Are human relationships easy? One would be lying if they were to agree to this. ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald deals with many complex relationships which eventually bring to light different challenging ideas behind them, such as J. Gatsby 's (main character) and Daisy Buchanan’s (Gatsby’s lover, a married woman) relationship and many more.
‘The Great Gatsby’ is set during the 1920s. Fitzgerald presents this period as an era of perished social and moral values, shown in its overarching cynicism , greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. J. Gatsby struggles to fit into the American old aristocracy as he is associated with the “newly rich” group of people, seen as vulgar, gaudy, ostentatious, lacking in social graces and taste. Though the novel takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, 'The Great Gatsby ’ is a highly symbolic meditation on1920s America as a whole, in particular the demoralization of the American Dream in an era of uncommon prosperity and material excess.
During the novel, the reader becomes aware that Gatsby’s obession of fitting into the American old aristocracy is his drive for his relationship with Daisy.
Gatsby is more than willing to go to any extent to prove that he is worthy enough to be accepted into Daisy’s social class (old aristocracy) which emphasises the reason why he throws such extravagant, big parties. They encourage gosspi about him, as he keeps to himself to hide who he really is. An example of this gossip highlights a comment made by a man at one of these parties, “…I heard he killed a man once…” helping Gatsby’s situation as all there is, is speculation about who he truly is. Gatsby destroys his true persona by re-inventing himself as Jay Gatsby, a man who makes his wealth through illegal activity while hiding his true name and past, James Gatz - a poor boy.
Gatsby’s challenging dreams and ideas come from his relationship with Daisy, a relationship that will never work, as Gatsby’s internal conflict takes over his life and Daisy is married to another man.
Gatsby’s and Daisy’s relationship isn’t genuine which highlights another reason of complexity. Daisy suffers from ennui, and is a woman in her time and place. She cannot leave her marriage given that it would encourage gossip, and it would be disgraceful toward her family’s name.
Daisy’s following statement proves her restlessness and highlights the boredom she feels toward her life "…what are we going to do tomorrow, and the day after…? Also proving that as she cannot leave Tom, Gatsby is only a distraction for her, while in Gatsby’s case, Daisy is key to achieving his one and only desire, which includes being someone important, recreating his past with lies, and to be accepted into the American old aristocracy.
Gatsby and Daisy both have their own ideas and reasons for their relationship, but neither touch onthe love they have for one another, and this is because there seems to be no love, as both focus on benefitting from the relationship for their own affairs.
How is this relationship expected to work? The complexity of this relationship develops throughout the novel as Gatsby’s and Daisy’s challenging ideas and intentions come to light.
Though Gatsby’s and Daisy’s relationship is complex, it develops further when Tom Buchanan (Daisy’s husband) becomes aware of it. Tom is a liar, racist and a cheat, though he isn’t embarrassed of these things, he continues to claim his love for his wife as he finds himself in a situation where he is competing against Gatsby for his own wife.
Tom does his research on Gatsby, and discovers the truth about him, as well as his and Daisy’s affairs by stating “…while I sit and let Mr Nobody from no where make love to my wife…” completely turning the tables for Gatsby, as Daisy then became aware of who Gatsby truly was. Will she pick a criminal over her famously rich, cheater husband? Daisy finds herself in a love triangle in which she always knew the answer to. Tom is and would always be the answer.
As Gatsby’s and Daisy’s relationship developed, it pushed Daisy to make one of the hardest decisions of her life. The complexity of the relationship within the novel made up for challenging choices, teaching one that all things have consequences, as Gatsby changed his whole life for something unrealistic, and ends up in the same place he started, alone.
Once Daisy made her choice everything changed. As they headed back to their place, Daisy accidentally ran over and killed Tom Buchanan’s lover, Myrtle Wilson. Daisy was unaware of this, while Gatsby happily takes the blame to protect Daisy, hoping he will eventually win her back.
Gatsby has no self respect, as he continues to unknowingly destroy himself and us blinded by his desire for Daisy. After the incident, Gatsby is caught spying on Daisy by Nick Carraway (Gatsby’s only friend) stating “…I wanted to make sure she was okay…” proving Gatsby does not realise what had happened. Daisy killed a woman and did not own up to it, instead she was happy to blame Gatsby for it while he continued to idolise her with the intention of keeping his dream alive. The reader comes to realise how complex relationships develop through challenging moments, ideas and things, and that they often do not end in the healthiest ways.
‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald deals with challenging ideas that come from complex relationships. This text continues to be relevant given that it deals with the topic of toxic relationships, as human relationships continue to be challenging to this day. It gives teenagers an insight of similar things that may have happened during the 1920s and educates one to prioritise oneselves emotional and mental well-being, before gaining someone’s attention by pretending one is a certain way. It highlights the importance of being yourself.
In conclusion, ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald deals with Daisy Buchanan’s, Jay Gatsby’s and Tom Buchanan’s complex relationships which develop throughout the novel by challenging ideas and things that continue to happen.