The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
20/12/2024

Love is for the poor, as it is all they can afford. The Great Gatsby tells a story of indulgence and obsession and ultimately how class is born, not earned.

The tragedy of Gatsby is that he does not understand why Daisy, who does love him truly, would not pick him when he contends for her love. Born poor, he is cursed to know what it is is like to only have love, he cannot understand that anything should be more important than it. Yet Daisy 'talks money' and even when Gatsby attains (unscrupulous) wealth to match her, it is not enough for the fatnasised star crossed lovers ending Gatsby imagined for 5 years. Instead she shyly lays down their affair when confronted in front of her husband, and admits she would not pick Gatsby over Tom, a truth she says she would adhere to both in public, and private.

For us, it seems painfully clear. Her husband's open affairs are mere annoyances to her, opportunities to flex her angers and wealths. Her daughter is a doll to be paraded to guests. Her clothes and attire, flashes of prestige and rarity. Her connections, network and who's who. Her money makes her beyond reproach, certainly beyond love being the only meaningful thing in her life.

This is not to disparage her or make her the villain, this is the tragedy, they are simply worlds apart, and Gatsby has fallen in love with the moon.

Isaac C.