In the novel The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reflects on the human need for self-fulfilment through his characters committing themselves to a person, an object, or a goal that takes them away from the reality that conflicts with what they want their life to look like. Though nearly everyone is The Great Gatsby is remarkably wealthy or of an upstanding family, they all experience dark times, and because of this they need to dedicate themselves to something as way of an escape, because even if everything is wrong, a person can still work towards something to make it, or themselves, better. The tragic character of Jay Gatsby has dedicated years of his life to striving towards Daisy, a woman whose way of life contrasted so greatly from …show more content…
At the beginning Nick was rumoured to be engaged to some woman, and he was signing his letters with love – this small detail was presented as a to-do list of things to discontinue. To a newer woman he admires, Jordan Baker, he enjoys her company, however to her he is also flippant and uncaring in that one day she may have genuinely loved him, and the next day he so easily dismisses her. He is not a man committed to women, or even particularly family in that matter as he so easily moves away from his family to New York, except when it comes to Gatsby the proves of his commitment is the novel itself told from the perspective of Nick. He idolizes Gatsby, something known from the start as he calls him the man exempt from a personality for which he holds an unaffected scorn. Nick has kept remnants of Gatsby for years, holding onto an old timetable listing those that associated with Gatsby during the summer, ranging from those that stayed there often or barely at all. When Nick feels that Tom and Daisy have betrayed Gatsby by abandoning him and guiding his murderer to him, he is personally offended and breaks off ties with Daisy, his cousin, and Tom, who he has known far longer than Gatsby in order to be committed to his dead friend that he views so fondly through the novel. Nick’s comparison, a line to manipulate the situation and said by Daisy, refers to Nick as a rose. This is significant because Nick looks at Gatsby and their experiences with rose-coloured glasses throughout his telling of events. He views Gatsby with such kindness that he is truly committed to his dead friend for years after knowing him for the summer, the same way that Gatsby became devoted to Daisy after only knowing her for a summer. Nick’s commitment to Gatsby is so strong that Nick begins to resemble Gatsby, in that they’re both from the Midwest, they