What Is The Theme Of Loneliness In The Great Gatsby

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Loneliness Many Americans today claim that if one works hard, then they will not find true love,; Marche states that, “The price of self determination and self reliance has often been loneliness”. Loneliness is one of the main themes in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby, the main character, searches for true love his entire lifetime. He throws many extravagant parties in his house to feel less lonely and does everything he can to try and rekindle his past relationship with Daisy. Gatsby exemplifies that loneliness is at the core of being American because, he, a man living the American dream, wants contentment in his life, something that he never obtains. Gatsby, a successful wealthy man, spends a large portion of his life …show more content…

Gatsby falls in love with Daisy the first minute he meets her and never stops loving her even though she has obviously moved on. Gatsby does everything he can to be closer to her like buying “that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay” (78). Gatsby knows that if he can get the girl of his dreams he will not feel lonely anymore. "He talked a lot about the past… he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy. His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was” (87). Ever since Gatsby had left Daisy, he has felt content with his life because he knows something is missing. Gatsby feels lonely and will continue to feel lonely without Daisy. Gatsby’s diminishing life is full of loneliness because it is “the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of enthusiasm, thinning hair” (129). Gatsby never does have Daisy all to himself, and dies knowing he never achieved anything more than great wealth. Gatsby is a perfect example of an