"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retracted back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess that they had made . . ." In the book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald it is suggested that self discovery can involve a process of disillusionment with oneself and one's friends. The above quote is an example of Nick's realization of how different he is from the people of the east, and Tom and Daisy in particular. Nick goes to great lengths to establish his own