Examples Of Unrequited Love In The Great Gatsby

September 21, 2015

The Great Gatsby

“...there’s a pattern of unrequited desire running through Gatsby. One person in every couple in the novel stretches out to grasp the other, who remains forever out of reach”(Corrigan 180). The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates through subtle yet powerful details in the writing that shows how different relationships between characters in the novel could be considered an unrequited love. Some relationships that demonstrate this include Jay Gatsby “reaching out” to Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson “reaching out” to Tom Buchanan. As the story unveils this idea out reaching out starts to occur more and more as Fitzgerald clearly tries to portray that the relationship between Tom

and Myrtle and Daisy and Gatsby as an unrequited love.
One relationship that illustrates this recurring theme of “reaching out” in the novel, is the relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. In The great Gatsby this particular couple is the most pronounced example of an unrequited love.

To explain the basis behind their relationship; Gatsby first met daisy at a party at her house that her parents were hosting for young army men in hopes that their daughter would find that could be a suitable husband. Soon after they became so close and fell madly in love. Daisy came from old money and gatsby had no money at all which made their relationship come to a halt when Gatsby asked to marry Daisy. With a breaking heart Daisy had to turn him down because she couldn’t marry someone that couldn’t provide what she needed...fabulous wealth. Many years past as Gatsby went to war, came back to war, and got a job helping Dan Cody on his voyages. After Gatsby7 was denied the money that Dan Cody wanted to inherit to him he got into the business of bootlegging which made him filthy rich. Everything he did over the course of the years was for Daisy so he could finally get to be with her. Sadly Gatsby later found out that Daisy had gotten married to a man named Tom Buchanan leaving Gatsby torn that Daisy did not wait for him to get rich. All gatsby had now was hope and a love so strong for Daisy that it made his heart ache. Tom narrates, “But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic

conceits haunted him in his bed at night”(99). To Gatsby Daisy was everything he has worked for and when Daisy doesn’t return him with the love he has longed for it breaks his heart. In his imagination he thought she would love him like she did when they first met but after those critical years passed Daisy’s love for Gatsby had trickled away leading to their unrequited love throughout the novel. Nick narrates, “He spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered” (143). This describes how Gatsby's love for Daisy and her passion for her was so strong that every detail about the way she reacted or acted or talked mattered immensely to Gatsby which proves how much love Gatsby had for Daisy. Daisy says to Gatsby, “ ‘Oh, you want to much!’ she cried to gatsby. ‘I love you now--isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’... ‘I did love him once but I loved you too.’ “ (132). Top point out a specific part of this quote Daisy said, “I loved you too” this is referred to in the past tense, what she is trying to subtly explain to Gatsby is that she had loved him too at one point just not as madly in love now. Which explains why in the novel Gatsby and Daisy’s love would be called an unrequited love because Gatsby is reaching out to her but Daisy is not doing the same in return. She didn’t even attend to his funeral or even send a flower, so did she ever actually love him?
Another relationship that illustrates the recurring theme of “reaching out” in the novel, is the secret relationship between Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. A word to describe the love Tom and his mistress would be unrequited due to Myrtle’s “reaching out” and strong love for Tom but Tom not returning the same level of loving or “reaching out”. To Tom this relationship is strictly just intimacy and he doesn't actually believe that the relationship they have is real he in a way just uses Myrtle as a “piece of meat”. On the other hand Myrtle has an obsession with Tom because she has always wanted to be in the upper-class and Tom has given her a Taste of that. Myrle says, “ ‘...I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him...All I kept thinking about, over and over, was ‘You can’t live forever; you can't live forever” (36). The first time they met she knew she was never going to be able to forget him, a similar event happened with Daisy and Gatsby; love at first sight. All Myrtle wanted, was to marry Tom and be able to live the life she has imagined herself living in; having money not be an object for her. Tom had a very different view on their relationship though. To him Myrtle was just a way to keep himself satisfied and he needs filled, but he never actually loved her. In addition Myrtle's sister explains to nick, “ ‘You see,’ cried Catherine triumphantly... ‘It’s really his wife that’s been keeping them apart. She’s a catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce.’ “ (33). This excuse for them not to get married came from Tom out of desperation that he doesn’t want to marry her but still wants her to be his mistress but he can’t come to tell her that. Nick later explains, “Daisy was not a Catholic, and I was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie” (33). All Tom was doing was covering up the fact that he doesn’t actually have feeling for myrtle but he doesn’t want to hurt Myrtle so he can keep using her. This demonstrates how Myrtle and Tom have an unrequited love due to Myrtle always “reaching out” for Tom but Tom never really reaches back to her.
Throughout the novel Fitzgerald portrays the idea that certain relationships in the novel have an unrequited love in them, the couples that demonstrates this theme is Daisy and Gatsby and Myrtle and Tom. The idea of one character reaching out to the other also occurs in the relationships.