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The Great Gatsby Research Paper

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It is often said that The Great Gatsby is a love story about Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan rekindling their past relationship and fighting the barriers of their socioeconomic statuses. However, by this line of thinking, The Great Gatsby would have ended with Gatsby and Daisy marrying in Louisville, a fitting ending for their supposed love story. Nevertheless, Gatsby and Daisy didn’t receive their fairytale ending because The Great Gatsby is not a love story about their relationship. On the contrary, Gatsby’s impoverished childhood resulted in his infatuation with money, similarly, Daisy’s old money background caused her to rely on money. Their shared love for money drew them to each other. Instead of a love story between two people, it is a …show more content…

Daisy had imagined that she would retain her luxurious lifestyle while gaining more wealth by marrying Gatsby. However, her flaw is that she loves the status and stability of the old money class — a caste of people who’d inherited their money—, more than her relationship with Gatsby. As a result, Daisy stays with Tom. Similarly, Gatsby fell in love with the idea of the American Dream, leading him to believe he could acquire success and wealth despite his humble origin. Gatsby’s ultimate flaw was that he was unable to separate his delusions from reality, his desires for respectable wealth and all things valuable—including Daisy, led to his demise. Gatsby loved the wealth that Daisy represented, and the status she brought into their relationship more than he loved Daisy as an individual. While retelling Gatsby’s first interaction with Daisy in Louisville, Nick states, “She was the first “nice” girl he had ever known. In various unrevealed capacities he had come in contact with such people, but always with indiscernible barbed wire between. He found her excitingly desirable” …show more content…

When Daisy is visiting Gatsby, Nick observes her disgust towards West Egg and the new money society—a class of people who had recently obtained wealth, often by illegal means, in the 1920s: “But the rest offended her — and inarguably because it wasn’t a gesture but an emotion. She was appalled by West Egg, this unprecedented “place” that Broadway had begotten upon a Long Island fishing village — appalled by its raw vigor that chafed under the old euphemisms and by the obtrusive fate that herded its inhabitants along a short-cut from nothing to nothing. She saw something awful in the very simplicity she failed to understand” (83). Daisy was disgusted by the new money generation, a common view within the old money class. Despite her feelings towards Gatsby, a member of the new money generation, she chose wealth. Leaving Tom meant leaving financial stability; additionally, marrying Gatsby would force her into the position of a wife in the new money class, resulting in ridicule by her old money associates. Daisy prioritizes wealth over love, causing her to stay with

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However, in reality, Daisy is a shallow, greedy, and selfish woman. She yearns to have a lavish lifestyle and because of this, marries Tom, a very wealthy man. However, it is not just the wealth that interests Daisy, it is also the fact that Tom is an Old Rich as opposed to Gatsby, a New Rich. Tom, unlike Gatsby, inherited his wealth from his family while Gatsby obtained his wealth independently in his lifetime. Old Rich live in the lavish East Egg and New Rich live in the West Egg “the less fashionable of the two” (5).

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Gatsby’s failure to see the truth about relationships leads to his downfall; he doesn’t understand that people change and love isn’t like it always was in the past. Additionally, Gatsby’s inability to deal with relationships is worsened by his relentless pursuit of the American Dream. In Gatsby’s mind, achieving success and wealth is linked to winning Daisy’s affection, therefore achieving happiness for himself. However, Fitzgerald suggests that Gatsby’s narrow definition of success blinds him to the true meaning of human connections. “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (5) Gatsby’s fixation on material wealth rather than approaching the girl himself shows his belief that love and happiness can be attained through material possessions.

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In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald utilizes the characterization of Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby to express that no matter how wealthy an individual is, they may never fully be satisfied. Fitzgerald showcases Daisy and Gatsby’s past when he described that “She only married [Tom] because [Gatsby] was poor and she was tired of waiting for [him]. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except [him]!” (Fitzgerald 130).

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Gatsby has spent his whole life trying to prove to Daisy and everyone around him that he is worthy of her. The only way to be on the same social level as her is to turn himself into new money. Since this is not possible, he has to try to convince to others that he truly is old money. To do this, he becomes rich, and lies about his past, but the only way for him to complete this idea is if he is with Daisy. She is the final piece in his American dream.

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Gatsby becomes rich through his business, but Daisy still does not love him. ” Almost five years! There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams – not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion”(p 95). Gatsby puts his hope into something that clearly is not

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Wealthy people during the 1920s were very careless and shallow. As the richer, they became the more they fade away from their morals. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, he writes about Gatsby’s destiny and how people during that society “helped” him. The only help that he got was people’s shallowness. Gatsby’s destiny was to have Daisy fall in love with him again by using his wealth.

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The Great Gatsby is an accurate representation of American leisure class in the 1920s, where social status was religion and where “very much of squalor and discomfort will be endured before the last trinket or the last pretense of pecuniary decency is put away.” (Veblen 8) That is, many people felt that money was the only way to achieve happiness. People quickly became slaves to money, working hard to obtain money and working harder to keep it and show it off. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald demonstrates the people’s obsession with money, no matter the outcomes, in the Roaring Twenties by offering a glimpse into the lives of the opulent rich and the effects their wealth has on their relationships. Daisy’s obsession with money is clear; she ran off to be married to Tom Buchanan, a rich but unintelligent polo player.

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Gatsby didn’t love Daisy, but was in love with the idea of having everything, the perfect life. In the end, his vast amounts of wealth could not buy Daisy’s love or even his own happiness. Gatsby filled the void in his heart by surrounding himself with expensive things, but the way in which he acquired his wealth, though not clearly stated in the novel, can be assumed he took the easy way of turning to a life of crime. Gatsby’s romantic view of money did not prepare him for the selfish and corrupt circle of people in which he would soon be associated with. Although through Nick’s narration, Gatsby is portrayed as more of a kind man than the audience has perceived.

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Another reason she does not stay with Gatsby is because, before Gatsby made all of his money, they were of different social classes. For Daisy, “Tom's 'old money' has a power beyond any that Gatsby can command. His wealth and background win the battle” (Donaldson). Money and position are too important to Daisy, and she is not willing to risk that to be with Gatsby. Daisy’s need for wealth is emphasized through saying that, “she vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby nothing” (Fitzgerald 82).

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At first, Daisy and Gatsby’s affair is displayed as two lovers who have waited years to reconnect with one another. Nevertheless, it is revealed that their relationship is purely based on what the other represents, not their true qualities. For Gatsby, Daisy represents “green light that signals him into the heart of his ultimate vision” (Bewley), his vision being notoriety and success. It is made obvious from the beginning that the “old money” class of East Egg look down upon the likes of Gatsby due to his unsavory methods of acquiring wealth. They also generally look down upon the "new money” class because of their flashiness and almost adolescent nature of spending their freshly earned dollars.

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She was a very materialistic woman who pined for Gatsby due to his immense wealth he gained over the course of time after Daisy and Gatsby first met. Wealth and the idea of having that younger feeling and the idea of the bliss of her days of being the young, beautiful fool again. Once she realized Tom had more to offer with his older money, and after the novelty of Gatsby worn off after he tried to sustain a commitment with her, she was no longer invested in him. “Daisy’s self-avowed “sophistication” (Fitzgerald 24), or rather remarkable indifference to most things, including her own daughter, emphasizes another aspect of the American Dream. In the sense that it is not merely the accumulation of material possessions — a house, a car, polo-ponies, and expensive clothing — but also the spiritual fulfilment and happiness of the individual, her impassiveness, and nonchalant demeanor inhibits her from achieving even this fundamental part of the American Dream.”

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Have you ever loved someone so much that you built yourself up from the dirt, got rich, bought a mansion across the bay from that person, and threw extravagant parties in hopes that they would merely stop by? Probably not, but this is what Gatsby did. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a wealthy man named Gatsby is in love with a wealthy married woman named Daisy, and does anything he can to recreate their love from 5 years prior. Gatsby’s relationship with the past and his problematic materialism to regain lost love causes him to go insane, driving his downfall throughout the novel. Gatsby’s negative past relationship with his parents and his resentment for them not being enough caused him to create a materialistic and false reality

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Gatsby knows that Daisy is a high-class individual who cares very much about status and wealth, so his entire life has been dedicated to being the best so that she will notice him. When Daisy, Gatsby’s one desire, and Nick, Gatsby’s

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To those who have only heard the story of Gatsby in passing, it may seem like its position as a classic great American novel was acquired due to its drama and grandiosity. Words of love shared between Daisy and Gatsby are posted on Tumblr in decorative fonts and parties are planned across the globe that hope to replicate the merriment of Gatsby’s with all the glamour and flair of the 20s. What these romantic interpreters of The Great Gatsby fail to see is that all of this is still merely the mask these characters wear. When you see past the cover of the book, The Great Gatsby is a satirical take on the romanticized life of the rich, with its content exposing the true nature of life behind a shroud of wealth. By highlighting every great thing

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