Elon Musk's Gatsby attraction tells us all we need to know

The thread connecting Musk and his hero Jay Gatsby is that both are obsessive, excessive dreamers. And both, ultimately, are empty men who are consumed by consumption itself and a never-ending need for gratification and attention, writes Ciaran O'Connor

In his apparent attraction towards Gatsby, Musk holds a mirror up to himself. Picture: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

In The Great Gatsby, narrator Nick Carraway writes of the titular character, his millionaire neighbour Jay Gatsby, that he had an “extraordinary gift for hope”. 

Carraway was describing Gatsby's ability to project an image of success, affluence and aspiration onto others. The same could be said of Elon Musk. Though, if you’ve read the novel, you’ll know this description is not the glowing endorsement it may seem at first glance to be.

There is a thread that connects both figures. Both are extraordinarily wealthy, both have been presented as self-made men and both view themselves as having a higher purpose. For many, they are the American Dream personified. 

Both are obsessive, excessive dreamers. And both, ultimately, are empty men who are consumed by consumption itself and a never-ending need for gratification and attention.

The similarities run deeper still. If you review Musk’s activities in business, public statements and, of course, the naming of his dog, you’ll find what feels like more than a passing interest in F Scott Fitzgerald’s protagonist. In this apparent attraction towards Gatsby, Musk holds a mirror up to himself.

Recent decisions by Musk to suspend journalists from Twitter have been erratic and seemingly driven by personal grievances. Musk has now put a spotlight on the parts of his personality that are all too similar to Gatsby.

First, let’s explore the Musk-Gatsby attraction. Where else to start other than Twitter. In 2016, Musk tweeted to say he was listening to the Great Gatsby soundtrack while writing a new master plan outlining the strategy for his Tesla company, which he said “seemed appropriate,” though he later said this was an attempt at irony. 

On the surface, Fitzgerald’s novel is a tragic love story centred around Jay Gatsby’s long and unsuccessful pursuit of Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby hosts lavish parties and makes grand demonstrations of his fabulous wealth. 

In 2019, Musk tweeted to reveal one his dogs was named Gatsby and in 2020, he tweeted to say he wished to make the 2020s the “roaring 20s again” with “the Greatest Gatsby” included, presumably with himself occupying the role.

In an interview in 2022, Musk described how, in 2017, he held a Great Gatsby-themed birthday party in one of his palatial homes in San Francisco. Musk described an evening where no expense was spared, with “high-production set design”, dancers and performers. No prize for guessing who Musk likely styled himself as for the occasion.

In an interview with the New York Times in 2020, Musk described the same home as a “strange Gatsby-like house”, which he called a “haunted mansion.” When Musk bought the estate in 2017 for $23.4m, he did so through one of his companies, suitably named Gatsby LLC.

Musk is an avid reader and unabashed enjoyer of movies, TV and video games, so it’s not surprising he frequently references literary characters in his public and professional life. And Gatsby-themed parties have been widely popular for 10 years. 

But again and again, Musk's ties to Gatsby pop up more than other figures. You have to wonder if this preoccupation is rooted in a sense that Gatsby’s life serves as a cautionary tale of opulence, obfuscation and arrogance or whether it serves as a blueprint for Musk's own American Dream?

On the surface, Fitzgerald’s novel is a tragic love story centred around Jay Gatsby’s long and unsuccessful pursuit of Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby hosts lavish parties and makes grand demonstrations of his fabulous wealth. 

All of his actions are underpinned by a desire to win back Daisy, a wealthy socialite and member of New York’s aristocracy. For him, she is the ultimate status symbol and represents the end goal for his transformation as a self-made man from rags to riches.

Jay Gatsby’s story is one of soaring ups and deadly downs. We’ve seen Musk’s rise but we’ve yet to see the fall.

Beneath the surface, Fitzgerald’s novel is more commonly understood as a critique on the limits of the American Dream and a commentary on the author’s disillusionment with the moral decay of the decade. That dream is the belief that any person, regardless of colour or creed, can succeed in America and enter into the gilded class. 

Gatsby’s rise from impoverished beginnings is a symbol of a person’s ability to transcend class. For all his riches though, Gatsby fails. Fitzgerald associates wealth with corruption, decadence and, finally, death. Gatsby's dream meets a tragic end, though the aristocracy endures.

It’s quite possible Musk sees himself in Gatsby. Scan through his tweets and you’ll notice a recurring theme of his online posts are rebuttals to claims he inherited millions from his father who owned part of an emerald mine in Zambia in the 1980s. 

Musk regularly reminds others that he “left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books”. Like Gatsby, he regards himself as a self-made man. It’s also quite possible that Musk has wilfully misinterpreted the rest of the story and this is all he sees in Gatsby; all rise and no fall.

Musk’s story is one of innovation, investment and furthering advancements in engineering, automotive and financial technology. That’s one of the chief reasons why his takeover of Twitter was championed by many. 

But his story is also one that illustrates the pitfalls of boundless ego, coupled with excess wealth and access to unchecked capital. Musk has always been eccentric and, more often than not, was lauded for it. But what must Musk’s Twitter investors think, or the board of Tesla, now that his behaviour threatens their capital?

Since the takeover, Musk has run Twitter like an impetuous child and has become the main character in his own novel of misadventure. 

In his short time in charge he has promised prominent far-right accounts Twitter will become a more hospitable place for their ilk, suggested that his former head of trust and safety was a paedophile and recently tweeted that his pronouns are “Prosecute/Fauci.” 

Additionally, recent arbitrary changes in platform policy were rolled out overnight as a pretext to justify the suspension of accounts belonging to journalists who reported critically about him. So much for his claims to be a free speech absolutist.

Rather than Musk the entrepreneur, we are witnessing Musk the megalomaniac. Increasingly indifferent to his other business ventures, tired of making inordinate profits with little to spend it on and absorbed by his own self-importance, he sought out a new adventure in taking over Twitter.

Rather than Musk the entrepreneur, we are witnessing Musk the megalomaniac. Increasingly indifferent to his other business ventures, tired of making inordinate profits with little to spend it on and absorbed by his own self-importance, he sought out a new adventure in taking over Twitter.

Why did he do it? Because he could, because his ego drove him to do it. For the man who has everything, it is his own ultimate status symbol, much like Gatsby’s desire for Daisy.

But the perils of possessing such a grand ego make you fragile to any perceived slight to your greatness. Musk’s reactionary tendencies have emerged and he now governs his new domain in the style of an authoritarian who silences his critics by simply disappearing them.

In time, Musk may become bored with Twitter and seek out a new thrill — his poll in late December asking people to vote on whether he should remain as CEO offered a sign that he may be ready to move on already. 

He may even be ‘advised’ to step aside. But, no matter, his pursuit for prestige will persist in the belief that he will eventually, some day, be satisfied. 

Like Nick Carraway says at the close of the novel, “tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther, then one fine morning…” 

Jay Gatsby’s story is one of soaring ups and deadly downs. We’ve seen Musk’s rise but we’ve yet to see the fall.