Innocence does not mean immortality. As J.K. Rowling said, “Always the innocent are the first victims.... So it has been for ages past, so it is now.” In the Jazz Age novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby is a self-made, extravagantly rich young man who lives on the West Egg of Long Island. His love interest is Daisy Buchanan a married old money girl with whom he had a romantic past. As their relationship progresses, it becomes clear to everyone but Gatsby that it is not the same as it used to be. Eventually, Gatsby takes the blame for Daisy after she kills Myrtle Wilson, and ends up getting killed by Myrtle’s disconsolate husband George. Gatsby is essentially an innocent victim who is destroyed by his inability to accept
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To quote James E. Miller Jr, “it is his tragedy that his vision of transcendence come to focus on an object that is enchanting on the surface, rotten at the core” (Miller 2). In essence, Daisy appears to be the romantic dream that Gatsby portrayed her as, but in actuality is the terrible person that ruins him. Unfortunately, he just happened to get involved with the wrong girl. As explained in The Great Gatsby, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast restlessness” (Fitzgerald 179). Daisy was someone who ruined others and didn’t care at all about the ramifications of her actions. Gatsby innocently got caught up in her path of destruction and his love for her disallowed him to see who she really was. This deception was especially true when Gatsby tried to take responsibility for the death of Myrtle, even though it was Daisy’s doing. When Nick asked if she was driving, Gatsby answered, “’Yes…but of course I’ll say I was’” (Fitzgerald 143). This shows even after Daisy admitted her love for Tom, her grip on Gatsby was too tight for him to accept how things really were. This defense of Daisy is what eventually got him killed by Myrtle’s husband, showing that he was ready do anything to protect this girl, who in reality would never do the same for him. Daisy, as a person, was detrimental to the fate of Gatsby, and he fell victim to his own
To quote James E. Miller Jr, “it is his tragedy that his vision of transcendence come to focus on an object that is enchanting on the surface, rotten at the core” (Miller 2). In essence, Daisy appears to be the romantic dream that Gatsby portrayed her as, but in actuality is the terrible person that ruins him. Unfortunately, he just happened to get involved with the wrong girl. As explained in The Great Gatsby, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast restlessness” (Fitzgerald 179). Daisy was someone who ruined others and didn’t care at all about the ramifications of her actions. Gatsby innocently got caught up in her path of destruction and his love for her disallowed him to see who she really was. This deception was especially true when Gatsby tried to take responsibility for the death of Myrtle, even though it was Daisy’s doing. When Nick asked if she was driving, Gatsby answered, “’Yes…but of course I’ll say I was’” (Fitzgerald 143). This shows even after Daisy admitted her love for Tom, her grip on Gatsby was too tight for him to accept how things really were. This defense of Daisy is what eventually got him killed by Myrtle’s husband, showing that he was ready do anything to protect this girl, who in reality would never do the same for him. Daisy, as a person, was detrimental to the fate of Gatsby, and he fell victim to his own