Great_Gatsby

The Great Gatsby In-Class Essay F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” has often been depicted by literary critics as a love story, this however holds untrue. Throughout the novel, many relationships are introduced and some are culminated as the story moves forward. These so-called “romances” are not of true love, but are rather about greed, satisfaction, and corruption. They portray the corrupt version of the American Dream to the fullest. The relationships between Tom and Daisy, George and Myrtle, and lastly Gatsby and Daisy’s love affair all prove that the tale that is being told in this novel is not one of love. Daisy and Tom Buchanan are portrayed as an uber-rich East Egg couple with a lone daughter. Daisy met Tom after her short relationship with Gatsby, and the two soon married. Tom had “Old Money,” which was the main reason that their relationship started and continued, because Daisy was materialistic and did not want to take a step down on the social ladder. They never truly loved each other which is evidenced when Tom cheated on Daisy only a mere week after their honeymoon in Santa Barbara. He got into an accident with a woman in his car who is identified as a chambermaid from the Santa Barbara hotel. This shows that their relationship was shaky from the beginning. Tom is inferred to have had many extra-marital affairs throughout the marriage and his fling in the novel is Myrtle Wilson. Daisy is aware of Tom’s cheating though she does not end their relationship because she is still in love with his money and even though she has a miserable life she does not want to take a hit in her social status. Tom is abusive towards women as well, as he hits Myrtle during one of their meetings in New York and it is also inferred that he must be abusive to his wife as well. Daisy cheats on Tom with Gatsby as a sort of revenge on Tom and this is a sure sign that she does not really love him nor does he love her. The Buchanan’s relationship is a clear example of the theme of the corrupt version of the American Dream. They are addicted to money and status which consumes their lives, which leads them to be immoral and cynical people. Myrtle and George Wilson are a married couple living in the Valley of Ashes and are stuck living their miserable lives. It is a prime example of a one-sided marriage. George is madly in love, and quite obsessed with his wife Myrtle. On the other hand, Myrtle does not care nor even acknowledge George’s existence as shown in a quote by Nick Carraway: “She smiled slowly and, walking through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye.” (28) Myrtle orders George around and she hates her life living with him. She cannot stand the fact that they are poor and thus leads her to having an affair with Tom Buchanan. Her affair with Tom was not about love or anything of the sort. It was a chance for Myrtle to leave her horrid grey life and live a little bit. She got to wear a nice dress, go to Manhattan, and interact with people of higher social status. She basically got an opportunity to live the life she wish she had once a week. Myrtle did not care about how George felt and he was completely oblivious to the fact that his wife was cheating on him. When he does find out though, he locks her up in their home and does not let her leave out of his obsession. Finally, when Myrtle escapes she runs out of the house and gets hit immediately by Daisy driving Gatsby’s car and dies. Their marriage was short-lived, and did not constitute real love. Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby have a love affair that runs through most of the novel until Gatsby’s eventual death. Their relationship began back in Louisville, Kentucky when Gatsby was a young soldier who was stationed there and Daisy was a southern belle who made love to much of the army. She had a fling with Gatsby as well, and after he left to go fight in the war their relationship ended. Daisy married a wealthy man named Tom. And Gatsby, now in love with the life he viewed Daisy living, made it his goal to become rich no matter what and gain status and power. This is a prime example of the corrupt American dream. Gatsby wanted to gain Daisy back from Tom so he bought a mansion in West Egg across the lake from Daisy and Tom’s mansion in East Egg. The green light that Gatsby is reaching out for is Daisy, and she represents money, power, and status. This is all that Gatsby is searching for in life, and it is what he dedicated his whole life to, even by attaining it through wrong means. Finally, when him and Daisy do rekindle their relationship it is very superficial and does not pertain to the true meaning of real love. Daisy is in love with Gatsby’s material possessions more than she is in love with the real Gatsby, the one she left back in Louisville. “‘They’re such beautiful shirts,’ she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. ‘It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such - such beautiful shirts before.’” (89) This quote is spoken by Daisy and shows that she is a materialistic woman in love with things that can be bought with money. The end of their relationship comes when Gatsby is killed by George, and Daisy does not care to even go to his funeral. She decides to leave with Tom to go back to Chicago to avoid the implications of Gatsby’s murder. If Daisy truly cared about Gatsby as she claimed then she would have stuck around, but she didn’t and showed her true colors. Even though Gatsby had achieve the money he and Daisy both wanted, their relationship could never fully realize because Daisy did not want to leave “Old Money”, and her East Egg lifestyle with Tom, as miserable as it was. Although it was a little step down in social status, Daisy could not make it. Their relationship was failed and neither of them loved each other although they claimed to. “The Great Gatsby,” is not a love story as it has been portrayed in the media. It is rather a story of the corrupt version of the American Dream. This is proven through the miserable, money-based marriage between Daisy and Tom Buchanan. Through Myrtle and George’s one-sided relationship. And finally, through Daisy and Gatsby’s “love” affair which was more about status and money more than anything else. Their isn’t anything in the novel that merits F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel being a love story.