What Is The Great Gatsby's Heart

The depth of every human’s heart needs a powerful force to sustain them in life. Fitzgerald, the author of The Great Gatsby, built such a man Gatsby in this book, who endeavored to realize the gorgeous dream in his entire life. From the narrator Nick’s description, Gatsby’s life was presented clearly in front of readers. It seems that Gatsby loves Daisy deeply, but in fact, Gatsby loves the idea of Daisy, which was put in his inner heart and creates great Gatsby. To prove this idea, there are three evidences. First, Gatsby always tried to recapture the past to stay with “Daisy in 1917”, who was flawless in his eyes like the dream in everyone’s hearts. Second, Gatsby followed Daisy’s heart, which seems like that Daisy was his “compass” in
In flashback paragraph, Gatsby’s past life was revealed. He walked through every street he had walked with Daisy before after joining in the war. “He stretched out his hand desperately as if to snatch only a wisp of air, to save a fragment of the spot that she had made lovely for him.” (Fitzgerald, 154) Gatsby used the last of his army pay to visit everywhere he and Daisy had been. He missed her and tried to make every memory, even details, important to him. It seems that he wanted to make them integrate into his blood, so that they became a part of his body. If he was without the part, he also will “disappear” and just live as a soulless shell who lost his dream. To recapture the past, he tried his best to become rich, so that he could have chance to get close with Daisy. Because wealth separates people, different classes cannot stay together. However, Gatsby was poor at that time but Daisy’s husband was rich, which made him far away from Daisy and also became the main reason why he was so crazy to chase for Daisy. Therefore, there is only way for Gatsby to get closer to Daisy, which is to become wealthy. After 5 years, he became rich eventually and met Daisy again. He invited Daisy to the party, but Daisy did not like it. When party ended, Gatsby talked to Nick: “I am going to fix everything just the way it was before.” (Fitzgerald,
If a traveler lost his compass, he will lose his route. Therefore, when Daisy did not go with Gatsby, Gatsby lost his mind. “He could not possibly leave Daisy until he knew what she was going to do.” (Fitzgerald, 149) Gatsby was confused about his future, but certain about waiting for Daisy. He could not leave Daisy like fish cannot leave water. He gave to Daisy his sincere heart and attached his hope to her. However, in Daisy’s heart, money is more important than Gatsby. At last, she chosen Tom like the decision she made 5 years ago, because Tom gave her more security. The theme that love is secondary to wealth was represented by Daisy perfectly. Though knowing that Daisy was not the Daisy he knew before, Gatsby still wanted to follow her step. Everything happened at a department, where the disadvantages of Gatsby were revealed by Tom. “…’Jay Gatsby’ had broken up like glass against Tom’s hard malice…” (Fitzgerald, 149) Tom uncovered Gatsby’s illegal business directly, which destroyed Gatsby, the excellent image, in Daisy’s heart exactly. It was impossible to Daisy to choose a rich man but owning unsafe money. Tom who supported by his family was different from Gatsby, because wealth separated people. There was a deep gap between Gatsby and Tom, which was the reason why Daisy chosen Tom. This thing crushed Gatsby completely, and Gatsby was broken same as the American dream. In that time, as the product of the