Obsession In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Introduction:

In The Great Gatsby Gatsby demonstrates the consequence of obsession upon one’s self-perception. This is seen in Gatsby’s longing to become somebody great due to his impoverished past where he had nothing except his poor parents, how he mixes love with limerence for Daisy as he tries to achieve the perception he has created for himself, and his obsession with achieving his dream, which leads him to a path of destruction day by day, killing the young boy inside of him and creating a false idealization of the boy he dreams of becoming. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, illustrates the dangers of deluding oneself with unattainable goals with a distorted perception of reality. This eventually leads to Jay Gatsby's death

This is shown when Gatsby believes finally he can be equal to Tom just because he has money “The only respectable thing about you, an old sport, is your money. Your money, that's it. Now I've just as much as you. That means we're equal.” (Gatsby). Jay’s ego knows that Jay can't achieve his goals without being successful and because Gatsby is so preoccupied with how other people perceive him, he measures his worth by how much money he

This obsession is seen when Gatsby wants to erase the past that Daisy had lived and start over with him as if nothing had happened, “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than to go to Tom and say: 'I never loved you.”. Additionally, it is also demonstrated how Daisy is incorporated into Gatsby's perception “If only it'd been enough for Gatsby just to hold Daisy. But he had a grand vision for his life and Daisy's part in it '' Nick describes how Gatsby is not satisfied with his relationship with Daisy and he wants her to quit her current life and just be with him to fulfill the perception he has created. Gatsby may have loved Daisy but she had a bigger part in his dream. His superego knows that it is impossible for Daisy to love him but he wants to make it work. He believes that it is Tom that makes Daisy behave like that and it is not her that doesn’t love him. Daisy is a part of Gatsby's perception, without Daisy Gatsby felt a missing piece to his dream. This demonstrates id due to him being driven by the pleasure principle, which shows how blinded Gatsby is by the obsession he has with winning Daisy