Examples Of Imagery In The Great Gatsby

Deciving Images
All the words and actions people take throughout their life will determine whether or not they were great. In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby lives the life of a remarkable man, but his words and actions reveal he is not truly great. Nick, a good friend of Gatsby’s narrates his life story. Nick reveals Gatsby lives a rich and lavish lifestyle, but it is a mystery how he obtained this. Nick also reveals Gatsby is obsessed with trying to earn back his former lover, Daisy Buchanan, even though she is already married to a man named Tom. It is eventually revealed that Gatsby was not truthful with society about how his life such as his name and occupation. Despite the lavish life and image Gatsby creates for

Gatsby’s love for Daisy is all-consuming, to the point where he is willing to sacrifice other parts of his life for her. Gatsby sacrifices his social life because he spends too much time focusing on Daisy to make any real friends, even though he appears to have many. After Gatsby’s death, many people were expected to show up to his funeral, but his only true friend Nick was the only one who came. Nick waited for more people to show up “But it wasn’t any use. Nobody came” (Fitzgerald 174). Even though Gatsby gives off the appearance of a very rich and popular person, he was not popular at all. Due to limiting his social life to only Daisy, he did not have the opportunity to make other connections. Gatsby’s obsession with Daisy also contributes to his terrible societal image. He tries to protect Daisy by taking the blame for killing a woman named Myrtle when in reality Daisy is the one who killed Myrtle. This leads to allegations of Gatsby being a murderer and breaks down his already fragile reputation. Gatsby’s decision to take the blame for Myrtle's death made him look guilty in both the eyes of the public and the law. This tarnished his already questionable reputation and made him a social outcast, in life and in death. Gatsby's inability to move on from Daisy is rooted in his desire to repeat the past. He believes that if he can recreate his past relationship with Daisy he can also recapture the happiness and success he experienced during that time. When Gatsby is having a conversation with Nick, he is warned that he should not repeat the past. Gatby finds this ridiculous and can not believe that someone would think he “‘Can’t repeat the past?’” and responds to Nick ‘Why of course you can!’” (Fitzgerald 110). Gatsby’s memories of his past with Daisy are linked to his feelings of hope and optimism. He associates Daisy with a time in his life when he was full of potential and believed that he could