Theme Of Intimacy In The Great Gatsby

The romance between Nick and Jordan reveals that Nick, too, fears intimacy. This fear is often upheld through the means of denial and avoidance, symptoms which Nick exemplifies. This can be explained as the prospect of intimacy raises ones self-defense in response to the vulnerability of the situation and the possibility of future loss. As Yousef states, The experience of real love often threatens our self-defenses and raises our anxiety as we become vulnerable and open ourselves up to another person. This leads to a fear of intimacy. Falling in love … creates anxiety and fears of rejection and potential loss” (Yousef). As Nick is skillful in the art of avoiding intimate relationship, the initial appeal Jordon had likely can be attributed

He, however remains interested in her as long as she seems to belong to a faraway world, the world of “rotogravure pictures of the sporting life at Asheville and Hot Springs and Palm Beach” (Fitzgerald 23), a world seemingly untouched by emotional realities. Once the household she shares with the Buchanans becomes too emotionally untidy, Nick makes a hasty retreat. Nick subsequently avoids Jordan and shortly thereafter ends the relationship in a manner that keeps him emotionally insulated. He unknowingly represses the memory of breaking up with her on the telephone the day after Myrtle’s death, so much so that he is not able to remember the interaction clearly—“I don’t know which of us hung up with a sharp click” (Fitzgerald 163). Even when he meets with her to discuss what had happened between them, he admits that he ‘talked over and around’ their shared past, implying there was a good deal of avoidance of painful issues during the