genuine guy. This is almost like verbal irony because there is very little the narrator (Nick) knows about Gatsby. For all Nick knows, Wolfsheim's opinion of Gatsby could be completely wrong. Also, this becomes even more ironic when later on in the story Gatsby and Daisy are reunited. Gatsby makes his love and affection for Daisy very obvious- disproving Wolfsheim's claim.

"His name was Jay Gatsby, and I didn't lay eyes on him again for over four years- even after I'd met him on Long Island I didn't realize it was the same man." (pg75)

The second and more obvious ironic turn of events lies in the fact that Gatsby and Daisy happen to know each other. This could be described as situational irony. Gatsby made an effort to find Daisy, however, Jordan Baker did not realize that she was the link between Gatsby and Daisy for a long while. This is ironic because after five years a strange twist of events allows Gatsby to meet Jordan who knows Daisy and is able to persuade Nick to reunite the couple.