Daisy's Ambition In The Great Gatsby

Following a Chimera of the Past

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald conveys how Jay Gatsby’s ambition is the root of his success and death. When Gatsby, a man of humble beginnings, meets Daisy, her wealth and high status allures him. They fall in love, but due to Gatsby’s low financial and social position, Daisy feels insecure and leaves him. Gatsby’s optimism and obsession to win Daisy prompts the ambition that ultimately drives him to his noble yet tragic ending.
Gatsby’s obsession for Daisy powers his faithful nature while his optimism supports his confidence to repeat the past in his favor. From the moment Gatsby is aware of his love for Daisy, he becomes devoted to her. His goals selflessly focus on Daisy’s desires, which Gatsby believes

is wealth. While touring Gatsby’s mansion, his new fortune stuns Daisy, but likewise, Gatsby also “stare[s] around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in [Daisy’s] actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real” (Fitzgerald 91).

Based on the consequences of the past, Gatsby’s priority is to earn a place in high ranks in order to win Daisy. Remaining faithful through the years he endures apart from her, Gatsby builds a reputation of being affluent, for her. He expresses his loyalty towards Daisy through the wealth he establishes, for her. In the hopes that she will return to him after seeing his newly gained assets, Gatsby flaunts his mansion and possessions to Daisy. Everything he earns plays an important role in displaying his wealth to Daisy, as well as his dedication to her. Gatsby devotes several years to earning a fortune for Daisy, never deviating from his original motive of living the past, except with Daisy. However, Gatsby becomes “dazed” because her physical existence erases the importance of his belongings. Even though Gatsby’s valuables once signified the path to Daisy, because Daisy is now with him, the items mean nothing. Gatsby proves consistency in his love for Daisy as she is the motivating force that occupies his life. Gatsby’s persistent hope gives him the belief that he can and will live his happy ending with Daisy. When Gatsby’s imagination of Daisy does not align with the existing Daisy, he tells Nick, “Can’t repeat the past?...Why of course you can!” (110).

Gatsby’s confidence eliminates any possibility of failure because he solely pictures his plan. He sets himself to achieve Daisy and believes that with money, she will return to him. His dream is the American Dream where anyone who works hard can achieve a materialistic return. As a man who successfully climbs to wealth from nothing, Gatsby is a firm believer in the American Dream and he truly thinks that his willpower to become affluent can also be used to achieve Daisy. Although his confidence is not realistic, his determination for love is honorable. The noble aspects to Gatsby’s ambition is the devotion he possesses through prolonged endeavors to gain Daisy and the confidence he maintains to strive for his dream.
Gatsby’s devotion and confidence fuels his persistence towards Daisy, but also his downfall as his distortion of reality stretches to include his dreams.

Daisy becomes harder to grasp when Gatsby’s unworldly views on time and what is achievable causes her to fade from his dreams. His determination encompasses naivety because his dreams are unrealistic. Gatsby not only wants Daisy back, but he also wants to remove her past with Tom Buchanan, Daisy’s husband. Gatsby demands Daisy to tell Tom how she never loved him, but Daisy struggles to because it is not the truth. She tells Gatsby, “’Oh, you want too much!... I love you now – isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’… The words seemed to bite physically into Gatsby” (132). Gatsby’s expectation for Daisy to delete the memory of her past love for Tom like words on a computer is naïve. It is Gatsby’s fault for fabricating a false idea of Daisy that separates his idea of her from her. He has a vision of a perfect story, but Daisy’s inability to erase her past with Tom critically ruins Gatsby’s vision. In his mind, Daisy only loves him, but when Daisy admits to the truth of once loving Tom as well, it is intolerable to Gatsby and his dream begins to fall apart. Similarly, Gatsby’s perception of time is flawed due to his obsession with Daisy. Ever since Daisy left Gatsby, he chases after her, looking for the past. When he finally meets her after many years, he sees an opportunity to start over and strives to avoid losing her

again. When Daisy accidentally kills Myrtle, Tom’s mistress, Gatsby selflessly takes the blame. Afterwards, he watches over Daisy outside her house, but when Nick sees Daisy “[look] up at [Tom] and [nod] in agreement”, he knows Gatsby is “watching over nothing” (145). Gatsby covers for Daisy’s crime because of his obsession with her, but Daisy does not return the same amount of love Gatsby has for her. To Daisy, Gatsby is only a relic from the past, but to Gatsby, Daisy is the past that he is longing for. Because of his building desire for Daisy, Gatsby traps himself in the past. Gatsby believes that earning Daisy and money are alike, both being secured accomplishments, but he ignores her choices. His fixation for Daisy diverts the path of his life to revolve around her, but her superficiality finds more security in Tom, leaving Gatsby once again. His obsession for her creates a loss of self because of the amount of attention she distracts from his life. Gatsby’s ambition tragically creates his ignorance of other’s being able to easily forget their past as well as his difficulty to forget his own past.
When Daisy first abandons Gatsby, he believes it is because of his lack of wealth, beginning his selfless labor towards Daisy’s wishes. During his time away from her, Gatsby stays faithful to winning Daisy, but his thoughts dematerialize her to a corrupted dream he confidently, yet blindly hopes to achieve. He creates for himself a wealthy and new money semblance to attain Daisy, but his magnetism towards her does not reflect back. She fades from his dream, retrieving back to her appearance and class-oriented selection of a partner, while leaving Gatsby to a tragic ending. Although Gatsby nobly shows optimism and devotion, he is oblivious to his naivety and obsession due to his failure to move past the past.