Is love purely a feeling – or something more? If each person’s interpretation of love is unique, then how do we know what someone is saying when they say “I love you”? In the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby” was a romantic drama of the mysterious Jay Gatsby and stunning Daisy Buchanan through the eyes of the character Nick, a common friend and young business entrepreneur. This story would make anyone reconsider what their love really means. Fitzgerald wrote “The Great Gatsby” to show that in relationships, love nor feelings for one another necessarily implies a sense of commitment to just one person.
A main character in the Great Gatsby is Tom Buchanan, what you would consider a grown up version of your typical high school jock. He’s big and strong, but not smart, which I guess is stereotyping. Tom is married to Daisy, but currently is having an affair with Myrtle Wilson. Throughout the story Tom still feels some sort of commitment to his wife, even though he’s screwing around with Myrtle behind Daisy’s back. I think Tom is confused. He chooses to be with Myrtle over Daisy, but feels the need to protect Daisy when she’s threatened, it actually seems that he cares for both women, but can’t commit to either.
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He will keep Daisy. But then Gatsby insists on hearing that she never loved Tom. Gatsby wanted to enforce more power and make her say what he wanted to hear. This is where Fitzgerald gets tricky with his theme: he doesn’t let commitment and love get entirely separated. Daisy admits she had once had feelings for Tom; she’d loved them both. Hearing this Gatsby asks, “You loved me to?”, looking as if he’d been punched in the stomach. It turns out, while love and commitment are not necessarily connected, keeping them entirely separated is like trying to drive your car down the gravel road and not get dust on it, it won’t