Numerous accounts of literature display the significance of past events to the details of the present or future. Many novels show certain behaviors or actions of characters that are directly related to things that have happened in the past. This literary technique is evident in the novel The Great Gatsby, a book written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In this story, the lavish life in the 1920s is personified by a diverse group of people living in New York. The main focus of the story is a mysteriously wealthy man named Jay Gatsby.
However, does Gatsby really love Daisy or just love the image that Daisy stands for? This paper focuses on the question by analyzing the image of Gatsby and Daisy deeply and finally gets an answer that Gatsby only cared about his dream and Daisy was a part of his dream, that’s why he cared about Daisy so much. 1. The introduction of Gatsby Gatsby, whose really name was James Gatz, was born in a poor family. His parents were shiftless and unsuccessful farm people.
Shakespeare presents the theme of ambition in Macbeth. Ambition is a strong desire to do or achieve something, ambition can also be presented in a positive and negative way. Shakespeare presents ambition in a negative way through some characters who are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and King Duncan. The reason these characters present ambition in a negative way is because they end up dying. Ambition is also present in a positive way through some characters who are Macduff, Witches and Malcolm these are the characters who survive in the play showing that you can be ambitious but not too ambitious.
Jay Gatsby is a young, mysterious millionaire with shady business connections which would later be found out to be bootlegging. He is originally from North Dakota, but now resides in West Egg. He is obsessed with Daisy Buchanan whom he had met when he was a young military officer stationed in the South during WWI. Daisy Buchanan is an attractive, self-absorbed, young debutante and socialite. She is Nick Caraway’s second cousin, once removed, and the wife of Tom Buchanan.
Gatsby has spent his whole life trying to prove to Daisy and everyone around him that he is worthy of her. The only way to be on the same social level as her is to turn himself into new money. Since this is not possible, he has to try to convince to others that he truly is old money. To do this, he becomes rich, and lies about his past, but the only way for him to complete this idea is if he is with Daisy. She is the final piece in his American dream.
Gatsby spent their years apart motivated to win over Daisy by gaining wealth. In his eyes, gaining wealth became equivalent to getting Daisy. He stated, “her voice is full of money” (Fitzgerald, 2004, p.120). His life revolved around money and Daisy, who had symbolically chosen Tom’s pearls and wealth over Gatsby’s letter of love. He threw parties in order to attract her with his wealth.
Firstly, Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy led to his successes that eventually led to failures of money. Gatsby understands winning over Daisy he must impress her with money. Therefore, he starts illegal affairs (bootlegging) to become rich. Gatsby wanted to become rich enough so Daisy can love him and want to be with him. This quote for example shows that, “The one on my right was a colossal affair by a standard-it was a factual imitation of some hotel de ville in Normandy with a tower on one side spanking new under a thin beard of raw in, and a marble swimming pool, and more than…”(pg.11).
Gatsby’s actions towards becoming rich may be due to illegal smuggling acts, but his intentions and reason behind doing it is purely driven by his undying love towards Daisy. Jordan Baker narrates Daisy and Gatsby’s past relationship to Nick and afterwards she says, “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would just be across the bay. (p.79)” This shows that Gatsby’s actions are motivated by his hope to reconnect with Daisy one day and allow her to see how much success and power he has acquired. He also threw lavish parties during the weekends in the anticipation of having Daisy wander off to one of them, but despite that, they only met due to the help of Nick inviting both of them over for tea.
He had the opportunity of creating a big life for himself on his own, but he never took it. This is similar to Sean Parker in the Social Network because he had went to Harvard, but also did not finish. (Find example in movie scene). This shows that neither of the characters valued education, and were somehow brought up and ended up making a lot of money. Their american dream came to them at the time, and didn’t have to work much for until they realized it wasn’t enough and had to try for what they really wanted, which for Gatsby was to have Daisy, and for Parker to have a big website and to be known along with
In “The Great Gatsby”, Gatsby himself has set his focus on being viewed as this wealth man who did in fact come from wealth (even when he did not). He consistently portrays this man to hide the past and create an image for himself. He also pursues his dreams of winning over the heart of Daisy to create happiness. He did everything in his power to get her to notice him: moved to live near her, threw roaring parties in hope that she would eventually show up,
What is ambition? Ambition is the determination to achieve one’s goals. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare the protagonist, Macbeth, possesses ambition, which led to his downfall. In the play Macbeth’s ambition is driven by prophecies from witches and his wife’s aspiration. Ambition caused Macbeth to commit multiple homicides and after those wrongdoings Macbeth is left with nothing. At the end of the play, Macbeth’s ambition caused him to lose Lady Macbeth to suicide and to no longer have moral sense. Ambition led to Macbeth’s downfall because Lady Macbeth and the witches caused him to make brainless decisions that caused his collapse.
In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby had one goal; Gatsby had spent his life trying to get rich and avoid poverty, which he successfully did. However, his goal was to capture the heart of one Daisy Buchanan. At one point, Daisy had been Gatsby's girlfriend. He wanted to marry her, but was sent off to war, World War I. Nick Carraway, the novel's narrator, had come to know Gatsby very well. Nick was Daisy's cousin and lived right next door to Gatsby.
The road to a fatal outcome can be observed through many different qualities but excessive ambition is one of the main downfalls for most of us in society. Evil motivation due to uncontrollable and unnecessarily high ambition produces difficult obstacles in our lives. We could also become blind to making the right and moral decisions when our ambition is unrestrained. Additionally, all of the paths and routes for immoderate ambition leads to destruction and disorder. Another important note to keep in mind is that chaos and complications will be rooted from not only extravagant ambition but also poor decision making. The choices we make reflect ourselves and represents what we have been through with our lives and what experiences we have with certain areas in life. In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the concept of ambition to explore its impact on Macbeth’s personality and thoughts.
The theme of ambition is clearly seen from the several hallucinations that Macbeth experiences throughout the play. Moments before the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth imagines a bloody dagger with the handle pointing towards his hand, and said dagger guides him into Duncan’s room before vanishing. While following the dagger, Macbeth says to himself, “I see thee yet, in form as palpable /As this which now I draw. /Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going; /And such an instrument I was to use.” (2.1.47-50) The dagger strengthens Macbeth’s conviction to murder the king. The dagger prompts Macbeth to hold its handle, guides him to Duncan’s room, and splotches of blood materialize to confirm that the king will die. Therefore, the actions
Throughout The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the main focus of the plot appears to be on the erratic relationships that Nick, the narrator, observes over his time spent in West Egg. The main relationship however is the romance between Nick’s wealthy neighbor Jay Gatsby, and Nick’s cousin Daisy Buchanan, who is married to a rich man named Tom Buchanan. Over the course of the book, Gatsby’s “love” for Daisy leads both of them to pursue an affair that ends in the death of Gatsby, by a man who mistook him for his wife’s killer. The book, at first glance, attempts to make the romance of Gatsby and Daisy seem like a wonderful heart-wrenching reunion of two lovers after years of being apart from one another. However, there are many signs that