The Great Gatsby Theme Analysis

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, plays out various important themes throughout the novel. One of which is, the past cannot be recaptured, bought, or erased. Gatsby and Daisy, prior to Daisy marrying Tom Buchannan, had a relationship that was unlike any they had before. He would, “look at Daisy in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some point.” (75). Now after Daisy has married Tom, and Gatsby has more money, he wishes for that relationship back. He meets with her in secret, time and time again, and then she invites Gatsby to a party, with the attendance of Tom, Jordan, and Nick. Things get heated between Tom and Gatsby, and after hiding a relationship with Daisy for weeks with her finally falling in love with him again,

“She might have loved him for just a minute when they were first married-and loved me more even then.” (152). No matter what he did, Daisy still stayed with Tom, and he was not satisfied with how Daisy was now opposed to then. He believed that he could come in and take Daisy back and everything would be just as it was, but instead it was a self-fought fight, and it was not the outcome he had hoped for. Gatsby wished to recapture a relationship with Daisy from the past, but now she was someone a little different mentally and emotionally. For years he spent the time to move into this magnificent house to show off the money he had collected, and when he planned the meeting with Daisy for the first time, he specifically wanted it at Nick’s house so Daisy could see just how wealthy he was, with hopes it would bring her back in some way. He did not want their past erased, he just wished that the fact he went to war and the separation they had was erased so things could be the same. He hoped that he could show Daisy exactly what she meant to him, maybe her history with Tom would be