Critical Analysis Of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby is a classic American novel depicted the twisted luxurious American dream of the 1920’s and all the lust that goes along with it. In the book we see three romantic relationships that take place: Tom Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, and the marriage of Tom and Daisy Buchanan. Although there is a female presence in the novel The Great Gatsby, their roles in the book put them in unhealthy love affairs with men who think for them and are abusive or controlling in different ways throughout the entirety of the book. Also, I will be analyzing this novel through a feminist criticism and a psychoanalytical response theory. Right from the beginning we meet Daisy and Tom Buchanan, a married

Gatsby tries to rekindle their love by showing Daisy all of mis material possessions and by trying to prove that he is the more wealthy man. The ultimate problem here is that Gatsby, in the end, is chasing a dead dream, something that perhaps once could’ve been in the past, but it 's simply no longer feasible. Daisy is the type of women in this novel who is almost emotionless in that while she also values the material possessions she owns, she’d much rather stay safe in her stable household with her husband who does well, despite having multiple affairs, and in the end they will always appear the perfect marriage. When Gatsby has Daisy over to his in West Egg Nick Carraway starts to notice something about Gatsby, “He hadn 't once ceased looking at Daisy, and I think he revalued everything in his house according to the measure of response it drew from her well-loved eyes. Sometimes, too, he stared around at his possessions in a dazed way, as though in her actual and astounding presence none of it was any longer real. Once he nearly toppled down a flight of stairs.” (Fitzgerald 112). We see here that Gatsby is started to perhaps realize in himself that this won’t work out in his favor, and that he is losing Daisy, and since Daisy has been his driving force to get make his fortune, all of his material wealth has

However, they were started to gain some ground in this era of the ‘Flappers’. The male roles in this book consist of wealthy, powerful businessmen, and in the case of Tom Buchanan he is very brutish and physical towards others, while Jay Gatsby is rather suave and smooth. The women essentially have a price in this book, at least from the men’s perspective, and Daisy is the most expensive of all, While Myrtle is cheap, and expendable really, seeing how Tom mentions he has been through affairs before, but always comes back to daisy. The reality is that Daisy is the ultimate jewel, that Tom really cannot afford, even after marrying her. However, due to Tom’s destructive nature this has left Daisy quite emotionally unstable, and while she may want a divorce, her conservative views prevent her from doing so. “Daisy is very at home in her social world (as seen by how uncomfortable she is at Gatsby’s party), and also values her reputation, keeping it spotless in Chicago despite moving with a fast crowd. Would Daisy really be willing to risk her reputation and give up her social standing, even if it meant being free from Tom and his affairs?” (Edwards). In this quote we see another reason why Daisy is unable to distance herself from the toxic marriage; she herself finds the comfort of a safe place where she knows she will live