Being of an inferior social status can cause an individual’s endeavouring to recreate a better life for themselves. Gatsby in The Great Gatsby grew an obsession with reliving the past and making him of East Egg status with money, which ultimately lead him to his failure. His obsessions derived from his own ambition and from loving Daisy and what she represented to him; higher social class and wealth. Gatsby had a yearning desire for beauty, elegance, and higher superiority; and Daisy fulfilled that place. They fell in love the first time they met, but Gatsby also saw an even greater value in her because she was being pursued by many other men and she had wealth. However, he knew he could not have her because he was poor and of lower class. …show more content…
As he was struggling with the difficulties of poverty, she was sheltered. Tom addressed Gatsby as “… Mr. Nobody from Nowhere…” (p.126) which showed that even though Gatsby is wealthy now, he does not fall under the social norms of those in East Egg, like Tom, because the way he obtained his money was corrupt – he was a bootlegger, and also that he is a part of “New Rich” unlike Daisy; Tom thinks Gatsby is not worth her. However he is still persistent in changing his image of not being born with wealth by throwing extravagant parties. Jordan exemplifies that when she told Nick “he half expected her to wander into one of his parties.” (p.76) Gatsby host those parties to partially attract Daisy, but also in hopes of creating a façade to hide his past and the difference of him and those of “Old Money”. Gatsby knew that he needed to become rich for Daisy to accept him; however, his desire and obsession for wealth and superiority was not solely derived from wanting to attract Daisy. Evidence of that was when Gatsby met Dan Cody, long before he knew Daisy. It shows that not only did Gatsby love Daisy, but of what she could give him; higher social