Loneliness In The Great Gatsby

downloadDownload
  • Words 1233
  • Pages 3
Download PDF

In the book The Great Gatsby, the characters deal with loneliness at some point throughout their lives. Jay Gatsby is one of the main characters in the book began his life lonely, lived the majority of his life lonely, along with dying a lonely man. The narrator states: ‘You see, I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me.’ (Fitzgerald73). At a young age, Gatsby began his journey to make something out of himself. It was never easy for him to get along with his parents, which caused him to leave the house in order to make money to help win Daisy back.

Gatsby lived a very mysterious life and started to get business in many different types of illegal activity. All his aspirations in life were the underlying motivations to have what Daisy and him had before. Anybody from the outside looking in most likely saw a man that had it all he had an amazing house and didn’t have the emotions of other people to keep up with not, however, this was a lonely man’s game and he wasn’t interested. Gatsby pictured the great man he wanted to be so he could get her back in his life. Living a lonely life caused Gatsby to have different downfalls. Gatsby lost his life because of the bad choices he made. He was acquainted with some questionable people, he felt that these people could get him close enough to Daisy, the only real person he wanted in his life. Tom was one of these people, they however did not get along to well beings how Gatsby was in love with Daisy causing them problems. Tom ends up being the one that gets Gatsby killed, Wilson takes Jay Gatsby’s life because he was told he was the one that was involved in the death of his wife.

Click to get a unique essay

Our writers can write you a new plagiarism-free essay on any topic

Even after Jay’s death he is alone. He was put into the ground without the love that he wanted all of his life. Even the people that partied it up in his house and took advantage of all of what he had didn’t feel the need to make an appearance at his burial. The only people to show their respects was Nick, and Jay’s father. They were the only people real in his life. Daisy, the love of his life did not even bother to send flowers to pay her respects. Instead of paying her respects she was off having a great time.

Jay Gatsby’s life was as lonely in many different aspects. One way that he tried to deal with his loneliness was by having parties every weekend. These parties were a way to try and gain respect and show off the life he had made of himself. Guests attended from all over the place but nobody seemed to care if Gatsby was in attendance or not. The guests that came to the parties used it as a place to met and party. The narrator states: ‘My eyes fell on Gatsby standing alone on the marble steps, looking from one group to another…but, not one swooned backward on Gatsby and no French bob touched Gatsby’s shoulder, and no singing quartets were formed with Gatsby’s head for one link’ (Fitzgerald55). Even though he hosted the big parties every weekend as a way to cope with his loneliness he still managed to be the one alone in the midst of all of his guests, feeling nothing but loneliness. With a house full of people he still managed to be alone in the crowd. He was able to use his parties to find ways to become closer to Daisy. Gatsby’s house represents a way of him coping with his loneliness. He created a beautiful house to try to impress and win Daisy back.

The narrator states: ‘There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams – not through her own fault but because of his colossal vitality of his illusions’ (Fitzgerald103). All the decisions in his life were being played out as illusions, Gatsby secluded himself which caused him to be a lonely man. Gatsby lived out the illusions and was not able to find time to create relationships with others due to living out the illusions he had created. Gatsby never truly cared about anyone else and had very self-centered thoughts. During his large parties, he never met anyone or tried to form any friendships causing himself to be a lonely man. He was self-centered in the aspect that he only cared about meeting Daisy as it was his dream to do so. He made decisions to live for Daisy and only Daisy pushing other people in his life away. Gatsby became friends with Nick as a way of getting closer to Daisy. Gatsby cared about Nick and was a friend to him but he may have only become friends with him in the beginning because he knew Daisy and could help him get closer to her. Gatsby’s main concern was about his dreams. Gatsby lived a lonely life due to the choices he decided to make.

At the end of the book, Jay Gatsby paid for his consequences of living his entire life with one dream. Gatsby was able to get close with Daisy, but because he did he had his life taken away from him as the consequence. Daisy was too conceded to admit to her mistake of hitting Wilson’s wife Myrtle which caused Gatsby to be murdered. Gatsby ultimately paid for her mistakes. If Gatsby had not become close to Daisy, Tom would not have disliked him so strongly The narrator states: ‘I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out’ (Fitzgareld138). Tom did not like the idea that Daisy was getting closer to Gatsby which led to him strongly disliking him. If Gatsby had stayed away from Daisy and not spent his entire life trying to win her over, Tom would have never hated him the way that he did and probably wouldn’t have told Wilson that it was Gatsby’s car that hit Myrtle. Gatsby made an enemy with Tom and his life was ended because of it.

Jay Gatsby lived with many consequences and regrets in his life. He lived a sad, lonely life and never had many friends because of it. The people in his life that used his cars, borrowed his money, and attended his large parties but never truly cared to say anything to him. Those people didn’t care enough to attend his funeral and pay their respects to him. Gatsby is a great example of a lonely person who tries to buy happiness with all of his money. He has all the money a person could ever need but that was not good enough for him and did not solve his issues. Money doesn’t buy happiness and rich people do not have a perfect life. Gatsby was ultimately lonely and lived each day with an illusion and never was able to come out of it meaning he died a lonely man. He lived all of his life lonely and died lonely. Gatsby would have been able to make friends and have a meaningful life if he hadn’t lived in an illusion throughout his life.    

image

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy.