Waiting for Daisy

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In any given time it seems as though we are always waiting. Waiting for someone or something, waiting to hear news, whether good or bad, waiting for a time to go and do something, and waiting to see test results. In novels, plays, and movies a common theme of waiting, is waiting for someone or something. In The Great Gatsby, Mr. Gatsby is waiting for Daisy similarly how in Waiting for Godot, Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot. Waiting is something everyone does and it can have its own meaning depending on the person and the situation because each person waits differently. The description of waiting in these works can be seen through the passive and proactive activities Vladimir, Estragon, and Gatsby do, the different symbols of hope that keep the characters motivated, and through the people they meet along the way.
In the novel, The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is the one waiting for Daisy. The story takes place during the roaring twenties where Jay Gatsby lives by himself in an elegant mansion and holds elaborate parties every Saturday night in the hopes to see Daisy. Nick Carraway, the narrator, is the cousin of Daisy and moves into the house next to Gatsby’s. When Nick first comes to visit Daisy and Gatsby’s name is mentioned in conversation, the audience can tell that Daisy is interested in him when she interrupts her friend, Jordan Baker, demanding, “What Gatsby” (Fitzgerald 11). When Gatsby’s first party takes place, Nick is the only one who is actually invited, which leads to Nick and Jordan being the only ones at the party who actually meet Mr. Gatsby face to face. The audience later realizes that Gatsby told Jordan how he and Daisy used to be lovers and he looks at the green light at the...

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...and with texting they can get an instant reply instead of waiting for a letter in the mail.
It doesn’t matter who a person is, he or she will have to wait for something during their life, as demonstrated through the actions of Vladimir, Estragon, and Gatsby. There are times when waiting allows you to meet new people and they can change your life drastically. Even though Waiting for Godot and The Great Gatsby, are drastically different stories, they share similar themes. While Jay Gatsby searches and finds what he is waiting for, Vladimir and Estragon wait and wait however Godot never arrive. There is no wrong way to wait, but what a person gets out of their waiting is what they put into it.

Works Cited

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot: [a Tragicomedy in Two Acts]. New York: Grove, 1954.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004.

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