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How Does Daisy Corrupted In The Great Gatsby

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TGG Essay In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald offered commentaries surrounding a number of different themes - morality, wealth, betrayal, and power. But the theme that surrounded and followed the book’s title character - Jay Gatsby from his beginning to his downfall, is no other than the American Dream. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s ultimate fate reflects the declining state of the American Dream in the 20s, which is becoming increasingly materialistic and corrupted. Jay Gatsby perceives material wealth as the gateway to joining the echelons of the “old riches”, and the key to win back the heart of Daisy. In pursuit of his American Dream, Gatsby hosted extravagant parties and invested heavily in his relationships with the “old riches.” He pays great attention …show more content…

Daisy has always wanted happiness, and it seems she has obtained that happiness when she married Tom Buchanan. However, as the novel progresses, it becomes incrementally apparent that Tom and Daisy’s relationship is not ideal, but in fact far from it. Tom tends to be abusive towards Daisy and cares very little about her. “She never questioned that he (Tom) is a wealthy WASP” (Schreier), and Daisy thought she gained everything by marrying Tom; wealth, love and happiness which are all parts of the American Dream. However, when Daisy is reunited with her old love, Gatsby, she had a sudden epiphany. “They’re such beautiful shirts, it makes me sad because I’ve never seen such – such beautiful shirts before.” (Fitzgerald, 89) At this moment she breaks down, for she had realized she had married money, not love. She also realized that instead of marrying Tom for money, she could have married Gatsby for both love and money. The once perfect Tom in her eyes is no longer the ideal man, and Daisy’s chase for her American Dream ended only in regret and

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