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In The Great Gatsby, how is Jay Gatsby greedy?

Gatsby is greedy because of how much he longs to have Daisy Buchanan.  It isn't a terrible kind of greed, some awful desire for which we might typically judge a character.  He has acquired his fortune via illegal means not so much because he wants to be rich, but because he wants Daisy, and he recognizes that one of the necessary steps in the process of attaining her is becoming rich.  She is used to...

Gatsby is greedy because of how much he longs to have Daisy Buchanan.  It isn't a terrible kind of greed, some awful desire for which we might typically judge a character.  He has acquired his fortune via illegal means not so much because he wants to be rich, but because he wants Daisy, and he recognizes that one of the necessary steps in the process of attaining her is becoming rich.  She is used to a particular lifestyle, and Gatsby knows she would not be happy as a poor man's wife.  Nick describes the way Gatsby felt about Daisy all those years ago:



"Out of the corner of his eye Gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalks really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees -- he could climb to it, if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk of wonder."



Gatsby longs to climb this ladder, the social ladder, and get to that secret place where the elite live, where he could have Daisy, the lifestyle, the security and status, everything he might ever want.  This desire is a result of his greed: now he longs to turn back time and repeat the past, something which is impossible, because his greed is blinding him to reality.  

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