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Romanticize The Past In The Great Gatsby

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Romanticizing the Past
Do not allow romanticizing the past to ruin the life you have now (Bernard). To romanticize the past means to be in love with objects or people from the past. Jay Gatsby spends his post-war life romanticizing about the relationship he had with Daisy Buchanan before he left for war. He remained in love with Daisy, or at least the Daisy he originally knew, even after she had moved on with life and married Tom Buchanan. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy was so powerful that it influenced and took over his life. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby's romanticizing the past restricted him from moving on with life after Daisy married Tom Buchanan.
Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan had a relationship prior to her marriage to Tom Buchanan. Gatsby and Daisy were young and in love. They met in …show more content…

He doesn't know that Daisy had moved on from him and married Tom Buchanan “He doesn’t know very much about Tom, though he says he’s read a Chicago paper for years just on the chance of catching a glimpse of Daisy’s name” (Fitzgerald 79). Gatsby learned from the newspaper that Daisy was married to Tom. This did not stop him from loving Daisy, he continued to romanticize the past with Daisy. The fact that he had read the paper for years trying to see her name highlights his obsession with his past relationship with Daisy.
Gatsby had known that Daisy was from old money and he needed to make his fortune in order to support her and allow her to the live the lifestyle she is used to. In the book, Gatsby is a very rich man, but it is not clear how Gatsby made his fortune. Clearly, the book implies that he did it in ways that were not completely legitimate as is highlighted by his relationship with Meyer Wolfsheim. However, Gatsby is so possessed with wealth in order to win Daisy that he would do about anything, including shady business

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