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Gatsby's tragic journey
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“A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.” (Proverbs 12:4) A man should never come between another man and his wife no matter how much history they have together, Gatsby knew that money would take a grasp at Daisy’s heart. Knowing she was married, he took his chances anyhow. Jay Gatsby, or at least that’s what he’s known by, put so much dedication into himself to became a part of the upper social class to win Daisy’s heart again. He can’t seem to stay from his past thinking that someday his dream of falling back in “love” with Daisy, who seems to be an allusion of his past, which comes to an aw when he realizes that their no longer. “They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which …show more content…
His American Dream was to repeat the past and be reunited with Daisy but had no idea that his past was already far behind him. He perceived a debt of lies just to fit in with Tom’s social class. Fitzgerald never let Gatsby reach his dream because he never realized that if he truly loved Daisy he’d let her decide if she wanted to be with him and back out of her marriage, but he didn’t. Gatsby only thought about what was best for him, not what was best for him and Daisy. Even though Tom was a swindler didn’t mean he didn’t have a spiritual attachment towards Daisy, even when Tom ran off to have his little sprees he always returned back to her.(132). Gatsby just wants Daisy because she a shimmering thing that’ll look good on his arm, something like a trophy he could show off. He’s too haunted by his past to give it up, he actually thinks repeating his past would be an accomplishment to him but in reality moving on with his life would’ve been his biggest achievement and that’s why he couldn’t achieve his ultimate dream.
In today’s society compared to The Great Gatsby, there’s a lot of people that are very much so like Jay Gatsby. They tend to relive their past thinking that one day they’d do something from their past over again. For example, Gatsby told Nick in chapter six, “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!” He believed that his past was supposed to be repeated like five years ago just with money this time around. Today people in society think living in their past would make them feel good again but it actually
Gatsby’s explanation of this dream focused on money and social status. He has always yearned for this, even when he was a child. Fitzgerald frequently emphasises Gatsby’s desire, throughout the entirety of this novel. Though, Fitzgerald accentuates this desire when Nick discovers the truth of Gatsby’s past. During this elucidation, Nick explains that “his [Gatsby’s] parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people-his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all.” (Fitzgerald, 98) This shows the reader Gatsby’s lifelong determination for wealth and power. Even in his adult life, he strives for more than what he has. In John Steinbeck’s essay, he explains that “we [Americans] go mad with dissatisfaction in the face of success” (Steinbeck, 1) This is exactly how Gatsby feels, he is not content with his success, the amount of money he has, or the height of his social status and is constantly wishing for more than he has. Though, once he meets Daisy he no longer strives for wealth, but rather for her. As shown in this novel, even though Gatsby has achieved all he had wanted when he was growing up, he will not be content until he is able to call Daisy his
When the book begins, it is assumed that his dream is fortune and “fame,” but as the book continues, it reveals his dream is love. He has a love, Daisy for many years, she is the reason he lives where he does and has the parties he has, just to impress Daisy. Daisy never even showed up to one of his parties until the end. Gatsby bought a big house right across the river from Daisy’s house and and throws extravagant parties to get her to come, all he wants was love. Although he never truly achieves it, he is able to work hard to try to achieve it. That is a part of the american dream, it may not be attainable and Gatsby might be working hard for something that just is impossible for him to achieve . “―I thought of Gatsby‘s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy‘s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could barely fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night” (p. 180,
The character of Jay Gatsby was a wealthy business man, who the author developed as arrogant and tasteless. Gatsby's love interest, Daisy Buchanan, was a subdued socialite who was married to the dim witted Tom Buchanan. She is the perfect example of how women of her level of society were supposed to act in her day. The circumstances surrounding Gatsby and Daisy's relationship kept them eternally apart. For Daisy to have been with Gatsby would have been forbidden, due to the fact that she was married. That very concept of their love being forbidden, also made it all the more intense, for the idea of having a prohibited love, like William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, made it all the more desirable. Gatsby was remembering back five years to when Daisy was not married and they were together:
Gatsby’s true dream is made abundantly clear throughout the entire text; winning Daisy back and reigniting the flaming love they once had. Gatsby’s dream of having Daisy divides him from his power at one critical point in the text, “Then I turned back to Gatsby-and was startled by his expression. He looked-and this is said in all contempt for the babbled slander of his garden-as if he had ‘killed a man.’ For a moment the set of his face could be described in just that fantastic way” (134). As Gatsby is arguing with Tom over Daisy and whom she loves, he loses himself to his temper and emotion. He embarrasses himself and soils the image of himself that he's built up for others to see, and loses his perceived power. Gatsby also shows a lack of personal integrity, esteem, and power when he requests for Daisy to say she never loved Tom at any point in time, such as when he says, “‘Daisy, that’s all over now,’ he said earnestly. ‘It doesn’t matter any more. Just tell him the truth-that you never loved him-and it’s all wiped out forever’”
Gatsby’s love life has become surrounded by ideas from the past. No longer is he able to fall in love with the moment, but instead he is held up on what have and should have been. He spends his time reminiscing on old times and previous relationships while he has also been building up a new life in order to return to the past. The unreal expectations he has for Daisy prove to us that he has trouble letting go of his old romantic ideas. Gatsby doesn’t want to accept and love this new Daisy, and instead he is hoping for the Daisy he knows to come back. But people change and there can be no expectations for someone to continue to remain the same after a number of years. Instead we must let go of the past and embrace the future for everything it could be.
For five years, Gatsby was denied the one thing that he desired more than anything in the world: Daisy. While she was willing to wait for him until after the war, he did not want to return to her a poor man who would, in his eyes, be unworthy of her love. Gatsby did not want to force Daisy to choose between the comfortable lifestyle she was used to and his love. Before he would return to her, he was determined to make something of himself so that Daisy would not lose the affluence that she was accustomed to possessing. His desire for Daisy made Gatsby willing to do whatever was necessary to earn the money that would in turn lead to Daisy’s love, even if it meant participating in actions...
Daisy craves attention and love, something often obtained easier by many. For Daisy to achieve her dream, she needs to let go, and hang on to what she loves, whether it is Tom, or Gatsby. For many Americans this is much different. In today's world people seem to be more focused on money rather than emotional wealth. Happiness is what Daisy, and Americans are after. For example, Daisy tells Gatsby that she wants to run away from this place, and that she would rather dump everything she has and run away from Tom and her life as of now. Gatsby has said “Tell him you don't love him” (Fitzgerald) but she doesn't have it in her. He may be asking for too much. This passage from Daisy is relevant to the American Dream because the dream is to be happy. Daisy stated in this passage that she wants to run away. This is because of her knot with Tom, it would be easier to just run away from it, rather than end it. She is not sure what she wants in her heart. She has all of these different people suggesting ideas, and telling her what to do and she is left heartbroken because she doesn't know what she wants. She has all the wealth she could ask for, but she's missing her emotional stability and happiness, which to her is the Dream. For example, “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart.” ( Line 19) by -Hughes. This ties back to Daisy’s reality, she is always pushed towards the back and not really cared for. In the story, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and Nick are having a conversation, however the phone rings which is Tom's mistress. Instead of letting the phone ring, Tom gets up and answers it. Daisy feels as if she is always coming second, she wants someone who will treat her as their first priority. Daisy never seems to admit her feelings for Tom. It is inferred that she isn't happy, however she never speaks her mind so we don't truly understand. She is very superficial when it comes to sharing her
Jay Gatsby believes that wealth and power can lead to love and happiness. He spends his entire life trying to create himself and change his past so that he can rekindle his love affair with the love of his life Daisy Buchanan. The two were young lovers, unable to be together because of very different social statuses. After Gatsby learns that he cannot be with Daisy because of this, he spends the rest of his life attempting to acquire wealth and power.
Dwelling on the past will make the future fall short. When longing for the past one often fails to realize that what one remembers is not in actuality how it happened. These flashbulb memories create a seemingly perfect point in time. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s modernist novel the Great Gatsby, the ill-fated Jay Gatsby wastes the present attempting to return back to that “perfect” time in past. Acknowledging the power of the imagination, Nick states that, “No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart” (Fitzgerald 101). Nick realizes that because the past is irretrievable, Gatsby’s struggle, though heroic, is foolish. Gatsby’s great expectations of Daisy leads to great disappointments. Through Gatsby, Fitzgerald tries to instill his
Gatsby is a dreamer, he dreams that one day he and Daisy will be able to be together once again. To achieve this dream, Gatsby has made himself a rich man. He knows that in order to win Daisy back, he must be wealthy and of high social stature. Gatsby is rich, has a beautiful mansion, nice things, things like shirts “They’re such beautiful shirts. . . It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful clothes” (pg.98).Gatsby believes his dream will come true because of all the money and nice things he has.
The Great Gatsby presents the main character Jay Gatsby, as a poor man who is in love with his best friends cousin, Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby was in love with Daisy, his first real love. He was impressed with what she represented, great comfort with extravagant living. Gatsby knew he was not good enough for her, but he was deeply in love. “For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man’s”(Fitzgerald 107). Gatsby could not think of the right words to say. Daisy was too perfect beyond anything he was able to think of. Soon Gatsby and Daisy went their separate ways. Jay Gatsby went into the war while telling Daisy to find someone better for her, someone that will be able to keep her happy and provide for her. Gatsby and Daisy loved one another, but he had to do what was best for her. Gatsby knew the two might not meet again, but if they did, he wanted things to be the same. “I 'm going to fix everything just the way it was before”(Fitzgerald 106). He wanted Daisy to fall in love with him all over again. Unsure if Daisy would ever see Gatsby again, she got married while he was away. The two were still hugely in love with one another, but had to go separate ways in their
He wants to be happy and start a future with her. He buys the mansion across the bay in hopes that one day she will notice all the luxury his property has. The narrator Nick Carraway is able to portray this by stating, " when I said you were a friend of Tom 's, he started to abandon the whole idea. He doesn 't know very much about Tom, though he says he 's read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy 's name" (Fitzgerald 70). This quote makes it evident that he has always been in love with Daisy, even when they were a part. He never stopped caring about her and wanting to know the details about her life, Gatsby wants to know all the good and bad that has happened with her because he is still in love with her. This supports the idea that Daisy is Gatsby’s “American Dream” and that he does not have any intents of stopping that from
Gatsby was someone who did achieve this dream. His intense drive and determination to achieve this dream is the love he has for Daisy. Through the process of achieving this dream, he never forgot about Daisy as everything he was doing is for her. After he achieved this dream, he was using his wealth to throw parties in hopes that one day, Daisy would walk in and they would meet again. Regardless of what others say, Gatsby has to marry Daisy and spend the rest of his life with her. When Daisy, Tom, Nick, Jordan and Gatsby were all in New York, Gatsby forces Daisy to say that she has never loved Tom, but she could not because it was not true and Gatsby was unable to accept this fact. This also shows that he has no respect for Tom, regardless of his rank. Gatsby is also very rebellious as he is involved with illegal business and bootlegging. In addition to this, he is socially isolated as he does not have any friends besides Nick Carraway. This demonstrates the trait of him having an intense drive and determination to live out his
In the beginning, Gatsby was a poor army boy who fell in love with a rich girl named Daisy. Knowing from their different circumstances, he could not marry her. So Gatsby left to accumulate a lot of money. Daisy, not being able to wait for Gatsby, marries a rich man named Tom. Tom believes that it is okay for a man to be unfaithful but it is not okay for the woman to be. This caused a lot of conflict in their marriage and caused Daisy to be very unhappy. Gatsby’s dream is to be with Daisy, and since he has accumulated a lot of money, he had his mind set on getting her back. Throughout the novel, Gatsby shows his need to attain The American Dream of love and shows his determination to achieve it. You can tell that Gatsby has a clear vision of what he wants when Nick says, “..he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I gla...
Gatsby had gotten so close to being with Daisy and must have driven him emotionally crazy, though he didn’t show it. If he had, Daisy may have thought him to be strange or crazy and may not have wanted to have anything to do with him at all. Until the last moment, Gatsby believed that he could still “obtain” his dream which was Daisy and giving the life that Daisy wanted to