What Is The Diction Of Distance In The Great Gatsby

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses diction of distance to portray that when love is based solely on mimetic desire and status, its disingenuous nature causes both parties to confuse what they value with who they value. From a young age, Gatsby had been dreaming of a certain life that he believed Daisy would help him reach. His childhood of growing up poor and having to work tedious jobs just to have basic necessities gave him a different view of what type of life he should be living, causing him to develop superficial dreams. Fitzgerald says of Gatsby’s early days, that “he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception, he was faithful to the end” (Fitzgerald),

He continues to notice a now-married Daisy from afar, and his attraction to her begins to show again. His desire of having the dream life he created when he was young never truly leaves him, therefore his desire to be associated with Daisy never leaves either. Fitzgerald uses the green light on Daisy’s dock that is across the bay from Gatsby as a symbol of the not only physical but also emotional distance between the two of them. When they finally meet again, and rekindle their previous relationship while walking around Gatsby’s house, it is said that “the colossal significance of that light had now vanished forever” (Fitzgerald), implying that the desire for status through Daisy isn’t as prominent anymore. The people surrounding Daisy, such as Tom, were born into wealthy families creating their place in society early on, whereas Gatsby’s money and reputation came from his own self doing. To people like Tom, Gatsby will never be seen as and equal, so no matter how close of a relationship Gatsby forms with Daisy, he will always remain at a distance from the ideal status of a rich man within the eggs. When the argument breaks out between Gatsby, Tom, and Daisy over who Daisy actually loves, Tom exclaims “there’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget” (Fitzgerald), reinforcing that Tom and Daisy have a different kind of connection that Gatsby will never be able to live up to. While Gatsby continues to hold onto Daisy, she is able to let him go since she has already formed a life with Tom and cannot afford to be affected by the consequences of leaving Tom for Gatsby. Daisy is able to run away from the problems caused within the eggs, and abandons Gatsby to handle the repercussions of killing Myrtle (a direct result of Gatsby trying to force a relationship