The American Illusion

In The Great Gatsby, the eponymous protagonist achieves great wealth and fortune, displayed through extravagant descriptions of his colossal mansion and grandiose parties. However, all of the worldly success is not his ultimate goal; throughout the novel, Gatsby chases Daisy- or at least, his idea of her. 

In Chapter 5, Gatsby reunites with Daisy after five years. At this moment, everything he's ever worked for and wanted is realized- the money, the house, the girl... yet still, Nick notices in Gatsby's face that "a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness." (Fitzgerald 95) Over the course of the five years without her, Gatsby had created this image of her that eventually, she became unreal, a mere embodiment of his idealistic fantasies. 

Nick notices that this dream has swallowed Gatsby's consciousness, distorting his sense of reality- and his imagination "had gone beyond her, beyond everything" (Fitzgerald 95)- Gatsby loves the Daisy fabricated in his head more than who she herself is. So inevitably, Daisy falls short of the impossible ideal that Gatsby has drawn of her.

It is not her fault that over the years, Gatsby created a perfect Daisy, one that no one could possibly live up to. This foreshadows the failure of Gatsby's reconciliation with Daisy, and his character's ultimate demise. 

His prodigality and flashiness may make Gatsby seem like he is having the time of his life, but in truth, everything is shallow and vain. The irony of the situation is that even though Gatsby has all of this money now, all of this wealth that he didn't have when he was with Daisy- he cannot buy happiness, and he still cannot win her back. His American Dream is too good to be true. 



Comments

  1. MaaryaOctober 29, 2022 at 7:45 PM

    I like how you related daisy's blown up image in gatsby's mind to how he is never happy in his parties because she is missing from them, i also loved how the image you chose really captured the grandiose and excessive nature of his parties and his life.

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  2. Gautham October 30, 2022 at 9:40 AM

    I thought it was interesting that you showed Gatsby’s idealized image of Daisy. We know how the past drove the motivations of his life, which was solely about Daisy. However the past got distorted in a way that Daisy wasn’t a person, but simply an idea.

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  3. Halle ChenOctober 30, 2022 at 11:32 AM

    I loved the line "Nick notices that this dream has swallowed Gatsby's consciousness, distorting his sense of reality- and his imagination "had gone beyond her, beyond everything"" It's sad to see Gatsby so disappointed by reality and the fact that Daisy would never really leave her status to be with him (all the more reason to root for jordan and nick ngl) but he brought it upon himself creating an image of the "ideal" Daisy

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  4. Singing My Way ThroughOctober 30, 2022 at 12:44 PM

    I like how you touched on Gatsby's idea of Daisy becoming a fantasy, and related it to his sense of everything being changes because of this idea of Daisy becoming distorted.

    ReplyDelete

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