Obsession In The Great Gatsby

Jay Gatsby, the title character of the novel is an incredibly wealthy young man, living in a medieval mansion in West Egg on an imaginary area of Long Island. Gatsby has many laudable traits. For example, he is filled with optimism and the ability to transform his dreams into reality. Jay is also extremely faithful to his true love, Daisy Buchanan, even to the point of death. When we first meet Gatsby, he is the aloof host of the fantastically opulent parties thrown every weekend at his mansion. It appears he is surrounded by wondrous luxury and is courted by beautiful women and the rich and powerful men of the time. Jay is also a very admirable character due to his status of wealth and being a hero of War World I, “In the Argonne Forest I took two machine gun detachments so far forward that there was half a mile gap on either side… I was promoted to be a major, and every Allied government gave me a decoration- even Montenegro”. However, Nick who narrates the book views Gatsby as a flawed man who is dishonest, deceitful, a liar, and a dreamer whom is searching for answers in the past, “he talked a lot about the past, and I gathered that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself, perhaps, that had gone into loving Daisy… if he could once return to a certain starting place and go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was…”

What will the obsessions in your life lead you to make careless decisions? Throughout the book many characters develop obsessions that affect their life. These obsessions are inadequate because they give the characters a false sense of what happiness is and makes them very relentless when trying to acquire these obsessions. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has many characters obsessed with money, partying, drinking, and cars.

<br>Before this quote, Tom had no inkling of Gatsby and Daisy's secret affair and when he finds out, it makes him crazed. The thought of not having control over his women, made him furious. He also thought that to love someone, you had to dominate them and the moment he realizes that he has lost this domination, he panics because he thinks that maybe Daisy doesn't love him anymore. Gatsby senses that Tom is upset which gives Gatsby a sense of power since it is now he who has control over Daisy, for the time being.

In the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald he talks about various society topics such as obsession over wealth and status. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby as a character to show his obsession for other people acceptance that leads him to change everything about himself which suggests that obsession over wealth and status makes people become morally corrupt.

As the story goes on, there was a time that Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby had a confrontation. Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him but what Gatsby didn’t know is that Daisy was lying to him as well. Daisy did actually love Tom Buchanan. Daisy said, “I don’t think she ever loved him... Of course she might have loved him just for a minute, when they were first married and--loved me more even then” (Fitzgerald 152).

“So we find ourselves pretending one more day.” Trying to hold on to what is in the past, what will probably never happen again, or is very unlikely to. With love comes attachment, but attachment is different than obsession, which is far from love. An excerpt from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Boats against the Current” a poem by Eric Carmen show, explicitly, that love and obsession are very different. Being stuck in the past, which is shown throughout these two sources, is a very internal battle, mentally, and can cause emotional distress on the individual. These two sources demonstrate the theme and idea of the inability to move on after a lost love, which is a man versus self conflict.

“There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved” (“George Sand Quotes”). Since the beginning of time, part of human nature is to desire love and affection. However, this desire goes beyond physical appearances. Love possesses people and can make them do unimaginable things. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, unreciprocated feelings turn Gatsby’s initial lust into an obsessive desire to love.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a astounding novel set back in the summer of 1922 in long island that deals with millionaire name Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby is one of the main characters who's a protagonist that tries to reunite with an old lover that he lost 5 years before name Daisy Buchanan. He then spends his wealth on throwing lavish parties just across the lake from her in hopes of her to come by and check the party out. This leads to him to gain in riches, finding his love, and to finally then all come to an end. Before Gatsby was Gatsby he was James Gatz ,he came from a poverty-stricken family of unsuccessful farmers from north dakota.

Obsession is defined as “A persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling” or “a compelling motivation”. (Merriam-Webster, 2018). Obsession is also where someone becomes infatuated with something or someone where it becomes dangerous. People can lose their sense of reality and only focus on their obsession. It can make their friends or family be negatively affected by their obsession. Wallpaper, Birth Mark, and Gatsby each show how obsession tears someone’s mental state apart.

Throughout literature love has become a prominent theme. Tales of lovers utterly infatuated with each other to the bitter end has kept the world captivated for millennia. Although perceived as romantic, there is a very thin line between love for each other and having an unhealthy obsession. This line is only revealed when the love is somewhat one sided. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby reveals this line through Gatsby’s love for Daisy. Ever since Jay Gatsby laid eyes on Daisy Buchanan he has been completely in love with her, willing to do anything to be with her.

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published in 1925 and examines the interesting theme of the American Dream. Jay Gatsby is a fairly young man who appears to have everything he could ever need with his riches, but he lacks the one thing he truly wants: Daisy Buchanan. The book explores his dedication to Mrs Buchanan and how he will do anything for her.

Even though she was not his wife, Tom still was left broken hearted. The two people he loved most had given up on him and one was gone for good. Toward the end of the chapter, Gatsby tells Daisy to admit that she never loved Tom. Even though she ended up saying she couldn’t say it because she did love him at one point, she still didn’t love him at one time. At this point I think Tom realized how much he had hurt Daisy and how she had basically given up on him to be with Gatsby.

In The Great Gatsby, the main character Gatsby is stuck on a love he had for Daisy in the past. Daisy doesn’t really feel the same way about him though. Gatsby needs to realize that the love they shared is long gone and he can’t get that back. Daisy and her husband Tom have major relationship issues in their marriage. Tom is constantly cheating on Daisy, and we know that Daisy knows that there’s something going on with Tom.

The Great Gatsby written by Scott Fitzgerald is a historical fiction novel taking place during the 1920’s in New York. This book is about how a man named Gatsby fell in love with a girl named Daisy Buchanan and spent the rest of his life trying to impress her and win her heart back. No matter what Gatsby does, he can not impress Daisy enough to get her to leave Tom Buchanan which affects his future. When looking through the social power lens and reading this book you realize how money and class status affects Tom and Daisy’s relationship as well as Gatsby’s relationship with them and the choices they all make.

The Great Gatsby written by F.Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1926. The novel is set in the early nineteen twenties in the post world war one era and takes place in the New York on the west and east egg of Long Island. The novel explores the life of the central character, Jay Gatsby. Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, tells of Gatsby's ongoing quest to win over the love of Daisy, despite her marriage with Tom Buchanan. Fitzgerald uses ideologies and marginalizes class, education, race and gender to represent the moral decay of the nineteen twenties and of society in general. Without the marginalization of these social groups than the reader would not be able to identify with certain characters and would not be able to either