In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, marriage is presented as a transaction rather than a bond of love. Many characters in the novel personify the idea of marrying for the sake of money or ego and the negative outcomes that result from doing so. Love becomes a commodity in this sense, and Daisy Buchanan’s decision to marry Tom for his wealth, rather than waiting for Gatsby, exemplifies this.
The main characters in The Great Gatsby are primarily in love with wealth, social status, and satisfying their sexual desires. The contrasting marriages of the Buchanans and the Wilsons help illustrate Fitzgerald’s critique of old money and the vulnerability of the working class to strife. Love plays a vital role in the play, and many have misunderstood the female character we usually think of in The Great Gatsby.
Tom Buchanan, characterized by physical and mental hardness, is the chief representative of old money in The Great Gatsby. He is Gatsby’s rival for Daisy’s love and is also caught up in an affair with Myrtle Wilson that proves fatal for many. The novel does not depict marriage and love in the traditional sense, as the characters involved in marriage are dishonest to each other, infidelity is accepted, money and social status are everything.
In summary, The Great Gatsby presents two marriages, the Buchanans and the Wilsons, which both involve the typical roles of the husband being the caretaker and the wife. The novel’s portrayal of marriage and love in The Great Gatsby is criticized for its negative portrayal of love, honesty, commitment, support, unity, and loyalty.
📹 A Psychoanalysis of Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)
In this episode of “Emory Looks at Hollywood” Emory Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Jared DeFife, …
How is marriage portrayed in Great Gatsby?
None of the marriages in The Great Gatsby were based on loyalty. Fitzgerald wanted to show how marriages were made in that period. Marriage should be based on love, honesty, commitment, support, unity, and loyalty. In The Great Gatsby, people in marriages are dishonest to each other, and infidelity is accepted. Money and social status are everything. In the novel, marriage is a joke. People marry for money and status, not love. People get married to show they love each other. People get married in the novel for money or social status. They don’t marry because they love each other. The marriages in The Great Gatsby are between Tom and Daisy and George and Myrtle. Tom is cheating with Myrtle, and Daisy is cheating with Gatsby. Daisy marries Tom because he is rich and can give her the life she wants. Tom marries Daisy because she’s beautiful, which makes him look good.
Did Gatsby feel married to Daisy quote?
He didn’t despise himself and things didn’t turn out as he’d imagined. He had planned to leave, but now he was following a grail. He knew Daisy was special, but he didn’t know how special. She went back to her rich house and life, leaving Gatsby alone. He felt married to her. When they met again, two days later, Gatsby was breathless and betrayed. Her porch was bright with the bought luxury of starlight; the wicker of the settee squeaked as she turned toward him and he kissed her mouth. She had caught a cold, and it made her voice huskier and more charming. Gatsby was aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves, of the freshness of many clothes, and of Daisy, gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the struggles of the poor. “I was surprised to find out I loved her, old sport.” I even thought she’d leave me, but she didn’t because she loved me too. She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her. I was way off my ambitions, getting deeper in love every minute, and all of a sudden I didn’t care. “What was the point of doing great things if I could have more fun telling her what I was going to do?”
How is enduring love presented in The Great Gatsby?
Gatsby’s love for Daisy becomes an obsession over time. He is obsessed with her, her wealth, and what she signifies. The past affects characters. They cannot change the past, but they cannot forget it either.
How would you describe Tom and Daisy’s marriage in The Great Gatsby?
Answer: Tom and Daisy Buchanan do not love each other. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: Tom and Daisy Buchanan don’t love each other. They’re married for image reasons. Tom likes having a young, beautiful wife. Daisy likes the wealthy and comfortable lifestyle Tom provides.
How is love and marriage a theme in The Great Gatsby?
In The Great Gatsby, the American dream of wealth gets in the way of true love. In these relationships, love is missing. Marriage is a game. It’s okay to go behind each other’s backs to achieve a goal. Abusiveness is acceptable.
What is the theme of the marriage in The Great Gatsby?
In The Great Gatsby, the American dream of wealth gets in the way of true love. In these relationships, love is missing. Marriage is a game. It’s okay to go behind each other’s backs to achieve a goal. Abusiveness is acceptable.
How does Fitzgerald present marriage?
Scott Fitzgerald shows many themes, including marriage. He shows how couples are unfaithful because they’re unhappy. The book shows this with the cheating motif. He shows these issues of loyalty with Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Myrtle, and Wilson.
How is marriage shown in The Great Gatsby?
Marriage should be based on love, honesty, commitment, support, unity, and loyalty. In The Great Gatsby, people in marriages are dishonest to each other, infidelity is accepted, and money and social status are everything.
How are relationships portrayed in The Great Gatsby?
The characters in the novel are not likeable because they are unfaithful or cheat on their partners.
📹 Video SparkNotes: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby summary
Check out F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby Video SparkNote: Quick and easy The Great Gatsby synopsis, analysis, and …
One important thing to me is to realize that Gatsby may possibly not love Daisy, he loves a kind of “idealization” of her or maybe what she represents through her lineage/money. There is a lot of elements in the novel pointing to the contrast between old money represented through Tom Buchanan and new money with Gatsby and also the place where they live: the contrast between East Egg/West Egg. Gatsby love for Daisy is a way to access this old aristocracy which he would normally not be able to reach because of his poor upbringings. Secondly, there is a kind of criticism of materialistic America made by Fitzgerald: In the book, rich people (whether they are old/new money) seem to be so full of everything (in terms of possessions) but in the end they are poor inside: Gatsby dies lonely, Tom and Daisy don’t love each other that is a just an intern-class marriage. People drink and party and entertain as a way to forget the emptiness and aimlessness of their lives. Well, I may not be completely right or wrong but there certainly are a lot of different (and possibly not contradictories) interpretations to the story. Also the symbolism is very important in the novel: Gatsby fate seem to reproduce the fate of the American nation which is to say to push back the “frontier” (the undiscovered western land). Gatsby wants to go further, to earn more money, etc. Gatsby really embodies the idea of the American self-made man beginning from nothing and building his own success through hard work which is the essence of the American Dream.
My favorite part of the movie is when nick says it’s his 30th birthday. Then he goes on to say how this decade of this life is suppose to be depressing and sad and lonely. And this book was written in the 1920’s so I think that somehow Fitzgerald saw the Great Depression coming, and he saw that all this materialistic wealth and parties were going to end sometime.
Gatsby is very shady. He changed his name and built his empire off of crime. But, it was all for Daisy. Yet, in the end, that is what caused his downfall. The saddest thing is that no one showed up to his funeral, not even Daisy. At least, no one who he genuinely cared for or who cared for him. Nick showed up. Though, it wasn’t enough.
Gatsby loved the “idea” of Daisy or the Daisy that once was, when the met just before the war. When he came back into her life, he knew she was married and had a child, but he didn’t want to admit to himself that Daisy and Tom had ever been intimate and in the book, when he sees their daughter, it’s a telling moment because she is proof that Daisy and Tom did in fact, consummate their union. He tries to ignore what was right in front of him; and Daisy couldn’t just walk away from her life, although part of her may have wanted to. Tom would never have let her go and she had a child to consider. Gatsby was an idealist, and refused to accept reality. That was what led to his downfall.
I remember reading Gatsby in high school, and it didn’t really connect with me. I wasn’t mature enough—not enough life experience. I went on to become an English professor and lost my own “Daisy” and now it hits home like no other piece of art. What we don’t learn in Gatsby is what would happen to him if he was forced to keep on living after he lost Daisy. That’s the story I need in my life. Was it a blessing that he wasn’t forced to redefine his purpose in life? What does he do with all that energy and drive once Daisy is no longer an option?
You know what I think the very most interesting thing about Jay Gatsby is? A lot of people make a whole lot of assumptions about who Jay Gatsby is, what he’s about, what his motivations are. Characters IN the book made their assumptions about him. Readers of the book and critics made their assumptions about him. Yet, on the very first page of the book, Nick Carraway speaks about judgement–about how he has always been inclined to reserve it, as his father brought him up like that. That’s what I see as the foundation for this story. I have my own interpretations, my own way of reading the book, about what was meant about Gatsby, what kind of a person he was, and what his motivations were. But at the least I’m willing to admit my interpretations might be wrong. I don’t really know what Fitzgerald intended. But if I had to guess, I suspect that was the number one thing on Fitzgerald’s mind. He DIDN’T want people making all these assumptions about Gatsby. Unless you REALLY got to know him, you couldn’t understand him. And in the end, I don’t think Nick or anyone did, which I think was just what Fitzgerald wanted. Even Fitzgerald couldn’t quite understand him, I think. Fitzgerald once said that he never did have an entirely clear picture of just who Gatsby was. He also said something to the effect that not one of critics that wrote reviews about The Great Gatsby really ever understood what the book was about. That, to me, is the most telling thing of all. But of course, that’s just my interpretation.
I think what mostly goes unnoticed is the fact that he has these child like actions when he is about to meet daisy again for the first time. It just shows that their relationship takes him back to the person he used to be before all the succes and the war formed this other more grown up version of him. However I think in this very scene you see his persona falling apart and you realize it was all just an act. There was never any personal or rather emotional growth that came with the things he has endured. He never wanted to be that person he portrayed he just wanted to be enough. This is truly one of the most tragic parts of his character in the movie. He was still this young man who was deeply in love with this person that came from a background where the values in the peoples mindset were just too big of a difference to overcome. An ideal that he tried to fit in but never really did. That is why after the party is over no one attended his funeral. He was never one of them.
In a way i like how psychoanalysis reveals that love isn’t everything. Gatsby’s love for Daisy isn’t just love but comes with resentment and denial, so he is willing to put aside his pride and worship her and her flaws. And Daisy is his symbol of good catch. He wants to be rich and get the rich girl and prove he can support her with luxury. That’s a hell of rich combo. It’s not the same like being rich supporting a poor girl, because you gotta gain the rich girl’s ego, this is an achievement compared to flatter a grateful poor girl, or being poor with a rich girl who accept his poor self, because even he despises himself bring poor. Gatsby is an obsessed sober man to Daisy, she may find him annoying, while the man Daisy settles for, Tom, besides being rich for he is already rich and doing successful, he takes pride originally on himself that Daisy finds comfort in looking up to and hang on him for, doesn’t matter if he’s a jerk. Tom has the personality alongside reputation, unlike Gatsby who isn’t originally rich and just turn so for the sake of Daisy and his denial to his poor origin.
Gatsby simply portrayed its writer, Fitzgerald about his obsession over his wife Zelda, and Zelda’s obsession over self validation by being a socialite and throwing one party to another extravagant one. He became a rich and success writer only to impressed her. And in the end, deep down inside he knew the only thing he got was himself. It’s too tragic that a brilliant man like Fitzgerald have to ended up like that, in fact he had a trouble with debt till death. Fitzgerald is my top list writer, Great Gatsby, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Beautiful and Damned, etc.
I am SO glad I’ve finally read this book! I caught the last 20 minutes of the movie and was hooked. I bought a copy of the book, and I’ve read and re-read it ever since. As with most really good stories, you can re-read it and find something new to ponder upon. I hope to see this movie in it’s entirety soon.
To be completely honest, it would appear to me that most people have forgotten what he is psychoanalyzing – Jay Gatsby. His analysis of the character himself is not only thorough but is also motivated by a multitude of perspectives. Many people responding to this article seem mistakenly caught up on whether or not the movie was an accurate rendition of the novel. I suggest appreciating the article’s analytic angle and purpose, or simply move on to the next article 🙂 5/5 btw Emory!
My personal interpretation of the character Daisy is that she was a victim of being a woman of her time . She had no choice really, and Jay did pressure her like Tom did, but in a different way. I believe if Jay never left, she would have left her lavish life and went off with him. And that’s why she was so upset with his letter. In the end, if she left Tom. She would never see her child again. I wish he wrote a book in her perspective. Its a very deep story, but I believe there is certainly more to Daisy then a wealthy beauty who was selfish and aloof .
I’ve recently rediscovered my love for this book and hearing this analysis takes me right back to Grade 11 AP English prep. We talked A LOT about Gatsby’s romantic lens and the significance of eyes and “being seen”. 6 years later, I still have so much pity for Gatsby and can relate in that it’s very difficult to let go of the past – and nothing, not even money or hope can get it back. It truly breaks my heart that he’s not able to let go, and it breaks my heart further that Daisy was too selfish to not put an end to his desire to be with her.
Gatsby Projected his Anima onto daisy (concept by Carl Jung). I think His feeling of shame not only come from being poor in childhood but also from dysfunctional family dynamics during his upbringing, which we know nothing about from the novel but is pretty obvious for anyone who knows basics of psychology. When a person is so overwhelmed by love for someone else who doesnt love them back it is not love, but a projection of anima, he loves the idea of her. Gatsby most likely had “an unreachable” mother who cound not give love and acknowledgment to her child, this trauma comes deep from his childhood and this is what humans do, Gatsby is unconsciously recreating the trauma from his childhood in order to find a resolution but he never can do it he can never change the past and change his childhood and get acknowledgment from his mother because daisy is not her and harm has already been done. This is also how clocks make sense, He is constantly trying to get back to the time where this cycle started (where trauma happened) but he can never articulate all this in his mind, he doesn’t understand that he doesnt love Daisy he is just consumed by something that she reminds him. Gatsby still craves acceptance and acknowledgement of himself from his mom, and is wounded to his very essence.
id like to add something that is the central motive behind the movie. high sensitivity. gatsby is the first account of high sensitivity in literature that ive come across. i discovered elaine aron a few years ago and its greatly helped me in my life. gatsbys visions of the future, his inner strength are birn from this. and i read this film as the possibilities of highly sensitives. “he was like one of those machines that could register earthquakes from miles away.” carraway at the beginning of the movie
I really relate to Jay, even more smo now than I did when the movie first came out because of certain events that happened in my life On top of that, I come from a similar background as he does I grew up in this super tiny village in this isolated community that kept me from being brave enough to go out into the world something which I only did at 23.
In one way Daisy is tragic, she isn’t happy in her marriage, she seems not too be too close with her little girl BUT she hasn’t the guts to leave a bad marriage ratter J.G. is pat of the package or not. I don’t think Daisy knows how to be happy but she knows how to do what she is told or except to do. Sure she was ALLOWED to date J.G. for a short time but ratter she LOVED him or not was not inportent enough to DISOBAY what was excepted of her – marry Money
I find it very intriguing that Gastby fall in love with the one woman he could never have. The prestige of daisy and her wealth would make a man of Gastby current status at the time lose all hope but not him. It is almost as if she was more of a goal or an obsession to conquer for him (similar to how he had to over come poverty). Was it really love or yet another escape for Gastby to feel like he had truly “made it”. This of course correlates to the main point stated in the article… Gastby wanted to have everything he never had.
Thank you! You are smart with a lot of detailed words! Well when I first watched the movie I didn’t really pay attention to stuff like that but wow that’s amazing no wonder why the book is boring but you have to understand it well enough to understand the boring parts of the book that is the main idea of just everything. I’m mind blown I always wanted to know why Gatsby honestly loved Daisy 😊😯🌹
Great critique of the vapidness of the WASP class at the time, which can now be applied to the upper class as a whole. In a time when WASPs were abandoning Christianity for Darwinism and hedonism. Gatsby was foolish to want to be like these people. They sucked him dry as they suck many middle class folks dry who try to climb to their social caste. In the end it was his beloved Midwestern peasant father, likely a simple God-fearing man who knew very little about the sort of world his son was caught up in, who was there for his son all along. So sad.
Same gatsby same. If I could built a time machine and go back to see him once more and his purest self I would in a heart beat just to recapture the moment and direct it towards a new ending one with him and me. Though in reality people change and what’s left of them is just the memories of what once was.
Found this to be very helpful for a analysis of what drove Gatsby and how much Daisy and his pursuit of her and wealth mattered to him There would never have been a happy ending for him even if Daisy had chosen to be with him and Fitzgerald hints as much in the book. The phone call Nick received after Gatsby death about the guy when arrested for pushing fake bonds says as much, Gatsby would have faced possible arrest for this plus the hit and run, jailtime, financial ruin and Daisy leaving him beckoned and he would have had a psychotic breakdown and possibly killed himself. Fitzgerald gave him a better more possible noble ending
For sure, spot on… Delayed complex grief mixed with layers and layers of shame. Its heartbreaking isnt it. Waiting on something that will neve come for eternities within. There wont ever be another to play Gatsby… Leo stole that role for the masses. He played it like Mozart, the character won’t ever hold a flame to other actors, personally spesking.
Wait somebody clear this up Gatsby meets Daisy at 17, they fall in love. At some point, he tells Nick that he’s 32 and it’s known that he hasn’t seen Daisy in 5 years. That means he left Daisy at 27, which would also mean that they dated for 10 years because after the first time they met, he fell in love. If they were in love for 10 years, though, why didn’t he pop the question? Or did the guy just mean to say 27?
This is a story about hierarchy and its dynamics. The old money rich guy takes what he wants, but when they accept him he never gets love, he only gets control of actors that play to his bidding. Even Daisy played to an old money rich man, but she used her drama to console herself. Meanwhile decent and real human beings are looking at them and seeing all that they do, the fact that they don’t have empathy or humanity. This is my review, money vs. humanity.
A more technical and unknown aspect consists in externalizing every fear and obscure aspect of the subconscious life to surface in situations allowing even the use of drugs. How the situations are controlled and how are they manage in unexpected or surprising situations describes the evolution of the subject.
OK, so we all know that the novel, The Great Gatsby, is a work of art, a work of fiction, with fictional characters. The movie whose scenes are shown in the article is a different work of art, quite different from the novel and with quite different themes, mainly it seems, a “Bonfire of the Vanities” reminiscence on the debauchery the script writer remembers from the late 1980’s, which the script writer has tragically lost along with many of the healthy things in life, due to a catastrophic and heinous crime that lead to decades of medical consequences. So let’s set aside that movie version, as well as the other movie versions that I enjoyed far more, particularly the one starring Ronan Farrow’s parents, who performed brilliantly and with subtlety, and focus on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great novel. It’s a work of fiction, not a psychological case study of anyone real. It is “truthy”, as art is supposed to be, appealing to parts of all of us, as art is supposed to do. But there is no real person there to analyze psychologically. Gatsby is merely a vehicle for Fitzgerald’s themes and style, not a real person. If the fictional Gatsby reflects any real person’s inner motivations, that person must have been F. Scott Fitzgerald, himself, who was originally a poor boy from the Minnesota/North Dakota prairie, like Gatsby. Fitzgerald was cousin to Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and apparently spent some time staying with and socializing with Joseph P Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy at their home in New York.
Gatsby most definitely admitted Daisy had flaws. Did he not say that her voice was full of money? Gatsby realized she had flaws and admitted her biggest one. He knew she loved money the most (Fitzgerald made numerous references in his book), but he was unaware that she would ever not choose him after he had made something of himself (obtained a lot of money). Playboy? He had large extravagant parties for a specific reason. That was to find Daisy. At these large parties notice how he was always phlegmatic and didn’t get drunk like his guests. It is easy to joke with the psychologist, but that is only because I have no respect for the field.
as someone who grow up in a poor family and poor upbringing i can relate to the feel of shame, yes i constantly felt like peoples always had their eyes on me judges me, when i go to college most of my friends are wealthy people we did get along but there is always this feeling of out of place, or i didn’t belong in there
I have so much in common with Gatsby. I come from the same background (that I want to erase), I’m in love with a woman who clearly comes from a higher class than me (she went to an Ivy League school, I work in a factory). I understand reality, and that I will never be anything more to her than the passing glance one gives a model in a store window. We are mirrored opposites, and yet, I am captivated by her. Not just her beauty or wealth, but she represents who I would give anything to be. Now, if only I could make a few million dollars, I’d be in business.
To me, the story shows a young man doing his best to be happy, to make a life for himself, and he does this by working hard, that doesn’t work, spending wealth lavishly, that dint work, sleeping around and other immoral activities, that doesn’t work, going to war, ghat doesn’t work, going vack to his past, that doesn’t work. To me the book describes the life of a man who ‘had’ it all, but didn’t have God, and was thus unhappy. This is humanity, it’s why there’s wars and death and evil, this is why Fitzgerald was chronically unhappy. My take, happy to answer any comments. 🙂
I think Tom tried to remain in love with Daisy and just couldn’t, for some reason. Hence, why he cheated on her. I think Tom was a little bit genuinely in love with his mistress. I never could bring myself to hate Tom or Tom’s mistress. Maybe Jay Gatsby cock blocking him had something to do with Tom just kind giving up on Daisy. Daisy proves that monogamy doesn’t really come naturally for quite a lot of…… already flawed broken people.
‘Monkey Business’ has a special feature on ‘The Great Gatsby’ in MB S2E5 – A Mysterious Millionaire. Here are some other episodes for browsing – if you spot another episode you’d also like to watch, feel free to check it out, too. Have fun! MB S1E25 – Cult TV – Which show would you bring back? MB S1E23 – Grimsy MB S1E21 – Valentine’s Day MB S1E18 – Super Bowl Edition MB S1E17 – Art Gallery in the Sky MB S1E15 – Hamlet, Hobbits, and Piranhas
The movie could have been a classic. IF the soundtrack wasn’t so garbage… They employ Jay Z and Kanye West tracks all throughout the movie where there SHOULD be classical music that resonates with the era they’re living in. It would have delivered so much better as a legitimate movie, as one that doesn’t age with time. But the makers of the movies just wanted to cater to the masses who can’t focus on anything for more than a second without their shock value music…
Leonardo Di Caprio, although still pretty, is a competent actor, no more; nothing wrong with that.. The film is mediocre, not because it is unlike the book. Film is a different media altogether. This adaptation is shallow, trivial although lavishly produced. The main character is simply not complicated enough to sustain any interest for long.
Many people say “Gatsby didn’t really love Daisy, he loved the idea of her and the idea of him being with her, considering she’s aristocracy and he feels ashamed for his poor origins”. But isn’t that how most people love, anyway – because of reasons and insecurities beyond their understanding? What if Fitzgerald didn’t only make a commentary on America’s society but on love as well? And what if those two (social status and love) are interconnected? (they are). Wealthy people, especially at that era and especially women, wouldn’t marry “down” – that would make them look degraded. That is a noticeable pattern even today. The way we fall in love and the people we fall in love with, are directly linked to the way we feel about our own selves. Especially when we’re immature, we tend to fall in love not with the person, but with ourselves through the other person’s eyes, or the way we look with that person to other people’s eyes. When we lack genuine self-esteem we try to compensate via the acceptance and the characteristics of our desired partner. So the more mature we are, the healthier, safer and more substantial our love life is. If Daisy loved him back, that for Gatsby would be the ultimate reassurance; “Now I really am worthy”. Because, as we see, making money wasn’t enough for getting respect from the old money – he was still an “outsider”, and given he’d been raised poor with dreams of wealth, he was feeling an outsider for way too long. From this point of view, Gatsby, albeit shallow, did love Daisy, but for all the wrong reasons.
Distorted grief. Gatsby stuck somewhere in time. His Magical thinking…..she was NEVER what he fantasized she was….nor did she love him, he was simply a distraction from her shallow upper class privileged life. I liked the version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Spent time on Bellevue in RI and the homes are masterpieces of an era gone by and the true to life prejudice of new and old money is ridiculous but it was very real (and still is).
@1401JSC But in a way, it was a permanent loss. That time before he went off to war was his chance and he lost it on the count that he had no money and she quickly married Tom. For 5 years, he has beening grieving. Daisy could/will never be totally his because she took on Tom’s last name. And he’s been desperately trying to remove it.
I think that Daisys problem is fear. She always used to run away and in this story she is conflicted and if she wants to live with Jay, she has to open her mouth and to face the situation. I don´t think she is a bad person, just a very subordinate wife. She loved Gatsby but not enough to be brave enough to break her life and leave everything behind.
That’s where Gatsby differed, he was a man from humble beginnings who didn’t have his riches given to him, he had to earn them. Daisy had been the goal to his obsession, he had told himself that everything he had accomplished was for her, but in my opinion it wasn’t. The lifestyle of rising the ranks of social class and riches had corrupted Gatsby. It had taken his love for Daisy and corrupted it, so much so that even if he would’ve married Daisy he would’ve continued to strive for more.
I’ll address your points in reverse order. Overall, I don’t know really what your point is. I don’t really care if my comments demean a university. I also don’t care if someone is a trained physician or not. I’ve interacted with many people with a wall full of degrees who don’t know any more than someone without a degree who has put the time in thinking about things. The novel was never meant to be “the equivalent of a psychoanalyst’s notebook.” It’s a story and any story can be analyzed.
Perhaps the book doesn’t emphasize it as much, but I got the impression from the movie that the story was a retelling of Faust. Gatsby has made a pact with the devil for wealth and fame in order to win Daisy back. His only way out is to get Daisy to say that she never loved Tom Buchanan. She can’t say that, so Gatsby loses his devil’s bargain and is killed by the husband of his mistress.
I think if Gatsby didn’t get Daisy I would love to see him try understand himself and maybe find that the green light at the end of the dock was never the light he wanted, but to find that the true light was within himself. This Gatsby was really an extraordinary man, he created so much with so little, and maybe too fixated on a girl that surely wasn’t an ideal or strong woman. I believe there was more and better out there for Gatsby but I guess it was a little too late for him.
I feel like one of the key elements of the movie is the power of imagination. Even Daisy herself mentions that Gatsby has an irresistible imagination. Imagination is what got him to where he was and what killed him. His own vision of life was only missing Daisy in it. He had 99/100 but focused on why he didn’t have 100/100. Without Daisy the vision he had of his own life didn’t make sense. The point of him telling Daisy to tell Tom he never loved him is also connected to this in my opinion. He had this idealized idea of his life that he had to accomplish but realistically couldn’t anymore. This is where his delusion kicks in and he wants Daisy to act like Tom never happened, because it’s not what his perfect life would have looked like. Daisy telling him would have made him look past those 5 years, if Tom had no meaning, nothing would have had changed in Gatsby’s mind.
People don’t often bring up the mirrored similarities with the author, Fitzgerald and his inspiration for the character Daisy, Ginevra King. Fitzgerald and King did reunite later in life, only to not work out. It goes to show, that if Gatsby did attain Daisy, it doesn’t guarantee it will work, and will become disillusioned. Gatsby is meant to die, in order for this romanticism to live.
My humble opinion is that Gatsby is one of the most complex characters ever created by a writer. Compared with el Quijote of Cervantes. And at the same time, he is one the most real ones presented in the American literature. However, the sadly part, is that he represents a reality that most of us ignore. A reality that stays too deep to be written, too complex to be expressed, recognized or defined. That’s why Gatsby belongs to the literature, to the art, and not the reality.
gatsby built up a daisy in his mind and she could never live up to that. daisy is selfish and she doesn’t care how she gets what she wants or he she hurts in the process. gatsby gave his entire life to this woman who wasn’t the person he imagined her to be. he will never be able to bring back what they once had. daisy has a child with tom and that would be a constant reminder that she moved on, and she loved someone else. “so we beat on boats against the current borne back ceaselessly into the past….”
Ultimately, Jay Gatsby is an ambitious man with good ethics. Of course, his ostentatious persona comes from his poor upbringing. His tragic flaw is that he has an inability to be in present time because he fell in love with Daisy at the midpoint of leaving behind his miserable upbringing and walking into his wealthy future. In his mind, losing her makes his wealth totally meaningless. This flaw is what kills Gatsby since It’s Tom that tells George that it was Jay that killed his wife Myrtle.
Long discussion, Part II (I didn’t want the post to be too long to “stick”, so I made it into two shorter posts, instead.) The true details of that first meeting between the model for “Gatsby” and the model for “Daisy” have been lost to history. I am guessing that it must have happened at the Kennedy’s house, and that F. Scott Fitzgerald had witnessed it. I imagine Fitzgerald eavesdropping greedily on the two young people who thought they were having a private conversation. Perhaps Fitzgerald hid behind some draperies, peeking out as “Gatsby” and “Daisy” had their first conversation since “Gatsby” had left for his Rhodes Scholar year, some seven years before. By now it had been some six to eight years since they had last seen one another. The year was sometime between 1925 and 1928. “Gatsby” had been married and divorced and had started his not very lucrative career as a journalist, first in Wichita, Kansas, before moving to New York where his marriage and career had both taken a turn towards disaster. “Daisy” had duly debuted and married a husband with a fortune and connections suitable to her rank. Did either one of them actually say the words, “Rich girls don’t marry poor boys!”, or was that entirely Scott Fitzgerald’s invention? At any rate, their situation clearly evoked interest and sympathy in Fitzgerald, mainly as grist for a dramatic and rather gory, yet beautifully written work of fiction. In real life, the real people behaved with far more restraint and emotional balance than Fitzgerald’s melodramatic, somewhat puppet-like characters.
Ok wait is Gatsby and Daisy older or younger than Nick? I know Nick turns 30 towards the end of the story but if Jay was 17 when they met and they hadn’t seen each other for five years he would be 22 years old. If I got the timeline of how long Daisy and Jay knew each other before he left for the war.
Gatsby is not pictured as a playboy, so I guess this is your personal clue of him. His wealth, his ostentation and richness, luxury style and so forth make easily suppose he is a playboy. This is a huge mistake, a misinterpretation of Gatsby’s personality. And I never, never thought this of him. The first time I read THE GREAT GATSBY, I was 15 years old. I fell in love with this novel and this character. I have read it again and again across all my life and “playboy” never sprang to my mind nor Fitzgerald gives hints that could make the reader perceive Gatz as such.
I thought the Great Gatsby as Leonardo DiCaprio was a miscast. As this article explains, Gatsby had great shame, or said differently: insecurity. He’s stuck in the past and indulges his insecurities and consequently becomes sunken into patheticness. Leonardo DiCaprio could not truly capture the overarching insecurities that Gatsby bore. Its not a matter of Leo’s faults, but more that he just isn’t the man for the role when it comes to portraying characters like Gatsby.
When we studied this novel we spok about certain point which is the correption of gatsby’s work and how he became wealthy i illigal way they showed him to us like he is the only criminal in the novel for me i find he kind of victim because hi did all of this just for daisy and she did not appriciate that and she leaved him fo the second time for her good and also tom although he was working illigaly but he was always betreying her and he told welson that gatsby who was seeing his wave they ware all selfish
I´m sorry but our attraction to wealth, power, youth and beauty is not natural. It is the external influence which dictates, and suggests to pay attention to it. I know in history it has always been a role, but nowadays it is much worse since it seems like all relationships are depending on materialism and all actions aim to the domination of others.
Was not Gatsby kind of shady anyway? Was he not tied up in some bootlegging stuff I mean Daisy may have thought about all that I think that Gatsby did NOT have her kid in the grand vision. Also I mean he was without honor you don’t chase a married woman even if she is not happy. If she would have left Tom on her own that’s one thing. But he was wrong to crash into her life and screw it up worse than it was because he wanted her. He should have just been happy holding her that day and then move on. Also I’m thinking he must have seen before. He was a kid when he was in war…and in the movie and book he says he is 32 or 31. So he must have came back into town before correct? If not then that means he spent about a decade pining away or a woman he briefly dated..? That would not be healthy if true..Honestly I thought he should have dated Jordan.
Gatsby has a vision of a perfect life = Daisy. His life is far from perfect e.g bootlegging. He does not have class as he is being used as a polite face of the crime underworld to bribe the top people society to look the other way. He does not have morals just a vision which drives him on and makes him better than Tom and Daisy who don’t have any morals at all. Gatsby is tragic figure as he can never have what he desires but he does live his vision for a short while but it gets corrupted.
Gatsby’s problem was that he thought he could climb his way into everything, that he could almost be god himself. He didnt know when to let go, and when to realize that something are the way they are. Thats whats makes life romantic. When magic rises out of reality. Not when you act like the cold reality isn’t there, because you have to respect that too, or the real romance never happens. Gatsby tried to fabricate everything, but he never really got real about things. He could never accept who daisy really was, he could never face the truth about things. And it caught up with him. .
I know enough to say that an ‘ad hominem’ attack may never be considered as a good argument. As to “wasting time” – no experience is without value – you have to assume the consequences of your actions after having well reflected before carrying them out 😉 You probably know “The Great Gatsby” by heart. Have you read other books?
The story of a ‘nice guy’ with too much much money the same story we still see today. Or the story of a ‘Vet’ whoms girlfriend did not wait for him to come back home also we see that today. we forget that yes these people have everything and are shallow….but you can be broke and still a huge asswhole. Nick was the most normal person in the whole book. It was really about him, I have been Nick the friend thrown in-between the craziness of friends. Their disfuntional lives ruining yours..you sit and watch them cheat, lie to themselves. And they want you to join in part because if you don’t you remind them just how fucked up they are. And so you that here, Gastby would have never spent time with Nick if he didn’t know Daisy, also you don’t mess with married women. on a whole the book is NOT about Gatsby at all but Nick. His life nearly went to crap dealing with them. Likewise if you run a into people like this in your life RUN! Nick would have kept in love with New York and been very happy had he not. Been around his family (cuz) and Gatsby he was not a good man. Gatsby was shady and a criminal. Nick could have ended up in jail Locked away for life dealing with that guy, hanging out in underground bars ext…Also there was no way Daisy was not going to stay she killed someone. Her main goal was to get the hell out of town.
Why should the attraction to wealth, power and youth be “natural”. Aren’t we conditioned to accept these ephemeral things as objects of ambition? It is not evident that a self-made man would be ashamed of his roots. (If you had a name like Gatz, you’d probably want to change it too). However his experiences lead him to prefer not being poor. Dan Cody helped to fuel his ambition. Many people are concerned about how people perceive them. This does not mean they are necessarily insecure or ashamed.
Two corrections, a little nit-picky, but Gatsby is actually from North Dakota, though he attended school in Minnesota. Nick’s the one who was born in Minnesota. Also Nick broke up with Jordan in person, though they did have a fight over the phone. Just throwing that out there, just because I know at least the whole state thing could come up on someone’s test.
Nick’s father told him to remember when he wants to criticize someone that he needs to remember that they may not of had the same advantages as he. As a result, he has formed a habit to reserve all judgement. Gatsby represents hope. He had to die because of the sin of chasing a single dream for too long (post other important information that can appear on a test that isn’t in this article below
I remember many years ago, while reading this in high school, we read the chapter where nick went home with another man in class. The latter part of the chapter is written in an unclear manner. Nobody really understood what was happening until at the end of the chapter when one girl blurted out “THEY HAD SEX!” What followed was the universal “Ohhhhhh” and then laughter.
This makes me feel proud because I read this book in full of my own will two years ago, re-read part of it a week ago before seeing the new movie, and now I’m perusal this article because these summaries always help me understand things. I can definitely see myself perusal this just for school purposes, which is why I am proud.
It’s not specifically mentioned but it is definitely hinted at: in Chapter Two, after Myrtle’s party there is a degree of phallic innuendo in the elevator, “Keep your hands off the lever”, and then the character only remembers “standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear”. There’s also his attraction to Jordan, who is always described as having a rather masculine figure or not being conventionally pretty.
Some of these comments drive me crazy. People need to understand the big ideas and themes in this book. That’s what makes it so worth while. I personally loved the book. The amount of symbolism found in the book is crazy but it helps add so much depth and makes the book a lot more interesting. Some people have no appreciation for great American classics.
Excellent presentation – if I were to take a literature exam, this would have helped me pass it! One extremely minor point about the article itself: When it depicts Gatsby’s yacht, the vessel is not a boat from the 1920’s – it is a boat from the 1990’s or 2000’s. A vessel from the 20’s would not have a radar arch on it!
To everyone who is not just cramming for a test and is actually interested in the book….I HIGHLY suggest reading it. two weeks ago i watched the article and paused it before the end knowing i was going to read it simply because its an important part of american literature. But the book is so much more then that it gives you insights on people and social thinking in a way no other book does. Please everyone take time to bask in the uniqueness and genius that is the book “the great gatsby.”
This is a mature novel that takes someone who understands the vocabulary and the deep aspects (including symbolism) of it to understand. When I first read it during school, I was bored out of my mind, maybe it was because I was too young to understand or too distracted to care. Since I am on the autism spectrum, I have a hard time understanding “social situations” (especially complex ones) which comprises the majority of the novel (or maybe all of it). If I didn’t have autism, maybe I would understand the novel fully, but who knows. Most people who read novels only care about the plot, not about the deeper elements within. Basically, even though many of the characters in the novel act out in a civilized yet uncivilized manner (partying, drinking, smoking, lavish clothes, girlfriends, boyfriends, money, good conversation, etc.) it causes “drama” within the situations, thus causing negative consequences. To sum it up, this novel places in the philosophical category as well as the drama category, which is why many literature scholars and avid readers enjoy this novel so much. It causes them to question society (especially the American society, including the concept of the “American Dream”) as a whole while incorporating Jazz Age elements due to the time period at the time (the roaring 20’s). The “drama” within the novel makes it even more interesting to read. I am not recommending that you read the novel because everyone’s tastes are different. If you have taste in philosophy and drama yet you want it to somehow promote the deprivation of society in the extreme, this is the novel for you.
I like how people ask things like “who watched this for school?” I’m sitting here thinking nah man this is the life. I love perusal summaries of a weird rich dudes struggle to find love. I thought to myself when I woke up, yup today’s the day to lose my happiness and so I watched this. Serious thanks for the summary though, it’s very helpful and even though it might not always be the most enjoyable, it’s worth while, especially the aspect of being able to complain about it with friends.
Great synopsis – thank you. The ” greatest American novel of all time ” for me, just joins a long list of books, bestsellers quite a few of them, who are totally irrelevant to the world we are living in now. They were irrelevant to the world and time they were written in.The fictitious rich and idle having their often self created problems… an inspiration to us all ?
I never read the book, we’re just having a Gatsby themed dance at school. Just from this, Daisy sounds like the biggest effing gold digger on the planet. Nick- cool dude. I hope this is telling me he’s gay because if he’s not then mad awkward. Gatsby….idk man…you tried….but not really…. I don’t understand why an entire comity could agree that this is the best thing to have a dance about -_-
It is perfectly fine and I wholeheartedly understand. I have no problem with someone just not liking the book because it wasn’t their particular kind of novel but not liking it because you don’t want to try or because you don’t want to understand is wrong. Though thank you for responding with an intelligent answer and not just cussing me out or insulting me because you don’t agree with me like most people on the internet.
I started to read this book. When I was done with Ch. 1 I felt confused so I looked up what the book here on Sparknotes to further understand the story. After seeing the comments on Nick’s sexuality, I read Ch. 2 and I realized all the debate on it. This is my opinion: Nick IS gay because after carefully reading the first two chapters, he describes Myrtle’s sister as ‘handsome’ and Mr. McKee ‘feminine’. He also described Jordan Baker as a ‘young cadet’. And then there’s the part where he follows Mr. McKee at the end of the chapter. This lead me to believe that he is gay.
Strangely enough, even though I was an English lit major, this book never made it onto any of my reading list, neither high school nor college. After I saw the movie I fell in love with it and watched twice and went and bought the book and read it three days. Awesome book. F. Scott Fitzgerald = one awesome writer. The Great Gatsby = one really great American novel!
Oh – also, Nick didn’t fall in love with Gatsby! Gatsby represented “everything for which” Nick had “an unaffected scorn” and he “disapproved of him from beginning to end”. Although he somewhat admired him at the same time, love is too strong a word. The fact is that for most (if not all) of the book Nick hardly knew who Gatsby even was, let alone could trust or love him, and certainly not what he represented either (love of mammon) – this after all was eventually got him killed!
@twiclo It’s suggested in the book he may be, for one thing he did spend a night with a guy, he also is a generally lonely person, he has a fondness for gatsby that could stretch beyond his admiration for his dreams, there is also a little part in which an elivator boy told him to get his hand off the elivator leaver (suggestive? O_o)\r \r He may or may not be gay but he could also just be either curious, after all being gay in the time period the book was set was not common nor accepted as much.
People out in the comments really ignoring that awkwardly cut, strange and abrupt ending to Chapter 2. Like, the rest of the novel flows so well and then the end of Chapter Two is a couple paragraphs and funny sentences strung together before he says “And then I went home on the train.” You can argue what you want, but I believe there’s definitely something there. Tbh, I was kinda just droning out in class while listening to the audiobook, but when it got to that part, it really got my attention. It made me think “Wait what? What just happened? What was that about?”
It always sounds nice lovely to hear about people who are rich have a lot of but and he’s in the clean side of the story sometime as women people have made their Fortune but very rarely do they talk about the ugliness of Life Island life you basically have to Freestyle because Improv when it comes to executing strategies that you practice on paper bottom line is every successful person most of the time and had to do something that some people wouldn’t be so proud about
@twiclo yeah like everyone’s said, nothing’s made explicit, due to the time the book was written in. although it has been discussed since then, a guy called Keith Fraser in 1979 wrote an essay about the potential homosexuality between Nick and McKee…it was also mentioned about the fact that Jordan was very tomboy-ish and Nick describes her as a ‘young cadet’. And his description of Tom’s physique is a bit…vivid hahaha…so yeah, nothing’s explicit but there’s always ideas.
Hashtag on YouTube? Really? The Great Gatsby is a wonderful book, but I believe ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’, ‘1984’, ‘Brave New World’, speak volumes more than The Great Gatsby even though it is a great novel. Those books speak on more of what it is to be human and society a far more than The Great Gatsby as it it mainly only fixated on the American Dream and ideas of grandeur.
@twiclo It’s a very ambiguous scene on account of Nick being quite drunk. Keep in mind he also maintains a relationship with Jordan, a woman, for most of the novel…so make whatever conclusions you will. Nothing is ever said explicitly either way. That said, what the hell would it matter if he was?
i think majority of the people wants to do the same in their life. Sometimes your looks drown you in situations like these where people start wondering about your richness which in reality you are not and then you’ve to pretend the things they wondered about you and from there you start to hate your origin which is a very sad thing. We’ve to accept who we are.
@BritishInvador Um, no he isn’t. I don’t know why the narrator made it seem like he was, but in the book, he isn’t gay in the least. He has relationships with multiple women (Jordan and the girl in New Jersey). He isn’t really obsessed with Gatsby either. He appreciates what Gatsby stands for and is a good friend to him.
00:04 The Great Gatsby is about Jay Gatsby’s efforts to reinvent himself 01:02 Nick meets Tom’s wealthy friends and learns about Daisy’s unhappy marriage. 02:02 Nick attends Gatsby’s party and meets him for the first time 03:00 Gatsby and Daisy are still in love. 03:57 Gatsby’s expensive possessions and fabricated identity help him win over Daisy. 04:57 Gatsby confronts Tom and Daisy about their relationship. 05:57 Betrayal and tragedy mark the end of Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy. 06:55 Gatsby’s obsession with the past and the upper class leads to his downfall. Crafted by Merlin AI.
The summary is missing key information, specifically the lifestyle of the people for the time period. This plays a major role in the novel as it explains the reasons for the characters actions. While daisy is depicted to be “pure” she is actually the paragon for a gold digger, it is stated in the book between 1919 (first met Gatsby) and 1921 (time the story takes place) she was with 3 different men. First being Gatsby, who faked being rich to attract her (which did in fact work). Then a man who’s name is not mentioned (Bought her a 300,000 pearl necklace), third being Tom (whom she married) who is unbelievably wealthy. She never directly confesses to loving Gatsby, as it is implied by her actions. Lastly, Nick and Jordan NEVER DATE! I don’t know why the guide says they did. He says he could never love her due to her constant lying (which is commonplace with her and many other people), he also says after the death of Myrtle he never wants to see her, because she brushed the death off as if it was a casual encounter. The guide misses more key details, just read the book it is very short.
@ParkerLiberty Ahaha ya, it is at the very end of Chapter 2. It is just Fitzgeralds way of saying that Nick is human and Mr. McKee is gay. With all the dots…. It says “… I was standing beside his bed and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands.” Then he finds himself half asleep waiting for the four am train at the Pennslvania Station. It was funny. 🙂
I think The Great Gatsby says less about the American dream and more about personal development. You can become a better person (or more popular or successful) but the old you is always there. We also tend to romanticize money and the past too much. God help us because something better could be waiting in the wings.