Desire In The Great Gatsby

964 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes of Birches

An individual’s desire to achieve a goal can completely alter their personality and their daily routines. Throughout the texts Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and “Birches” by Robert Frost, the nature of desire changes the characters development and actions as they respond to each different event. The characterization of Roza, Gatsby and the speaker all clearly demonstrate the powerful nature of desire. The strength of desire is shown through each character's willingness to be destructive in order to achieve their goal. In Bone Gap, Rozas desire to escape shows the strength desire can give a person when looking to achieve what they want for themselves. “Roza sliced her face from one ear to the corner of …show more content…

In Bone Gap, Roza clearly desires to be back with Finn and Sean. As shown in the quotation “The beast that had prevented Roza from escaping” (111 Ruby) it is understood that something is preventing Roza from accomplish her goal and satisfy her desire to be back with Finn and Sean similarly to what they were in the past. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s overpowering desire to obtain the love he had in the past with Daisy proves how consuming the desire for love can be. ““Can't repeat the past?” He cried incredulously. Why of course you can!”” (110 Fitzgerald) This proves Gatsby’s desire for the past has completely consumed his mind and has caused him to think irrationally. Along with his irrational thinking his destruction is also conveyed through his desire for the past. “He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she should go to Tom and say: “I never loved you.” After she had obliterated four years with that sentence they could decide upon the more practical measures to be taken.” (109 Fitzgerald) Gatsby’s desire for Daisy to destroy her relationship with Tom in order to go back to the love they had for each other in the past. In “Birches” the speaker's desire to go back to the past is distinctly conveyed. “So was I once myself a swinger of birches. : And so I dream of going back to be.” (Frost) The speaker desires to go back and appreciate what he once had before it was

Show More
Related

  • Obsession In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    Love is a power that is able to bind two different people together forever. It is also a power that gives someone the drive to have a much harder work ethic so they can achieve the goal that they set for themselves. In The Great Gatsby, this is seen through the character Gatsby often throughout the novel as Gatsby tries to center his world around Daisy, the love of his life. Although some may argue that it is the attainment of Daisy that brings Gatsby satisfaction, the quest to get her is what truly grants him fulfilment because his overdramatic five year obsession causing him to over glorify her and the desire for her gave him something to work towards.

    Read More

  • Bless the Beasts and Children

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    One incident that represents desire appears when Goodenow is about to commit suicide. Goodenow went to a lake and “waded in up to his chin, and stood sobbing an intention to drown himself” (6). This incident reveals Goodenow’s desire to end his life. Goodenow has been bullied all his life by various people, including his step dad. At the camp, he is kicked out of two cabins because he wets the bed; he suffers this because of the abuse he takes from everybody. This adds insult to injury and causes him to snap. Second, this also illustrates Goodenow’s desire to make the boys feel guilty. Many of the boys make Goodenow’s life a living hell and they are unapologetic for it; however, Goodenow is going to make them feel guilty by making the boys realize that he killed himself because of them. Lastly, this also represents Goodenow’s desire to deny that things are going to get better....

    Read More

  • Jay Gatsby's Obsession in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a fine line between love and lust. If love is only a will to possess, it is not love. To love someone is to hold them dear to one's heart. In The Great Gatsby, the characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are said to be in love, but in reality, this seems to be a misconception. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald portrays the themes of love, lust and obsession, through the character of Jay Gatsby, who confuses lust and obsession with love.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    “You can’t repeat the past?... Why of course you can.” (110 This enduring quote from the famous novel The Great Gatsby by none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald stirs the mind and imagination in wonder of the very character who had uttered these words. Infamous Gatsby is the mysterious man behind the lavish and enthralling parties; a man who made his money and his image in that of a king. But, who is this mysterious man? How did he receive the great fortune of developing all of which he had possessed? He had it all, but we are on the outside looking in; did this man with everything really have nothing at all? If Jay Gatsby is the real person we see him to be, then James Gatz is nonexistent. The day that the world had gained Gatsby, it had also lost James Gatz. There is a mysterious motive behind every move Jay Gatsby makes; these meticulously planned out moves will ultimately lead to an unfortunate and untimely demise.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Envy In The Great Gatsby

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    When one sees others with more, they feel an inner twinge of envy. Some are unhappy with their achievements because of forces that they could not control, or because they set their goal too high. Often times, people are disappointed by the result of a situation, because it did not become their expectations. It is through these events that cause one to act upon what they feel. For those feeling envy, one aims to climb higher than that other with more, to surpass them so that they do not feel this sense of dismay. At a young age, Gatsby hated the life he lived. Seeing the wealth that others held, Gatsby made sure that he would never have to continue living his modest life. For others with high expectations, when one sees an opportunity to get

    Read More

  • The Obsessive Nature of Desire Presented in The Great Gatsby, Othello and Enduring Love

    2798 Words  | 6 Pages

    Obsession is defined as “an unhealthy and compulsive preoccupation with something or someone” (1), and is a prominent theme (in) The Great Gatsby, Enduring Love and Othello. For example, in all three, there is a great desire to obtain things which are unattainable, and in turn this fuels their obsession and causes it to intensify. Furthermore, the act of being obsessive is a common human characteristic, which enforces the fact that obsession is a key element throughout all the texts. Othello has the desire to seek revenge. Fitzgerald shows the desire of lust for Gatsby to have Daisy, whilst also allowing him to accomplish a social desire of fulfilling the American Dream, which was typical of the 1920’s as people were searching for wealth and status after the economic boom. However Enduring Love By Ian McEwan shows an infatuation between Jed and Joe rather than actual love which also shows an infatuation between Jed and Joe rather than actual love which also shows both the acceptance and denial of homosexuality. One cannot convict any of these characters for perusing in their actions, as the obsession manipulates all concepts of moral absolutes, which allows them to take no consequences for their further undertakings.

    Read More

  • Ambition and the American Dream in The Great Gatsby

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    "[. . .] the man who gives his name to this book [. . .]"

    Read More

  • Gatsby’s Quest For True Love

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    Have you ever been in a situation where you have almost met your goal, but something in the way is preventing you from fully accomplishing it? Jay Gatsby, one of the protagonists in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, loses the love of his life, Daisy, due to years of separation and is trying to win her back. Daisy’s husband, Tom, however, won’t let her go that easy. Gatsby fights his way to get back the lover he waits so many years for. Preceding Gatsby’s risky quest, his main goal in life is to obtain a great wealth in order to impress the beautiful Daisy. He only thinks about Daisy and their life together. He will do anything to be reunited, no matter the consequences. Jay’s shadow side is revealed and anima is present throughout his journey. Gatsby appears to be an altruistic, benevolent, stately young man. Upon close scrutiny, it’s unveiled that he is malicious and selfish because he wants Daisy for himself and he is wiling to ruin a family for her. But, his anima shows how caring, romantic, and vulnerable he really is through his devotion and passion for Daisy. Gatsby is unsuccessful in completing a traditional hero’s journey, but he does create his own unique version of the archetype. In this unorthodox interpretation, Gatsby learns the repercussions of wanting what you can’t have and dishonesty throughout the course of his battle for his lover.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby: Chasing Dreams

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, tells the story of a man of meager wealth who chases after his dreams, only to find them crumble before him once he finally reaches them. Young James Gatz had always had dreams of being upper class, he didn't only want to have wealth, but he wanted to live the way the wealthy lived. At a young age he ran away from home; on the way he met Dan Cody, a rich sailor who taught him much of what he would later use to give the world an impression that he was wealthy. After becoming a soldier, Gatsby met an upper class girl named Daisy - the two fell in love. When he came back from the war Daisy had grown impatient of waiting for him and married a man named Tom Buchanan. Gatsby now has two coinciding dreams to chase after - wealth and love. Symbols in the story, such as the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, the contrast between the East Egg and West Egg, and the death of Myrtle, Gatsby, and Wilson work together to expose a larger theme in the story. Gatsby develops this idea that wealth can bring anything - status, love, and even the past; but what Gatsby doesn't realize is that wealth can only bring so much, and it’s this fatal mistake that leads to the death of his dreams.

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    In life, we ask ourselves the question what we are? In addition, we also ask ourselves how our perspectives allow us to see this world? These questions are an opening idea’s, which requires the person answering it, to be fully aware of his or her life, and then have the ability to judge it without any personal bias. This is why, in the book that was and is in a sense is still talked about in class, The Great Gatsby, which is a book that follows a plethora of charters all being narrated by, Nick Caraway, a character of the book The Great Gatsby. Nick Caraway is the character in the book which judges and describes his and other character’s actions and virtues. Now we speak of a character whose name is Jay Gatsby or other whys known as James Gatz, which is one of the characters that Mr. Caraway, seems to be infatuated with from the start of the book. This character Jay Gatsby develops a perspective, which in his view seems to justify his actions by the way that he saw the world that he was living in. In this essay, I will explain why the ambitions of a person, can lead them to do things that are beyond there normal character.

    Read More

  • Greed in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

    479 Words  | 1 Pages

    Gatsby and Greed In this day and age, money is a very important asset to have. One needs to have at least enough to live on, though great amounts are preferable. In The Great Gatsby, by Thomas F. Fitzgerald, having a large amount of money is not enough. It is also the way you acquire the money that matters.

    Read More

  • Happiness In The Great Gatsby

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    Happiness means different things to different people. Some people find happiness in a sense of joy or excitement, and others find it in warmth, and goodness. This is why people pursue happiness; to feel a sense of completion. In The novel The Great Gatsby and in the film The Life of Pi, the characters Jay Gatsby and Pi Patel both pursue and compromise their happiness through love, determination, and adversity or hope. To some people, the most important of these is love.

    Read More

  • Great Gatsby analytical essay

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    In, “The Great Gatsby,” we learn about many different themes and ideas that are presented to us in the book. The themes and ideas are presented to us through the results of the choices and actions that the characters make in the story, ranging from Tom’s adultery to Gatsby’s nostalgia. One theme Fitzgerald teaches to his readers, is that nostalgia (an extreme longing for the past) can cause many problems in a person’s life, through the use of several literary elements that are found within the story.

    Read More

  • F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Expression of Temptation, Deceitfulness, and Jealousy in The Great Gatsby

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby was a remarkable book. Fitzgerald Made the characters of the book as real and as personal as possible. Three characteristics stood out in the novel to me. Tom’s Jealousy of Gatsby relationship with his wife, Gatsby’s lies about who he is and his life, and Daisy’s ways to tempt Gatsby to fall in love with her. The novel was inspired by the way he fell in love with his wife Zelda.

    Read More

  • Examples of Modernism in Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby also shows examples of feeling restless another characteristic of the “moderns”. This may be linked to the Great War or Worl...

    Read More

More about Desire In The Great Gatsby

Open Document