Examples Of Narcissism In The Great Gatsby

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A wealthy man falls into the pool as blood escapes his back. His limp body floats in the now red water as the gun smokes in the shooter’s shaking hand. The life leaving the dead man’s body, just like his hope of attaining the love he once had and failed to rekindle. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald illustrates the life of a wealthy man that holds many underlying problems beneath the surface. Jay Gatsby has worked all his life to live as a rich man with the ability to accomplish any dream that comes to his mind. He constantly dreams of reestablishing his relationship with his former lover Daisy. Daisy leads to many of the problems that Gatsby faces and attaining her is his only goal. Over the course of Gatsby’s life and experience in …show more content…

With his intense entitlement, constant seeking of attention, striving for perfection, and his comparisons and insecurities towards others, Gatsby needs dire help to overcome his complexes and disorders. In order to cure his narcissistic views and entitlement, he should develop healthy self-esteem. Gatsby should also expect less from others and also from himself. This lowering of expectations will allow him to not only find happiness within a realistic field but will also enable him to realize that not every person is perfect. Along with perfection, Gatsby can overcome his obsessive-compulsive disorder by speaking to a therapist. By seeing a therapist, Gatsby can speak to them about which of his obsessions takes up his mind the most and try to limit how much he thinks about certain thoughts. In his case, Gatsby can limit his thoughts about Daisy and realize how much she controlled his mind and actions. In order to overcome his inferiority complex, Gatsby can limit the comparisons he creates between his and others’ accomplishments. He could also build up his self-esteem like he did to overcome narcissism because he constantly felt inferior and insecure around wealthy people such as Tom Buchanan. All in all, Gatsby needs to establish an understanding of control and structure. As he appears to be set in his ways by following a strict schedule, his obsessive thoughts about Daisy and rekindling his relationship with her force him to become disorganized and psychotic. Gatsby should have someone to talk to and while he has Nick Carraway, he still finds a way to fabricate the truth in order to look superior to others in his life. He should focus on finding confidence within himself and learn to respect himself without the pressures of society plummeting on him. Gatsby is a successful and wealthy man, despite his