“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a literature classic. The coming-of-age novel reveals the unattainable reachability of the American dream.
The novel takes us through the life and actions of Jay Gatsby as told by his neighbor Nick Carraway. Gatsby is an extravagantly rich man who freely shows his wealth in the lavish parties he throws every weekend. Soon the reason behind Gatsby’s need to bring company over is revealed.
Gatsby fell in love with Daisy Buchanan some years back before she took Tom’s last name. Gatsby left for war still madly in love with Daisy with the hope that in his return they would still be together. To his surprise, Daisy had married off by the time the war had ended. Gatsby was now more in love with Daisy than he had ever been, the realization that she was no longer his only pushed him further into her.
Gatsby stalked Daisy for five years. He bought the house across the water from hers. He threw parties day in and day out in hopes his love would wander in one day. Gatbsy did just about everything but talk to her. For those five years, Daisy had not once, heard any news of her former romance.
Often debates that trail this book are if Gatsby ever truly loved Daisy. Why were Daisy and Tom married? How is nick an unreliable narrator? What is the substance behind the death of Tom’s mistress? And, what is the meaning of the novel?
I believe that Gatsby truly did love Daisy. He fell for her hard and tried everything in his power to get his love back. Although his intentions were for the benefit of the both of them, to be reconnected, the pressure he put on himself and Daisy to be exactly the way they were before tainted his love. His love now turned to obsession. To the point where Gatsby was so fixated on everything going not just smoothly, but perfectly when he eventually did remeet Daisy that it led to disappointment. He held such high standards that an impactful person such as Daist would never be able to achieve.
Daisy was portrayed to us as an innocent fool. Daisy was far from. Daisy was a smart girl who knew the best woman to be at this time was to be a woman of little intellect, so she kept quiet. Daisy, while being cheated on, cheated on her husband as well making her impure.
Daisy loved Gatsby when she was younger and I believe that a piece of her always will but her need for stability will always overcome those feelings. Daisy married Tom, a wealthy man with a wealthy family. Daisy grew up with money and needed to maintain that all her life. The stability that Gatsby could not give her. But, Tom was having an affair and Daisy was aware of it. The two never discussed it, they just ignored the topic while everyone else gossiped. All I can think of is why on Earth would Diasy stay with a man who is cheating on her, that is not love. Especially when she has another man who is in love with her. But, I had to understand the timeframe of the book. TGG took place during the early 1920s, during this time a woman could not leave a man. A woman was not legally allowed to file for divorce. Daisy had no choice but to stay in her marriage.
Nick, Gatsby’s neighbor and Daisy’s cousin, narrator the story of Gatsby. Even though he had a first-hand account of the events that took place Nick is not a reliable narrator. Nick is in awe of Gatsby which makes him naive to some of his flaws. Nick is also entranced by Daisy, he is the one who gives the reader the false persona of Daisy being innocent. Throughout the book major events happen to Nick yet there is very little told about them. Nick will talk in detail about Gatsby and then randomly throw in a detail about himself. Almost as if he was jealous. In the same sense someone would be praising someone they are jealous of subconsciously and then they become aware of what they are saying so they blurt out something about themselves as if they are just as good, that is what it felt like.
Fitzgerald’s style of writing and the syntax of his work are made to purposefully not like any of the characters but not like Nick the least.
Tom was having an affair with Daisy with Myrtle, a married woman. Myrtle was found killed by a hit-and-run which revealed Diasy as the driver. Daisy did not know who or what Myrtle looked like. The murder was unintentional yet impacts the novel so much. With Tom’s mistress out of the picture, Tom and Daisy were left to talk about what they had become. Now it was only Daisy having an affair with Tom with Gatsby. After their discussion, the two realized that they could genuinely be together now that Myrtle was gone. There was no devastation, there was no remorse. Daisy and Tom left the country for no one to hear from them again.
The novel is very hard to comprehend a meaning to. It is learned that Gatsby’s love turned obsession is representative of the unobtainable American dream. How the American dream is this perfect life that is imagined all the time. The novel shows how Gatsby worked hard to become a man of wealth and he too had a mention of great size just like Tom but it was never the same. Showing that someone can come and pursue the American dream but it will never be like those who inherited it. How something so perfect is thought of continuously to only add on to the pressure of it being perfect. The more expected of something the more disappointment that can come from it. The lesson is to live where you are at no. It is unfair and unreasonable to expect lives to be how they once were.
