Love in the Great Gatsby

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of attracting the love of his life with the location of the house that he buys and the glimmering parties that he hosts inside. Gatsby’s magnificent million dollar mansion is strategically placed across from Daisy, as revealed again by Jordan, “Gatsby bought the house so that Daisy would be just across the bay (pg.85)” and in hope that Daisy would notice and walk in, Gatsby hosts excessive and extravagant parties. This shows that Gatsby’s love for Daisy, brings the best out of him and makes him the Great Gatsby. He is the millionaire that buys a mansion across from the girl he loves, that spends millions in hope that she would walk in. He created a great world due to his love. Many men love wealth, but few become wealthy for love, but Gatsby does exactly that, becoming rich so that he can attract Daisy. When Daisy exclaims sadly that, “it makes me sad because I’ve never seen such beautiful shirts before (pg.99)”, it becomes clear that Daisy wouldn’t marry Gatsby because of his poverty but Gatsby changed that situation, and did it all for Daisy. With this evidence, we can see Gatsby achieved the greatness of his wealth and everything else, the shirts, the house, the car, by the sole force of his love and lust for Daisy and his wish to become eligible to marry her. In conclusion, Gatsby’s love for Daisy pushed him to achieve and create personal greatness.

Thirdly, love is not only capable of creating greatness, but also has a much darker ability to blind reality and create chaos and destruction. Gatsby’s dream is for his love, Daisy, to confess to her husband that she never loved him, and then leave him for Gatsby. Unable to see that Daisy isn’t ready to leave her husband, Gatsby tries in vain to convince her, but "with every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible (pg.144)”. Gatsby is blinded by his romantic fantasy of Daisy, and is unable to see the hints that she isn’t ready. He set himself up for disappointment, with his blinding love as the true culprit of this great failure. A green light at Daisy’s dock is often used as a symbol of Gatsby’s hope and love for Daisy, and he is often seen lusting and reaching for it from across the bay. In the dying moments of his relationship with Daisy, Gatsby stands in front of Daisy’s house, but has turned his back away from the light. He is “left him standing there in the moonlight-watching over nothing (pg. 156)”. As Gatsby turns his back on the green light, we see that his love and relationship with Daisy is doomed. His love of her, is doomed, and has lead him to destruction, as he is blinded by it and is unable to see that he is watching over or loving nothing. Finally, Gatsby’s singular focus of his love on Daisy has blinded him to the many opportunities he may have had with other women. For example, he hosts many great parties, which would have surely featured many attractive women who were interested in him and his status would have only made him more appealing. Yet he fails to see these options as he blindly chases the love of his past, remaining depressed and single despite the huge potential of a happy life with someone else. He is unwillingly trapped by his singular focus of love for Daisy, which ultimately causes his own failure. In conclusion, one’s reaction to love has the ability to blind and create chaos and destruction.

In conclusion, love is a powerful factor in the life of Gatsby, not only creating him, but also pushing him to new heights and then causing his very destruction. Love has the ability to not only develop but also create character, as it turns James Gatz into Jay Gatsby. Love is a double edged sword as it can work as both a force that pushes man to create greatness, but can also lead to his very downfall, blinding him from reality and creating chaos. Love is powerful, it creates men, propels them with courage and valour, leads them to greatness, but then ends them without remorse.