Great Gatsby - Loneliness

Jay Gatsby seemed like he was on top of the world from the outside looking in. He was extremely wealthy and had hundreds of people at his house at all times; however, on the inside he was just like everyone else, lonely. The love of his life married a different man when he went off to war. He had never gotten over her and always longed for her to come back to him. He isolated himself from everything that didn’t have to do with her. He made his money, bought his house, and threw his parties in hopes to impress and get her back into his arms. He was still in need of company though. He asked Nick Carraway to go to Coney Island in his car late one night. Then, when Nick said it was too late, Gatsby asked if he’d like to go swimming. Nick turned down his offer yet again. Gatsby had all the toys, money, and people in the world to interact with yet he was still lonely because he had isolated himself so much from the outside world. Even into his death, Gatsby didn’t have anyone but a few people at his funeral. He had isolated himself so much; he never made any true

In the beginning of the chapter, he tries to win Nick’s favor, offering him a trip to Covey Island and, when he declines, to “take a plunge in the swimming-pool” together (82). During Daisy and Gatsby’s reunion, Nick acts as a third wheel toward the pair. He’s cast aside, but Gatsby refuses to let him leave because “[his] presence made them feel more satisfactorily alone” (94). Though Gatsby does show some genuine affection towards Nick, it’s mostly to earn his kindness and better use him for his own purposes. From Nick’s perspective, he and Gatsby are great friends - and to a certain extent, that is true. But in the end, it wasn’t necessarily Gatsby himself that attracted Nick, it was his incandescence, his dreams and aspirations; he was an enigma - a bright, sparkling enigma in Nick’s eyes. Throughout the book, Nick unconsciously denies this fact, allowing himself to believe that he and Gatsby are close friends. As a result, he continues hanging out with Gatsby, doing whatever he asks, and taking his side in conflicts - not always outright, but in subtle ways.

In the final few chapters we finally get to see Gatsby’s true colors. We see that Gatsby is expressing love towards Daisy when they all decide to go to New York for the day. Tom becomes suspicious and accuses Gatsby of having an affair with his wife and also being a bootlegger. Gatsby tells Tom that he and Daisy love one another and that they are going to be together like they once were in the past. Gatsby was wrong and Daisy ends up staying with Tom. Myrtle Wilson is then ran over by Daisy but Gatsby says that he will take the blame and ends up getting shot. At the beginning of this novel we thought that Gatsby was a well liked, popular guy, but it turns out that no one shows up to attend his funeral.

He cares about her so much, yet Tom has been cheating on Daisy since the beginning of their relationship. It is made clear that Tom does not value her at all, so Gatsby does not deserve the pain he receives when Daisy chooses to stay with Tom over him, because of how much he loves Daisy.

Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's parties and the way in which Nick views them to reveal that whilst Gatsby is surrounded by shallow and vulgar people, he is above this. Fitzgerald also uses these parties to expose Gatsby's isolation which leads us to feel sympathy toward Gatsby. Despite the amount of people at the party, Nick observes Gatsby's seclusion and loneliness, "my eyes fell to Gatsby, standing alone on the marble steps". This evokes a great deal of sympathy from us as although Nick describes Gatsby in a warm and friendly way, "It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life", we now can see that Gatsby is a lonely figure. This sympathy is accentuated when Nick is the only person to turn up to Gatsby's funeral, as we know that Gatsby is a decent and honourable character and thus our sympathies are emphasised by Gatsby's isolation. When Nick first meets Gatsby, he reveals Gatsby to be a fascinating character that we would like to know more about. The warm and assuring smile that Nick describes is in antithesis to the

Gatsby’s dream of being with Daisy is completely shattered by Tom’s words and Daisy’s demeanor and actions. Tom reveals the truth about the persona that Gatsby had created, known as “Jay Gatsby.” Tom tells them all that Gatsby is a “common swindler” and a “bootlegger…and [he] wasn’t far from wrong” to assume; consequently, Daisy was “drawing further into herself,” for learning how Gatsby obtained his affluence changed her mind about wanting to be with him. Her intentions of leaving Tom vanished within her, as she told Gatsby that he demanded too much of her. When it all becomes too much to bear, Daisy resorts to calling to Tom to take her away demonstrating to Gatsby that she picks Tom over him. This was Gatsby worst nightmare: to have Daisy

Tom attends the party in many ways to try and ruin Gatsby he is critical about everything like also the decorations the people that are there, the way Gatsby behaves. Anything he can criticize of he does so also he attempts to make a rumor that Gatsby is a bootlegger. And decides after the party that he will really get into Gatsby’s past and try to harm him. And this starts to take a path of destruction. It starts becoming clear that Daisy’s love for Gatsby is false just like the love for Tom and there sadly Gatsby’s love that he thought to find when he asks Daisy to abandon Tom and be at his side. So Tom wants to ruin Gatsby and Gatsby wants Daisy which is a pretty big difference and he is not looking for any paypack like Tom is.

So with that being said, he turns to making his money by illegal ways like bootlegging. Daisy is to blame for most of Gatsby’s problems because of the way she feels about money, she has affected other characters due to this issue. Gatsby has to be the most affected by Daisy and her decisions, like not waiting for him when he went to war. Daisy has Gatsby head over heels, no matter what she does, he cannot stop obsessing over her and will support her in everything she decides to do. Even to the end of the book where she kills Myrtle, Tom’s mistress with Gatsby’s car. Despite the fact that he knows that she killed a person, he still wants to take the blame for her. A little before she killed Myrtle, Tom finds out about the affair she was having with Gatsby. Tom confronts them about it and Gatsby comes clean to him and tells him what he thinks is true. Which is that Daisy loves him not Tom and she wants to leave him, yet daisy is speechless because at some point she did love Tom and is not so sure she wants to leave him. Gatsby ends up dead because of Daisy bright idea of killing someone and her husband Tom blames it on Gatsby knowing that Wilson was going to kill him. This shows the type of person Daisy is, so she has made many decisions in her past that eventually came to hunt many others in the present till the end of the book her

Gatsby never seems able to make close friend many of his so-called friends just show up to his house to party and they rarely if ever talk or even see him. When Nick arrives a Gatsby’s house he’s unable to find him. “As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find my host, but the two or three people of whom I asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an amazed way and denied so vehemently any knowledge of his movements, that I slunk off in the direction of the cocktail table – the only place in the garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone” (35). Gatsby hangs in the background and is very isolated from his “friends” at his parties and very rarely seen. Fitzgerald sees New York as being like one of Gatsby's parties, only less glamorous and full of people, and full of loneliness. Here you can see that Mr. Gatz (Jay’s father)

He wanted daisy back so they can live a delightful life together. So when Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom met up Gatsby’s hope was that Daisy and him were going to leaving together as a couple. But when they actually discussed the fact of her leaving him she confessed to Gatsby, “[she] did love tom once--but i loved you too” (Fitzgerald 132). After Tom heard this he knew that Daisy was on his side and not Gatsby’s. Since Gatsby was oblivious to Daisy’s decision, he continued to protect her from any harm that he could prevent. After myrtle's untimely demise, Gatsby decides “ to wait [there] and see if he tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon” (Fitzgerald 144). Therefore even tho Daisy did not make his dream come true, he still continued to love and care for her. He choose to see the good in Daisy and trusted that she would somehow run away with him and leave

Gatsby does well in the war and he then tries to go back to Daisy but is unable to and is sent to Oxford instead. When he comes back, he is absolutely broke and then he tries to find a job. He shows his selfishness again when he tries to get money. Gatsby meets Meyer Wolfshiem while searching for a job. He ends up getting involved in some shady, illegal business and becomes a bootlegger. Gatsby was so adamant in getting money and rising up in society that he was willing to do whatever it took to get money. His greed and selfishness led him to do illegal things that he shouldn’t have been doing. Gatsby ends up buying a house across from Daisy where he was hoping to reconnect with her again. He again shows his selfishness by wanting to reconnect and rekindle his love with her even though she is already married to Tom Buchanan. Daisy is clearly taken and Gatsby wants her to leave Tom and go away with him since now Gatsby isn’t poor and can provide for her. Even now, he still selfishly hides the truth by lying about his education and not telling the truth about the source of his wealth. He even confronts Tom about his love for her saying “she never loved you. She loves me.” (Fitzgerald 137) Gatsby’s selfishness ends up costing him his life at the very end. He does end up showing some selflessness by taking the blame for the accident even though Daisy was the one driving.

“He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you’ ” (Fitzgerald Chapter 6). This is when it is very clear what Gatsby is trying to accomplish, his goal is to get Daisy to abolish all the experiences she’s had with Tom. Gatsby wants Daisy to follow his ideals and to try and spark their past together. Although Daisy is stuck between choosing Tom and Gatsby, she realizes that the past cannot be relieved, because she has experienced too much with Tom, and that Tom also has a major influence in her

Finally, Jay Gatsby’s delusions draws more pity for him. Daisy comes from a rich family and chances of her ending up with Gatsby, a poor soldier, is totally unrealistic. Furthermore Gatsby wants Daisy to “ go to Tom and say: ‘I never loved you’” (105) but Daisy asserts that “ [she] can’t say [she] never loved Tom…It wouldn’t be true.”(126) Jay cannot grasp the present reality that Daisy could not leave Tom permanently, especially when the fruit of their love is already three years of age.

Each person went through something in the book that has made them want to be around others. There’s also a sign of loneliness when Gatsby had his parties and people showed up but he never introduced himself. “Separates himself from other guests at his parties” (Great). He contained his loneliness by having few friends and doing everything revolving Daisy “loves Daisy and has been waiting for her to return to him for many years” (Great). Who has her on problems on not getting the attention she wants or deserves pursuing money has been her life goal. Daisy’s lonely because she devoted her life to money and never knew the true meaning of love. Her husband Tom Buchanan became a very greedy man he didn’t care about anyone but himself and his image.

All through the book, Gatsby's mind is stuck on getting Daisy back. He thinks that in one magical moment, Daisy will leave Tom and return to his bed for a fairy tale ending. After he comes back from the war his thoughts are on his love's betrayal, her marriage. He sees his actions as a method of love, but his thoughts are ill hearted towards others. He has been involved in illegal financial methods and is trying to break up a marriage for his own gain in life. After their fling officially begins, Gatsby has Daisy lying to Tom and he is convincing her that she never loved her husband. Gatsby thinks that by getting Daisy to realize her marital mistakes, she will simply leave Tom and marry him.  He is corrupting a relationship and an individual further than their present state of dishonesty. He thinks that his plans are going accordingly until a heated discussion breaks out and he is on the losing end. He has ended up emotionally unbalancing Daisy to the point where she accidentally kills someone. Gatsby then takes the blame like it was nothing with the thought that it is his duty. Gatsby's train of thought was a bit off the tracks and did crash and burn, but who could blame a man in love,