How Is Love Shown In The Great Gatsby

< “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” This popular saying by Alfred Lord Tennyson has almost become an ordinary expression in all intellectual discussions regarding love. As humans, we are often encouraged to be generous in our pursuit of those we love and to love unconditionally. We are led to believe that love, in its pure form, is an act of selflessness – a complete devotion to another human being. The main issue of such eagerness to love and be loved consequently manifests itself into the hidden disclaimer of self-preservation. Pain and fear create self-preservation, and like love, self-perseveration is a universal behavior that we are expected to embrace. In these lies the ethical difficulty – how are we to love wholeheartedly and selflessly without interfering with our instinctive desire to self-preserve? Do not be mistaken by the beautiful idea of love because love is not a fairytale as is exemplified in the novels The Great Gatsby and The Light Between Oceans. While there are momentary incidents of tenderness in these two novels, the key storyline of both books revolve around the hidden

Scott Fitzgerald and is about a Yale graduate and ex-soldier Nick Carraway, who moves to the rich West Egg, Long Island, and establishes a friendship with Jay Gatsby. The novel talks about the lives of various characters who intentionally and unintentionally become entangled with Gatsby’s unnatural obsession with Nick’s cousin Daisy, who is now married to the wealthy Tom Buchanan. Daisy and Gatsby’s forbidden love affairs ended abruptly when he was sent off to war, and during their time apart, Daisy moves on. His dream was to become the typical man, rich and well-known, worthy of Daisy’s affection. Through Nick, he is reintroduced to his lost love. Despite the obvious impossibility of them getting back together, Gatsby chases Daisy and ignores how unrealistic his dreams may