A man who was born poor may dream to become rich and believes that wealth can bring him anything he wants. Jay Gatsby the main character in the novel, was born into a poor family, at a young age he was determined to become rich. When Gatsby meets Daisy for the first time, he instantly falls in love with her. He was a young officer and had no money before being shipped overseas during World War I. After returning home and realizing that Daisy got married. He dreams of having her back and it was the main reason for Gatsby to become rich.
Gatsby would do anything for Daisy, to have her back in his life. In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, wealth can mean any dream can come true however, dreams do not guarantee reality, is shown through the characterization of Jay Gatsby. One way that Fitzgerald shows that dreams do not guarantee reality is through the direct characterization of Jay Gatsby. After meeting Daisy, everything that Gatsby did for Daisy was the purpose of trying to win her heart. Daisy’s love for Gatsby is one of the grandest illusion that is mistaken for reality.
For nearly five years, Gatsby’s heart was already set on marrying Daisy. Gatsby builds himself a million dollar fortune and expects to be with Daisy. By organizing illegal crime and selling liquor illegally has helped Gatsby became rich. Gatsby tries to convince Nick that when Daisy and him reunite everything will be same as before. As Gatsby describes his love for Daisy, Nick realizes that, “He talked a lot about the past, and I gather that he wanted to recover something, some idea of himself perhaps, that had gone loving Daisy.
His life had been confused and disordered since then, but if he could once return to a certain starting place nd go over it all slowly, he could find out what that thing was” (110). Therefore, Gatsby is only motivated to recreate his love for Daisy that happen a long time ago. He tries to get close Daisy as possible by buying a house across from her’s so that, he could see her everyday. The only thing that is separating them is the bay. Gatsby creates an illusion for himself, he thinks that Daisy truly loves him. In reality, Daisy did love Gatsby, but she has moved on from the past and is married to a wealthy man.
Even though, Gatsby and Daisy relationship is over he still reams that they will end up together again. In addition, Fitzgerald shows that wealth is not an important factor of people’s lives and it does not bring anyone happiness or love is shown through direct characterization of Jay Gatsby. In the novel, Daisy would not consider marrying Gatsby if he was a poor man. This leads to Gatsby making his money illegally. Gatsby believes that with his own wealth he can make Daisy fall in love with him again. Money is the only thing that Gatsby knew will get Daisy’s attention.
He throws, luxurious parties, hoping one day Daisy would attend one them. In order for Gatsby to win Daisy’s affection he needs to be well known in the society, so that Daisy would become aware of how rich he is and fall in love with him. Nick is one of a few guests who is actually invited to Gatsby’s party. One day Nick observed that, “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer night. In his blue gardens men and girls came and like moths among the whispering and the champagne and the stars. At high, high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft”(39).
Gatsby belongs to the “New Money” by throwing hese enormous parties that anyone could attend, is he his desire to let everyone see how rich he is. However, Gatsby does not seem to enjoy any of the parties he throws. Gatsby thinks that money can buy him his happiness. Being happy to Gatsby means having Daisy in life. Gatsby knows many important people who comes to his party, but after he died, only a few people came to his funeral. Even more, Daisy hardly shows emotion when Gatsby dies, and she never came to the funeral. This shows that money means nothing and it’s gone away with Gatsby.
In the end, Gatsby is so wealthy and his dream of being ith Daisy, could not be achieve by just using money only. With enough wealth any dream can come true, the similarities between the two theme statements is that in the novel marriage is related to class. People who are higher class means that they had more money and was more wealthy compared to the lower class. A rich man or woman had to marry someone of an equal class. Daisy was born to a rich family so she was expected to marry a rich man, whether or not she she really loved him. Before Daisy got married to Tom Buchanan, Gatsby was not a rich man when he first saw Daisy.
He knew that if he wanted to get married with Daisy he needs to be wealthy. Gatsby got himself involved doing illegal activities for obtaining a very large amount of wealth. Everything that Gatsby has done was the purpose of having Daisy back into his life. In one way it could be romantic, in another sense it’s a perpetuates illusion. Gatsby is unable deal with reality because he is to focus of dreaming to be together with Daisy, which causes him to move further and further away from reality into a fantasy world. Lastly, Gatsby is in love with the ideal of having Daisy not just
Daisy herself. He uses his wealth to keep his dream reuniting with Daisy alive. Dreams and wealth both are motivating factors of people’s lives. Having enough money helps people get what they want in life. People who only focus on money, would not have good relationships, or any interest in other things because they are too focus on having a lot of money. It also may happen with dreams, where people are to focus on one dream. Where there’s a whole lot of possibilities out there and they are unable to see it. It stops people from seeing different options in their life.
In the novel, Gatsby dreams about being wealthy so that he could be worthy in Daisy’s eyes. By being wealthy, it is easier for Gatsby to get closer to Daisy. Additionally, Gatsby does not realize that there are plenty of other women out there who may be better than Daisy. He is inadequate to realize what he actually needs in life. Gatsby is to focus on his only dream of being wealthy, that he is unable to see that there are plenty of other options for him to get closer to Daisy. Being wealthy cannot guarantee a dream to come true, it can turn a dream into a reality.
In the novel, Gatsby dreams to marry Daisy and achieve great wealth. He is living in a world where money and Daisy is the only thing he needs in his life. In reality, Gatsby does not understand that Daisy has lost her feelings for him and she has moved on to a different stage of her life. Gatsby creates his love for Daisy as he creates his fantasy life. Gatsby does not recognize that his love for Daisy is more like, he loved her for what she represented. In the end, dreaming can cause a person to be delusion and taken off track of what really matters, when people just focus on being wealthy.