Effects Of Happiness In The Great Gatsby

The Effect of Pursuing an Illusion of an Individuals Happiness

What is the difference between happiness and desire? Happiness is an emotional state of joy, satisfaction, and fulfilment, while desire is a feeling of wanting to possess something or wishing for something to occur, and pursuit is an attempt to achieve or complete a goal over time. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel “The Great Gatsby”, the idea of how individuals pursue their happiness is seen best through the character Jay Gatsby. When individuals hold an illusion as the focus of their happiness and chase that happiness, it results in them demanding more from themselves than they are capable of, which leads to self-destruction.

Jay Gatsby is portrayed by F. Scott Fitzgerald as

Nick stated, “that except for the half-hour she’d been alone with Gatsby she wasn't having a good time.” (Fitzgerald 112 - 113). And Tom stated Daisy “...didn't look so interested” (Fitzgerald 115). Daisy's expressions were made evident to us readers by Fitzgerald, who used mood to show that both Nick and Tom, the characters, could tell she wasn't having a good time. This means that Gatsby would have undoubtedly noticed it, which led to his epiphany. Moreover, Fitzgerald defines Daisy’s dislike toward the party through the text of Nick's narration, when Nick and Daisy are around a drunk table Nick can tell “...the rest offended her.” (Fitzgerald 114). As she was “appalled by its raw vigour that chafed under the old euphemisms and by the obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing.” (Fitzgerald 114). The author, Fitzgerald shows how Daisy feels since she comes from old money, she is accustomed to enjoying nice things. She is clearly disgusted by the inebriated guests there as she believes the parties are like an amusement park and perceives Gatsby slightly differently. As Daisy comes from old money and Gatsby from new money, this illustrates internal conflict as well as exterior conflict. This

The epiphany foreshadows that Gatsby won't succeed in getting Daisy since she is only a temporary source of joy in his life and an illusion of the happiness he desires. The insight also hinted at the development of her emotions. This is apparent when the author uses Nick's narration to explain Gatsby's realization as he has “.. an idea that Gatsby himself didn't believe it would come, and perhaps he no longer cared. If that was true that he must have felt that he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through frightening leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the scarcely created grass. (171 - 172). Fitzgerald utilizes the withering of roses to illustrate how, in a materialistic world that has lost sight of true happiness, the dream that once flourished, generating amazement and the capacity to strive toward his goals, has faded. This moment embellishes Fitzgerald's description of Gatsby's hopelessness after realizing he has not been able to obtain Daisy, his illusion of happiness. Additionally, Gatsby believed he always needed to do more to win Daisy's affection as he needed to fabricate his past, acquire enormous wealth, and wish "...he had searched more" (Fitzgerald 162) because he would have found her.