“Never mistake activity for achievement,” John Wooden once said. Some may make the boldest of moves but never reach their final destination. In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his characters placed in the 1920’s to show relationships and to reflect ideals of the time.Fitzgerald uses perception and lifestyles to develop the idea that just as people are idealized, a decayed society and lifestyle are as well and both lead others to an empty pursuit. The Great Gatsby highlights characters who reflect the idea that people tend to instill others with idealized perfection that they do not deserve. Gatsby longs after Daisy since day one of meeting. Daisy is greedy and materialistic, however Gatsby places this core in his mind that she is perfection. Despite the hard evidence, he is fixated on the idea of her even when at war overseas. “...Gatsby was overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor.” (150) Gatsby is aware of Daisy’s wealth and how it takes her out of touch with the ‘real world’ however he puts aside her lesser than side and pursues her anyways. “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 …show more content…
Just as Americans gave meaning to this unrealistic dream, Gatsby perceived extreme value and perfection of Daisy, that she did not possess. Nick moving to Egg to experience the dream, the parties; Daisy’s lack of character, Gatsby still seeking even if it means illegal means; ;Gatsby Dying when his dream is crushed; nick moving back to Minnesota where American values are still in tact. Actions to get to the dream, or to find Daisy doesn’t ever mean