Happiness In The Great Gatsby Analysis

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores the definitions of happiness. Throughout the novel, Fitzgerald reveals multitudes of scenarios that describe and define happiness in its purest form. Happiness is revealed as something temporary and difficult to maintain. Throughout the novel, the reader sees the conflicts that arise between Tom and Gatsby and their love and happiness towards life and Daisy. Because of this, Tom and Gatsby play the largest role in describing what happiness is in the novel. Even further, as their characters evolve, the reader is able to understand how happiness evolves as well. Through hiccups in Tom’s affair, Tom’s craving for drama, and Gatsby’s strong desire for Daisy, it is clear that Fitzgerald wishes to reveal the

Gatsby represents the clash of love and happiness. Moreover, his persistence and confusion led him to a false idea of himself. More importantly, Gatsby's trouble with love reveals something significant about happiness’ temporary nature. Following Gatsby’s dance with Daisy, Gatsby expresses his distance from her. Nick then proclaims that, “You can’t repeat the past” (110). What Nick is alluding too is Gatsby’s prolonging for the same happiness he experienced back when he first met Daisy. Nick does not believe that happiness exists anymore in the present. This idea is similarly expressed when Nick says, “He talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was” (110). Nick describes the idea of happiness that Gatsby formed with Daisy. Ever since he lost Daisy to the war, Gatsby never recovered that idea. Because of this, Gatsby finds himself lost and confused. Fitzgerald is explaining that happiness has the tendency to be temporary and unrecoverable. Even someone with extreme wealth such as Gatsby, will never find happiness. Fitzgerald’s take on happiness reveals it as momentary. Using the hardships of Tom and Gatsby, Fitzgerald was able to describe