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Examples Of Unhappiness In The Great Gatsby

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The characters in the novel pretend that they have their lives all figured out, but through their successes their downfalls and emptiness can be seen, to prove that money cannot buy happiness. Jay Gatsby is the newest and upcoming star in New York during the 1920’s. Through his business and inheritance he is one of the richest men of his time. One may think that his abundance of wealth would lead him to be eternally happy, but he is the opposite. Gatsby longs for his love of Daisy, which is his personal American Dream. Gatsby knows that Daisy is a high-class individual who cares very much about status and wealth, so his entire life has been dedicated to being the best so that she will notice him. When Daisy, Gatsby’s one desire, and Nick, Gatsby’s …show more content…

Daisy is shown through her expensive house, rich husband, and luxurious attire, to help mask her ultimately unhappy identity. She has had so many opulent experiences due to marrying Tom, yet she feels so empty and wanting more with her life: “’You see I think everything’s terrible anyhow’ she went on in a convinced way…‘I’ve been everywhere and seen everything and done everything’” (Fitzgerald 17). Daisy’s true character is revealed shortly in the story when she tells Nick how she has seen and done everything, yet feels empty and that everything is terrible. Daisy believes that money can buy happiness, which is why she has to purchase everything to fill a potential void in her life. Through money Daisy thinks she can truly be happy and content with her life, and she is selfish by putting money as her source of happiness instead of her daughter or family. Daisy proves that her character is surrounded by materialism when she goes to Gatsby’s house: “He took out the pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel…Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily” (Fitzgerald 92). Daisy is so overwhelmed with the excessive amount of upscale shirts in front of her she starts crying. Daisy is reuniting with Gatsby at this time, which should be the reason for her tears, but instead she is feeling pure happiness from the pile of materialistic

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It makes me sad because I've never seen such beautiful shirts." (Fitzgerald 92). When Daisy sees all of Gatsby’s assets she is brought to tears. This is because she views the American Dream to be simply acquiring wealth. Daisy is a materialist person that does not care about happiness or true love.

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We see the characters of this book go slowly wander from their path of finding wealth and love and enter a new journey of immoral actions. By examining Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom, one can see that the journey to obtain the American Dream results in fake materialistic behaviour, unhappiness, and death. By examining Gatsby, one can see that he did anything to get Daisy’s attention and make her love him. This leads him to be extremely careless about his money and himself.

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After spending years married to Tom, she has become used to looking into the material items. When reunited with Gatsby she only points her attention on what he has materialistically: “They’re such beautiful shirts … it makes me sad because I’ve never seen such-such beautiful shirts before” (pg 92). The reason Daisy is so upset is because she acknowledges that she could have had multiple materialistic gains whist being married to Gatsby in a love-filled relationship. When she sees what she could have had her mirage of a perfect life begins to crumble. But this leads to her in the end resorting to her false outward appearance since it is easier for her to fall back into her lie that confront her own truth, that she is unhappy presently.

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Scott FItzgerald’s message throughout The Great Gatsby expresses that money will always hold a higher value in life than someone’s happiness. Daisy and Gatsby finally see each other after many years of being separated. Gatsby has Nick and Daisy come over which then he proceeds to lead them to his room where he starts throwing shirts at her. She starts crying over the “beautiful shirts”, but it has a double meaning under that. As Daisy is shown more throughout the book, she shows us how she cherishes money more than her own happiness.

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A Failed Dream: How Inauthenticity Leads to an Empty Life Money is the root of all evil. While Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is not necessarily and evil character, he loses part of himself in the desire for wealth as he attempts to attract the attention of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy woman who married into a prestigious family. Gatsby is an inauthentic character because his shallow love of Daisy leads to a false sense of the reality of his relationship with her; thus he does not achieve the American Dream through his failure to achieve happiness along with his wealth Gatsby’s inauthenticity is rooted in how his love of Daisy is surface level and relies heavily on Daisy’s status in society showing how his

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Daisy married rich after Gatsby left to war, she wanted to have the perfect family and be supported so she married Tom. When Gatsby and Daisy were reunited, she said “I’ve never seen such beautiful shirts” as she cried. This shows that now that Daisy is becoming emotional as she never is with tom. She always knew Gatsby to be a poor solider who barley had any money to now, crying over how nice his shirts are. Gatsby is impacting Daisy’s life in negative and positive ways, Positive being she is more herself when she is with him.

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From enduring the perpetual pain and loneliness over the years, she is numb to the true feelings of her heart, and as a result, she has not experienced the sensation of true happiness because she has nothing to compare the feeling to. When Daisy openly admits to Gatsby, “Oh you want too much!” she implies that Gatsby is asking for an answer to a problem that for once cannot be resolved by money (139). In other words, the request of Gatsby brings Daisy into reality and requires her to acknowledge her true feelings within her heart, which is numb to the sensation of happiness and love because of her craving for wealth; money will not mend this issue of love. On the other

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Happiness, is defined by a person’s well-being or positive state of mind. For many the pursuit of happiness leads to fulfillment in life. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the three main characters, Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and Nick Carraway all pursue happiness in different ways. For Gatsby, true joy can only be achieved by dwelling in his youthful past. Daisy, however, finds no enjoyment in past experiences but attempts to grow and learn.

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“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy” says Fitzgerald. “They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness … and let other people clean up their mess.” This shows how little they value any life apart from their own, least of all those they are supposed to care about. This is manifested in the relationship between Daisy and Gatsby: Gatsby knows what it’s like to have nothing and to be striving towards a goal and therefore his relationship with Daisy takes on enormous significance; Daisy, on the other hand, has never worked towards anything in her life. She teases Gatsby: “as he left the room she got up and went over to Gatsby, pulling his face down, kissing him on the mouth” and while she is delighted upon being presented with what Gatsby owns, it is by these material things that she is largely driven, with Fitzgerald describing her as having a voice “full of money.”

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The 1920s were affected by WWII in several ways, which are shown in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The 1920s was a time period of a great change in people’s behavior and social class. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s famed novel The Great Gatsby reflects on the 1920s can help summarize the 1920s into three main characteristics, Disillusionment, the Rise in New Money, and Business Replacing Religion. Disillusionment, which is the loss of faith in one’s values and ideals, is a main characteristic of the 1920s because, during and after WWII many of the American citizens beliefs and ideals were being undermined by horrible acts committed during the war.

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1468 Words | 6 Pages

In chapter 5, daisy tells Gatsby, “They’re such beautiful shirts. It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such beautiful shirts before.” Daisy is so materialistic that she starts crying because of how overwhelmed she is by Gatsby’s wealth. Daisy seems to be aware of her love for materialism which could also be a reason for her dramatic breakdown. Daisy regrets marrying tom for his fortune because in the end, Gatsby became just as rich, if not, richer than tom.

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947 Words | 4 Pages

Has anyone ever said money cannot buy happiness? That money can make each and every person truly happy? In The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby discovers that just because he has money and lots of it, does not mean that he is going to be happy. People thought if they had money they would be happier and all of their life’s problems would be solved. Little did they know or not know, it would not solve any of their problems.

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Fitzgerald elaborates on her quest for wealth when "They arrived at twilight and as we strolled out among the sparkling hundreds, Daisy's voice was playing tricks in her throat,'These things excite me so'" (Fitzgerald 104). Daisy shows her love for the "fancy things" in life, by expressing her joy and satisfaction in going to an extravagant party. Using irony Fitzgerald shows Daisy's beauty and her greed with "her voice is full of money... I'd never understood before.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

Alought Daisy is silly in the story, she still can understand it was very hard for a woman or a girl live in the society. That’s why in the end of the book she can not wait Gatsby came back. All the people love money more than a person, so this is the reason when the Gatsby came back he have the party everyday at his house, he wanted to attract

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The Great Gatsby Greed can ruin a person’s life. F. Scott Fitzgerald shows this in his classic novel, The Great Gatsby, a sad love story about the rich title character, Jay Gatsby, and his obsession to win back the love of the now married Daisy Buchanan, his former girlfriend. The extravagant lifestyles of Gatsby and the wealthy socialites who attend his parties lead to lost dreams and wasted lives. These men and women are absorbed by material pursuits. In Jay Gatsby’s case, all the money in the world could not replace what he truly desires, Daisy.

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