The Great Gatsby

After Jordan tells Nick the story of Gatsby and Daisy, Nick Says that Gatsby "came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor." How does the metaphor of birth help explain what Gatsby's behavior had meant to Nick up to then?

In chapter 4

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It would seem, from Jordan's story, that Gatsby was born in an instant. It was as if Gatsby had no past, no childhood. Gatsby had re-created himself in the years following the war.He became a new man, a re-invention of himself. It's like he tossed how roots away. Nick also sees Nick's existence as "purposeless", like most of the lives in East Egg. Yet, there is a "splendour" about Gatsby's lifestyle that is attractive at the same time.