"You haven't lived until you've died in New York City." -Simone De Beauvoir
What preyed on Gatsby? New York is where greedy people go to spawn and create more greedy people. Jay Gatsby and Daisy Bucannon were no exception. Daisy hadn't seen Gatsby for almost 5 years, and she holds herself together until she spots the most beautiful...shirts. After having Jay practically come back from the dead, she begins to break down over the most exquisite clothing she has ever seen, no matter that the man she loves has come back for her. Daisy is a materialistic(LINK) person. She fell in love with Tom's money, not Tom himself. At the end of the book, instead of rushing to Nick's side after Gatsby's tragic death, she has nothing to do with either of them. She took the easy way out; staying with Tom. Daisy ultimately chose love over money, revealing her true colors when it mattered the most. Although Daisy loved Gatsby, she was too obsessed with the American Dream to ever truly give him her heart. What preyed on Gatsby was that, even with all his wealth, all of his fame, he couldn't keep Daisy's heart to himself. No matter how much he tried, part of her would always belong to Tom and, more importantly, to his bank account.
Jay Gatsby did not turn out all right. Nick Carroway's thesis has been absolutely rejected, and he was biased and blinded by his love for Gatsby. Jay Gatsby turned out dead. He died, still pining after Daisy, still being preyed on by "the foul dust floating in the wake of his dreams." His demise was more than pointless as well and could have been easily avoided. If Daisy had been smarter, less wound-up heading home the night Tom found out about the affair, she never would have hit Myrtle Wilson and Gatsby would have lived. Jay Gatsby threw 5 years of his life away attempting to win back the heart of a girl who is a materialistic and shallow gold digger. There is no doubt that while reading "The Great Gatsby", one can question how intimate the relationship between Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway really was. My hypothesis is that, if it were revealed that Carraway "played for the other team," the iconic novel may have been interpreted differently. During the book, Nick is very eloquent with his descriptions of the men and women. He throws emotion and beauty into his words, attempting to portray the characters as accurately as possible. However, every narrator is biased, and that is clear in Nick Carraway's story... I enjoyed looking at her. She was a slender, small-breasted girl, with an erect carriage, which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet. Her gray sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming, disconcerted face.
Carraway's description of Jordan Baker is one of a schoolboy who is in love with the idea of a female. He describes her with an air of attraction, yet his words can be interpreted differently. When Gatsby spoke of Daisy, he highlighted of her sensual personality, her lilting voice, and most distinctly, her sex appeal. When men look at women, they think of them as either visually appealing, or not. This traces back to the roots of human instinct; men and women wish to mate with pleasant looking people, assuming that together they will create stronger offspring. As Gatsby talks of Daisy, he reverts back to his earlier instincts. However, looking at that description of Jordan Baker from Nick Carraway's eyes, he does not reveal that passion and longing. Rather, he describes her as "polite, disconcerted and curious." One does not describe a lover with such little passion. He had changed since his New Haven years. Now he was a sturdy straw-haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner. Two shining arrogant eyes had established dominance over his face and gave him the appearance of always leaning aggressively forward. Not even the effeminate swank of his riding boots could hide the enormous power of that body — he seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat. It was a body capable of enormous leverage — a cruel body.
Now, we look at Nick's description of Tom Buchanan. It reveals a side of artistry in Carraway. You can see how beauty leaks out of his words when he talks with such passion. He romanticizes Tom, turning him into this appealing figure of a man. Women are generally attracted to men who seem dangerous. It appears that Carraway would be no different; while he speaks of Tom, he weaves a golden thrones that he will place the man upon. While highlighting the cruelty of his body, he also speaks of how built Tom is, focusing on his brawn. In just that one paragraph, he betrays a lust for a man's body.
A tragic flaw is a failing that does not necessarily make itself known. When one is tragically flawed, according to "Tragedy and the Common Man", their flaw does not always affect them at all. The flaw is only active in those who refuse to have their dignity challenged. Jay Gatsby's tragic flaw was his pride, and the person challenging his dignity was himself. He would not believe that Daisy had ever loved her husband, couldn't fathom that she could ever love another other than himself. When they headed for the hotel in New York City, Tom Buchanan knew about the affair between Gatsby and Daisy, and already he was calculating how to create a chasm between them. On the other hand, Gatsby was comfortable in his position of power. He believed that nothing could dethrone him from the center of Daisy's heart. However, when all hell broke loose at the hotel, his confidence was shattered when he learned that his throne wasn't nearly as safe as he thought it was. As reality struck, Gatsby's fatal flaw took center stage, and he turned into a monster. He completely lost control, and as he lost his control, he lost Daisy as well. Tom, assuming that pride was what wounded Gatsby, added insult to injury by taking control of the situation. He asserted his dominance over the situation by declaring the affair over. In a way, he was correct, because just that week Gatsby was murdered, ending the affair as well as the story. For more on "Tragedy and the Common Man" click here
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