Preview

Irresponsibility in the Great Gatsby

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1207 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Irresponsibility in the Great Gatsby
Irresponsible relationships(Great Gatsby)

A responsible marriage is when both sides of the relationship take responsibility for their actions, for one another and most importantly are not having affairs with others. When there is lack of responsibility, things are at risk to be destroyed or lost. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald all of the marriages fail to show any signs of responsibility through their actions. We see three main relationships throughout the novel that fail to act in a responsible manner. Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Tom and Myrtle, and Daisy and Gatsby. Daisy and Tom are both extremely irresponsible. Tom's irresponsible persuasion essentially leads to Myrtle's death. Daisy does not take any responsibility for her actions which lead to Gatsby's death. Tom and Daisy Buchanan's irresponsibility in their relationships ultimately leads to death and destruction, for their own relationship and others.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan's marriage is full of irresponsibility, on both sides of the marriage. This leads to chaos between them, and destruction of life. We see Daisy's irresponsible actions during the scandal at the Plaza Hotel. When Tom, Daisy and Gatsby have a vivid argument, Daisy reveals that she " never loved him". Tom, her husband, asks: "Not at Kapiolani", to which she replies: "No" (F.Scott Fitzgerald pg. 132)
This shows that Daisy apparently never loved Tom. Daisy is a irresponsible woman, she is saying that she never loved her husband. If that is the case, then why is she married to Tom in the first place? This is extremely irresponsible .In addition Daisy is also showing her feelings for Gatsby in front of her husband. Daisy quietly says to Gatsby "You look so cool." Their eyes met and they stared at each other, alone in space. "You always look so cool," she repeated. She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. (F.Scott Fitzgerald pg.119).

This just proves Daisy's irresponsibility. If she had loved

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    While daisy is married, she begins to have a love affair with Gatsby. Which she chooses to carelessly show and not to disregards what others think of it. For example, “as he left the room again she got up, and went over to Gatsby, pulling his face down, kissing him on the mouth” (122). She easily got her husband out of the room, so she could continue to show her affection to Gatsby. She even acted as if she didn’t know her husband at all. When Nick scolded Daisy and told her to not bring Tom. Daisy innocently said, “Who’s tom?”(88).…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    But Gatsby becomes a bit frantic after Daisy declares that she does love Tom, as he panics and says "I want to speak to Daisy alone. She’s all excited now —" (Fitzgerald 102). This shows how much hubris Gatsby has and how high up he holds himself, he believes Daisy will say she loves him and when she doesn't it's because she was manipulated. This belief causes Gatsby to escalate the situation and push Tom to eventually win the argument and kick him away, which causes the accident resulting in Wilson's wife's death and later Gatsby's as…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He also wants her to tell Tom that she never loved him. Gatsby telling Tom “Your wife doesn't love you,” said Gatsby quietly. “She's never loved you. She loves me” (Fitzgerald 136) You just can’t tell someone to drop their husband and tell them you never loved them without it having any meaning. Though she tries to do so, she couldn't do it cause it's not true. In chapter 7 Daisy talking to Gatsby “ I did love him once but I loved you too” ( Fitzgerald 140) and that why she couldn't tell Tom a lie. In a way Daisy has become an object that he must posses.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Daisy meets for tea with Gatsby and Nick, she is completely surprised by the man she is reintroduced to. As they approach Gatsby’s mansion Daisy says, “‘That huge place over there?’ she cried pointing” (90). Gatsby is truly in love with Daisy, but she is only looking at the value in his home and belongings. For example, when looking through old photographs Daisy says, “‘The pompadour! You never told me you had a pompadour-or a yacht’” (93). This shows how superficial Daisy truly is and she is only praising Gatsby for materialistic items. When Daisy is finally convinced that Gatsby is more suitable than Tom, she decides to tell Tom that she never loved him but later takes back what she has said. Daisy then gets frustrated at Gatsby, “‘I love you now-isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.’ She began to sob helplessly. ‘I did love him once-but I loved you too.’” (132). This quote shows how conflicted Daisy is within herself because she had loved both of the men in the past, but now wants to leave Tom for Gatsby. Daisy and Gatsby also have an artificial love much like the other characters throughout this…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby used his wealth to throw parties so he could try to get Daisy’s attention and impress her. He did end up impressing her. However, because Daisy was married to her husband Tom she could not be with Gatsby. Tom found out about Daisy’s affair and confronted Gatsby. Gatsby insisted that Daisy never loved Tom but Daisy could not deny her love for her husband. It showed that Gatsby was extremely naive to believe that Daisy would love him to a certain extent as to say that she never loved her own husband. Gatsby believed that he could easily win her back simply by showing up with his wealth, but he was wrong.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom, her husband, commits unworthy actions that a husband should not do, but is very wealthy. Instead of being with a man who she truly desires to be with, she would rather be with a man that had more money from the beginning. In an argumentative discussion, Daisy communicates to Gatsby that she “did love [Tom] once but [she] loves him too” (140). Since Daisy is torn between the concept of money and love, she does not know who she desires to be with. However, a physical interaction between Gatsby and Daisy made Gatsby’s “heart beat faster and faster as Daisy’s white face came up to his own”(117). This shows that Daisy does have an attraction towards Gatsby, but prefers the benefits she receives by being married to Tom. If she was pure and innocent as her white colored face, she would not use her husband for…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fitzgerald uses metaphors, similes, and motif of rumors to demonstrate that people are careless. Reading through out the book you encounter many reckless actions committed by a wide spread of characters including both daisy and Gatsby. Carelessness is a topic that keeps spreading in The Great Gatsby and this is supported by the action of many characters.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The two of them have a different degrees of affection towards each other. Gatsby deeply cares for so much he becomes obsessed. Neither of them are in a healthy or stable relationship and it tears them apart. Daisy has strong feelings for Gatsby, but she does not know what to do with these feelings. Because of Daisy indecisiveness he argues with Daisy, telling her to leave Tom and say she never once loved him, "Just tell him the truth-that you never loved him-and it’s all wiped out forever," (139). He pictures Daisy as his property and no one other than him can have his property. Gatsby tries to get Daisy through force, by telling Tom that she never loved him. This new obsession has grown out of jealously and the idea he can not have her to himself. Gatsby's deep love for Daisy has changed into a unhealthy…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is when Gatsby finally tells Tom that Daisy loves him, not Tom. Gatsby tells Tom, “We both loved each other all the time, old sport, and you didn’t know” (131). Gatsby assumes that Daisy did not love Tom at all and only loved him, but Daisy said that she loved Tom once but loved Gatsby too (132). At the end of the fight, the reader believes that Daisy and Gatsby will end up together because they leave together. After the wreck, it seems as though Daisy wants nothing to do with Gatsby. Nick tells Gatsby that Tom and Daisy are a “rotten crowd” (154) and that Gatsby is worth more than all of them put together. Despite his financial upbringings, Gatsby is worth more than Tom and Daisy…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    First of all, Daisy Buchanan is an example of how character portrays them to other character than what they really feel and create an illusion. Daisy leads on Gatsby twice in the novel. When Gatsby leaves to fight in the war under the impression that Daisy will wait for his return but instead she breaks that illusion and marries Tom. Later on in the novel she again had Gatsby believing that Daisy will leave Tom for him. But that illusion comes to an end when she admits that she can’t tell Tom that she never loved Tom…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby portrays a variety of realities that happen in everyday life and that are at times not spoken of but need attention called out to, realities such as dishonesty and affairs, are delicate topics that Fitzgerald brings up to the audience. Dishonesty and affair issues are seen through Tom and the involvement he has with another woman while married to Daisy since he openly admits it to Nick, ordering “We’re getting off!’ he insisted ‘I Want you to meet my girl” (928). Of course, when he said ‘girl’ he was not referring to Daisy, he was cynically accepting the affair he was having with her and in way, one might say, proud by the tone he used, almost excitedly saying it. Fitzgerald does not hide the fact that it is an issue that needs some calling out and in the process also breaks the stereotype that it is only men who are disloyal since, Myrtle, Tom’s “girl” is also a married woman having an affair on her husband with…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald focuses on the wealthy class that live in New York, and takes place during the “Roaring Twenties”, and era of economic prosper and recklessness after World War I. Fitzgerald highlights the irresponsibility and lack of morality that derives from wealth. Throughout the novel, there are a number of characters that abuse their wealth or power in a way to excuse their moral irresponsibility. Through Gatsby’s disputed accumulation of wealth and Tom’s unceasing trysts, Fitzgerald paints a vivid picture of two men who choose to use their wealth and objectives as an excuse for their immoral habits.…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The character qualities of individuals has become a popular theme in literature. In F. Scott Fitzgerald's book, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald recognizes the conflict between wealth and responsibility. In the book the narrator, Nick, describes how two of the main characters, Tom and Daisy, use their wealth to hide from what the poor must face everyday. Tom and Daisy lived on the banks of the East Egg, where they enjoyed the finer things in life. And no matter what happened they always seemed to care only of themselves. In the telling of Tom and Daisy's actions, Nick also seems to implicate that, in general, people and society use their wealth to hide behind. Tom, Daisy, and people in society dodge responsibility and reality with the aid of their great wealth.…

    • 919 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby fought for the love of Daisy Buchanan, but his downfall made Daisy’s decision between a life in West Egg or East Egg much simpler. Daisy lived a ‘perfect’ life in East Egg with her husband Tom Buchanan, but everything was not as it seemed. On the day of Daisy’s rehearsal dinner, she was found drunk, crying, and grasping a letter. Daisy would not let go of the letter and “she took it into the tub with her and squeezed it up into a wet ball, and only let me[Jordan] leave it in the soap-dish when she saw that it was coming to pieces like snow”(76). It can only be assumed that the letter was from her first love and as the letter fell apart her feelings for the author of the letter began to fade like snow under the sun. Daisy would begin her life with Tom, but a piece of her heart still belonged to another man,…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gatsby ends up confirming Tom’s suspicions of Daisy and Him having an affair saying that Daisy loved Gatsby and not Tom. This shows that men’s love for someone can blind them from recognizing that they are showing ignorance. Gatsby thought that by having Daisy in his life again and saw that he was rich that he was automatically the only one Daisy loved. His ego gets in the way because he thinks he is victorious by assuming that Daisy only loves him. When in reality she loves both Gatsby and Tom, and Gatsby can’t accept that. He wants to be the only wants Daisy to spend the rest of his life…

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays