How does Love influence the overall essence of "The Great Gatsby" ? In the story, "The Great Gatsby", Love creates an invisible, yet powerful, presence. It forces Gatsby to make choices that the average man or woman would not even allow a second thought of, and dominates every decision that is made. The amount of complete infatuation that Gatsby had towards Daisy is what many Americans would consider charming and almost fairy-tale like. However, what many don't seem to recognize, is the abandonment of emotions from Daisy that indicate if she truly loved Gatsby in return.
Yann Dall'aglio defines Love to be "the desire to be desired". Everyone, at some point throughout their lifetime, yearns to be desired by another. Due to the eagerness of wanting to be craved, the one on the receiving end accepts the Love that is being given to them, because of the absolute fervor that is being shown. It is captivating to know that you are wanted by someone else, which is exactly the situation that Daisy is put through by Gatsby in multiple occasions. He does everything in his power to make himself seem as desirable as possible by becoming wealthy and well-known, in hopes of gaining the Love of Daisy back, which, after five years of strenuous work, is in his favor. Not only is this definition of Love exclusively held to just Daisy and Gatsby's relationship, but also to the general theme of the story-line. In order to successfully be Loved by, not only your spouse or family, but by the community that is surrounded, you had to have the wealth, the correct political views, and social aspects in order to be considered desirable. The community in itself that Fitzgerald portrayed was solely based on materialistic facets, and if you were not acknowledged as notable in any of those facets, you were just a mere object that resided in the land known as The Valley of Ashes. The word 'Love' in "The Great Gatsby", was not what many believe it is to be today. It was not considered the admiration that you had for someone that is deemed as important to you, but rather how desirable that person was to you, and how they would make you appear on a social aspect. |
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