Nick begins the story of Gatsby’s past by saying that Gatsby “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself,” which refers to that his ideal form. That is, the Platonic form of an object is the perfect form of that object.

What would you say Nick means when he says that Jay Gatsby sprang from his Platonic conception of himself?

Plato held that reality was an imperfect reflection of an ideal, permanent realm. With this in mind, what would you say Nick means when he says that “Jay Gatsby sprang from his Platonic conception of himself?” Nick believed that Gatsby modeled himself on an idealized version of who Jay Gatsby really was.

What does Gatsby's smile symbolize?

One of the main facets of Gatsby’s persona is that he acts out a role that he defined for himself when he was seventeen years old. His smile seems to be both an important part of the role and a result of the singular combination of hope and imagination that enables him to play it so effectively.