Charles Darwin says that , “It is a cursed evil to any man to become as absorbed in any subject as [he] was in [his] life.” (SOURCE). Obsession often causes negative consequences, which in many cases can lead to destructive results. For example, in The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald and and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon both novels explore and incorporate how an individual's obsession can often become their downfall, leading to their destruction. Both The Great Gatsby and The Shadows of the Wind demonstrate how an individual’s obsession can lead to their own destruction as well as those around them. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, Jay’s obsessive love for Daisy and the need to win her over lead to Gatsby …show more content…
becoming a secretive individual, leaving him only with one peer. Gatsby falls in love with Daisy at first glance (Fitzgerald, page number). While Gatsby is serving in the war and Daisy moves on with a new man in her life Gatsby does not forget the love he has for her. When Gatsby returns from his service his only motivation in life becomes to get Daisy’s attention. Firstly, during the prohibition, Gatsby becomes a Bootlegger working alongside Meyer Wolfsheim making millions of dollars. Gatsby is participating in organized crime. Gatsby is participating in organized crime in order to gain wealth, gaining attention from Daisy, he does so in order to reach the same societal class as Daisy because during their first interaction Gatsby was lower class since "His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people" (99). Gatsby describes her home during their first interaction was described as having,"the largest of the lawns."(PAGE), Daisy comes from a wealthy family whereas Gatsby comes from a poor low class family making it not realistic for them to be together. From Gatsby’s participation with Wolfshiem he becomes a secretive individual. Gatsby segregates himself from the town because he cannot risk having the people know that he illegally gained his wealth. From this it results in the residents of the town to start false rumours about him because they know so little about his life. Rumours are brought up in conversations constantly, for example, at one of Gatsby’s parties an individual says, "Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once." (30), adding to this Lucille then says "I don't think it's so much that, it's more that he was a German spy during the war" (30). These 2 quotes reveal how Gatsby's secrecy leads others to have a negative view on him. Gatsby chooses to participate in criminal activity in order to gain wealth because he wants to win over Daisy, this leads to him being secretive leaving him with a negative reputation amongst the town. Gatsby continues to pursue his obsession with Daisy by using his newfound wealth but ends up being left alone. With the new found wealth Gatsby gains he consistently tries to get Daisy’s attention. For example, Jordan explains to Nick “he half expected her to wander into one of his parties, some night,” (80). Gatsby spends his wealth upon the parties he throws, they are grand and people all around West Egg attend. Because of this Gatsby half expects Daisy show. The parties he hosts are setup so Daisy can see across the bay and be intrigued enough to attend one of them. Next, when Nick sets up a reunion between Gatsby and Daisy, Gatsby immediately wants Nicks home to be in top shape in order to impress Daisy when she arrives. Nick wakes up “at eleven o'clock a man in a raincoat, dragging a lawn mower, tapped at the [Nick’s] front door and said that Mr.Gatsby had sent to him over to cut my grass” (84). This shows that Gatsby wants even the most little details of the home to be perfect in order to make sure Daisy is pleased. With all of Gatsby’s efforts to impress Daisy go well and they become intimate once more, Daisy chooses Tom over Gatsby. Through Gatsby’s obsession of his want for Daisy's love he damages his own life when he is left alone by Daisy. In The Shadow of the Wind, Daniel falls in love Clara at a young age, forming an obsession with her.
From Daniel’s extreme infatuation with Clara it leads him to isolate his only family. As Daniel spends more time with Clara he begins to segregate himself from the only family he has left, his father. (QUOTE TO PROVE HE IS NEVER HOME). Daniel is so in love with Clara that he chooses her over his father knowing that is his only family left. Daniel's father begins to pay less attention to him, proving that Daniels obsession is only leading to self - destruction. Next, Daniel’s love for Clara is so obsessive that it results in hurting him more than benefitting him. Daniel comes to terms with the matter that his love is only from one end and eventually he will be hurt. Daniel is too caught up in his relationship that he dismisses this and continues his obsession. The individuals around Daniel also try to tell him that he is going to be hurt by Clara. Bernada finds Daniel and tell him in regard of his obsession, “You don’t know anything about women, and this one is playing you like a cat with a canary” (46). . Bernadas harsh words help Daniel realize that him chasing Clara's love only is negative because he loves her in a way she will never love
him. Secondly, Daniel’s relationship with Bea destroys the bond that he has with her family. Bea is pregnant with Daniel’s unborn child, causing fury within Bea’s family. Daniel has a strong relationship with the Aguilar’s from growing up with Tomas. When Tomas finds out Daniel is the reason his sister is pregnant, he breaks off the friendship with Daniel becoming completely furious. Daniel says that “[Tomas] eyes flashed with impatience. The first blow cut my breathe in two … I tried to crawl but Tomas clutched my coat collar and dragged me without ceremony to the landing . He tossed me onto the staircase like a piece of rubbish” (Zafon, 451-2). This shows Tomas anger at that moment and his unwillingness to discuss the situation with him. At that instant Daniel realises that he has lost his best friend due to his obsessive love towards Bea. Next, Mr.Aguilar finds out Bea is pregnant, Daniel calls their home to find Bea as they have not spoken for several days. Daniel’s call is not received by Bea and instead he finds a very angry Mr. Aguilar on the other line, “You son of a bitch, I swear I’m gonna beat your brains out. It was the steely tone of pure, contained anger. Icy and serene. That is what scared me most... ”I see you don’t even have the balls to talk, you swine any little shit is capable of doing what you’ve done, but a man would at least have the guts to show his face. I would die of same if I thought a seventeen year old girl was ballsier than me - because she hasn’t revealed your name and she’s not going to. I know her. And since you don’t have the courage to show your face for Beatriz’s sake, she’s going to have to pay for what you’ve done.” (316) This shows Mr.Aguilar's anger towards Daniel despite not knowing it is him. It shows that even though he does not know who his daughter is seeing, Mr.Aguilar will nonetheless put them in harm's way for impregnating his daughter. From Daniel’s obsession with Bea’s love he ruins his relationship with Tomas and Mr.Aguilar. Both Fitzgerald and Zafon examine the aftermath of how an one’s infatuation with an individual can affect them negatively. Fitzgerald shows how Jay Gatsby's obsession of winning Daisy over gives him motivation to gain wealth but, results in him becoming a secretive individual as well as leaving him alone without Daisy. While Zafon examines Daniel, who to is infatuated with his desires which lead him to neglect his only family and lose strong connections with his close friends. Both Fitzgerald and Zafon both also explore how an individual's obsession lead to another's obsessions that are destructive of their own.
Courtly love is a fundamental metaphor of Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby, and, therefore, the elusive Jay Gatsby plays out his role as a courtly lover throughout the novel. Gatsby’s abnormal situation with Daisy reflects the metaphor of courtly love. Many of the characteristics used to define courtly love are reflected in Gatsby’s actions. Every choice that he makes is an attempt to win Daisy’s love, however unworthy of it she proves to be. He and Daisy’s relationship reflects the way that knights had to prove that they were cultivated to win a woman, as well as abiding to the adulterous aspect of courtly love, and being an example of the many times the “white knight” dies for their love.
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:
Love is a power that is able to bind two different people together forever. It is also a power that gives someone the drive to have a much harder work ethic so they can achieve the goal that they set for themselves. In The Great Gatsby, this is seen through the character Gatsby often throughout the novel as Gatsby tries to center his world around Daisy, the love of his life. Although some may argue that it is the attainment of Daisy that brings Gatsby satisfaction, the quest to get her is what truly grants him fulfilment because his overdramatic five year obsession causing him to over glorify her and the desire for her gave him something to work towards.
Nothing is more important, to most people, than friendships and family, thus, by breaking those bonds, it draws an emotional response from the readers. Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan had a relationship before he went off to fight in the war. When he returned home, he finds her with Tom Buchanan, which seems to make him jealous since he still has feelings for Daisy. He wanted Daisy “to go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you” (Fitzgerald 118) Gatsby eventually tells Tom that his “wife doesn’t love [him]” and that she only loves Gatsby (Fitzgerald 121). But the unpleasant truth is that Daisy never loved anyone, but she loved something: money. Daisy “wanted her life shaped and the decision made by some force of of money, of unquestionable practicality” (Fitzgerald 161). The Roaring Twenties were a time where economic growth swept the nation and Daisy was looking to capitalize on that opportunity. Her greed for material goods put her in a bind between two wealthy men, yet they are still foolish enough to believe that she loved them. Jay Gatsby is a man who has no relationships other than one with Nick Caraway, so he is trying to use his wealth to lure in a greedy individual to have love mend his
Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby is an ambitious and hopeful character. He is the protagonist of the novel and he is pursuing an unrealistic dream, thinking that Daisy Buchanan was a nature of perfection that could not possibly be real. He believes in the idea that he could change the past and the future. In Chapter 7, page 154; Gatsby waited outside of Daisy 's house on a needless vigil until she went to bed, he does not realize that his dream is not a reality. He thinks that by waiting outside her house guarding her, he might get a glimpse of Daisy. Daisy is perfection to
Obsession is defined as “an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone” (1), and is a prominent theme in The Great Gatsby, Enduring Love and Othello. For example, in all three, there is a great desire to obtain things which are unattainable, and in turn this fuels their obsession and causes it to intensify. Furthermore, the act of being obsessive is a common human characteristic, which reinforces the fact that obsession is a key element throughout all the texts. Othello has the desire to seek revenge. Fitzgerald shows the desire of lust for Gatsby to have Daisy, whilst also allowing him to accomplish a social desire of fulfilling the American Dream, which was typical of the 1920’s as people were searching for wealth and status after the economic boom.
Romance novels have been around for centuries and they seem to be getting more popular as the years pass. It seems as if most readers do not realize what true love is and mistake infatuation for true love. A good example is Jay and Daisy in the Great Gatsby. It was clearly a one sided love story but some still do insist they both loved each other the same amount. It’s evident that as the years passed Jay became infatuated with her for he was so obsessed with the idea of getting her back after the war. He was so involved he even became wealthy just for her, meanwhile she had moved on and gotten married. Gatsby’s main motivation was to get her back and she was always in his head while Daisy had created a whole new life for herself. After a while
Jay Gatsby is not a real person. Instead, he is a persona created by James Gatz, with the simple dream of recreating himself and becoming successful. Eventually, he becomes extremely wealthy, and although he has reached his goal, Gatsby remains focused on one person: Daisy Buchanan. Some critics argue that Jay Gatsby 's devotion to Daisy Buchanan in Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby is obsessive and dysfunctional; I believe that some of his actions, although ultimately tragic, prove Gatsby to simply be a man blinded by love.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby was on a search for Daisy Buchanan’s love. He hosted wild parties at his lavish mansion in hopes that Daisy would make her appearance. Everything Gatsby did was to try to impress Daisy Buchanan and win her love. This relates to a quest in American Literature because he was in search of something and was almost willing to do anything to earn the love of Daisy. As Jordan Baker, a character in the Great Gatsby, says, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisey would be
In the Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy Buchanan prevents him from seeing clearly. When he was a young boy, Gatsby hoped and strived to become a man
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.
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
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby was born into a life of poverty and as he grew up he became more aware of the possibility of a better life. He created fantasies that he was too good for his modest life and that his parents weren’t his own. When he met Daisy, a pretty upper class girl, his life revolved around her and he became obsessed with her carefree lifestyle. Gatsby’s desire to become good enough for Daisy and her parents is what motivates him to become a wealthy, immoral person who is perceived as being sophisticated.
An individual’s desire to achieve a goal can completely alter their personality and their daily routines. Throughout the texts Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and “Birches” by Robert Frost, the nature of desire changes the characters development and actions as they respond to each different event. The characterization of Roza, Gatsby and the speaker all clearly demonstrate the powerful nature of desire.
"The Great Gatsby" is a book full of passion. There is Gatsby 's passionate love for Daisy. There is Tom 's passion for money. When reading this book I realized that these people broke the American dream in their time. They couldn 't be happy when all they did was chase money. The Great Gatsby was full of themes, motif 's, and symbolism and the way that fitzgerald used his characters to get his point across of what it was like back them was marvelous. Gatsby just wanted the love of his life back, so he did everything he could so that he could support her. I think that out of every single character, Gatsby 's choices were the most pure. The only reason he wanted all of the money that he got was because he wanted to make the woman he loved happy,