Selfish People

In The Great Gatsby, Daisy is portrayed as sweet and innocent, but really she's selfish and relys on wealth in her life for everything. Also Gatsby is selfish too because he wants lots of wealth and he wants Daisy all for himself. Almost everyone in East Egg are selfish people who are stuck up and want everything for themselves, and can get it because they are very wealthy.

Daisy has many priorities in her life, but money and social class come before love and family. This is shown by the way she ignores her daughter the whole time and never talks about her, accept for one time. She doesn't care for her child, instead out of selfishness, she has maids take care of her. She might not love her daughter because she doesn't love Tom to the extent of true love. Also Daisy's selfishness is the one thing that stands in the way of her and Gatsby being together. An example of this selfishness is when she is willing to let Gatsby take the blame for the death of Myrtle Wilson. If Daisy loved Gatsby more than herself, she could have saved his life by admitting that she killed Myrtle, but instead she wanted to keep her place in society and keep a good reputation. Daisy also doesn't go to Gatsby's funeral after he was killed by Mr. Wilson, and instead leaves East Egg with Tom without telling anyone.

Gatsby is also selfish because he wants Daisy all to himself and is willing to do anything he can to get her. Gatsby is willing to break up Tom and Daisy, so he can be with her forever.He doesn't understand that times have changed since they first met and that he can't always get what he wants. This shows that even with wealth, you can't get what you want all the time. Gatsby's selfish nature causes him to not get Daisy after all.

So overall, The Great Gatsby is proven to have several selfish people in it such as Daisy and Gatsby. Their selfishness causes them to not be together and to not live fully satisfied lives.

Source: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Unrequited Love

Unrequited Love: love that is not openly reciprocated, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections. (http://www.google.com/)

In The Great Gatsby, Gatby's love for Daisy is the perfect example of unrequited love. Daisy and Gatsby loved each other before he went off to war. While Gatsby was off at war Daisy got tired of waiting for Gatsby so she married Tom. Gatsby was heart broken and Daisy had know idea. She thought that Gatsby had forgotten about her but it turns out it was just the opposite.

Gatsby would throw parties in hopes that one day Daisy would show up at one. He would wait and wait hoping that she would show up, but she never did. While Gatsby was throwing these parties Daisy was in East Egg with no clue, she had no idea that Gatsby was waiting for her and that he stilled loved her.

Finally Gasby gets up enough courage to have Nick, his neighbor who is also Daisy's cousin, invite Daisy over so they could all have tea. When Gatsby saw Daisy for the first time he said its been "five years next November" (The Great Gatsby). He has been counting how long its been since he has seen Daisy because he loves her so much. After they had tea at Nick's, Daisy and Gatsby start to spend a lot of time together and Daisy starts to feel the same way about Gatsby. Gatsby gets so caught up in their love that he just wanted Daisy to leave Tom and tell him that "[she] never loved him" (The Great Gatsby). In the end Daisy won't leave Tom because she does in fact love him, even if it may be unhealthy. Gatsby will always love Daisy and will always want her to leave Tom for him.

sources: http://www.google.com/ (search Define: unrequited love)

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jealousy

Jealousy is a major symbol in The Great Gatsby. It is represented by color imagery, and in this book it is the color green. Green shows the envy, greed and jealousy that make up The Great Gatsby. Money is green, which represents the jealousy of people wanting to be rich to fit in or to impress others. Gatsby is like this because he is jealous that Tom is married to Daisy and he wants to show he's wealthy enough to care for Daisy. Jealousy can also destroy people, as it does in the The Great Gatsby.

Something else that can be represented by jealousy is the green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan's dock. Gatsby was jealous of Tom because he knew that Daisy needed a wealthy man to take care of her. "he stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way,and ,far as I was from him.[...] I glanced seaward-and distinguished nothing except a single green light[...]" pg.20 and 21. As Gatsby was getting wealthy, he would always look out toward the green light on Daisy's dock with jealousy and wait for the day he would be good enough for Daisy.

Jealousy causes Jay Gatsby to go to any extent to get what he wants, which is Daisy. When Gatsby, Daisy, Nick, Jordan and Tom go into town to the Plaza Hotel, Gatsby finally breaks. He says,"Just tell him the truth-that you never loved him-and it's all wiped out forever.[...] You never loved him." pg.132. This shows how Gatsby couldn't handle hiding his feeling anymore and showed the true jealousy that he had for Tom. So jealousy plays a big role in The Great Gatsby.

Sources: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald