Internalized Existential Crisis In The Great Gatsby, By F. Scott Fitzgerald

Maddy Miller

Mrs. Reed

Accelerated English 11

4 May 2023

Internalized Existential Crisis

The drive for money spirals into external greed. People who obtain large sums of money tend to become self-absorbed, and they only act for their best interests. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby fell in love as a poor man. He obtained money to impress the girl he loved, but as his wealth continued to accumulate overtime, his life became filled with greed. The girl he was in love with fell in love with another man’s wealth, resulting in the Buchanans being self absorbed. Nick watches the corruption happen from wealth, but he is not influenced negatively by it because he does not strive or retain such money. Through the incorporation of

After acquiring his wealth, Gatsby started investing it into materialistic objects that he believed would impress Daisy. When he revealed the reason behind the masquerade of wealth to Nick, Nick was blunt; “The modesty of the demand shook me. He had waited five years and bought a mansion where he dispensed starlight to casual moths—so that he could ‘come over’ some afternoon to a stranger’s garden” (Fitzgerald 83). The fact that Gatsby had invested so much time and wealth into acquiring his house filled with impressive objects just to impress a girl he loved five years ago shows how self-absorbed Gatsby is. He was living in the past, trying to recreate a feeling he once experienced. By doing this, he made new friends and connections all for the sake of his goal. Since he obtained his wealth, Gatsby has used his money to manipulate those around him to fulfill his desire to see Daisy. Furthermore, once Gatsby has reunited with Daisy, he pushes her to have utter control over her emotions. Daisy, feeling distraught, exclaimed to Gatsby that “‘you want too much!’ she cried too. ‘I love you now—isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’ She began to sob helplessly. ‘I did love him once—but I loved you too’” (139-140). After manipulating those around him to reunite with Daisy, Gatsby now

Daisy was torn between love and wealth when she had to choose between waiting for Gatsby or marrying Tom. After receiving a letter from Gatsby, “She wouldn’t let go of the letter. She took it into the tub with her and squeezed it up into a wet ball, and only let me leave it in the soap-dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow [...] Next day at five o’clock she married Tom Buchanan without so much as a shiver, and started off on a three months’ trip to the South Seas” (Fitzgerald 81). Daisy was emotionally torn between her decision, but ultimately she decided to go with the man who will provide for her the most. She picked herself up just hours before the wedding because she was ready to obtain happiness through materialistic objects. By choosing wealth over love, Daisy thinks only about how her decisions will affect her. There was no regard for how Gatsby would feel, and she was more than willing to put on a show for Tom if it meant she got to live lavishly. As her life with Tom continued, she obtained more materialistic value, losing more of her emotions. At the end of the novel, Daisy hits and kills a person while driving, yet she is not distraught about it. Nick analyzes her life with Tom; “They were careless people, Tom and —they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or