Essay About Love in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

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Little Love in The Great Gatsby

One would think you would be able to find some sign of true love in the dazzling

love story, The Great Gatsby, but that is not necessarily true in my opinion. In many

instances you read about what you would think is love among some of the characters like

between Tom and Myrtle for example. But with them and all the characters there are

contradicting instances that say otherwise.

With Tom and Myrtle, you assume he loves her because he is cheating on his wife

to be with her. But he also treats her bad at times both verbally and physically, for

instance, when he slaps her for mouthing off and talks to her as though she were inferior

to him. Moments like these make you wonder if he cares for her or if he is using her for

personal pleasure. Nevertheless, I think he does love Myrtle in his own way. He proves

this when she dies and he becomes very upset, as someone in love would do.

Tom obviously does not care for Daisy as much as he use too, otherwise he would

not cheat on her. Tom also treats Daisy as though she is inferior to him. But does Daisy not act like she is insignificant when around Tom? Maybe this is because she loves him enough to act that way, after all, Daisy did say that girls need to be foolish. However, if Daisy does love Tom then one has to wonder why she would cheat on him with Gatsby.

Moreover, Daisy admits that she has plans to leave Tom when they are all in the hotel

room together, proving that she wants to be with Gatsby. When Tom realizes that Daisy

is serious he refuses to let her go which is surprising since you think that he longs for

Myrtle. In the end Daisy ends up staying with Tom, even though she does not love him,

because of their child and also because she has no one else to go too since Gatsby is dies. Therefore they live together for the rest of their lives in depression, not in love.

Then there is Nick. He loves Daisy in the way that they are family, but he does

not love any one else I think. He dates Jordan but not long enough to fall in love.

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