Examples Of Passion In The Great Gatsby

Cause I Always Had a Passion for Flashin’

Imagine sitting at a wedding, watching two people that love the other more than anything in the entire world, about to commit themselves to each other forever. The couple is completely consumed by an intense emotion; passion. Passion plays a large part in the novel The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920’s, a time of great prosperity and the “American dream.” In this classic novel, the wealthy and enigmatic Jay Gatsby shows his deep and in some cases extreme passion for his old love, Daisy Buchanan, a beautiful and somewhat shallow heiress. As the story moves forward, readers can see many different instances of passion being exemplified throughout, from multiple different characters.

These situations in The Great Gatsby help to define passion an intense desire for what one wants.
Passion is defined as an intense longing for someone or something.

It is a result of yearning for more, whether it be money, love, or status. Although this feeling is most often seen between two people, in The Great Gatsby there are multiple examples of characters showing their passion for the way they live, or how they want to live. Myrtle, a promiscuous woman and Tom’s mistress, is trying her very best to be a different version of herself; a wealthier and respected woman in the eyes of society. She uses Tom’s money to throw gaudy parties for her friends and attempts to give an aire of sophistication, saying, “I told that boy about the ice...these people! You have to keep after them all the time" (32). Myrtle’s constant attempts to rise up out of her class exemplifies her passion for wealth and elegance. One can now infer that passion is an intense desire for what one wants that isn’t always

realistic.
Often, this intense desire for what one does not have, leads to an obsession in order to achieve what one wants.

It is the fierce emotion that a person can have towards a person or ideal. Passion is not something that can be looked over easily, on either side of the affection. Passion and obsession in The Great Gatsby can be most easily seen in the confusing relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, the novel’s main characters. The young millionaire Gatsby desires one thing, and it is to get his long time love back into his life. He has dreamt about it for years, and built an empire around his passion for Daisy. Characters surrounding the couple take a front row seat to Gatsby’s extreme love, including the narrator, saying, “he had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths--so he could 'come over' some afternoon to a stranger's garden” (78). The fact that Gatsby made his entire life about getting a small chance to see Daisy again, paired with the revelation that he kept, “‘a lot of clippings-about [Daisy]’” (94), cause cynicists, or less romantic people in general, to interpret Gatsby’s motives as less passionate and more obsessive. His actions involving Daisy prove his emotion to have an extra edge; therefore passion can border on obsession when the subject of one’s desire seems

unattainable.
Extreme measures that one takes is usually caused by an obsessive desire, whether it be for the thrill or for a person. In the real world, men and women take huge risks to show their desire for a person, and even a cause that they are passionate about. Gatsby took several severe measures that ultimately resulted in his, and everything he worked to achieve, downfall. His death was caused by his passion for Daisy and his willingness to go above and beyond for her. After the car crash that killed Myrtle, Gatsby tells Nick that, “‘Daisy [was] driving...but of course I’ll say I was…’” (143). Jay’s compliance and eagerness to take the blame for his love exemplifies his extreme and somewhat overwhelming passion for Daisy. He is ready to give up all he has worked for just so she will not have to suffer from her actions. Gatsby also insists on waiting outside the house “‘all night if necessary’” (144), to make sure Daisy isn’t harmed. Nick continues to marvel over Gatsby’s outrageous dedication to his love until this moment, when he realized that Gatsby’s passion wasn’t quite healthy. One can now conclude that passion can take on obsessive qualities because of the impossibility of obtaining the subject of one’s desire and force one to extremes in order to prove their devotion.
In conclusion, extreme measures to prove one’s devotion is caused by passion which can borderline on obsessiveness qualities, because the subject of one’s passion is unreachable. Gatsby is passionate about his love for Daisy, but throughout time his “great love” took on some major characteristics of obsession. This in turn caused Gatsby and his acquaintances surrounding him to resort to extreme measures to prove said passion. This can be true with the desire for something rather than someone as well, such as wanting to be at the top of society and wealth, even when that goal seems impossible. Passion is seen in many innocent and romantic forms throughout life, but the ramifications of the intensity it could possess are sometimes impossible to turn back.