The Great Gatsby Dreams

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ndoned as she did when Gatsby left her to fight in the war. Throughout the whole story marriage is never taken seriously. Catherine Jordan, Daisys friend, said that Tom and Daisy could not stand each other. Gatsby accepts the fact that marriages rarely represent true love, and does not hesitate to tell his love to Daisy right in front of Tom.Myrtle's love for Tom was doomed to failure due to her lower social standing. This large social gap appears when Tom had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world (130).

The couple is never meant to be. Gatsby had experienced this exact situation with Daisy when he was in the army. One of the central themes shown here is that money and social standing is why people do or do not get married.On one side of the coin you have the rich that cannot be involved with the poor, and the poor who want to be involved with the rich. Obviously the lack of true love, principles, and morals is why none of these people are truly happy.

Tom Buchanan is not the only wealthy man in a position of power that's using the people around him to climb the social ladder. Nick, who lived next door to Gatsby, was used by Jay to get him closer to Daisy. Gatsby and Nick became close friends as the summer progressed; over this time, Gatsby reveals that he is hopelessly in love with Daisy Buchanan, a woman that he knew and loved before the war.Nick, Daisy's cousin, conveniently lived right next door to Gatsby. Gatsby hadn't used anybody or anything before, so he pulls all of his favors to try to run into Daisy.

Jay had confronted Jordan at a party of his about how he had yearned for Daisy for the nearly five years that they hadn't seen each other. He uses Nick and Nick's social standing to show Daisy how poor Nick is in comparison to himself. Nick was used by Gatsby to get to Daisy, but he never realized it. All the people that surrounded Nick were determined to achieve a sense of happiness, no matter whom they hurt.

They all saw something that they wanted, and they all used each other to obtain their idea of happiness, no matter how temporary. The sad part of the story is that nobody ever reached his or her dreams of happiness. With all of the money that Daisy had, she was not happy. She constantly strived to keep herself busy by social interaction or physical pleasure.

She said in the story, What'll we do with ourselves this afternoonand the day after that, and the next thirty years (125).Daisy was never truly happy. Her statement shows that she had nothing meaningful in her life, even though she had a husband and a daughter. Jay was determined not to be happy until he had Daisy, and Tom was not happy with Daisy or his other affairs. When Jay and Daisy had there first meeting, the old love was rekindled. Through many meetings between the two, Jays love became stronger and stronger.

Jay soon wanted Daisy to leave Tom, but she was against the idea.Jay would never be satisfied as just her lover, and wanted to marry her. One day, Jay, Daisy, Catherine, Nick and Tom was all at Toms house having lunch. Tom was catching on to Daisys affection for Jay and was very jealous. As the day went on, they decided to go to the city for the day.

At the hotel Jay pushes the issue and openly speaks of his love for Daisy and her love for him.Tom of course is blinded with rage. Jays desire is for Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him. It was as if Jay wanted to erase the events that had happened when he left for the war, and to pick up right where they left off.

For this to be a reality to Jay, to him Daisy had to say that she always loved Jay and never loved Tom. Tom became very angry and Jay and Daisy left in his car.Nick, Tom, and Catherine left some time after. On the way home Daisy was so distraught that she did not see a lady running towards them from the road.

The lady was Myrtle, Toms lover, and thought that Tom was the one who was driving. She was trying to escape from her husband George who had found out about her affair. Daisy hit Myrtle and killed her, but instead of stopping she drove away.As we saw in the Plaza Hotel, Jay still believed that Daisy loved him.

He was convinced of this, which he shows when he takes the blame for Myrtle's death. Was Daisy driving? Yes..but of course I'll say I was.

(151) He also watches and protects Daisy as she returns home. How long are you going to wait? All night if necessary. (152) Jay cannot accept that the past is gone and done with.Jay is sure that he can capture his dream with wealth and influence.

He believes that he acted for a good beyond his personal interest and that should guarantee success. The story ends with George taking Jays life in the belief that Jay killed his wife, Myrtle. George then kills himself having nothing else to live for. The only person to really go to Jays funeral was Nick.I find this interesting considering all of the people who knew Jay. He had people that worked for him, people that worked with him, and his few acquaintances.

In the end no one really cared about Jay, and end the end his money meant nothing. To some people the American dream is to make money, to some people it is to become famous. To Jay, it was to be married to Daisy. Jays dream was forbidden to start with because she was married.Jays dream was diluted because he wanted things to be as they were in the past.

And finally, Jays dream was his own death, in that the rest of his life was spent trying to relive the past. His dream consumed his life so much that it had changed him to the point where he was no longer a human. He was more of a zombie who was driven to do anything it would take to realize his dream. The Great Gatsby as he came to be known, was just a young boy who wanted love more than anything else in life.His strong ambition, and immoral ways to achieve his dream took him to his grave. His life in this story is one of constantly wanting what other people have, whether it is money, social standing, or another mans wife.

It is my belief that is what F. Scott Fitzgerald wants us to take home with us. The dangers of coveting what other people have. Bibliography Selected Bibliography Novelguide.com. Novel Analysis, The Great Gatsby.

Online. Available: http://www.novelguide.com/thegreatgatsby/novelsumm ary.html. June 9, 2000.

Andrew Dilling. The Great Gatsby Website. Online.Available: http://www.

geocities.com/andrew dilling/. June 9, 2000. Fitzgerald, F.

Scott (1996). The Great Gatsby The Authorized Text.New York, NY: Addison Wesley Longman Inc.