Jay Gatsby's Death

Zara Andrews Glick English 10, 5th period 06 June 2024 The Great Gatsby Would you die for love? In The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby found his death in longing for a love he had in the past. Through flashbacks and Gatsby’s perception of the present, we see that a relationship with a woman in his youth led him to work only for his dream of being with her again, for the rest of his short life. Gatsby’s relationship with the past is unhealthy, he harbors desperate hope for a future with Daisy–just like the one he had with her in their past–that hope eventually turns into greed. Gatsby’s life revolves entirely around Daisy Buchanan. Everything he does is in the hope of seeing her again. Every action he took, every feeling he felt, and every thought he expressed was laced with the underlying intention of having Daisy fall in love with him again.

Gatsby becomes obsessed with money and social status, believing that if he had enough she would love him the way he desired. In this scene, Jordan explains Daisy and Gatsby’s backstory to Nick in which she says, “‘Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay.’ Then it had not been merely the stars to which he had aspired on that June night. He came alive to me, delivered suddenly from the womb of his purposeless splendor.” (Fitzgerald 78). At this moment, Nick has reached a realization about Gatsby’s true intentions, regarding the parties, the house, and the green light he stares longingly into during the summer evenings. However, Nick begins to understand that Gatsby’s money is nothing to him without Daisy. Although Gatsby did achieve his dream of having Daisy’s love again, he let greed get in the way. He wanted too much from her. He believed that he could not fully satisfy his wish without Daisy admitting she never loved Tom, but this is an impossible feat because Daisy did love