Obsession With The Past In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

"I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before, he said, nodding determinedly. She'll see" (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby had an idea in his head about Daisy and would not let it go. His need to repeat the past, the perfect image he had of Daisy, and the unrelenting need of completing his task of gaining back Daisy is awful for him and the people around him. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Gatsby's obsession with the past is what ultimately led him to his death. To begin, Gatsby's perfect image of the past is part of the reason why he had such a destructive ending to his life. The story of Daisy and Gatsby all started in Louisville in nineteen-seventeen. Daisy came from a family with an extensive amount of money, and Gatsby

Gatsby clearly loved Daisy with his whole being, but Daisy had a clouded love for Gatsby. Her love was there, but it was very distant. "It’s clear even in Chapter 1 that Gatsby’s love for Daisy is much more intense than her love for him" (Wulick). They both had trouble seeing the whole truth about their love. "Actually, both Gatsby and Daisy are incapable of seeing the whole of reality, as he is a romantic and she, a cynic" (Witkoski 1). Gatsby was much more invested in the relationship. "In contrast, we don’t see Daisy as radically transformed except for her tears. Although our narrator, Nick, pays much closer attention to Gatsby than Daisy, these different reactions suggest Gatsby is much more intensely invested in the relationship" (Wulick). Gatsby, through all that he did, and through his emotions, had a much higher stake in their relationship than Daisy

A mistake that was not his to take the blame for, it was Daisy's responsibility. Instead of taking responsibility for her actions, though, she ran away from her problems. Gatsby's blindness for Daisy caused him to take the blame for it. "He risks everything to try and win over Daisy" (Wulick). His blindness caused him to look past all of Daisy's flaws, even though he knew they were there. If he actually chose to recognize her flaws it would ruin this perfect conception he had of her. "Gatsby intuitively recognizes this, although he cannot fully accept it, when he remarks to Nick that Daisy’s voice 'is full of money.' Even so, Gatsby will not admit this essential fact because it would destroy his conception of Daisy" (Witkoski 1). When Myrtle's death occurred he did not even think about taking the blame, he just did. He was so fully in the mindset of protecting Daisy that he did not even seem to register that there actually was a death. "His devotion is so intense he doesn’t think twice about covering for her and taking the blame for Myrtle’s death. In fact, his obsession is so strong he barely seems to register that there’s been a death, or to feel any guilt at all" (Wulick). Gatsby only worried about Daisy's safety. He never once thought of Myrtle and the fact that he had just ended her life. Gatsby continued to put his safety above Daisy, who seemingly did not