The Great Gatsby Obsession

Jay Gatsby was not great, in fact he was weak. He made a fortune to do the one thing that he believed was impossible, win the love of Daisy. Gatsby was a dreamer and was to lost in the past to be able to stay in the present or wonder about the future. In truth he was a man lost in a world he didn’t belong to wanting acceptance. Unfortunately he did not look inside himself, he judged his worth on Daisy’s approval.

He was the perfect picture of a sad man with a wasted life.

Daisy being of the over privileged had nothing to offer, if Gatsby had looked deep enough he would have seen that Daisy was a plain woman. However, his own insecurities drove him to try to be the man he thought Daisy would want. She was attached to her life of tennis courts, gauzy white dresses, oversized hats to protect her bone china skin, and no meaning. If Gatsby had wanted to do something for Daisy he should have found a way to introduce her to the real world, where people work, feel, and grow. But this was impossible, for Daisy had no interest, and Gatsby had no thought beyond winning her heart. Something that in actuality she could not give. Daisy belonged to Daisy alone. That was the way she wanted it. No depth, no effort. But to Gatsby, Daisy was the biggest prize, the proof that he had finally become someone, the answer to his insecurities.

Gatsby wanted to go back to the time that he and Daisy were in love. Not only can you not repeat the past, you probably shouldn’t. Gatsby is only remembering the nice parts of the past. After all, a hot rich girl liked him and it made him feel wealthy and powerful. He’s blocking out the part where he was born into poverty, or when a rich girl dumped him or where soldiers were dying in trenches while Tom and Daisy were married, going to parties, and having a kid. Fantasizing about the nice parts of the past and ignoring the nasty parts doesn’t work out.

It was foolish to commit the actions that Gatsby did for a love that was not reciprocated. Daisy told Gatsby that she loved him, but she was hesitant to act on the love that she claimed to have. Gatsby was so blinded by his own affection that he was unable to see how much he was throwing away in giving his life to Daisy. Fitzgerald, being the modernist that he was, well depicted the insanity in the destructive love that Gatsby had for Daisy. Which in turn showed how Gatsby was not great, since he would do anything to achieve what he wanted.

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