Fitzgerald's Novel the Great Gatsby. Research Paper

Despite the fact that this caused her pain she kept seeing him because she needed his support. She is another character who wanted to overcome her social condition.

One might state that Jay lost Daisy because he went on with his life and his ambitions of acquiring an important social status and wealth. In the end he achieves what he wants, but he fails to be happy because he is not loved by the woman he desires. It is through all the possible means that the author demonstrates how richness and social status is nothing and how failed relationships and broken hearts destroy people's lives, regardless of the presence or the absence of the financial well-being. (Cummings)

The fact that the character's emotions are intertwined with their social aspirations makes the story even more complicated and contributes to its tragic ending. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1578329/the_portrayal_of_1920s_society_in_the.html) Daisy for example was not in love with Tom, but it is safe to assume that at some point throughout their marriage she got attached to him, even if it was only because of all the things that he offered her. When Gatsby summons her to tell Tom that she had never loved him, she is unable to do it, a proof that her attitude was an ambiguous one. Ambiguity of feeling is another factor which contributes to the dramatic denouement of the story.

The only two people who seem to be far away from this sort of ambiguity are George and Jay. In a certain way their destinies are more tragic than the ones of the others. They both die because they loved women who in a manner or another were tied to Tom. Under these circumstances Tom becomes the author of their deaths, even if under an indirect form.

The only person who seems to be least affected by what goes on is Tom Buchanan. He is also the richest character, the least sensitive, the most arrogant, the most selfish. He is a hypocrite and probably the symbol of the social class he belongs to. At this point, reading between the lines we understand that money and lack of morality are a very solid couple in the social context of the American twenties. )Maurer, 2000)

The importance of social status however is underlined throughout the entire story. The only party who seems to get out of the story undamaged is Tom. He seems to be in control of the destinies of the other characters and he is also the richest man in the story and this aspect is naturally not a coincidence.As far as Jay is concerned "The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God -- a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that -- and he must be about His Father's business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year-old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end." (Fitzgerald)

Fitzgerald makes an interesting point regarding the relationship between love and marriage. The entire book is nothing else but a demonstration that one has nothing to do with the other. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1578329/the_portrayal_of_1920s_society_in_the.html) People may fall in love with people but marry others because it is more convenient. The absence of love may be demonstrated by the behaviour of the spouses during marriage, but the institution of marriage is still maintained because in a certain manner this works in the best interest of the partners: "Your wife doesn't love you," says Gatsby. "She's never loved you. She loves me. . . . She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me." (Fitzgerald) Those who really love are portrayed as being weak. Jay, George they are all described as victims.-Jay gets shot because of his feelings for Daisy while crazy with grief and despair George will kill the presumed lover of his wife and then kill himself.

Bibliography

Cummings, M.J. The Great Gatsby by F.S.K. Fitzgerald / 1896-1940). Retrived May 25, 2010 from http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/Gatsby.html#Gatsby

Fitzgerald, F.S. The great Gatsby. Scribner. 1999

Maurer, K. Cliff Notes. Fitzgerald's the great Gatsby. Cliff Notes. 2000

Parkinson, K. The great Gatsby (Penguin critical studies guide).Penguin Global. 2003

The portrayal of 1920s society in the Great Gatsby in Associated Content. Retrieved May 25, 2010 in http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1578329/the_portrayal_of_1920s_society_in_the.html.....