Manipulation In The Great Gatsby

Irfan Mommoun once said, “Life is empty without love, so search for love, because if you don’t have it, you’re not really living-- only breathing”. Expecting a lover to satisfy one’s own desires results in isolation. F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of the renowned novel, The Great Gatsby, represents this by expressing his major female character, Daisy, as a charismatic person who is wanted only to fulfill personal aspirations. Rather than true love, Daisy is manipulated by the other male characters for social status and to relive previous feelings. In the novel, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses his central female character, Daisy, to argue that attempting to fulfill one's personal needs through the manipulation of another ultimately

His manipulation of Daisy Buchanon expresses that he does not truly love Daisy. Tom simply wants to meet the East Egg standards, such as having money, a wife, and a large amount of property. Jordan Baker began to explain Tom and Daisy’s wedding night and states, “Next day at five o’clock she married Tom Buchannon without so much as a shiver…” (Fitzgerald. 76). Their quickness into the relationship resembles that they are not in it for love, they are in it for wealth. His superficial and shallow personality embodies the citizens of East Egg, but he does not have a true wife. Tom essentially buys Daisy’s love, primarily building their relationship on money. Without satisfaction and contentment in a marriage, there is no marriage. This displays how money can ruin relationships, and how it only causes unhappiness and emptiness in the end. Once Daisy, Tom, and Nick arrived at Gatsby’s party, Daisy exclaims, “...and if you want to take any addresses here is my little gold pencil” (105). By saying this, Tom’s determination for another woman is revealed. This conveys that he has no real love for Daisy and feels unsatisfied. His dissatisfaction with his relationship develops the idea that no matter how many women he writes down with Daisy’s pencil, he will never be fulfilled. Tom is ultimately creating a double standard indicating that his focus is on

Scott Fitzgerald portrays Jay Gatsby and his previous relationship with Daisy Buchanan to express his expectations that fail to be met. When Gatsby left for the army and Daisy married Tom, the two had an overwhelming love for one another. Jordan Baker admits, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (78). This conveys that Gatsby had expectations and hopes for himself and Daisy. Being near Daisy would give him the chance to reconnect with her. Once Gatsby had kissed her, Nick portrayed Gatsby as “a flower whose incarnation was complete” (111). This simile imitates Daisy as a goal that Gatsby had obtained and achieved. He did not envision a life with her, he had created an impossible dream that would simply fail. This left him feeling unfulfilled and empty. Gatsby's hopes for him and Daisy were ultimately diminished. The green light at the end of Daisy’s dock resembles her and Gatsby’s future with each other. When Nick had seen him with his arms stretched towards the light, it is a representation of the achievements Gatsby wants to obtain, such as a life with Daisy. Near the end of the novel, Nick explains, “Possibly it had occurred to him that the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever” (93). The light diminishing represented Gatsby’s hopes being destructed. Now that his hopes have vanished, a void abrupts his dreams. His realization that his love was deeply flawed puts him into a depression. When Nick asks Gatsby’s