Decisions In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

In life, there are times when people get so caught up in what they want that they disregard the things they need. A want is something that people desire; it is not something that is needed to survive and thrive. In contrast, a need is something that is necessary for life. The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is filled with characters that struggle with an imbalance between what they want and what they need. The characters in the novel live extremely toxic lives and spend their time cheating in their relationships, drinking heavily, and partying every week. Throughout the story, there are characters who make severely poor decisions due to the fact that they put what they want ahead of what they need because of poor financial decisions,

In the story, it is stated that Gatsby hosts parties every weekend in hopes that he will see his former lover, Daisy Buchanan, again. At one of Gatsby’s parties, an acquaintance of his, Jordan Baker, explains “I think he half expected her [Daisy] to wander into one of his parties, some night...but she never did” (Fitzgerald 62). This quote shows the amount of time and effort Gatsby puts in, with hopes of reuniting with the girl from his past. In the novel, it is also stated that “Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York” (Fitzgerald 32) and “At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden” (Fitzgerald 32). These are just a few examples that show just how much money Gatsby spends on his parties to bring back what he once had with

Throughout the story, it is clearly shown that he has an obsession with Daisy, which causes him to make detrimental and life-altering decisions. This is shown when he decides to take the blame for Myrtle’s death when he knows for a fact that Daisy was the one who murdered her. At the end of the story, the narrator Nick states “It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson’s body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete” (Fitzgerald 124). Gatsby’s desire to win Daisy back led him to make the choice of covering for her actions. This unfortunately cost him his