There is No Love Without Money in The Great Gatsby Essay

There is no love, without money.

The novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a tragic love story of unwanted and unacceptable love. Daisy symbolized everything that Jay Gatsby ever wanted. Both Daisy and Gatsby had fallen in love while Gatsby was an officer, stationed at Camp Taylor, in Louisville. Daisy was born into a wealthy family, while Jay Gatz was born into a poor family, who had to work hard for the little money they did earn. When Gatsby had been re-stationed out of Louisville, he then strived to build his own American dream of riches, to win the approval of Daisy. Although in the end Gatsby came to realize that Daisy was not his idea of perfect after all.

Jay Gatsby was the romantic type ever since his early days in the army, and when he first laid his eyes on Daisy, he fell in love. When they first met it was 1917, and Daisy was younger only eighteen at the time, while Jay was in his twenties. The two of them met while Gatsby was an army officer stationed in Louisville, Daisy was that pretty little lady that all of the officers from Camp Taylor were crazy for, but Jay Gatsby was the man who won her heart. Jordan Baker (one of Daisys oldest friends from Louisville) remembers Gatsbys love for Daisy as if it was just yesterday, The officer looked at Daisy while she was speaking in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at sometime, and because it seemed romantic to me I have remembered the incident ever since. (Fitzgerald, page 73, 1926)

Daisy was a wealthy girl, while Gatsby on the other hand grew up in what he called poverty. Jay Gatsby had a poor life growing up, having to work with his family on their farm, and as he got older, making his money from his enrolment in the army. Daisy was the complete opposite of Gatsby, she was surrounded by riches, and adoring people her entire life. They came from completely opposite backgrounds, Daisy, from a respected and privileged background, and Gatsby, from an unprivileged background. Gatsby did not have the approval of Daisys hand in marriage because he was poor, and rich girls do not marry poor boys. Gatsby had been re-located from Louisville. Although he was so far away from Daisy, the distance only made his love for her even stronger. He was off trying to pursue the American dream, and did whatever he needed, to achieve that dream, even if that meant he would have to do it by illegal bootlegging. Meanwhile Daisy was still living her fabricated life with her new husband Tom Buchannan.

Gatsby had achieved the impossible; he had achieved his own American dream. Jay Gatsby did it all for love, he did it all for Daisy, but soon after realized that Daisy was not who he thought she was at all. She had moved on with her life, marrying Tom Buchannan, mainly because of his wealth They were careless people, Tom and Daisy they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.(Fitzgerald, page 170, 1926) Gatsby truly believed as soon as he became enormously wealthy, Daisy would come back to him and they would have a life of their own, but sadly he was wrong. Daisy did not want a life with Gatsby at all, she was too immature to leave the stability of her wealth with Tom, and could not handle confrontation at all. Daisy's purpose in life were material comforts and luxuries, and for that she was a fool, she was irresponsible, shallow, and immature. Nick Carraway stated to Gatsby "They're a rotten crowd; youre worth the whole damn bunch put together." (Fitzgerald, page 146, 1926) and he was right. Daisy was not worth Gatsbys continuous love, hard work, and devotion.

The only thing Jay Gatsby ever wanted was love, this novel really shows that love is nothing without money. The human conception of belonging is all about money, and who fits in where. If you are born with less privileges then others, then you will never get the same respect as people who were born with privileges, even if you worked one hundred times harder then they did to achieve the rich standard, you will still not be looked at as the same. Jay Gatz (Gatsby) was a great man who went after his dream, who made his dream come true, all for love. Unfortunately, what background you come from, no matter how successful you become, always seems to matter in the end.